Happy Birthday to Our Little Squishy!

This weekend was an incredibly special, fun filled yet relaxing weekend together with the Stephens family. Randy, Janet, Adam and Sam, were able to plan a trip out to help us celebrate Caiden's first birthday. Since we are living in a smaller apartment and we wanted the weekend to be special, we looked into renting a cabin in the mountains or maybe a lake house. It turned out we found something that had a little of both. We tried to keep it a surprise and Adam and Sam were convinced that we might be headed to some sort of church camp! We got a huge kick out of that and let them believe it.

Since it was only an hour drive from our house, I got there a few hours early to get dinner started and get everything set up. Even though I had seen pictures of the cabin, it was just not the same in person! The view was breathtaking and the cabin was gorgeous and I couldn't wait for everyone to arrive! Once they finally did they were so excited and surprised! This was the view from our back deck.

The weather was beautiful in upper 80's which was perfect for a day on the boat. Gamma Janet had a good idea to bring Caiden's play pin in the boat with us so he could play around and take a nap if needed which was a GREAT idea. Caiden loved standing up holding on to the sides and watching out into the water while the wind lightly blew through his hair. We had such a fun day swimming, jumping off docks and cliffs (the boys anyway) and fishing! Gamma Janet stayed back with Caiden in the afternoon and got to spend a few hours reading while he took his nap. I was so happy for her that she was able to kick back and enjoy some quiet time!
The boys and I found a beautiful little white sanded beach and swam for an hour or so. The water was still so warm from the hot summer we've had and felt amazing! Since the water visibility was so clear, Randy spent a lot of that time snorkeling around and exploring! We had a blast!

Saturday was the day of Caiden's birthday party. The boys went out to go see a couple waterfalls and Janet and I decided to get our books and an iced tea and sit on the porch for a while before we started decorating for the party. We laughed some, we cried some and enjoyed the quite of the beautiful mountains. We heard some noises down below in the trees and convinced ourselves that it was a little black bear (not really but that would have been so cool)! When the boys got back Sam had mentioned that he may have seen Caiden's first tooth while riding in the car with him. Sure enough, there it was! Caiden got his very first tooth just in time for his 1st birthday!! Yaaaay!!

Mara and Blaine got in around 3:00 and the party was ON! While the boys were cooking up the ribs and chicken, Mara, Blaine and I were upstairs in the living room with Caiden watching him play with a few toys. At one point he had stood up, lamby in hand, and started taking steps, one foot right after the other, toward the other side of the room. We couldn't believe it and we all went silent watching to see how far he would go. In the past few weeks had had taken 4-5 steps here and there but this was the furthest he had gone and it had been a few days since he had taken any at all. After about 10 steps daddy walked up the stairs and stopped right in his tracks as soon as he saw what was going on. Mara was sneaky enough to grab the camera and get most of it on video! I'll try and see if I'm computer savvy enough to post it.

After we ate dinner, it was time for the cake! I had imagined him making a total mess, getting frosting everywhere and getting sick afterward from all the sugar but it didn't quite happen that way. Once he touched the cake with his little fingers and saw that the frosting had stuck, he started shaking his hand to clean it off. I even gave him a bite or two and he just wasn't impressed. I took a few bites to show him just how delicious it was but he looked at it like it was a sack of potatoes! The kid has an entire cake, all to himself and want anything to do with it! Oh well, more cake for us! After the cake it was time for presents. Even though he didn't know much of what was going on he enjoyed the new books, toys and DVD's that mama was opening and wasn't quite sure what toy to play with next. Aunt Mara and Blaine got him an adorable new big boy outfit. It was a collared, button-up shirt with vest and corduroy pants! I got a little teary-eyed thinking about him toddling around looking so big in his new outfit! The last thing we opened was a photo album that gamma Janet had made to remind us of the special times that Caiden had at their house while mommy and daddy had their date nights! Gamma Janet is so incredibly talented and put so much thought and effort into every page and even made a poem to go along with the pictures! Caiden is such a lucky boy to have so many people who love and care for him! Saturday night we played scrabble for hours, laughing and making lots of fun memories!

Sunday we packed up and headed to Greenville for lunch! After that, the boys went to watch the Chiefs game at a local bar while Janet, Mara and I went back to our place so Caiden could nap and we could relax before they had to go back to home. The chiefs ended up winning AGAIN which now makes us 3-0!!! Sunday night came and we all made the trip to the airport and had to say goodbye. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend away and the time that I was able to spend with my new family was incredible!

Happy Birthday C!!!

No means No!

A while back I was on the phone with a client and he had mentioned that he had a son who was a doctor, a daughter who was a lawyer, and another daughter who was a teacher. He also said that he is so thankful for the close relationship he still has with each of them. I asked him what his secret was to raising such disciplined children and the only answer he had for me was, "No means no." From that point forward I decided that that was going to be my motto as a parent.

Just yesterday we took Caiden downtown to get some frozen yogurt. Well, I couldn't resist giving Caiden a tiny bite and let him experience his first strawberry/blueberry ice cream treat. I gave him one bite and he seemed confused yet pleasantly surprised, and then he reached for another...and another. After the third bite I said that was all and he wanted more. After a minute or so he realized that I wasn't giving in and for the first time in his tiny little life, he threw a fit, a big one, and truthfully, it was incredibly painful for me and daddy to watch. It would have been so easy and made so much sense just to give him a few more bites to satisfy his want, and get on our way as to not make a scene. But we stood our ground and kept trucking forward through the busy sidewalk toward our car, getting a few 'what's wrong with that kid' glances along the way.

During the painful 2-minute walk to our car, I remembered back to what Mr. Client had said about "No means no" and I was so grateful for those simple words of wisdom he had so unintentionally shared. My prayer is that, as parents, we can follow this motto throughout these many years of raising our children so that they learn and understand boundaries, respect and self-control, something that we all need a little help with!