Fall Portraits

Hello everyone! Here are some updated pictures of Caden that I have been promising. In October we had family portraits taken again with Grammy Pammy's boss, Christine. Although Caden began the photo session as a complete grump, we managed to still get some great shots. Enjoy!

Big Brother Caden

Hello Everyone - Yes, it has been too long since I updated the blog. But I have a great reason! We are pregnant! I am sure many of you have already heard this exciting news, but in case you haven't....just wanted to make sure you knew. Baby #2 will arrive around May 11, 2009 - just in time for Mother's Day.

I have not been feeling so hot until now so I am convinced it is a girl. However, the Chinese Lunar calendar says it is a boy. Jay wants to know what it is and I am not sure yet. I liked being surprised with Caden. We will let you know what we decide.

Caden is growing so fast (pictures will be posted soon). He is running all over the place and talking up a storm. He loves to repeat everything we say, so watch out! Caden loves being in daycare at Resa's Little Rascals, where he has my wonderful Aunt Resa to take really good care of him. If anyone has young children who may need daycare in the Fairfield area, she has some openings, and Caden would love some more playmates! Caden is also excited to become a big brother soon and loves to give my belly kisses every night.

Hope everyone is enjoying the warm fall weather. Although, I hope to post again before Thanksgiving...in case I don't, we hope you have a happy one!!! Gobble, gobble, gobble!

15 months and growing...

Happy Memorial Day! We love watching our handsome Papa in uniform marching in the parade.

I will climb on anything I can find!

My 1st St. Patrick's Day and I am ready to drink....it's the Irish in me! I didn't really drink, but I did enjoy corned beef and cabbage at Great Great Aunt Rita and Great Great Uncle Frank's house.

Another favorite spot to hang out - in the pantry. Now if I could learn to put everything away that I take out, Mama would be a much happier woman.

2nd of July - I went to my very first fireworks display. It was too dark to take photos of Caden watching the fireworks, but he absolutely loved them. Here he is excited about seeing the fire trucks in a parade Papa was in before the fireworks. I wonder where he learned that from :-)

It has been ages since we updated our blog. Now that summer is here and I have the summer off, I can hopefully get things up-to-date. Caden is walking, running, and causing trouble. He is totally a boy and enjoys climbing on things....including the coffee table and any other place he can reach. He loves the beach and the water. He is talking a little bit. "Uh-Oh, Vroom, Wuff, Wuff & Moo" are some of his favorite expressions. We are going away to the Poconos soon and will have plenty of new photos to show you. Enjoy!

Look at me - I'm One!!!

Just wanted to share a few pics of our big guy from his 1-yr-old photo shoot. Caden is almost walking now! He walks halfway across the room, but he knows that he gets around faster when he crawls so he prefers to do that :-)

His first birthday party was a big hit. He got tons of toys! We are going to have to put an addition onto our house soon. It was great to see our family and friends. I baked a cake with a giraffe on it. In case you didn't know, giraffes are my favorite animals (ever since I went on my safari in S. Africa). I was very proud of my work. One of my childhood memories was always having my mom bake my birthday cake. So it is a tradition that I would like to continue with Caden....hopefully I will be as talented as my mom always was! I will post pics from his party in another post...so be sure to check them out.

Happy Birthday Caden!!!

The birthday cake that Mama made. It was yummy! Giraffes are her favorite animals, so I guess they can be mine, too.

Papa helped me blow out my candles.

This is what happens when you let me feed myself!

Yeah, I am all clean now! There was no other way to get all that cake off, but to give me a quick bath.

I love my new dumptruck from Grammy Pammy and Grampie Mark.

We cannot believe that he is one already! This year just flew by! This morning I woke up around the same time I had gone to the hospital last year. I cried when I gave Caden his first birthday hug. I guess motherhood makes you a sap! It just amazes me how much our lives have changed and how very happy we are to be parents. When I look at our little guy, I can't imagine what my life would be like without him. It has been incredible to watch him grow. I know I need to enjoy every moment because in a blink of an eye, they are gone.

We had a quiet day today. We went to his daycare and had cupcakes with all of his friends there. Then we had a nice dinner at home with Papa. We will have a birthday party on Saturday with some close family and friends.

Happy 1st Birthday, Boo Boo! We love you!

Caden's First Haircut!

Uh-oh...here come the scissors!
Glad he is smiling now, because as soon as Papa started to cut, Caden started to scream!
Look how handsome I am with my big blue eyes - now that you can see them!
Hmmm....I wonder what else is in here?
Oops! Mama caught me making a mess!

Caden finally had his first haircut this past weekend. We have been letting it grow, because it curls in the back and is too darn cute, but the front was getting so long that we couldn't see his beautiful baby blues. So on Saturday, we took out the scissors. Jay trimmed just the front so we could see his eyes. Thank goodness we didn't need to trim more than that because Caden screamed when we did it. You would have thought it hurt the way he yelled! That brings me to his recent temper tantrums. If anyone knows how to stop an 11-month-old from throwing fits, please let me know. They didn't teach me that in my teaching classes! Of course, Jay and I just let him throw his fit and ignore it (as long as he isn't hurting himself). What a character he is already! He will learn fast in our house that he is not going to get his way all the time!

The other photos I have shared here are of Caden playing in our cabinets. He enjoys going into the tupperware cabinet, which is always a mess anyway...I can never manage to keep that one clean! Caden just loves playing with all the tupperware and as you can see - he manages to get his whole body in there to play. It keeps him busy while we cook, so we can't complain...but if you ever need to use tupperware while you are visiting us, be sure to rinse it out before using it. You are bound to come across some Caden drool or dog hairs :-)

We will have lots to share next month - Caden will be turning one!!! And we hope he will be walking by then, too. He is getting too heavy to carry everywhere!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

So the real reason that I take so long to update this website is because I feel like I always have to put pictures up. I know everyone loves seeing new pics of Caden and I promise I will put some soon...but I thought I could at least write something :-) See putting pics up actually requires me to upload them to my computer and then to this site and when you have a baby crawling all over the place, well that is easier said than done.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and we don't really believe in celebrating it in our house. I personally feel it is just a day for Hallmark to make a lot of money. But being in the spirit of love, I thought I could write about how in love we are with our little guy. This week has been a tough one - Caden had a stomach bug. Thank goodness he is feeling better now. But it hurts when you love someone so much and they are completely helpless when they feel so crummy. I never thought I could love anything/one more than Jason until Caden came along. Don't worry, I still love you tons, too, JJ. For those of you that do not have children, I pray that you do someday to feel the love that comes along with having one. You would do anything for them without thinking twice. And for those of you that do have children, well then you know what I mean....so cherish every moment you have with them and enjoy it! Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year!

I love my new wagon from Grammy Pammy and Grampy Mark!

Grandpa Jeff bought me my first skates and hockey sticks. He can't wait until I am big enough to play hockey with him and Papa.
My wagon is comfy, this hat is cool, and I think I am gonna like this John Lennon CD.
Caden with his Great, Great Uncle Frank...he's smiling now, but just wait until he is big enough to get picked on!
Mama and Papa are undecorating the house. I kept getting into everything, so they stuck me in this box.

We hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. The Mitchell family had a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year, too. Jason and I were on vacation from work during the holidays, so it was great to spend time with Caden. The most exciting part of our holidays was not watching Caden open gifts, but it was watching him crawl for the first time! Of course, now he is all over the place and getting into everything.

We spent Christmas Eve at our home with lots of family and Christmas Day, we enjoyed a quiet morning and we went to Uncle Frank and Aunt Rita's in the afternoon. Caden wasn't really into opening gifts this year. But he did love the phone that Auntie Kara bought him and since that was the first gift he opened, he wasn't really interested in anything else.

We are looking forward to a wonderful 2008. Caden will be 10 months old this weekend and we need to start planning his first birthday party already! We can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Every day is a new adventure and there is never a dull moment. Being a parent is the most amazing thing ever and we are truly blessed to have Caden in our lives. We wish you a happy and healthy 2008!