Whew...we are back! Our little "vacation" from blogging definitely wasn't planned, but out entire household (and anyone who crossed our paths) was struck with the flu. Then with all the commotion of the holiday, the boys are finally getting back into their routines. It has been a rough week, but we are all healthy again! Tomorrow I will finally post about our beautiful niece's baptism...but first I need to highlight our handsome baby boy, who is turning 10 months old today!! How can it be, in some ways it seems like just last week he was born!
Kaden is no longer a little baby that will sit and play, he has turned into a active little boy who has one thing on his mind...destruction!! Here is a rundown of what he has been up to...
Kaden is a mover! He can crawl super fast and and you can't turn your back on him for a second! He can crawl, pull-up, cruise and climb stairs...nothing is safe in the house. He has started to stand for a few seconds at a time by himself, so walking is bound to happen any time.
Over the past few weeks his personality has really started to shine. He is a sweet, loving, happy natured boy, but has a real mischievous side too! He loves to do things he isn't suppose to do and turn around to see if you are going to stop him. When he sees you coming he just starts laughing and takes off full speed!
He has been on table food for the past month and this boy still LOVES to eat. It is pretty common that Kaden will eat more than double what his big brother does at any meal. This past month he has also mastered using his sippy cup. He still nurses twice a day, but gets sippy cups of juice/milk the rest of the day.
Kaden has had both of his bottom teeth pop through. I am not looking forward to the rest of his teeth to come in, because teething is not easy on this little guy. It makes him so irritable and he can't sleep. For those two teeth to come in, we had about 2 weeks of a cranky baby...not fun for anyone!
He is a decent sleeper these days. I feel kind of bad for him, because we will be on a great sleeping streak and then we go somewhere or do something and his schedule gets turned upside down...but overall he is a good sleeper. He still gets a nightly bath with Karter around 7:45 and is in bed shortly after and will sleep until 6:45ish. On most nights we have to go into his room at least once to give him a pacifier. He usually takes 2-3 naps a day, but they aren't that long. If he could just learn to nap longer we could drop it down to just 2.
Kaden has really turned into a book worm. He really likes to snuggle in our laps to read books, but don't try to make him touch the "touchy" things, because that really makes him mad!
He has two favorite toys...Karter's cars and any ball. He really likes to roll balls around the house and crawl after them. But even more than chasing balls, he probably likes to play with Karter's matchbox cars. He will stand at the coffee table with Karter and roll them back and forth and make his "engine" sounds.
Besides pretending to be a car, Kaden is always making noises with his mouth. His favorite things to say are "da-da" and his favorite letter, "e-e-e".
In addition to the noises he makes with his mouth, Kaden likes to do anything to make noise. He claps his hands and bangs on the table all the time.
Kaden is a lover, and he doesn't deprive Rascal of any of his love! Our dog is the best.dog.ever! Anytime Kado spots Rasc, he takes off and squeals with delight as he crawls all over him and tugs on his fur or ears, and Rascal doesn't even move! They are good buds!
We won't go to the doctor for another couple of months, but he is definitely growing. He wears size 4 diapers and 12-18 month clothes.
Happy 10 months baby boy...we love you!!
A few weeks ago we mentioned to Karter that we were going to the zoo. However, he wasn't able to wrap his little 2 year old mind around the fact that we weren't going for a few weeks. Every day since then he has talked about the zoo and what we "must see".
He was so excited on Saturday when he woke up and we told him that the day had finally come! He was almost too excited to take a nap, since he knew when he woke up we would be going to Christmas at the zoo.
We met up with our friends, Craig & Jessica, and enjoyed looking at the beautiful Christmas lights, but Karter's favorite part was seeing all the animals. In typical Karter fashion, as soon as we saw one animal he would say, "next one". He doesn't understand getting your moneys worth!
As soon as Karter saw the walrus he asked, "does that walrus have a wig?". (That is from one of his books.) 
Besides looking at the animals, Karter spent much of the night kicking snow around.
Kaden was snug as a bug in his stroller, just taking it all in!
One of the main attractions was Santa Claus. Just like last year, Karter was all about him until we actually got there.
Karter didn't ever cry, but he wasn't going to sit on Santa's lap.
He did sit next to him and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. (Balls, cars, trains, books and puzzles...the same thing he says every time we ask.)
Kaden on the other hand, sat on Santa's lap but did not like it one bit!
He continued his streak of not liking anyone wearing a hat (except Daddy).
I don't have any pictures of our favorite part, the dolphin show. Between being packed into the aquarium like sardines and having to juggle the kids, we were not able to take any pictures. The show was great and once it started it had the boys (and our) complete attention. Kristoffer said that they were the most athletic dolphins he had ever seen...it was really good!!
We are so glad we are living back in Indiana and get to spend more time with Craig and Jess! Thanks for a fun night!!
