Kaden was so excited to be going golfing with dada, grammie, Gibby, Aunt Carol and Uncle Dean. I was there but mostly for the photo opps!

kaden loved the beach this summer but still shyed from the water! he could have spent hours playing in the sand!

our first attempt to toilet train- a little social story about peeing was more for entertainment value than educational!

I can't believe it's been over a year since I've written about Kaden! Focusing on the present isn't enough! Just looking at pictures of Kaden makes me realize just how much he's grown and how cute he was with the chubby cheeks! He's now over 38 inches- when I measured at 2 1/2 years- this should mean that he'll be 6'2" as an adult! He's a tall kid as it is and is very determined when he wants something! There's definately a balancing act between encouraging independence and wanting to squash those boundary buttons that keep getting pushed!

Here's the boy in August of 2008 at 2 1/2!

Kaden is spending this summer exercising his curiousity and his legs! He loves animals and things with wheels, especially my car!


Like my tattoo?

Kaden loves to sit behind the steering wheel and press every available button. Here he is checking out my CD collection, thankfully there are no originals in the case!

We've had a long winter of building up Kaden's immune system and I think he's pulled through fairly well! Brian and I, on the other hand had our systems tested, again and again!

Kaden continues to delight us with the typical baby stuff like talking and walking! He still thinks that crawling gets him places faster than walking. He loves books and music and he's got a pretty good throwing arm! As you can see from the pics he's a mover and a shaker and loves a new adventure!

Judging by the yogurt explosion, I guess the time to give Kaden independence with his spoon skills is NOT in the car! We are all learning together and enjoying him immensely!

Kaden is now letting me put gear on his head for dress up opportunities and Brian continues to go along with my need to do things with a theme! Easter at Karen's was celebrated with a 'biker' theme and we had as much fun hunting down the clothing options as we did hunting down the eggs!

Hello again! Time flies by and I try to keep taking pictures of the 'firsts' that are happening on a daily basis. Updating the blog is another challenge! Here is Kaden in March '06 and we were celebrating the end of the time frame for reversing the initial adoption decision. It took us a year of paperwork etc. to finalize the adoption, and on March 2nd, 2007 we had that opportunity to celebrate in court and sign the papers! We were very thankful to Linda and Jimmy who had to sign the consent forms again, a year later when paperwork went missing!

Here's a few shots of Kaden celebrating St. Paddy's day with his grand aunties! He absolutely loves the accordian!

We have had an eventful year with much to celebrate! 2 days before Kaden had his first birthday, he had tubes put in his ears as he was getting too many ear infections. Then, on the big day, we had our first storm with schools canceled. Kaden had his daycare party the next day with lots of treats!


Then he was toasted 2 more times, once with friends at the Farmer's Market, and one more time with family! Cousin Shane even played piano as we sang "happy birthday" to our sweet boy! A good time was had by all and Kaden, I think, got the idea that he is very much loved by many many people!

Christmas came very quickly for us this year with many firsts to experience. First there was the reality that Kaden hates hats so in order for costume momma to get him dressed up in the festive moment, she had to sneak the santa hat on while he was sleeping! He did however, agree to wear the red seal skin vest for our first family picture taking event!

Here Kaden receives a treat from Santa at his daycare Christmas concert. His group did a little play with costume hats, but as you can tell by the picture, his did not stay on.
Christmas was quiet yet full of good food and lots of packages for Kaden to open. Despite the beautiful toys and clothes he received, his favorite seemed to be the new canister vaccuum cleaner! Pictured here is Kaden's cousin Carissa, Auntie Carol, daddy, mommy, and Gibby. Missing are Grammy (taking the picture) and uncle Dean (poor guy had the flu on Christmas day!)