Clapping and crawling

Here are a few videos from the past week.  He's really trying hard to clap.  He'll sometimes clap when I sing to him, but mostly he just claps randomly.  He has also really started moving.  He's been so close for a few weeks.  Now that the craziness of cousins running around has subsided, he's ready to move.  It's still kind of a combination of crawling on all fours and army crawling.  It's been hard to tape him, since we're quarenteened to the office and guest bedroom due to the noisy fans throughout the rest of the house.

Here he is clapping.

And here's a video of him crawling.  Because it's so dark in the office, it's pretty hard to see him.  He hasn't quite yet figured out that he can take off anywhere; he really just crawls if he wants a certain toy (or my phone is the best bait to get him moving).  Yesterday, he crawled to my phone and when he got to it, he threw it away from him and crawled to it again and continued to play this game with himself for a few minutes.  I thought that it was hilarious that he's so used to me moving the phone farther away from him that he just decided to do it himself.



Juillerat Christmas

The day after Christmas we headed over to Tyler to spend Christmas with my family.  We had such a good time seeing everyone, and I know Caden enjoyed seeing his cousins.  Here are a few pictures.

James and I hanging out.

Caden with a new toy.

Caden playing with Jackson and Abby.

Much to our dismay, our visit was cut short by our house flood.  The pipe leak in our bathroom has now been fixed; the plumber said it was one of the worst pipe leaks he's ever seen.  Now we just have to wait for everything to dry, so the appraisor can come assess the total damage.  We have about 15 big fans blowing in our living room, hallway, Caden's room, master bedroom, master bathroom, and master closet.  Here are a few pictures.

Here's one of the fans and dehimidifier in our bathrrom.

Most of the baseboards in the affected areas have been removed.

We're not sure if the carpet will need to be replaced or not, but we do know that the hardwoods in the hallway are ruined.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but they are completling buckling.

Eight Months

Caden turned eight months old on Thursday.  His measurements on Thursday were 23 lb, 3 oz and 28 1/4".  Here's a picture of him in the bath earlier this week.



Caden's First Christmas

Mimi, Tia, Kevin, Kelly & Wyatt came to Dallas to celebrate Christmas this year.  We had so much fun.  Here are a few pictures from the past week.

Mimi, Tia, & I took Caden to Santa's Christmas Village in Richardson.  A part of me was secretly hoping for a classic crying shot, but as usual, Caden did great.

Here's a picture of Caden just hanging out.

And taking care of some important business on Mommy's laptop.

Brian & Kevin's cousin Stephanie and her family stopped by for a quick visit.  Here's Wyatt and Caden with her kids Ashley and Alex.

One of Brian and Kevin's friends from high school hosted a small Christmas party on Wednesday night.  Here's a shot of us all dressed up for the party.  Thanks Tia & Mimi for baby sitting!

Here's Caden on Christmas morning in his Christmas pj's.  He's wearing Wyatt's santa hat; Caden's head is so big, it just sat on the very top of his head.

Here are Caden and Wyatt in their matching Christmas pj's.

Caden's morning nap hit in the middle of opening presents.  After his nap, he opened his last few.  Here's Daddy helping Caden open the last present of the morning.

More matching outfits...Here are the boys with their Dad's in their matching sweater vests.  Caden was rubbing his eyes ready for his afternoon nap.

Peek a boo

Caden has been a big fan of peek a boo for quite some time.  But he recently has started initiating it by hiding behind different toys.  Here's a video of him playing peek a boo with me earlier today.

Booty Scootin'

So he's transitioned from sort of scooting backwards on his tummy to sort of scooting all around on his booty.  He does it while sitting in what I call a swastika position (although, Brian thinks referring to it as swastika is weird; I just don't know what else to call it).  Here's a picture of him in the swastika position.

He usually goes from sitting to almost crawl/swastika postition over and over while he's scooting along.  Earlier today he backed himself into the cabinets while I was putting away the groceries.

Here's a good picture of his two teeth.

We had a fence installed around our pool a few weeks ago.  It's removable; it takes ~5min to take it down.  Here's a picture of it.



Playroom

Caden cut his second tooth (bottom right) this morning.  One year ago yesterday, we found out we were having a boy.  A year ago, he was about 5 1/2 - 6 inches rump to crown and weighed ~8 oz...what a difference a year makes.  Here's a picture of Caden a year ago. 

He outgrew his infant seat and started using a big boy car seat about 6 weeks ago, and I realized this week that I hadn't yet taken a picture of him in his new seat.  Here he is tuckered out after running errands earlier this week.



I finally cleared out the bedroom next to Caden's and set up his playroom.  Here are a few pictures.

I also finally decorated his bathroom.  I wanted it to be bright and fun.  I found the whale bath accessories and then looked and looked for whale wall art.  I couldn't find anything I liked, so I just decided to paint the dots and whale on the wall.



Loving the soccer ball

Caden loves playing with his soccer ball.  It's soft and small enough for him to grab with one hand.  He gets so excited when I shake it for him and throw it to him.  Here's a video from today.

He has also starting grabbing the spoon in an attempt to try to feed himself.  Here he is last weekend "feeding" himself some kiwi.

First Tooth

Caden's first tooth cut through about a week and a half ago.  Here's the best picture that I've gotten of it. 

Thanksgiving, etc.

The month of November seemed to fly by.  Caden turned 7 months this past week; he now weighs a little over 22lbs.  Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks.

Grandpa came to visit.

I've been horrible about taking pictures the past few weeks.  And I haven't been very good catching him in action, so this is the best picture I've gotten of him up on all fours.

Here he is lounging on the floor.

We went to Tyler for Thanksgiving.  Here's a picture of Caden with Papa, Nana, and Jeffrey.

He loves the remote and the computer keyboard.  In an attempt to keep him away from the real ones, we've given him his own keyboard and remote.  Like father, like son... :)

We're getting in the Christmas spirit.  This adorable "Always Jolly" bib was a gift from someone that works with Brian.

We put up all the Christmas decorations this weekend.  Here's a picture of the tree.  & my latest art project is on the mantle.  I made the letters for our name.



Swinging & Scooting

Caden pushed up on all fours for the first time about a week and a half ago.  He's getting more mobile everyday.  He likes to rotate around in circles and he tries to move, but he can only scoot backwards right now.  He usually keeps moving backwards until he runs into something.

Here's a picture of him backed into the recliner yesterday.

He started where his toys are and then scooted until he hit the chair.

Last weekend we took him to a park to swing for the first time.  He was a little unsure of what was going on.



A few more videos

Here's a video of him laughing from last weekend.

Last night after I read him a book, he was chewing on it.  He kept intentially dropping the book and just laughed while he was waiting for me to pick it up. 

Funny noises

We had Caden's 6 month pictures taken this week.  The pics will be ready for me in about 2 1/2 weeks; I can't wait to see how they turned out.  Here are a few pictures and a video from the past week or so.

Brian and Caden after dinner last Sunday night.

Caden playing with his music table last weekend.

My friend Becky was in town this weekend.  We had so much fun.  It's always great to spend time with old friends.  Here are a  few pictures from her visit.

Last night Caden started trying to copy the clicking noise that I was making with my tongue.  He was cracking us up.  Here's a video of him trying to make the noise.







Big Boy!

Caden had his 6 month check up today.  He is 21 lbs 5 oz (97th percentile) and 27.25 inches (77th percentile)

Green Beans? No Thanks!

Wasn't sure if this day would come, but we have discovered something that Caden will not eat. :)  Apparently, he hates green beans.  I may try them again in a few weeks, but he made it very clear Sunday night that he did NOT want to eat them.  We, of course, thought his faces of disgust were hilarious, so we had to tape them.  Here is one of the video's we took...

6 months

Caden turned 6 months yesterday.  His doctors appointment is next Thursday; I'm looking forward to seeing how big he is.  Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Caden and I went to the fair two weeks ago.  Here's a picture of Caden & I in front of Big Tex.

He loves standing in front of the mirror.

I painted his name on a pumkin.

Our little monkey!









5 1/2 Months

Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks & a video from this weekend.

Making funny faces during tummy time.

More tummy time.

He's getting really good at sitting.  Here's a video of him today.

So I did my first art project since he's been born this weekend.  We got my Mom's toy box from when she was little.  Here's a before picture.

And an after pic.  The brown paint is chalk paint, so he can color on it, too!

California

We had a great time in California. We stayed at a beautiful hotel in Santa Barbara the first 2 nights. The beach was right across the street from our hotel.

Here's a picture of Caden's first time at the ocean.

Then we headed down to San Diego for the weekend. Here's a picture of us all at dinner on Friday night.

The boys all got in their Texas attire for the game on Saturday afternoon.

Caden got to meet his cousin Wyatt for the 1st time.

And a family pic at Balboa Park.