The Joys and Trials of Growing Up.

Kaden is now capable of sitting up all by himself. For short periods of time, if he focuses! :)

It makes him very proud to be sitting on his own.

He can also grab his toes, which is an endless source of enjoyment for my little man.

Look Mom! No hands!

So that was the joy... The trial is being stuck on the floor. Kaden is so close to crawling, and he knows it. He wants to be getting into everything and going whenever he feels like it. He is no longer content to play on the floor with his toys, or roll around the living room for more than a few minutes. It isn't even good enough for him to jump or stand on my lap anymore most of the time. He wants to stand on the floor while holding onto the coffee table, or couch. That wouldn't be such a problem if he could do it alone. Unfortunately even though his mind is ready to do these things, his muscles are not. He can stand by himself for a few moments, but then he topples over as his legs buckle or he leans over too far. He has already gotten a couple of pretty good bumps, and that is with me right there with him. He is going to be black and blue when he starts doing it all by himself. Luckily none of his bumps have left nasty marks or anything. This stage is proving to be fairly frustrating for both of us. He is frustrated that he can't move, and I am frustrated, because the only time he isn't whining or crying is when I am helping him stand or walk. He is still taking naps at least. But it is incredibly hard to get anything done right now. As much as I don't want him to grow up to quickly, I am ready for him to be crawling so we can have some peace again! At least he gives me lots of smiles and giggles when we play, that makes up for any, okay, most of the frustration! :)

Taste the Rainbow...

If you look real close you can just see Kaden's little toothers on the bottom there! Aren't they cute!

Peaches gave Kaden a pucker face to start with, but after a bite or two to get used to them he loved them!

Oh boy Mom, what are we going to eat today?

What is this stuff?

I think he smeared his Chicken and Rice all over his face so he wouldn't have to eat very much!

We are still working on the Peas. He eats a little bit more each time I give them to him, and makes less faces.

Pears were so good he kept grabbing at the spoon to shove it into his mouth faster. Apparently I needed a little bit of help with it.

6 Months Old

It's my Birthday!

Another month has flown by and now my baby is 6 months old. That is half a year already! Where has the time gone? People ask me all the time, "Do you like being a mom?". My answer? I love it! It amazes me how much I love it. I remember while pregnant thinking... am I really ready for this, do I really want to be a mom right now? Silly question. I am definitely ready!

Kaden is so full of life. He may not be able to 'talk' so that I can understand him, but his face can tell me so much. He has an endless reserve of facial expressions, and is learning more and more sounds to communicate with us. Some of which consist of spitting in our faces... guess he better get it in while he can, I won't put up with that forever! He can't crawl quite yet, but he loves to roll, and doesn't seem to have too much trouble getting around the living room. His favorite place is under the table.

I think he is looking down his nose at me.

He is so beautiful, although I'm probably supposed to say handsome. All throughout my days I look at him playing, or sleeping and am so amazed and thankful that God has given me this precious gift. My baby Kaden.

A Rainbow of New Foods...

Since I haven't been posting these as he tries them, I am now going to update you on all the new and exciting foods Kaden has been trying lately.

Squash. He is really starting to get into eating these new strange foods. He loves it when I let him hold the spoon. I don't let him have the food dish, much to his disappointment, but he likes sucking the last bit of food off of his spoons. Then throwing them on the floor...

Since he has a poo problem, (and I am sure you were looking forward to hearing about it!) we decided to give prunes a shot. He loved them. They were all over his face and they got the job done. He is much more regular than he used to be! Stinkier too!

Green Beans were not especially exciting after having had a taste of fruit, but he still gobbled them down in a hurry.

Bananas were the best by far! I couldn't shovel them into his mouth fast enough. He even kept his hands out of the way so I could get the spoon into is mouth more quickly. Unfortunately he spent the next several hours spitting them back out at me. He had had a tiny bit of green beans first, I think the combination of two foods messes with his tummy. He has since had bananas and kept them down just fine.

I'm not sure exactly what is going on here, but it seems to be that when Kaden starts to get full he feels the need for some... plastic? He takes a bite or two then sucks on his highchair table for a bit, then lifts his head for another bite, sucks on his highchair... Funny boy!

Ahh, now these are my favorites! Kaden got to try big people food! We had mashed potatoes last night and decided to let him try a bit, since he was staring longingly at our plates.

"Mom this is fun!" "Uh... is it supposed to taste like this."

"I'm not so sure about this guys."

"Yucky!"

"No more."

Just because I didn't want to take the time to do another separate blog, I'm tagging this last picture on. Kaden and Daddy are enjoying a book. The picture is a little bit blurry because I wasn't using my flash. If I had then Kaden would have been more interested in me and the camera than in reading his book with Daddy. We are working on Daddy and Kaden spending a little bit of quiet time together each day. They are both thoroughly enjoying it.

Laughter with Your Drink?

My little Kaden wants to be big so badly!  He was watching me drink out of my water bottle a couple of days ago.  I freeze it partly full of water then it keeps the rest of the water ice cold... just how I like it, so there was a lot of condensation on the bottle.  Kaden kept reaching and trying to grab it from me, so I decided to let him have it.  I thought he would be deterred by the cold, on the contrary, he latched onto that bottle in a hurry.

He had a great time sucking the water off the side, and was even able to hold it for awhile all by himself.

I love how he 'kisses' the bottle!

In other news... I finally was able to catch a baby chuckle on video!  Nothing makes my heart melt faster than the sound of my baby boy giggling away.  I was tickling his chubby little thighs, which is the best giggle trigger!

Roll Over, Roll Over...

Kaden discovered how to roll over awhile back... I can't remember if I mentioned that or not.  But now he rolls from his back to his belly and then back again.  Since he didn't like being on his belly for so long he had to learn opposite of most babies.  So he took care of the hard part first!   Funny how he likes to be on his belly now.  He now rolls all over the house.  The other day I had him on a blanket in the living room and he rolled off the blanket, under the table and under a chair.  

He then proceeded to do pull ups!  He wants to be big and strong like his Daddy!

He was so proud of himself... of course then Mommy had to crawl under the table to get him out.  He doesn't really have any control over where he goes yet!

Here are a couple of videos so you can watch Kaden perform.  Enjoy!

Johnny Jump Up

So... I am a little bit behind on posts, so get ready for a rush again!

While we were in Milton Freewater for Memorial weekend (I told you I was behind), Papa and Grandma Wells had a Johnny Jump Up set up for our little jumping bean of a son!  At first he just sat in it and looked at us like we were a little bit crazy.

Slowly he figured out that he didn't just have to hang in this strange contraption, but that his feet hit the ground and he could stand.  For awhile he just kind of spun in circles.  He did figure it out a little bit and would get an occasional jump in here and there, and was pretty excited about it.

But he seemed to enjoy chewing on it more than anything.

Luckily the makers of Johnny Jump Up foresaw this problem and included a nifty little pacifier/chew toy.  Kaden loved it.  It is a strawberry, and the part that he sucks/chews on is the berry that has a bumpy texture which is great for teething on.

What is going on here Mom?

Max and Linda let us bring the Jumper home with us.  So we set it up in the doorway to his bedroom and tried it out after we got home.  It was like he was just waiting to try it out at home.  He started jumping right away, and even let me video him while doing it!  I love when he gets turned around, how he stops bouncing, looks over his shoulder and grins at me!