50 Weeks old

The one year milestone is creeping up on us! We got some good pics and videos this weekend of Caden talking or blabbering a bit more and also playing with his toys.

Now that my parents are back from Italy, they couldn't wait any longer to come and see Caden...well and us too I guess. Here are the boys: Grandpa Joe, Caden and Dad sitting at the bar in our kitchen. This is Caden's new favorite place to sit because he can see what I am doing in the kitchen and check out all the cooking going on.

Me and Caden chilling on the driving range

Grandma Ginny and Caden at the driving range watching Grandpa hit some golf balls.
Cool cats in their sunglasses

Waking up from a nap and raring to go!

Caden is getting ready to turn one!

Caden has been pushing this toy around the house for weeks, but this past weekend it was the frist time he decided to ride the toy. His feet can reach the floor now, I guess!

Enjoying a pear popsicle with Grandpa Joe

Girls weekend getaway!

After a couple months of planning, my mom, sister, sister-in-law and I finally found a weekend that worked for all of us to getaway for a girls weekend! There was some talk about going to Vegas, but decided that we would rather drive instead and could only think of one other place that was pretty much the exact opposite of Vegas.

Destination: Nemacolin Woodlands Spa & Resort in Farmington, PA

www.nemacolinwoodlands.com

On Friday, Marge came over to watch Caden around noon (Thank you, Marge!) and I was on the road around 1pm for my trek to my "happy place"! From Troy, the GPS stated the spa was a little less than 5 hours, but took me about 4 1/2 hours. (From Cleveland area it is about 3 hours or so.) My mom, Jen and Amy arrived at the spa first and headed down to the pool after check-in, meanwhile I am driving through a complete downpour! The weather was not great while we were there, but does it really matter when you are at a spa?!?! I didn't care if I went outside all weekend! So I finally arrived around 6pm and quickly checked in and looked for our room. Luckilly i ran into my fam and they helped me find the room. We went upstairs to drop off my stuff and then made it down to The Tavern for dinner. Delicious ham & potato soup, followed up by a great chicken salad with toasted cheese and raspberry vinaigrette. I am sorry, i just love the food at this place! You are going to have to put up with my descriptions. I almost forgot that after dinner we took a shuttle ride around the grounds to check everything out. The driver took us through the zoo area (part of Nemacolin still) to see the lions, moose, bears, mountain goats, buffalo and zebra. Didn't know that we were going to the zoo without the kids...

Saturday morning, thank you to the blackout curtains, we slept in until 8am. Our spa packages started at 10am which was perfect, still time to get a little breakfast. We headed down to the spa around 9:30am to get checked in and to relax and chill in our robes! It was so nice to just sit and enjoy the quiet music and drink our cucumber water. We all had the same package consisting of a massage, body scrub, facial and manicure. It was nice to meet up between services and see how we all made it into that relaxed zombie state.

(might have been the best massage I have ever had!)

After our day at the spa, we spent a little time by the outside pool and then the inside pool and then just enjoying all the spa products they have available for you in the locker room. Afterwards we went to the room to get ready for dinner at Aqueous. We were staying at the lodge and took a short shuttle to dinner at Falling Rock.

Amy, me and Mom at Falling Rock hotel (part of Nemacolin) before dinner

the sisters

Leader board at golf course

Aqueous, looking out onto the golf course

Now for those that want to know about the food. I had a great Filet mignon "au poivre" with a brandy peppercorn sauce and a bernaise sauce. (Au Poivre means covered in peppercorns and brandy and flambed.) Alright, I spoiled the baby and also had the baked lobster bisque. And then we all split a few desserts. Lemon cheesecakes with a blueberry sauce, a peach cobbler-type dessert, and 4 mini-scoops of ice cream (watermelon mint, orange basil, roasted banana, and Guiness!). Yes you read those right and they were all delicious!

On Sunday we slept in and decided to go down the road a little bit for breakfast. We went to the Summit Inn Resort and had a hearty breakfast before our journey home. The view from the front of the resort was beautiful...we even think we may stay here next time and then travel 10miles to spend the day at the spa at Nemacolin. www.summitinnresort.com

It was nice to get away for a little bit and give Mark an entire weekend with Caden. They had a great time and were all over town visiting friends and family. (No pics of their weekend, sorry.)

49 Weeks

49 weeks old

I try just about anything to get him to sit in that chair long enough so I can take a picture.

Caden, Great Grandma Schmidt and Grandma Marge

Trying to get Wendy to pose for a picture for Michelle, she wasn't interested in getting a pic with Caden. Here is our attempt.

Trying tomatoes from the happy box! They might be the sweetest tomatoes I have had in awhile! He really likes them!

Caden going through the grocery bags before I could put everything away.

Caden and Isaac banging on the window.

Rob, Caden and Isaac

Isaac in the pool!

Here the boys are enjoying the pool after dinner. And you can see Nia in the background hoping to get sprayed with the hose. Andrew enjoyed pouring the water on his head.

Rob and Amy Winner came over last week for dinner with their two boys, Andrew and Isaac. Here is Amy, Caden and Isaac.

Caden has figured out how to open the cabinets and has found his favorites! Here is a pic of Caden in the pots/pans cabinet. He likes to turn the pots and bite the handles.

I couldn't move this up, so here is a video of Caden eating cottage cheese off the countertop.

11 months old!

Caden is now over 11 months old!

He is growing up so fast! Lately he has been walking next to and behind things, but hasn't taken any steps on his own. It seems that he has decided he doesn't want to eat baby food anymore, just big people food. So he has been enjoying the many veggies from the Happy Box more and more. So far squash, carrots, green beans, bananas, strawberries and peaches are his favorites. He still likes Cheerios, puffs and crackers. We have upgraded from the Baby Bjorn front carrier and Caden now enjoys riding on Mark's back in a toddler carrier/backpack.

Caden enjoying the pool!

We had a pretty eventful weekend this weekend. On Friday, we went to see Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan at Fifth Third field/Dayton Dragon's stadium. Many thanks to Eric Deutsch for helping us out and getting us box seats! It was nice to sit and enjoy the show from the box instead of standing or sitting in the outfield.

We went to Amy & Ben Botkin's house on Sat for a couple's baby shower/cookout for Joel, Becca and Mya Stammen. They are expecting baby #2 around August 17th! We are hoping for a boy, as is the entire Stammen family! Two pics from the shower.

Jaksen Botkin (3mths) & Addyson Reed (5mths) at the baby shower

Kyley and Addyson

Baby #2 pictures

Mark and I had a doctor's visit on Monday july 6th. The baby looks great and has a heart beat of about 155bpm or so.

Spine pic


Arm pic(the arm is bent up against the head on the right)

Head

He/she smiling for the camera!

47 Weeks and Happy 4th of July!

47 weeks old

Last Wednesday, Mark finished with work and was home around 1:30pm. I had the car loaded up and ready to go, so around 2:15pm we got in the Envoy and headed down to South Carolina to visit with family. Dave and Clarice have a house down there, so that was the rendevous point for us, Dave/Clarice, Scot/Amanda and their three girls and Ryan/Liz and their two girls. After about 5 stops we finally rolled into Lexington, SC around 12:30am and got settled in. We spent the next couple days enjoying the sun, lake and baby pools. Thanks to Dave for a great firework show! And a big thanks to Dave and Clarice for having us down to SC! Here are some pics from the long weekend.

Dad and Caden checking out the lake
Mark playing badmitten with Maddie and Izzy

Miss Payton Grace chilling with Dad's hat on!

Baby Brooks (5wks old) napping in the shade

Izzy having fun in the pool with water gun

Caden and Great Uncle Ken (Clarice's brother in law)
Dad and Caden in Lake Murray

Caden is a little unsure of the life jacket

Dad and Caden playing in the baby pool

My boys with their hats and shades

Maddie, Amanda and Izzy on the boat at sunset

Scot and Payton
Mom and Caden getting ready to go out in the sun.

It is amazing that he didn't want to pull the sunglasses off!

Dad and Caden

Yes he was safe, but couldn't move too much!

Apparently Caden picked up a bug or virus or something while we were in SC. Here is a pic of the rash that he had on his face that soon spread to his body. One cranky 11month old makes for a long trip home and one tired mom. Is it possible to have a vacation from your vacation? I could go for that!