Our Boy is Potty Trained - Well Almost

On August 29th we started potty training Caden. We visited with his pediatrician a couple of weeks earlier and he said to get him some big boy undies and make it his idea. We got him some cool Disney undies (Lighting McQueen, Buzz Lightyear, Nemo, Wall-E, etc) so the training was on.

The first couple of days did not go very well and then my mom told me about using Cheerio's to get him to use the potty. Caden loved the idea - he wanted to sink the Cheerio's! For the most part he is doing GREAT although he still has a few accidents a week. Grandma Herrscher has been a great help in getting him trained because she watches him two days a week. THANK YOU Laurie for all of your help with our son. He loves you soo much and loves to come to your house.

Caden's 2nd Birthday

This August we celebrated Caden's 2nd Birthday. Brian had Guard so Caden and I enjoyed the day together. My parents surprised us when they arrived from Arizona for the festivities. We were so happy to see them. In the morning, I woke up and made Caden's birthday cake. After the beach this year, Caden was in love with Mickey Mouse; therefore, I decided to try my hand at making his cake. This little project took me three hours, but I loved every minute of it. It was so sweet to see how much he loved it which made it all worth it!! By the time he woke up it was time to head to the swimming pool with my family. Caden had a really good time and enjoyed going down the water slide. In the evening we had our family over for cake and ice cream.

The cake from the pan. It didn't come out as easily as I would have liked; therefore, quite a bit of the detail was lost. It was in one piece which was a great start for me. Here is the cake with the eyes and tongue done.

The cake is done - Mickey is ready to eat!
Dexter, Brooklyn and Caden going down the water slide.
Papa, Grandma and Caden at the pool.
The rest of the crew at the pool.

The birthday party - everyone watching Caden open his gifts. All of our family was there and Caden had a wonderful time with his cousins.

I hoped this year Caden would be a little more excited to open his birthday gifts. The first couple went okay, but it was downhill from there. He would open a gift and then want to play with it. Because there were 40+ people at the party there were quite a few gifts to open. We forced him through it and all in all, it was a success.

Some of his gifts included:

• A wagon with a sun canopy
• Toy Story 3 race track for cars and Woody pajamas
  
• A playhouse
• A buggy
• Stuffed animals, books, computer, clothes, shoes, cars and a puzzle

Caden's Two Year Stats:

Height: 36 inches (85-90th percent)
Weight: 31 pounds (80th percent)
Head: 19.6 inches (80th percent)

He continues to grow and is very healthy. His development surprises me each day. He loves to talk and at times scream, which is not very enjoyable.

Some of Caden's favorite phrases:

• Bounce with me - This means turn on music so I can put my hand in the air like a gangsta.
• GO UTES - He loves to watch football with daddy and especially likes to cheer for the Utes.
• I play cars a minute - He normally says this at night right before bed. Because Brian and I are suckers he gets to play for 5-10 minutes before bed.
• I love you - Caden first told me he loved me on Friday, Sept. 17th. It was soo sweet. He now says it often to both Brian and me. He also tells Seffa (Melissa) that he loves her too.
• That's so nice

Caden's favorite things to do:

• CARS - He eat, sleeps and dreams about cars. He loves to play and hold them. He also loves the movie Cars; especially Mater and Lighting Keen as he calls him.
  
• Tackle - He loves to run and tackle his daddy.
• Play with friends - Unfortunately right now he is the only boy in our group of friends. Come on Sadie, I mean ladies, get on that.
• Play outside - He loves to play in the flower beds with his bobcat. He also love to play on his playground and in this house.

Each day I get to spend with our little boy makes me realize how blessed we are to have such a healthy, energetic and smart little boy. He is the love of our lives.

Beautiful Flowers

Here are some pictures of the flowers in my yard.

Spring Time Project

While my mom was in town she helped me build a rock path in my backyard. My mom is so talented with landscaping projects so I was excited to get started. It only took us two days to complete the project, but it was A LOT of work. Thanks Mom for your willingness to help, this would have never happened without you.






The rock path is complete. I still need to plant some ground cover and redo the abutting flowerbed, but that will all be done when it warms up a bit.

Welcome Baby Hoopes

Welcome Baby Hoopes. We are so glad to meet you and as so happy you arrived safely. We love you!

Here is a video of Caden and Hadley waiting for baby Hoopes to be born. They are the best of friends.


Melissa and Baby after delivery

Grandma Honey, Melissa and Baby

Baby Hoopes

Caden's Playground

Brian and I had this bright idea to buy Caden a playground this Spring. Once he unloaded everything from the three large boxes I wondered what we had just done. After 30.5 hours of work it was finally finished.

All the parts laying out on the grass
The frame of the playhouse all put together
The playhouse with the roof
Brian and Caden hard at work. Caden loved to play with the screws.
The playhouse with windows.
My boys taking a break. Caden was ready for a big kiss from his mama.
Brian preparing to go down the slide. The second time Caden went down the slide his head hit one of his cars and it took a couple good chunks of skin from his forehead.
The swing set done. Caden loves it.
This is Caden's favorite way to go down the slide. We have to put the dog bed at the bottom because it shoots him out like a cannon.
Our first visit to the ER. Friday night (April 23rd) Caden went down the slide without the dog bed in place. He got to the bottom and screamed like crazy. I held him for a while and then put him done to walk. He was unable to do so. Every time he put pressure on his left leg he would buckle and fall onto his bottom. We probably jumped the gun but we ended up taking him to the hospital. After two hours at the hospital and some X-rays, we found out Caden was okay. They said he had a strained muscle that would heal on its own. Needless to say I am hoping this is the first and last time we need to visit the ER.

Time for Potty Training?

Caden went poop in the potty today. We have been asking ourselves if we should start potty training Caden. He has said poo twice this week prior to actually going poop. Today he was at Grandma Herrscher's house and he said poo. She asked him if he needed to go poo and he just looked at her. Then she asked him if he wanted to go to the toilet and he nodded yes. She put him on the toilet and within a minute he had went poop on the potty for the first time. I was so excited when I heard the news, but was a little disappointed I missed the first time.

I actually bought him a potty chair on Monday night but all he wanted to do is take it apart and play. Today may have been a coincidence but I figure if he says he needs to go either pee pee or poo I will ask if he wants to use the big boy potty. By no means am I plan to begin potty training but I figure if he shows interest I may as well offer him the potty.

What a big boy I have. He is growing more and more each day.

Signs of Spring

Here are some signs that Spring is just around the corner:

1. Two garbage sacks full of dog poo. Brian and I scooped poop for over two hours on Sunday. It was the highlight of the weekend. Brian already threw one bag away before I could get a pic.
2. The snow is gone. That white stuff that can be found on the ground during the winter months is now gone. Yahoo!



3. My flowers, plants, shrubs and trees are all growing. I can see green again.




4. It is kite flying weather




5. It is also nice enough to play at the park
   

Fun at the Pool

Last weekend we tended our nephews. We were all going stir crazy inside so we decided to take them swimming. What a blast! Because Brooklyn and Kaleb are only two days apart, they play really good togeher. We invited Brooklyn swimming, but unfortunately they did not play much. She was a little scared of the water whereas Kaleb was jumping, diving and running all over the place.

Caden and Daddy

Brian, Brooklyn, Caden & Kaleb

Brinton

Goofy Boy

Because we have had some nice weather this last week I have been in the mood for some spring cleaning. When Caden was born my grandma bought us a baby swing. Please keep in mind he is now 19 months old. We are not expecting another baby anytime soon so I thought it was finally time to put the swing away. Brian stated to disassemble the swing to put it in a box, but Caden had an even better plan. He sat in the swing and played with the toys for quite a while until he kept tipping himself over. What a GOOFY BOY!

What a Day

March 8th turned out to be a very busy day for our family.

First off, it was my step-mom's birthday. She was out of town so we were not able to celebrate but we were able to sing her a lovely song. Happy Birthday Barb we hope you had a great day.

Second, Caden got tubes in his ears. He had six ear infections in approx. five months so the doc finally thought it was time for tubes. I know this is a minor surgery but it is scary to leave your baby and have them under anesthesia. Needless to say all went well. He recovered quickly and so far so good. No ear infections in almost two weeks =). Here are some pics of Caden at the hospital.







Third, my Poppy had open heart surgery. He had an aortic valve replaced. The surgery was pretty risky so we were all saying our prayers that he would do well. After approx. six hours of surgery we received word that he had successfully made it through surgery. He now has a pig valve and can't quit oinking. He said he picked a good one from the slaughter house so he should feel much better now.

Aloha - Our Trip to Hawaii

Our family had the opportunity to vacation in Hawaii at the end of February. It was a last minute trip, which made it that much more exciting. Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

• Delayed flight from home which caused us to miss our connecting flight to Hawaii. We had a 5 1/2 hour layover in LA. It was an extremely long travel day, but Caden did exceptionally well. This is a pic of us after landing in Hawaii. We were sooo relieved to be on the ground. Lesson learned - DO NOT FLY UNITED AIRLINES!!!

• Tsunami Scare - The first morning we were in Hawaii, we were woken up by blaring alarms warning of a Tsunami that was to hit the Hawaiian islands at 11:37 AM. How exciting!! We were told all guests staying above the third floor were to return to their rooms at 10 AM and not leave until further notice. We received word, over the loud speaker in our room again, that all was okay at 1:45 PM. Because Brian and I are so adventurous we decided to have breakfast on the beach. After breakfast we got to see the Coast Guard helicopter yell at people to get out of the water. We also let Caden play by the pool for a little while. Here are some pics of our trip.

View from our room, we were on the 7th floor

View from the restaurant we ate breakfast at

Helicopter telling swimmers to get out of the water

Caden playing in the sand at the swimming pool

While in Hawaii we spent a lot of time relaxing. We visited the North Shore to see the huge waves, went snorkeling (Brian saw a turtle), swimming, hiking at Makapu'u (hoping to see whales) and on a whale watching boat. We also went to the Fia Fia Luau at our hotel - it was wonderful. Caden slept the whole time so both Brian and I were able to enjoy the night.

Caden was ready for the beach

Brian and Caden hanging out at Sandy beach. Unfortunately it wasn't very sandy.

Caden at the fish feeding. Each morning at 07:30 you could go watch the resort feed the fish in the lagoons. It was neat to see the fish come so close to shore.

Our family at Makapu'u - it was a 1 1/2 mile hike or so. It was beautiful when we got to the top, but was really windy.

Caden getting his first tattoo

Hanging on the beach

Herrschers on a whale watching trip. We actually saw six whales and one large turtle.

Caden and me hanging out on the catamaran

Brian buried Caden in the sand. As you can see he loved it =).

It was so nice to get away as a family and spend some quality time together. We all had such a wonderful time.