Happy First Birthday Kaden!

An event so big that I thought it warranted its very own blog. Even if I am several months behind in writing the blog.

On March 11, 2010 our sweet baby boy came in to the world. And it was on this day in 2011 that family and friends starting rolling in to town to help us celebrate the one year mark of this amazing event....Kaden's First Birthday! Some people celebrate their Birthday in one day. In our family we like to celebrate Birthdays over the course of several days.

The festivities kicked off on Friday, with Kaden wearing his official, custom made Birthday Boy t-shirt and packing 2 dozen (peanut free, sealed package) cupcakes for his birthday celebration with his daycare friends. After a fun day at "school" we picked him up early and brought him home to open birthday gifts from Mommy and Daddy. He was headed out the front door on his shiny new firetruck ride on toy, when the first set of enthusiastic family members arrived. Granny, Pa, Rhea and Aunt Shaunna were first on the scene to kick off Birthday Weekend 2011. Grandma Karen and Grandpa Tim arrived from Alabama not too far behind. We all enjoyed a delicious dinner of Kaden's favorite - Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans. Dinner was rounded out with some home made chocolate chip cookies and of course a stream of birthday presents.

Much like Christmas, Kaden still hasn't found his love for opening presents. Though he's getting better it was still a good thing that his cousin Rhea was on hand to help him out. After accumulating a pile of trucks, books, clothes, a sit and spin and other assorted goodies Grandpa Tim brought in the "big guy". In the time it took for Kaden to get a bath, his brand new personal slide and sports station had been setup in the living room. The rest of the night was spent with Rhea and Kaden going up and down and up and down the new slide.

Saturday morning started with a flurry of activity. Daddy went to work on getting the smoker fired up for the chickens and ribs. Rhea got started on decorating Kaden's personal cake, Mommy went to work on making the tea and prepping the sides and Aunt Shaunna and Granny got cracking on the decorations while Pa chased Kaden around. Grandma Kar

en and Grandpa Tim got to the house just in time to relieve Pa and coax Kaden in to a pre-party nap. One giant cupcake cake, 2 green bean casseroles, a crazy amount of roasted potatoes, a cheese tray, open flames and a ridiculous number of balloons later...it was time to party!

Leading the charge of guests for the party were Pappaw John and Grandma Nee who drove in to Charlotte that morning just for this special occasion.

They party itself went off without a hitch. Kaden was so delighted to have so many of his family and friends gathered to celebrate his special day. Most of his time was spent outside enjoying the beautiful day, toddling from person to person enjoying the special attention and many assisted trips up and down his new slide. It really was a picture perfect afternoon, the sun was out the dogs were chasing each other, the kids were running around in the yard and the adults were enjoying watching the mayhem and sharing stories. But of course it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine...there was a bit of destruction involved in the day......queue the birthday song and cake.

In retrospect it may not have been the smartest choice to bring out the cake prior to eating. But when you've got first time, super excited parents and super excited guests reason sometimes takes a back seat. As Kaden was surrounded by all of his friends and family singing the timeless happy birthday song, and the cameras flashed and the video recorded he did what every hungry 1 year old would do. He proceeded to scoop up large amounts of icing and stuff his face. And as everyone cheered and smiled, he continued to stuff large handfuls of icing in to his tiny little mouth. "Smash the cake" sa

id Mommy, "smash the cake" said Daddy...but still the icing just kept making it in to that little body that had never had more than the smallest amount of sugar until this day. Time for reinforcements! With the all to0 willing support from Rhea, Austin, Terry and Tanner a proper cake smashing was initiated. Kaden delighted at the inside of the cake being split open for his viewing and eating pleasure and his friends were just as equally happy with their now frosting and cake covered hands.

After a tearful departure with the remains of his birthday cake, it was off to a quick bath for the Birthday Boy and time to chow down on some of Daddy's famous ribs for the party guests. A much cleaner and cake free Kaden rallied through his tiredness to give well wishes to parting guests after dinner was over. He even managed to stay awake for the present opening portion of the day. Though as with previous attempts at opening presents he relied mostly on his cousin Rhea and his friends to help with any pesky wrapping paper. He was much more interested in the contents of the gift!

As the guests left and the remaining food put away we were left with every Toddler's dream...a room full of toys, books and games. Some that lit up, some that played music, even a few that were a parents dream, quiet and educational......then of course we had one that "popped". A right of passage for any Grandparent, the giving of the toy that makes the most noise. The award for this year went to Pappaw John for his hand picking of the infamous popcorn popper push toy. He was even so kind as to show Kaden how to use it properly.

Popcorn poppers, sugared up kids and all it was a great weekend of fun and celebration with friends and family who are an important part of our life and Kaden's up bringing. We couldn't have asked for a better celebration of our little boys 1st birthday or a better group of people to share it with. Here's looking forward to number 2 and another succesful gathering with our friends and family!

Toaster Oven Grilled Cheese

From the time I was visibly pregnant with Kaden friends, family and total strangers have always said to me….”enjoy it while they are little, the time goes by fast”. Always I would acknowledge them with a smile and a nod of my head and in my mind I knew what they were saying was right but that’s kind of one of those things you just can understand until you’ve experienced it. I don’t want to brag or anything…but I think I’m a fast learner. Here we sit in the middle of February, just one month away from Kaden’s first birthday and it feels like just yesterday that I was pregnant. With the exception of a 2 night get away, I’ve been present every single day of Kaden’s life and I still can’t believe how fast he has grown and changed.

As we approach the one year milestone, I am not only amazed at Kaden’s development, but am already reflecting at some of the silly ideas I had about the type of parent I would be. For all the reading and best laid plans, I’m already learning that the experts don’t know my son, all I can do is the best that I can and it’s not a bad thing to take advantage of modern advancements.

One of my anxieties as a parent (and yes, like plastic spoons and sippy cups I generally carry a few with me at all times) is that Kaden get the proper nutrition and learn to eat a balanced diet. For all the splendid efforts of my mom, I’m not exactly the poster child for the food pyramid. While most parents are relieved when their kids start eating meals with the family, I was sent in to a panic. How will I make sure that Kaden always has good food and something from the proper food groups for every meal? Should I buy organic? Is frozen as good as fresh? The answer to all those questions….who knows; just do the best you can. To illustrate my point I present Exhibit A; dinner. As Daddy, who usually cooks dinner in our house, was walking out the door the anxiety set in. Single Mom, one rowdy dog, 2 cats and a helpless little toddler in need of nourishment….why oh why didn’t I spend my Sunday preparing nourishing meals? Mommy’s solution….toaster oven grilled cheese, green beans and a banana. I doubt it’s going to win me any awards…but in our house sometimes toaster oven grilled cheese is the answer.

Let’s move on to another fun one. Exibit B; the portable DVD player. Now I’m pretty sure along the way either in my head or out loud I’ve said something to the effect of “kids watch too much tv” or “I want Kaden to learn to entertain himself and enjoy the scenery”. It didn’t take more than a couple of slightly painful temper tantrums during long trips for us to change our mind. And from having spent some time in the back seat now myself, I can honestly say there really isn’t much going on back there. We are now the proud owners of a dual screen portable DVD player for the car. We haven’t road tested it yet. We will be taking it for its maiden voyage to Savannah for a visit to the VanLefler’s in about a week…so I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Let’s be honest here, it’s not like I generally spend my weekends preparing nutritious meals anyway…but on this particular weekend I had a good excuse. It was Super Bowl Sunday and our favorite team The Pittsburgh Steelers were headed to the big game. Our house was buzzing with excitement as we pulled out the proper attire and prepared some of our favorite game day snacks to take with us to the Kaler’s. We would spend the day with the Kaler’s and then return home in time to watch the game from the comforts of our living room. The weather was perfect and the day went off without a hitch.

We are all well aware that we didn’t win that game. When the opposing team converts 3 or more turnovers to touchdowns, a big fat loss is generally the outcome. Now if you know Lance, you know that he lives and breathes Black and Gold. Under normal circumstances the outcome of that game would have put him in a foul mood for days to come. However, it is impossible to be upset at anything in the world, when your sweet baby boy is running around the room laughing his head off. I don’t know if it was the energy of the Super Bowl or if it was the effect of spending the day with the Kaler boys, but on this particular night Kaden was full of energy and loving life. He was showing off his mad walking skills by traveling at record speed around the living room and between Mommy and Daddy. His forward projection was only stopped by the occasional “grab and tickle” session which just doubled the amount of laughter. Even Kiesel got in on the action as he and Kaden rolled around on the floor. Sure the Steeler’s just gave the Packer’s a touchdown....but sweet Baby Bug is holding on to your leg, smiling up at you with his favorite book in hand. A requested reading of Quack and Piddle trumps anything playing on television.

And that’s how it goes around our house these days. We eat toaster oven grilled cheese and it’s no big deal to have the sports highlight of the season interrupted by laughter and books about baby Duck’s. I’m sure the list of exhibits where I’ve contradicted myself could already reach the middle of the alphabet. But as the popular saying goes….it’s all good! Our son is happy and healthy and even the occasional rough days always have moments of laughter.

It's the end of the world as we know it.....and I feel fine

The title for the blog seemed appropriate; given that it's been so long since our last it's going to sound like the REM song that nobody can sing all the way through. Sing it with me now.......drop off, pick up, alarm clocks, baby bottles, midnight teething, late for work, playtime, bath time, squeaky toys, lots of noise, quiet time, time to eat, time to sleep, the dog is due for shots next week....it's the end of the world as we knew it....and I feel fine!

Actually, we are all feeling great! In just a few months our sweet baby boy has officially become a toddler. He started in the "big kids" class this week, can walk across the room on his own power and has zero interest in baby food. He's sporting 6 teeth, big boy shoes and an almost constant smile. But let me slow down and tell you what's been going on up to this point...


October

We had a very big month. The whole family made the trip home to enjoy Kaden's first Forest Festival. A time honored, annual event that brings the carnival, exhibits and of course the grand feature parade to the generally quiet streets of Elkins. No carnival rides for Kaden this year, but he did get to soak up the atmosphere as we hopped from ride to ride chasing Rhea and Lexi. I'm pretty sure he had the opportunity to experience carnival food, but neither he nor Granny are fessing up to that one. Other highlights from the weekend include the winged wheels motorcycle show and watching the grand feature parade with Grandaddy and Nanna. Of course Kaden filled his first festival right of passage by attending and falling asleep during the fireman's parade. (That's a constant parade of fire truck’s rolling slowly down the street, with lights flashing and sirens blaring for those of you not familiar with Festival)

But the party didn't stop there. Pappaw John and Grandma Nee trucked it down to Charlotte to visit the following weekend and take in the Nascar races. Kaden and Mommy had a great time hanging out at the campsite and strolling through the vendor stands. Daddy got to take a few nights off and enjoy the races and the after race activities of the campsite. Kaden got his first taste of fried potatoes and deer gravy and he's definitely a fan.

Halloween brought more fun in the month of October. We carved our first family pumpkins; big scary Daddy pumpkin, medium sized neutral Mommy pumpkin and cute little Baby pumpkin. We were all pleased with our art work, but I think baby pumpkin with his two teeth to mimic Kaden was by far the winner.

We were well stocked with candy and an oh so cute costume for Kaden's first Halloween. However, as we found out with this holiday, planning ahead doesn't always pay off. By the time we got to Halloween Kaden had taken a fairly decent growth spurt and his oh so cute Halloween costume went from being the very cool Batman to looking more like Bat-boy in short pants. Yes...his costume was too little. And if you are wondering if we dressed him up in the costume anyway...yes, yes we did. However, put your concerns at rest because he only wore it for about 30 minutes. That was all that was left of Halloween by the time he woke up. But in those 30 minutes we handed out candy, got pictures with our freshly carved pumpkins and a good time was had by all.


November

As I look back on the happenings of November I write this with mixed emotion. In November one of the most wonderful women I have ever known left us to take her spot in Heaven. We are all blessed and better people for having her in our life. Even Kaden, who only knew her for a short time, will carry a little something forward from Grandma Yokum.

It was also this November that a new angel entered our life, as proud parents Cassie and Joe welcomed Jackson Leonard Dooling to the world. Cassie and I have been best friends since our first day together on the YMCA van back in elementary school, so it's great that our "guys" will have the opportunity to be such great friends too.

Work was big theme in the month of November.. So big in fact that we had to fly in reinforcements to help out for a week. Grandma Karen was kind enough to drop everything and come spend a week with us to help out with Kaden and other stuff around the house. Mommy worked a rather intense schedule and Daddy was doing his normal work travel. It's hard to say who had more fun, Kaden or Grandma Karen, but I know they were both sad when the week was over.

Mommy and Daddy (or Lance and Amanda as they were once known) road tripped it to Pittsburgh for their annual anniversary trip. It wouldn't be an anniversary without good friends and Steeler's football! This year we were fortunate enough to see the Steelers bring home a victory and had a great time enjoying that victory with Justin, Amy, Steve and Angie. Kaden and Kiesel stayed behind to enjoy some quality time with Granny and other close by family members. This was of course the first time Kaden and Mommy had been apart for any real length of time. Kaden did great. Mommy had a few moments where she had to pull it together but didn't do too bad herself. I think we learned that 2 nights is Mommy's limit. As it got dark on the second night of being away Mommy was ready to make the drive back to Granny's, but Daddy to the rescue with reason and rationale.

And that brings us to Thanksgiving. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Charlotte this year, just Daddy, Mommy, Kaden and the animals. Kaden enjoyed his first tastes of an assortment of yummy items...turkey, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. And of course there was a small feast passed down to our furry friends.

On the day after Thanksgiving (aka Black Friday) Kaden and Mommy braved the crowds and took advantage of some great deals at Toys R Us and the mall. Probably the last time we'll do that as a team for many years to come, but our first run was a huge success! Just picture a sleeping baby in the stroller, a mom with 4 hands and people everywhere. that’s kind of how it went down.


December

Looking back now, this is definitely the month where it all started to happen. We didn't even see it coming, but we were losing our baby. At this point we were starting to wonder if Kaden was ever going to get the hang of crawling. For weeks he had been up on all fours rocking back and forth as if he would take off at any minute...then all of a sudden on December 3..off he went. A little wobbly at first, but within a day or two he was quite proficient and catching us off guard with how quick he could move. Point in case would be the day that I stepped out to the garage to quickly grab something out of my car and turned around to find him trailing me and already down the stoop. (oops!)


A trip to WV for 10 days over Christmas didn't slow him down either. In fact, we came with a crawler and left with a babbling crawler/climber. I guess spending time with his older cousin made him realize that he didn't want to be hanging out on the floor and that the good stuff was up in higher elevations.


We kicked off the week with Kaden's first haircut. It was an easy decision to say it was time when Daddy kept referring to his baby boy as Billy Ray...in honor of the famous 80's hairstyle he brought back (aka the mullet). Kaden did great in the chair. His first haircut was delivered at Cathy's Beauty Boutique in Valley Bend, by none other than Cathy herself. Kaden also had Austin, Savanna and Tarra there to support him as well. Probably all reasons why he laughed and smiled the whole time. It was a great social event too as it's been a while since I had been at one of my old child hood stomping grounds and spent time with Tarra and the kids. Tarra and I spent some quality time in and around the shop when we were kids. Probably why we were there for about 3 hours that night, so thank you to Cathy for putting up with us so late in to the night.


Christmas was much like the Christmas' I remember from my childhood. Lots going on, family everywhere, places to go and presents to be opened. We did a good job of spreading it out this year and really got to enjoy quality time with everyone. Per usual for a 9 month old, Kaden was not yet in to the present opening scene. He was pleased with the finished results however, so it was lucky he had Rhea on hand to be his official present opener. They were quite the dynamic duo ripping through paper and smiling big when the contents revealed themselves.


Holiday baking has come to be a big part of the Christmas tradition in our family and this year was no exception. The coolest part of this year’s cookie baking was the immersion of Rhea in to the process. In previous years she's been interested and capable of helping with a few things here and there, but this year was different. She was not only by my side measuring things, but she took on tasks all by herself. As she will tell you, she skinned the whole bag of hershey kisses and reese cups all by herself! (And for the record, it's not child labor...she wanted to help). We made gingerbread people, cut out and decorated sugar cookies, rolled ball after ball of peanut butter blossoms and of course made a couple of batches of traditional chocolate chip cookies.


We had another slight wardrobe malfunction over the Christmas holiday. Once again careful planning and forward thinking were the enemy. In honor of Kaden's first Christmas Granny had a pair of red butt flap pajamas (you know like the old moonshiners wore) custom embroidered to commemorate the event. Once again, our off the charts little guy was a bit too long for his outfit. And yes, like all good parents, we did make him wear the outfit for pictures but have otherwise retired it to his keepsake bag.

In an ironic turn of events, we drove back the day after Christmas to Charlotte, only to find that Santa had brought more than just presents.......the ground was covered in snow! By the time we got back it was mostly crusty ice and it melted the next day. but all the same we had snow for Christmas in the south. After getting a good nights sleep, we awoke to find that Christmas wasn't quite over. By the time we unpacked all of the boxes that arrived in our absence the Christmas tree was full of gifts. We spent the morning opening presents and enjoying some of the great stuff mailed to us by far away family. I know it's hard to keep count, so let me summarize for you....in a matter of 10 days, Kaden got to experience Christmas 6 times. Talk about being loved!!

You would never know it to look at him, but Kaden's handsome and energetic Daddy finally turned the big 4-0! We commemorated the event with a gathering of family and friends and course what else but Steelers football. We had a bit of a challenge finding a location with the game on, due to the Thursday night schedule, but by mid-first quarter we were able to commandeer some bar stools and watch the Steelers lay the smack down on the Panthers. Daddy and Mommy will be rounding out the celebration with a 3 day trip to Key West in April, where we'll hopefully be soaking up the sun and laying in to some nice big fish off the deck of our fishing charter.

January

So if December was the beginning...January would be the end. Not long after the first of the year our sweet baby boy became a toddler. That's right..no more baby, he's a full fledged feeding himself, walking and climbing toddler. It was so random that I don't even remember the exact night, but we were all in the living room, winding down for the evening when Kaden took his first steps. He had pulled himself up on his toy box and was holding one of Kiesel's bones. Without a thought he just started to move forward and before anyone (including Kaden) knew what was going on, he had traveled 3 steps, dog bone still in hand. We all sat silent for a moment, and then everyone just started smiling and laughing. For the next few days, most of his walking was limited to walking behind his school bus or push cart.
It was again a trip to WV and time around his big cousin Rhea when he began to further progress in his walking skills. The video of Kaden's first documented steps was taken in Granny's living room on MLK weekend and there are several since then all marking the progression of his walking abilities. Nothing grabs the attention of an audience like a cute little boy demonstrating new skills, and Kaden is quickly learning that. During the gathering to commemorate Granny's 60th birthday Kaden was more than happy to entertain the family with demonstrations of his walking abilities. Big cousin Rhea was always close by, just in case he needed encouragement or assistance.
Speaking of Granny's 60th birthday, we are sad to say that we have only had limited sightings of her since. There is a body with an iPad head that is seen frequently, but very few Granny viewings.
I can't believe it, but I almost left out the snow storm that hit Charlotte the second week of January. Very unusual for the south, but one morning we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground and of course schools and businesses were closed for the day. Fortunately/unfortunately Mommy and Daddy both have the ability to do some work from home, so it wasn't a total snow day. We did however all take a break and go outside in our snow gear to enjoy the freshly fallen snow. Kaden loved it from the minute we put him down. He took off crawling through the snow like a bundled up little plow. And of course he thought it was quite funny to see Kiesel kicking up snow when he went running after the ball.
Phew...finally..my head is swimming with trying to remember all the events of the past few months. And while I would like to say that I'll do better next time and write more frequently...I try to never make promises that I'm not sure I can keep.

OK...everybody now..let's sing this one out.........dirty diapers, dirty dog feet, did Kaden get enough to eat, what's for dinner, what's in your hair, get the cat out of the chair, uh oh overflow, clean it up, let it go...it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!