Happy Birthday Kade William!!!

I can't believe it's been a year since we were blessed with Kade!  I'm not going to lie, the first 7 months were tough.  He pretty much cried for all of them, unless he was sleeping which, thankfully, he was (and still is) a champ at.  With that said, it's been the best year of my life! 

I'm always amazed at how fast he's growing and changing.  I'm excited to see what his 2nd year brings but sad that he's no longer a small baby that I can hold and cuddle.  Oh, who am I kidding, this little man NEVER cuddled!!!  He is starting to now though.  This morning I think I got a whole 3 minutes where he sat still and drank his milk on my lap.  Otherwise it's GO, GO, GO with the Kade Man.  He's starting to give kisses too.  Kisses that only a mother could love because they are open mouth, full of drool and sometimes he sneaks in a lick with his tongue.

His favorite things earlier in the year were the Baby Bjorn and the vacuum, the only 2 things that stopped him from crying.  These days his favorites (in no particular order) are: tractors, Daddy and baths.  When he's tired and crabby in the early evening all we have to say is "bath" and he lights up like a Christmas tree!  Then he runs into the bathroom and screams (happy screams) until we get him in the tub.  He's even started helping undress himself to get in there faster.  The only thing that can deter him once we've got the water running is Daddy on the lawn mower.  Then he's torn between running outside or staying in the bathroom.  It's pretty cute to watch him weigh out the options, you can almost see the wheels turning in his mind.

We had his birthday party on Sunday with my and Erik's family.  Tonight, Lady A and some of her family are coming over to celebrate.  I think it's pretty great that Kade has a whole other family that is just as excited about today as we are.  As I've said before, he's got no shortage of love in his life.  Happy Birthday to my favorite little man!!

Some of these are repeats from past posts, but I had to put pics of Kade's actual birth day up to see how much he's changed in 1 year. 

  1st bottle, about an hour after he was born.  Erik and I were too nervous/scared to do it (we'd never fed a baby so small!!) so the nurse had to show us how it was done.  It didn't take long for us to take over though!

1st picture with mom.  Look at that little peanut!

1st picture with Dad.  We still marvel at how similar these 2 are already!  They're like 2 peas in a pod.

Get your motor running...
We gave him his birthday present early.  He's figured out how to get on and off but still hasn't mastered the art of pushing the button to make it move.  He'd rather get off and push it, or let us hold the button down for him.  Here we thought we were done spending long periods of time hunched over!

Getting a little help from Reed opening his presents.

For 1 split second we had all 4 in the same spot for a picture in Kade's new wagon.

Great minds think alike, Jeremy and Evelyn got Kade a 4 wheeler too!  Lucky Uncle Jeremy got to provide the motor while Kade steered.

Piglets and Playdates

Last week Kade and I had a play date in Apple Valley with 3 of my good friends from high school.  With 4 moms and 7 kids, the oldest 4 yrs. and the youngest 6 months, it can best be described as "controlled" chaos!  The 4 of us did manage to sit for 1 blissful hour and talk while the babies slept and the big kids played.  Then we went to a fabulous park that had sprinklers all over for the kids to play in.  Since Kade just figured out how to walk, I got my fair share of water sprayed on me too :-)

When we got home Erik decided it was a good night for the fair.  Being the good ex-4-H'r that he is, he knew that all of the "cool" animals would be going home that night and Kade NEEDED to see all the farm animals up close.  Kade was a trooper.  After a day of playing I thought he'd be wiped out but he loved every minute of the fair.  Maybe it was because to enter and exit the fair we had to pass a line of tractors on display, on both sides.  Of course, someone had to sit on each and every model to test the steering wheels.  Oh, and Kade sat on a few too :-)  (just kidding, Erik!)  Kade had his first taste of rib ticklers, mini doughnuts and a chocolate malt.  All were very well received!

Like I said, "controlled" chaos...

Can you believe we managed a group picture?!  Even Jaycee the dog sat long enough for it!

Water coming at him from all angles!

Kade getting his own personal tour of the new Birthing Center at the fair.  It helps to know a grandpa that volunteered!

I was about a second shy of snapping a picture of Kade petting the pig!

If I had a dollar for every time Kade and Daddy sat on a tractor, I'd be a millionaire!!

Sweet BABY Kade?

I don't think we can consider him a baby anymore :-(  The little big boy is loving this walking business.  I think he's wondering why he didn't do it sooner!  Now, if we could just find shoes to fit his little football shaped feet!

Vacation #1

Sorry for the delayed post, we've been on vacation!  Last weekend was Eyota Days, so we went to the parade then left for "Up North" as we Minnesotan's like to call it. 

Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of tractors in the parade this year!  There was a lot of candy though.  Unfortunately for Kade he had to watch everyone else eat it.  Next year, buddy, next year.

Half the time I forgot about the camera on vacation so I didn't take many pictures.  I did remember to take it on Kade's first boat ride though.  It was also his first time in a life jacket.  That didn't go over too well, until the boat started moving.  Then, we decided the life jacket wasn't so bad after all because we were too preoccupied with going fast and imitating the sound of the motor.

After a week of holding hands and pushing a walker everywhere on vacation, Kade decided he is done with assistance.  Last night, when we got home, he let go of our hands for good.  He's officially a lone walker!  I hope Erik and I are in good enough shape because the chasing has begun!

Meal times are a bit messy these days.  How much food actually makes it into a baby's mouth when they self feed??

Michael and Kade, in their matching strollers, waiting for the parade to start.

Something interesting caught their eye!

One of the few times Kade sat down during the parade.  He looks like such a big boy!

We did manage to find some tractors after all.  It's 100 degrees and my boys still have to play on the tractor.  Don't think for one second Erik didn't take a turn on the seat after Kade!

Uncle Jay flew in from WA and stopped in for a visit.  Kade wanted me to let everyone know that Jay's hair does NOT taste very good.

Come on Grandma and Grandpa!  At the count of 3, swing me!

How many men does it take to put a life jacket on an 11 month old?

So serious.

Me and my cousin, Lauren.  She was the flower girl in our wedding, when she was 2!  On vacation, we were Penelope and Cynthia, from England.  Our British accents were spot on!

There's a smile! 

Boating is serious business, it's not the time for smiling or laughing.

Grandpa, watch where you're going!

Here, I'll drive.  Some one's got to get us back to shore!

And, He's Off!!

2-for-1 on posts today!!  Just a quick video of the little man in action.  These aren't his first steps but I had to post a video of him walking.  He still prefers to army crawl however, with enough coaxing, he will take a few steps.  Just a few more months of this and his legs rolls might finally disappear enough to prove that he does have ankles! 

Kade and Molly

Kade has discovered a way to get close to Molly!  He got this only slightly annoying squeaky book from his uncle Jeremy that either Molly finds equally annoying or she loves it, we can't figure out which.  Either way, whenever Kade pushes it Molly comes running.  This video is a tamed version of how she usually acts around it.  However, you can see Kade knows how to tease her with it.  I know it looks like Molly is going to bite him but she only acts tough.  She's got "Little Dog Syndrome", all bark and no bite. 
This book is the bridge Kade needed to actually be able to touch Molly and he uses it to the best of his ablity!

Fourth of July Festivities

Could we have asked for better weather for this past weekend?!  I mentioned in my "Gopher Count" post about swimming at Rich and Sharon's pool, so I'll give you one guess where we spent Saturday, Sunday, AND Monday...

We swam, lounged, and ate all day, everyday.  And, after dinner each night "Papa Rich" took us on a hayride.  The only thing we didn't get in was a bonfire but I think that's because the adults were more tired than the kids by the time evening rolled around. 

The most exciting news of the weekend is Kade took his first steps!!!  We've been playing "No Hands!", where we see how long Kade can stand on his own.  Every day it gets a little longer and on Sunday he decided to throw a few steps (6 to be exact) into the game.  It was very exciting, and since he did it at Rich and Sharon's (aka Grandma Holiday), he had quite a large audience and lots of cheers.  Of course, he hasn't taken any steps since :-)  I think he just wanted to prove that he could do it, but he gets there faster by army crawling so that's his mode of choice still.

I've got lots and lots of pictures to accompany this post.

This picture isn't from this past weekend, I just thought it was super cute because Ellie likes to help Kade walk.  Whenever we're walking Kade she comes running over and grabs his arms too.

Modeling his swim outfit that he got from Lady A. 

Kade's favorite part of the pool, the water coming down off the slide.

Taking a snack break, swimming makes a guy thirsty!  His shorts are a little like pants right now but the waist fits him perfectly :-)

Dreaming about the day that he can ride his bike all by himself.  At least he"ll look like a professional in the meantime.

Getting ready to help Grandpa in the fields.

Going on our first bike ride.  It was a little hard to pedal because somebody kept kicking me in the back of the legs!

Braeden, Owen and Kade on the hayride.

Poor Ellie, the only girl with all these boys.  It doesn't seem to bother her though because she's the princess!

Sisters-in-law, due 1 week apart!

Kade taking the lawn tractor for a spin.  I think we should probably leave that bike helmet on him permanently.  The kid LOVES anything with wheels and a steering wheel.

Our tour guide, "Papa Rich".

Time for hay ride #2!

Grandma and Grandpa C came along this time.

Owen and Kade are taking over!!

Fell asleep on the 5 minute drive home, after chugging a bottle.  Whew!  It's tough work playing all weekend!