Last weekend we took a trip out to Kansas City to introduce Cade to his great grandmother and some other awesome family members. Of course going to Kansas City for the weekend meant getting on an airplane with Cade for the first time. I’ll admit that Trey and I were a tad nervous about being “that parent” with a screaming toddler on the plane, but Cade was awesome! We were well prepared with a lot of “new to Cade” snacks and play things. Cade ate so much on the flight out there, that Trey and I were cracking up. The little guy ate a snack cup of nilla wafers, and peanut butter and jelly sandwich, veggie straws, two packs of raisins, and of course biscoff cookies from delta.Needless to say, he didn’t eat dinner when we got there. We were even more impressed with the trip home considering it was right in the middle of his nap and of course he didn’t sleep.  Sweet buddy kept saying “night night” and laying his head down only to pop right back up again.

He was very uncertain about the train ride in the airport.

Checking out the planes before we left

It wasn’t enough to feed himself. Feeding daddy provided with lots of entertainment as well!

Best seat on the plane – perfect view of all of the workers loading and unloading the luggage

Playing with painters tape – fun and easy to clean up 🙂

Finding rocks with cousin Ali

Lunch with grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins

Visit to great-grandma’s house. His favorite thing was the wheelbarrow

Lunch at firehouse with great-grandma

Fun at the park with Uncle Fun!

That’s the image of a very awesome Gigi 🙂

Cade got to meet his baby second counsin? (Trey’s cousin’s daughter), Emma. He was very interested in saying “baby baby” over and over again. Not so interested in Emma when she was actually around.

Uncle Fun got doughnuts, which of coruse was a huge hit!

“hiding”

Family shot with Grandpa Lyle and Shirley

Hanging with Gigi on the way back to the airport

Family picture on the flight home

Very excited about the biscoff cookie. Someone apparently taught him how to say cookie, which surprised Trey and I. He saw it and said “cook cook.” I think I’ve determined that he thinks all words should be one syllable and said at least two times 🙂

Sweet boy with his first delta wings!

We had a great trip and can’t wait to go back to Kansas City!

Sweet Cade. Your daddy and I can’t believe that you are already 18 months old! Time is flying by and you are growing into a sweet and curious little toddler. One of your favorite things to do now is identify “babies” that you see – including your own baby pictures. It’s very cute and sweet. While you are so incredibly sweet, you also have a toddler side and so badly want to express yourself. In fact, just today we were that family making quite the scene in Target all because you were displeased with mommy’s cart choice. 🙂 It’s hard being little and having such big emotions! Precious boy.

At 18 months, you are into EVERYTHING! You play hard all day long. We have officially dropped to just one nap a day. You still don’t love to nap and typically sleep only an hour or so. You still sleep 12-13 hours a night and are great about “sleeping late.”  You are talking up a storm; however, a lot of your words can only be interpreted by mommy and daddy. You are becoming a funny little guy and love to be silly and laugh, especially with your daddy. Speaking of, Dad is still your favorite person. Every morning when I go in your room, the first thing you ask is “Dad?” To which I typically repsond, dad’s at work. You repeat “work” and settle in with the idea that dad will be home later and you can play with him then.

About a month ago, you snuggled up to me one night when we were getting ready for bed. This was so SWEET, because you are not normally a snuggler. You let me rock you for a few minutes which was so special. Ever since, you have been getting bedtime “snuggles” for a few minutes before you fall asleep and I’m pretty sure it’s mommy and daddy’s favorite time of day.

Your favorite things right now are playing outside, dancing, sitting in chairs (big people ones), and reading books. You are learning so much everyday! Recently, you have learned how to growl like a lion (which is precious) and your Didi taught you to say touchdown by putting your arms in the air when we watch football.

Playing in the rain and loving it!

First hike as a family. We waited way too long to do this as Cade had a blast! There will be many more in our future this fall.

Hanging with G-pa and Gigi

Cooking with mommy – lots of fun, but went downhill when Cade figured out that cookie dough tastes REALLY yummy. Can’t eat it yet sweet boy.

Daddy was “watching” him 🙂

Front porch sitting

“helping”

Creative play – how many things can I fit in this printer hole?

Chasing butterflies

Reading with Didi

Park adventures!

Now I know the marketing strategy behind this 🙂 Yes, he has four in his hands. Amazingly, we left the store with no candy and no tears. Mommy win.

Sweet snuggles

Silly boy

Zoo fun – including a first ride on the train and a carosel!

Some video clips from our recent adventures

Day 62 – Just hanging in the pool with buddies

Day 63 – This day may have been a toss up. Bubbles at the library and watching Oma’s tourtise eat dinner. Good times.

Day 64 – Wishing Uncle Rob a happy birthday. No pants on a tractor = perfect

Day 65 – First trip to the zoo with Buddy Ryan! Huge success. All four legged animals are a dog, of course.

Day 66 – Trip to the mall with Ella. Lots of motorized rides made for a very happy boy.

Day 67 – This is how we have a yard sale. Playing with chalk with Aunt Amy

Day 68 – Sonic treat for some ice cream after lunch.

Day 69 – Mommy had big plans for the last day of summer, but we never left the house. When mommy is sick, we stay home and snuggle. AKA Cade gets to watch cartoons and mommy pretends he is willingly sitting with her 🙂

And this brings us to Cade’s first day of school – August 4, 2015. A very happy little boy and daddy before leaving for school

We had a GREAT summer and are very sad that it is over, but bring on the school year! We are pumped about all the fun we will have and all of the things that we will learn!

Day 55 – DiDi and Pop camp! Wild man stayed back in SC for a few days while I finished up the summer semester.

Day 56 – Teaching Jacksey just how yummy cheerios are

Day 57 – Reunited with Mommy! Maybe not his favorite part of the day, but it was certainly mine!

Day 58 – So many favorite things. Small chairs, remotes, and books.

Day 59 – Hanging out Aunt AJ style. So many buttons, so little time.

Day 60 – Cade’s very own truck from Nana. Cade couldn’t even wait until it was put together. So much vroom vroom and go go go go.

Day 61 – After a huge parenting fail (see the bruise on his face?) a giant grilled cheese can fix just about anything.

Day 48 – Happy Birthday King Daddy!

Day 49 – Aren’t they cute? Swimming with buddy Ryan!

Day 50 – Happy Birthday Aunt AJ!

Day 51 – Adventure to the lake to see Uncle Rob! Cade thinks Uncle Rob has really great rocking chairs.

Day 52 – Very short boat ride before leaving for Didi’s house

Day 53 – World’s best float turned baby pool!

Day 54 – Checking out his new ride at Didi and Pop’s house!

I fully intended to do a 15 month post and completely missed the window, so a 16 month post it is! The amount of new things that Cade learns everyday is so fun to watch! He talks all the time and says all kinds of words; however some are way more intelligible than others. At 16 months, Cade says the following names: mom, dad, AJ, Gigi, Oma. He however will not say these people’s names on command. His favorite word by far is dog, closely followed by car. He started saying go,go,go,go,go which is super precious. Other things he is saying now include hey, bye, book, ball, block, keys (I think this one is very funny), dance, more, done, no, hat, vroom vroom, milk, and off. Keys and off are pretty comical. Mainly because we don’t let him play with the keys, yet he wants them all the time. He learned to say off and is totally obsessed with turning things off. Buttons and switches are at the top of his list of fun things to play with!

Since learning to walk, he is SO busy! He literally never sits still unless we are reading a book. Reading is one of his favorite activities now. He will pull all of his books off of the shelf, bring them to us, and climb up in our laps. He has his favorite books which all consist of either ones that have flaps that you lift up or ones that have fun things to touch.

Other favorite activities include doing anything outside (he has no idea that it is entirely too hot in Georgia in July), riding his tractor, and playing ball. He’s been loving the pool and thinks getting in and out repeatedly is the best part of it. He’s gotten really good at picking up his ball and throwing it. He also finds it very funny when we throw it at him and it bounces off of his belly. He’s too cute.

For all of the new awesome things that he is learning, we have also started some pretty impressive tantrums. As a result, the time out or “temper” chair has begun. Poor buddy. He just needs more words to express himself 🙂

He eats like he’s never been fed before. Right now the only food that he doesn’t like is watermelon. He’s still not a huge fan of meat, but will eat small amounts. Fruit is his favorite and always the first thing that he eats. We discovered recently that he likes lemons. He makes a hysterical face when he first bits in, but he always goes back for more.

This month he had his first sleep away at Gigi and King Daddy’s house and he had a blast! It was the first time that he has been away and Trey and I have been together. It was pretty strange being in the hosue without him and by the third day we couldn’t take it anymore and went to get him.

Cademan, we love being your parents! You are the best little guy around!

Day 41 – Roadtrip with Aunt AJ and Amy to Jaemor Farms for peaches and ice cream!

Day 42 – Story time at the library! This was our first time and it was awesome! Complete with toys, books, songs, and bubbles.

Day 43 – Hanging with Aunt AJ while mommy went to work

Day 44 – Just a dude walking around his garden

Day 45 – Cade meets the lake. Pure joy.

Day 46 – Cade’s first boat trip at Lake Burton. He LOVED it!

Day 47 – Oma’s famous Wimbledon breakfast of waffles with strawberries and cream. Homemade whipped cream was a huge success!

Last month (yep, I’m way behind) we took Cade’s second trip to Ocean Isle with my family. We had a blast and by the end of the week, Cade decided he was a fan of the beach. I think he may have a bit of Trey in him and may have a strong dislike for sand. Nothing that we couldn’t overcome with the help of some seagulls and sand toys. Here are some shots from our trip!

The seagulls were by far his favorite thing on the beach. Of course Grandma aided this by helping the little man feed them.  Check out the first experience –

Cade’s first oreo!

Cade’s favorite thing to play with while hanging out under the house – He had a ball opening and closing the cassette player.

Cade had a blast hanging out with grandma at the edge of the water

You know, just sitting in a little man chair watching the waves.

This kid is too funny – He just laid down in the sand and rolled around.

Hanging with daddy.

Cade became very proficient at walking while we were at the beach and by the end of the week he was cruising everywhere!

Digging! The beach certainly looks different as a parent – I have never been more covered in sand! But I wouldn’t change it for the world! Watching Cade discover new things made the trip!

Day 34 – A day with daddy while mommy worked.

Day 35 – Mommy and Daddy’s 8th anniversary so Cade got to go to King Daddy and Gigi’s house for his first sleepover with them. I’m not sure who had more fun – Cade or Gigi.

Day 36 – Sleepover fun continues!

Day 37 – Being a fireman with Gigi. Mommy and daddy couldn’t take it anymore and had to go and pick him up!

Day 38 – Walking in the grocery store means that Cade can find all of the baloons! He took off down the aisle when he spotted them.

Day 39 – Cade’s favorite thing about the 4th of July was playing in the puddles after the rain finally stopped. This puddle was complete with some fanstastic mud.

Family 4th of July picture included just because 🙂

Day 40 – Because it wasn’t enough yesterday, he found the remnants and continued his mud bath!

Day 27 – The fan section of Home Depot might as well be Disney. The boy LOVES it.

Day 28 – Learning the art of matchbox cars with the big boys. They taught him to say the word car in less than 1 minute. Mind you, Mommy has been working on this for over a month.

Day 29 – What could be more fun than playing ball and sitting on a step?

Day 30 – Roadtrip to Greenville to meet the dynamic trio of Andrew, Archer, and Alden. Teaching them the ways of noise making and exersaucers.

Day 31 – Cade goes to the children’s museum with the boys. He had a blast! At the top of his list was the giant lite brite. Too cool.

Day 32 – Trip to King Daddys and Gigi’s house to celbrate belated Father’s Day. Riding with his Aunt Carrie and chasing his cousin, Ansley.

Day 33- Front porch rocking and cupcake eating for Ella’s 2nd birthday.