December Fun

We have been busy having Christmas fun! Too busy to take a moment to blog, obviously:) A couple weekends ago my parents came in town and Adalyn had a blast with Nana baking cookies!  She doesn't have a kitchen apron so she improvised with her Home Depot apron.

A couple weekends ago, after church Adalyn was laying in the hallway looking so old so I had to get a picture. Of course she caught me:/

 I still have lots of Christmas and Santa pictures to post in the next week! Hopefully I'll get a chance on my week off from work! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Cayden - 16 Months

Cayden turned 16 months on November 26th and I haven't written a post about him in a while so today is about him!  We had his 15 month appointment on November 13th (with Adalyn's 3 year appointment) and he was such a good boy. He had to get a few shots and he took them like a champ. He never seemed phased that night or the next day. He acted perfectly normal.

Waiting for the doctor:

Here are his stats:
Height: 30 1/2" (25-50%)
Weight: 24 lbs 12 oz (75-90%)
Head: 17 1/4" (2-5%)

Yes, as normal with our children, his head is super small! His feet are small too! He's only a size 3 for his shoes and all of his baby socks from last winter still fit him. My problem is that the baby socks don't have grips on the bottom for walking so I've got to get him some new socks but the grip socks are all too big.

As for walking...it's not happening. Cayden does pull up now (as of 14 months) but does not stand up unassisted. Recently we have noticed a couple times where he has been distracted (like trying to use both hands to eat something) and has stood unassisted but as soon as he realizes it he grabs back on. He can walk behind push toys but he isn't really interested in it. He has developed an interesting way of getting around. On his knees. It's almost like a crawl but without using his hands so he can carry stuff around. Along with "walking" like this, he also hops like he has little springs in his knees and he gets all around that way. And he's super fast! So I guess he figures why walk when he can get everywhere on his knees. Here are a couple videos of him doing his "Cayden walk".

The doctor isn't worried about him not walking at this point. She said she could send us to physical therapy if we felt we needed to go but she said his muscles look just fine. And as you can see, his legs work well crawling up our steps! So we honestly think he's just laid back (ahem...lazy). Both my mom and my brother were second born children and both of them walked super late so we're just going to say it's in his genes. He was late crawling and pulling up so I'm pretty sure that walking will just come late too. Honestly it's kind of  nice that he's not crazy active and running around. It's nice having a laid back boy who loves to watch his surroundings.

He has recently started using Adalyn's old YBike and it seems to really help him with the whole walking thing. Jonathan got a video of him using his "scooter" (as Adalyn calls it) and Adalyn on her big girl scooter. He's always trying to keep up with his sister.

Cayden has 12 teeth now. All 4 of his molars have come in now so he has the ability to eat all kinds of food. But honestly he isn't interested in most table foods. He will eat just about any fruit you put in front of him, but no veggies or meats. We've reverted to veggie pouches for him to get his daily veggies. And here and there he has eaten a bite of chicken but he usually refuses any and all foods from our plates. This boy also loves starchy foods and will eat his weight in breakfast items (plain dry waffles, pancakes, nutri-grain bars, muffins, bananas, etc...) He has also recently discovered raisins and those are his favorite thing right now. Neither of our kids have access to junk food on any routine basis so our kids act like raisins are a fruit snack. :)

Cayden does not talk all the time and babble like his sister did at his age. But he does say some words and he understands, repeats and interacts well. He loves saying "dada" (all the time!) and anytime you hand him something or give him food he says "thank you" but it comes out more like "ta tu". It is precious! He also says "please" and "baba" for his cup. He can say "sissy" and "mama" but those aren't quite as often. His sitter said that the other day he said "excuse me" as clear as day and another parent heard it and couldn't believe it. He was repeating her and then said it over and over. She agreed that he doesn't babble, but what he does say is almost always understandable. He waives bye bye, blows kisses, gives "real" kisses (with the sound effect too), claps with music, dances, and loves to play Adalyn's band instruments including the piano, drums and harmonica. He is also really into taking lids off of things and putting them back on. He's always digging under my bathroom sink and getting hair product out and taking the lids off and on.

He is an absolute joy and always full of smiles. He smiles from the moment I wake him up in the morning till I put him down at night. And this boy loves sleeping! It's wonderful:) He squealed when he saw all the Christmas decorations and lights. When we were putting the tree up, he wanted to "help" like Adalyn was and he kept crawling to the tree to yank ornaments off. After that initial time, he has completely left the tree alone (and I didn't move any of the ornaments out of his reach). Adalyn was never bad about the tree ornaments so hopefully Cayden won't be either. It was like he wanted to touch and once he did, now they aren't intriguing anymore.

In the last couple days, it has been super cold so I pulled all of the fleecy hats out that I had in storage from the girl that we buy most of Cayden's clothes from. (It's been perfect. Her son is exactly 2 years older than Cayden and all of the seasons of clothes have fit him perfectly. I'm pretty sure we're using all the hats a year later than she did though!) Anyway, Cayden has taken a liking to the hats and will crawl over and get a hat out of the basket by the door and ask us to put it on him. Then he plays in it until we finally convince him to take it off. (He already has hair issues...just imagine after he's had a fleece hat on for a while. There is no hope.) It's so funny so I've gotten a couple pictures.

 Poor thing. This was his hair this morning before he asked for his hat. And yes, I had tried to get it to lay flat. He got his hair (and cowlicks) from his daddy. I think daddy's going to have to teach him how to use pommade at an early age...

 If only I could have gotten a 360* picture to show the full extent of this hair. 

You can see a penguin in that last picture. Cayden's grammy gave that to him recently and he has taken a liking too it. He is now all about his lovie that Adalyn gave him when he was born (also a recent obsession). Both items have to come out of his bed in the morning and get carted all around with him. Pretty cute.

I can't believe he's almost a year and a half. He and Adalyn play so nicely together and it makes me so happy. The other day he accidentally hit her in the head with a toy and she let him know that he hurt her. I stood back and watched as he gently touched her head and then gave her a kiss to say sorry. It was absolutely precious. I just love his little heart! (Wish I had my camera out to get a video of that!)

Adalyn - 3 Years

Adalyn had her 3 year well check on November 13th. I was able to schedule both kids' well checks for the same appointment so we could get them both done together. Adalyn did great and thankfully didn't have to get any shots. This year she was old enough for the Flu mist so that was good!

She weighs 29 lbs (25-50%) and her height is 37 1/2" (50-75%). (Honestly not much bigger than her brother who weighs 24 lbs 12 oz!). Her BMI is 14.5 (10-25%).

She is healthy and has a full vocabulary. She is the sweetest little girl and is the best big sister. The way she loves on Cayden is absolutely heart-warming. She is tender and loving. But... since we turned the corner to 3, she now has quite the fiery attitude now. It comes and it goes and when it's here, she about makes me want to pull my  hair out. But then she turns around and tells me how much she loves me and I melt. I guess it's the curse of the 3's:) Honestly, the 2's were not terrible at all...it's the 3's that are testing us!)

Here are some pictures from Adalyn's 3 year photo shoot!

 She had so much fun running for this shot! This is one of my favorites.

Cayden's First Haircut

Cayden had his first hair cut two weeks ago. This is the first big milestone that he has reached before Adalyn since she has yet to get her hair cut! He barely had any hair but the hair that he did have was getting long and hanging over his collar in the back. Jonathan wasn't ok with that so he said Cayden needed a hair cut.

I called my friend, Laura who cuts my hair and she fit us in. She has twin 2 year olds so I knew she was used to cutting the hair of squirmy kids:)

Cayden and daddy in the waiting area. Cayden has sleepy face since I had to wake him up to go to his appointment.

 Not much hair but it was a big shaggy.

 Messy hat head.

 Once I gave him his paci, he was less fussy and squirmy.

 Along with cutting the back of his hair she cut the shaggy parts in the front too. It's subtle but looks so much better.

 Can someone please note the multiple cowlicks on the back of that head that I have to deal with when trying to comb his hair down? We can thank his daddy for those:)

He looks like a big boy but not too big because I am well aware that he still barely has hair compared to other kids his age. But his hair cut is just so cute. And how sweet was it that my friend gives 1st hair cuts for free? Yes, I kept some hair but totally forgot anything to bring it home so she made a little foil envelope for me. Mom of the year award:)

Adalyn's 3rd Birthday

Last Saturday Adalyn turned 3! Every year I know I say the same thing, but I have no clue where time has gone. She's become such a big girl and I'm still a little in denial!  This was the first year that Adalyn requested a theme for her birthday and she requested Sofia the First (from Disney Jr.) I wasn't exactly sure how it would all come together since I've never done a theme other than colors for the birthdays. I found an awesome etsy store where I was able to purchase invitations and also a party pack of printable items in our theme and it worked well! Both downloads were immediate and great quality.

We started Adalyn's day with surprising her with a room full of balloons which we then piled in her bed while we sang the Happy Birthday song. She loved it! (Sleepy face)

Cayden was into the balloon party!

Adalyn wanted to have all of her daycare friends over but I'm not prepared for friend parties yet so we sent some Tinkerbell plates and cupcakes and hats to daycare so she could celebrate with her friends there. We had family, close friends and the kids' sitter for the party.

Here are the decorations:

The cake came from a bakery in Toledo for $16!! Can you believe it? I found a picture of a cake like this on pinterest and my mom showed it to them and they matched it! Then I added the little Sofia on top of the cake. I think it turned out so cute. We also had cute matching cupcakes (in the background) with toppers on them.

 We just had pizza and a couple sides. 

 Each year I find a frame that matches the party theme and put that year's picture in it. I couldn't believe the difference between Adalyn's 2 year and 3 year pictures. It made me a little sad!

 I love the welcome sign. I also love the princess who was spying on me as I was taking pictures!

 I love how Adalyn's outfit turned out. It's completely over the top but perfect for a princess party. Her pettiskirt, leggings and bow came from The Hairbow Company. The shirt came from A Stitch of Blue. I told the girl at A Stitch of Blue what A's party theme was but I told her that I'm not a fan of character shirts so I didn't want Sofia's face on her shirt. I told her to just put a crown on a "3". She went above and beyond. She found Sofia's crown and digitized it and turned it into an embroidery. I couldn't believe she was able to do a specific crown! I was blown away! Adalyn also had a tiny little crown that was from Target's party section.

 We borrowed a kid sized table and chairs for a coloring corner.

 Here are some family pictures with the birthday girl!

 Three generations. Love this.

::PAUSE::

I must flash back two years to Adalyn's Birthday hat pictures:

Where has my baby gone??

Ok, back to this year...

 YUM!!

We had such a fun day celebrating our sweet little 3 year old! We are so blessed to have wonderful friends and family to join us. I just can't believe another year has come and gone.  Happy birthday sweet girl!