Toddler Group Mayhem and Learning to Roll

Today was way too busy to pull out the camera.  Instead of a brand new pic, I'm sharing this one of Sadie learning to roll front to back for the first time on Casey's birthday.  She started rolling back to front at 3 1/2 months - which is the opposite of how Caden started.

Casey is in California for work tonight so I wanted to post a little about our day to let him know what we've been up to.  It was a very Toddler Group-centric kinda day.  First we went to class and Caden had a lot of fun painting his hand and making turkeys.  Then we picked Sadie up from Stacy's and stayed to visit for about an hour.  

After naptime we schlepped ourselves to Costco and bought about 200 lbs worth of baby wipes, water bottles, paper plates, and napkins for the school.  (I now hold a board position as school Purchaser so I have the pleasure of doing this weekly.)  By the time we got back from delivering it all, it was 7:00 so we rushed dinner, bedtime routines, and taking out the trash.  Now it's 9:00 and all is quiet...for how long is anybody's guess. 

Side Note: while getting in the car to go to Costco, Caden said, "It's raining damn it - ha ha!".  I swear I don't know who he got that from since Case and I never say it but he said it none-the-less.  So I imagine our Parents of the Year certificate should be arriving in the mail any day now.

Dance Fever

 

Today, Caden found the music button on Sadie's exersaucer (which used to be his and which he inherited from Georgia).  He let the rhythm move him...

...Then he got tired and decided to take a rest with Sadie - she wasn't exactly sure what was going on.

Sleep Training Here We Come

It's 10:20 pm and Sadie is playing on the floor in the living room.  We tried putting her to bed from 8:00 - 9:30 but she was having none of it.  Caden was sleep trained at 4 1/2 months and if this keeps up Sadie is gonna get her turn very soon.  Also, the above shot is how she sleeps these days.  No - it's not some sort of medieval punishment for not going to bed.  She has to be swaddled, then zipped up in the "woombie", bounced on our knee for 10-20 minutes and finally put to sleep on her reflux wedge.

We also saw the pediatrician today.  Sadie had her 4 month check up.  She is 95th percentile for height and weight and 75th percentile for head circumference.  So she's still our solid little girl...but no longer a pinhead (mom says with loving affection).

Caden had a fever last night and has the beginnings of a cold and an ear infection today.  When Case asked him if the doctor was nice he said, "Yeah, yep, of course!".  No pictures of him because he slept most of the day away - 45 minutes in the car and over 4 hours at home.

Trick or Treating

 

We had four different opportunities to dress up for Halloween.  The first was on Wednesday during toddler group.  Sadie was sleeping and Debby was visiting so she took Caden to class.  He didn't want to wear the puppy costume he picked out with dad at Target so we went with the back up Mariner outfit that day.

  

Our first trick-or-treating outing was at a Senior Center with the toddler group on Friday.  Sadie was a pumpkin and this time Caden was willing to wear the puppy costume.  Side Note: When dad bought this outfit with Caden he let him pick it out, almost to his peril.  Apparently, Caden was originally very excited about a big, pink bunny costume before he saw the puppy.

Caden loved the decorations in Casey's office.

 

Our 3rd stop was the annual trick-or-treating and party at Casey's office Friday night.  Last year Caden stood on his own for the first time at this party.  This year he was a wild man, running up and down the halls looking at all the decorations and playing in the kids room.  Sadie's cow outfit was a big hit.

On Halloween we made plans to go trick-or-treating in Bell Square with John and Melanie, Stacy and Jeremy, and all the kids.  Unfortunately, I got sick and had to stay home.  But Case did a great job schlepping both kids around an amazingly over-crowded mall.  Despite the chaos, Caden came home with a big smile on his face.

And last, but not least, this is how Max spent his Halloween...recovering from surgery for an ear hemotoma.  He had to wear the cone for 2 weeks and every morning Caden would come down the stairs, see him, and say, "poor Max".

Pumpkin Patch

Halloween was 2 weeks ago but I hadn't started this blog yet so I'm going to post about it now while everything's still fresh in my mind.  It was really fun to see Caden get so into a holiday.  We started off our family festivities by heading to Dr. Maze's Corn Maze (and pumpkin patch).  This was an activity organized by Caden's toddler group so Stacy, Jeremy, and their kids joined us.

Our first stop was the petting zoo.  Caden loved it, especially this particular goat.

Next up was the search for a pumpkin for each member of the family.  That was pretty interesting until...

Caden and his friend Kaitlyn

Caden spotted this tractor and we spent a good 20 minutes playing around on it.  Eventually we picked out a pumpkin for each of us and Caden thought Sadie's tiny pumpkin was extra special.  Lastly, we went on a tractor ride around the farm.  It may have been a bit more impressive if the crows hadn't prevented half of the corn maze from growing that year.

 

Casey and Caden went to a pumpkin decorating event at the toddler group a few weeks later and gave Caden's pumpkin two faces.

Then, when it was closer to Halloween, Casey and the kids carved the two biggest pumpkins to look like this.

Milestones

We've been experiencing a lot of milestones around here lately - Caden just turned 2 and is learning to jump and string together complex 5-6 word sentences.  Sadie is 4 months and now rolling in both directions and playing independently in her excersaucer.  And last, but certainly not least, Casey just turned the big 3-0.

Here's Caden "painting" with colored water - this is the first time mom has tried this trick and it worked really well.

This is the 2nd or 3rd time we put Sadie in the excersaucer, she took right to it - esp. the rotating dials.

All of these milestones have got me thinking about the easiest way to document them as time goes by.  I've resisted creating a family blog for a while now because it seemed exceedingly time consuming for something that will only be read by limited family and then will disappear into cyberspace history.  But then I found all these programs that turn blog posts into books and I started thinking about what a great thing that would be for the kids to be able to look back on the little stuff.

So we're starting today.  It's a Sunday and last night we went out to celebrate Casey's 30th birthday.  Unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures but the one above is from his actual birthday (Friday night) when Case and I went out for a late dinner and Laura babysat.

Saturday night we had a small get together with close friends at The Keg (where Laura works).  Joining us were John and Melanie, Stacy and Jeremy, Sam, Andrew and Heather, and Kristian and Elizabeth (at separate times).  We had a lot of drinks, a lot of birthday cake, and a lot of fun but both Case and I are dragging a little today.  Debby and Don stayed the night with the kids on Saturday.  Sadie has recently started going to bed at 8:00 and not waking until around 1:30, but this weekend she decided she didn't really want to sleep so Laura and Debby each had their hands full.  All and all it was a great birthday weekend and now we're counting down the days to Thanksgiving.