Happy Birthday @ Cross Timbers

Sunday was Ryan's 31st birthday. We celebrated the weekend by going camping at Cross Timbers with my in-laws. We tent camped and they pulled the camper out.

Kaden was completely spoiled with a wonderful pool that Papa (grandpa) and Nana (grandma) brought for him. No swim diaper or swim suit? No problem. Naked baby swimming! (He actually had on a pair of shorts though.)

Brent and Terri watched Kaden while Ryan and I went on a hike on a nearby trail. They were doing some repair work on the dam, so the water level was lower than normal.

Here's what the same bridge looked like last September:

It's a good thing we each had our own camelback. I sucked down 3 liters of water on our 5 mile hike. The temperature was over 100 degrees that weekend.

Kaden loved sleeping in the tent. It sprinkled off and on during the whole night. Ryan was very attentive to the rain fly over our tent so we wouldn't get soaked.

A new playground had been build in the tent only camping area. We had fun chasing Kaden down all the slides and following him around.



Terri and I sat on the swings (at Kaden's request) and watched while Papa Brent pushed Kaden and gave underdogs.

Like I mentioned before, we really were roughing it.

Yes. Kaden is watching Coraline. For the millionth time.

Our last evening there, one of our neighbors came over with a copper pipe contraption that you put in the fire and get blue, green and pink flames. It was too cool. I must find out (first if this is toxic) how to recreate this for later.

Your child's digital history

Not surprisingly I've fallen about 2 years behind on scrap booking and Kaden's baby book is sadly neglected. I've been looking at pictures that we've taken of him, one being his first time on the potty or him in the bathtub. I know that most if not all of you who read my blog were born before the Internet ever existed. We've also heard a story or two on the news about pictures that people took ages ago coming back to bite them on the behinds.

Here's my philosophical question: How much consideration to your child's future do you give before you post a picture of them on a blog, twitter, facebook, etc.?

Gotta go pee-pee!

While we were on vacation in July in Bull Shoals, Arkansas, my mother-in-law Terri helped Kaden go #2 on the toilet for the very first time. We haven't started pushing Kaden to potty training and hadn't really discussed when we should. At a recent trip to Wally World we picked up a training potty just to be prepared.

I pulled the thing out of the box and quickly assembled it with Kaden watching intently. As soon as I had it put together, Kaden lifted up his shirt and said "Pee-pee." I asked if he needed to go potty and wouldn't you know, he knodded his little head. We rushed him into the bathroom where he pottied on his training potty for the very first time! My little guy is growing up so fast!

No more Ba-Bas!

We have officially crossed the line into the world of no bottles! Kaden bit a hole through one of his bottle nipples last Friday. We came home from daycare, opened the trashcan, tossed in the bottle and said "Goodbye, Ba-Ba!" He has adjusted very well and is requesting his "sippy" instead of a ba-ba.

To celebrate the event, we purchased Kaden some Spongebob sippy cups. He loves them!