Holes and smiles

Caiden woke up with a hole in his pj's. I swear, you buy the expensive ones and they fall apart faster than the Gap sale items. Go figure.

Here are also a few pics from this morning hanging in bed. I've had a routine with him since he was born that when he wakes up I bring him to our bed and we lay and play for as long as he'll allow before going downstairs to start the day. He's beginning to get antsy quicker and quicker as he gets older. He used to last a few hours until he would fall back asleep and take his first nap of the day in our bed. Now it's about 30 minutes and he wants to crawl off and explore.

I asked him to smile and this is what I got:

Weekend chores

Why does painting always take longer than you think? The fences in our backyard were in some serious need of attention. Not only did they look bad but there were parts of the fence that the previous owner replaced and never put a coat of protection on. Our plan was for Marc to start in the morning and when Caiden napped I would come out and help. Well it ended up taking the entire day Saturday and Sunday...and we're still not done. We still have some touch-ups and 4 sections to do -we ran out of paint. What an awesome way to spend the weekend, huh? And looks like we have another day next weekend.

Seriously though, I told Marc I'm so sick of doing projects every weekend. Poor mommy Caiden needs some stimulation and fun with Daddy a few days a week.

Before:

After:

...and here's one of Caiden pounding away on the tackle dummy he got for his birthday.

Walking tricks....

....like holding my sippy cup....

On YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WToHVF3KmM

...or watching football...

On YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTxBXMWFSqM

I'm walking

It's hard to pin point the exact day you can say they are officially walking. Marc and I decided it was a few days ago. Since they weren't those 2 or 3 steps where they fall to their face right away. He's legitimately standing up and walking to get somewhere. He will walk across our entire house and will sit down or walk to a cabinet or wall instead of just fall on his face. He uses walking to get around a little more and more everyday.

Drunken sailor....or possessed baby

So last night Marc and I went into Caiden's room around 10pm to check out the new night light we installed and of course you never give up the chance to watch your baby sleep and ohhh and ahhh about how cute he his. Well he was laying on his back and as I take the light of my cell phone and hang it over the crib so we can get a look at him his eyes are WIDE open. Marc and I can't see each other, but in my mind I'm going, uhhhh, what the heck, why isn't he moving and crying because his eyes are open and he can see us. In the past if we've been in there and he wakes up from the light of us staring at him he immediately moves around and starts crying. After what felt like an eternity (maybe 5 seconds), he finally realizes we are there and flips over and starts crying.

Marc and I run out of the room and look at each other dumbfounded, like we just saw our baby totally zoombied out or possessed or something. My heart was literally racing...was he just sleeping with his eyes wide open???  Welp, that is exactly what he was doing. Of course, we google it and there are a bunch of other parents posting about how they just saw the freakiest thing they've ever seen and yes, it is common for babies to sleep with their eyes open. I'm not just talking about half open and maybe one open and one closed, I'm talking about both eyes WIDE open. I could see his brown eyes just staring up at me. Apparently they do this when they are in a very deep REM sleep. I guess I'm glad he's so comfortable and is sleeping so hard but seriously, so not cool to see. Maybe it teaches us a lesson to not go in and disturb him in the middle of night.

On a much cooler note. Caiden is going to take off at any moment. Right now he just looks like a drunken sailor but I'm sure in a few weeks he'll be off and running.

Here it is on YouTube for those who can't view the above video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCnuqHGi5aw

Del Mar Horse Track

I was really looking forward to the races this year especially since we missed last year (Caiden was a week old). We've been going this particular weekend for the past four or five years because they have a chili cook-off in the infield before the races start. There are probably 20+ different chili's you can sample and vote for your favorite. We've talked about actually participating in it for years (with the help from my parents and their chili, of course) but realistically it probably will never happen. You actually have to make your chili on-site for the official vote so it would be a lot of equipment and stuff that we'd have to buy and just not worth it. Instead we'll just participate in the tasting ;)

When Caiden got up from his nap we packed up our things and headed out. The Del Mar race track is very family friendly. You can take your strollers pretty much anywhere, they have horse rides for kids (Caiden's still too small but we did check them out) and they even have Camp Del Mar where for $20 you can drop your kid off for the day while you go play. They have to be 5 years old to do this so we've got a few years until Caiden can attend.

They had a gourmet food truck festival going on as well, SCORE! I've been dying to get in on the Lobsta Truck craze going around Southern California and I finally caught it!  I waited in line for 30 minutes to get a Maine Lobster Roll and it was well worth it. Can't wait till it makes its way back to SD for another event. 

It was an awesome day and Caiden even took a nap in the stroller (while I waited in line for my lobster roll) which made the day that much better. We got up pretty close to the horses in the winners circle and he learned what a horse says. The first few races when the horses were coming around the track and it got really loud and everyone was cheering he was a bit startled...but by the third race he was in to it and would clap right along with us. Can't wait for next year! 

Marc doing his research

Caiden doing his research

Grandpas, Grandmas, Aunts & Uncles

Caiden had all of his extended family in town for his birthday staying with us for 7 days. It was so much fun and I think he's going through withdrawal now that there isn't attention on him 24/7. I had so many pictures from so many different sources it's a bit overwhelming to go through them all. There really isn't any organization to these photos but I really want them to be in the blog book.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for my classic Radio Flyer!

Grandpa love

More Grandma love!

Learning how to hammer

Helping Daddy organize his new work bench

He loves the Mickey Mouse Aunt Sara got him.

More birthday gifts...thanks everyone!

Caiden's 12-month check-up

Overall a successful appointment. He hasn't gained any weight since his last appointment so the doctor gently told us to start feeding him more. I feel like we feed him all the time, but he always eats what we put in front of him...so I guess more food. If he's anything like me he's going to eat us out of house and home. I remember growing up and eating as much as my father at dinner with a plate that was always spilling over with mashed potatoes, gravy, steak, etc. And eating snacks all day long. I feel like I still eat all the time...our grocery bill is going to get bigger and bigger.

He did some heavy flirting with the lady that checked us in. He wouldn't stop waiving and smiling at her the entire time we sat in the waiting room. He did great with Dr. Roberts, too. When he checked his ears, eyes and chest he just sat really still and stared at him. PERFECT!  It got rough at the end because it was his nap time and then the shots came and he cried big fat tears for a few minutes.

He got the Hep A, Measles/Mumps/Rubella and Chickenpox vaccines. They also drew blood to test his Iron levels...they were perfect, which makes me very happy because he's still a breastfed only baby and there is some controversy that there isn't enough iron in breast milk.

They weighed him at 20 lbs. 9 oz. (38th percentile), 30.32 inches long (64th percentile) and his head is in the 73rd percentile. He'll see us again in 3 months.

These tears were quickly replaced with....

...this sucker.  We only let him suck on it for like 3 seconds...but boy does he love it.

Basketball

My mom brought this basketball hoop with her when she came out and we set it up at perfect height for Caiden. The first few days all the adults were showing off their skills while Caiden would watch. Well yesterday morning I was in the kitchen and I look in the living room and he's doing it all by himself.

Also on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw7DTVMBVIQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

1st birthday party

We had a full house for Caiden's birthday. My parents and sister came out and Marc's parents and brother came from the east coast. It really makes me happy that we can all get together like this and enjoy our time together. When Caiden gets older I think it's going to be great for him to see how much love there is in our family.

We rented the covered gazebo at the park a few blocks from our house and catered some brazilian bbq. The food was amazing and I think we are going to have to keep them on the books for future party's.  Lots of friends, family and fun was had and Caiden was such a champ with only a one and half hour nap all day. He even got into the cake and probably would have kept eating it if we didn't take it out of his face when we did. My father was so worried he was going to get a belly ache and kept telling us to take it away. Pretty sure he had a huge sugar high after that because he was crawling around the park non-stop getting into everything. Not sure he would have even been able to take a nap if we would have tried.

Grandma Love!

Paparazzi

He was a bit intimidated at first. One hand in and he tried shaking it off. We told him to put it in his mouth to try it and then it all changed...

Sharing with Daddy!

Sugar High

Showing Sophia some love...she doesn't seem too impressed.