The Morton Arboretum

Playing in the Children's Garden


Jr. Archaeologist prepares to do some screening
One of the scarecrow displays in the scarecrow contest.

On Friday the 26th, Caelan and I went with Aunt GiGi (Jen) to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Il. We came at the perfect time, all the decorations were up for their Fall Festival, which started the following day. The arboretum is so large we would need far more then one day to see all the beauty it held. We spent most of our time in the Children's Garden exploring and playing. We also took a stroll around one of their lakes that had the annual scarecrow contest entries set up. The scarecrows were really fun, we saw Hannah Montana to Pirates of the Carribean and many more. What a beautiful place to visit in the fall, I wanted to go back right away. Oh well, until next time!

Morning Appropriate Attire

Caelan is choosing the proper accessories

for his fashionable morning digs.

Visit with Grandma Betty and Aunt Katharine

On Thursday the 25th Grandma Betty and her sister, Aunt Katharine, drove in from Davenport Iowa for a visit. They brought many fun treats. Lots of clothes for Caelan and a pizza from Shawn and I's fav pizza place in Davenport, mmmmm. We had a really nice visit, lots of chasing of the Caelan, but lots of fun!

The Innocent Uncle Chris

What are you up to Uncle Chris?
Oooo, I'm tellin...
Caelan's buddy, "Buck the Dog"

Every morning my brother Chris would stop by for breakfast and spend a little time with Caelan. Sometimes, Buck the Dog would accompany Chris. Caelan loved Buck. He would wake up in the morning, point out the door and start barking.

Brookfield Zoo

Goin to the Zoo, Yipee

The Gang's all here, but not all so happy
Admiring the ship of the desert

Community woobie
Lunch break

On Wednesday the 24th we took all the little monkeys to the zoo. We got there when it opened and spent all day. Time flies when you're having fun, looking at all kinds of animals and being pushed in a stroller. I have to admit, I saw some animals this trip that I have never seen before, it was great. ( Note to zoo goers, Sept-Oct is mating season. We weren't aware of this. Ha!!)

Happy Anniversary, Birthday and Birthday

39 Years of love and laughs
Hard at work
The Gang
Moshe opening his gifts
Ole Rusty, hard at work. (I found this lil Fisher Price guy in the box of toys all the kids were playing with. He has been around since we were little and we always said this was Dad when he was at work.)

On Sunday the 21st we had a big family party to celebrate my Mom and Dad's 39th anniversary, Moshe's 8th birthday and Caelan's 1st birthday. Whoeee, there was some really good food and a lot of it! We had so much fun, lots of laughing, picture taking and kids, kids running everywhere!

Lovin' the Backyard

He prefers a solo ride, won't let me hold his fingers

as he goes down the slide.

Caelan has been enjoying every moment he spends in the backyard, now that he is more comfortable with the grass. My mom and dad have many, many critters that frequent their yard. So Caelan gets all excited when he sees a bunny, squirrel or bird. He barks at them all.

Time with Jen

Saturday the 20th was my great friend, Jen's, birthday. We celebrated by going to a greasy spoon and eating a very large helping of breakfast comfort food, blueberry pancakes, mmmmm. My niece Megan joined us for the fun and man did we have some laughs. (and some much needed girls alone time.)

On the Move!!

On the 18th we were at Aunt Sarah's house for a visit, the kids were all playing, Caelan was watching little Jaedyn (the professional walker) and he decided he needed to walk across the room. Taaadaaaa!

A day of chillin'

Eatin my Wheaties to fuel up for a hard day of play
Loving the grass!

Thursday, 9/18, was a day of play. We stayed at Grandma's and played and played. Lots of outside time. When we first got here Caelan was really unsure of the grass, since we don't have much if it by our apartment in the concrete jungle. He would only crawl on the concrete, ouch! But now he's lovin it! He finds all the little flowers, bugs, tree roots, you name it. For lunch we did do something fun, we went with Grandma and met Aunt Sarah, Ty and Jaedyn at Colonial Restuarant for Penny Pancakes. The kids loved it.

Pancakes for lunch. Yum!

A visit to Emily and Tyler's house

Tyler is amazed how well Caelan is with home repairs
Karen takes a breather, while the craziness continues....

Wednesday 9/17, we took a trip out to the Schutt household in Westmont. Man, did we have fun. Tyler and Emily were so excited to see Caelan, and Caelan....he went about his business as usual. Ha. The three of them had fun makin a ruckus. We had lots of playtime early in the day, lunches, and more playtime. Then Karen and I were talking about Brookfield Zoo (they have a family membership), and guess where we made a mad dash to late in the afternoon so the kids could ride the merry-go-round and maybe see one lion. We arrived at 4:40pm and they close at 5:00. Karen sweet talked her way past the parking lot attendent and in the zoo we ran. We squeezed in one merry-go-round ride, saw a snow leopard, very far away, and a brown bear, very close up! Wow, what a speedy trip, but just the right amount of time for the little ones late in the day, and for this pregnant lady as well. We can't wait until our official big zoo day next week when we'll spend all day with the animals. Yipee!

Cousins, cousins everywhere

Getting into Grandma's business, Mr Button pusher!

He uses the mouse as a phone to talk to DaDa.
Hangin out, waiting for the cousins to get here.

No time for Caelan to stand still, he's got serious business to attend too.

On Tuesday we had cousins, cousins everywhere. Grandma's house was full of cousins. Megan, Emily & Tyler, Moshe, Ty, Jaedyn, Caelan and our Cousin from the North, Nolan, were all here. They all had so much fun playing together. It was so fun to watch them interact, each at different levels but understanding one another. My dad says you can still smell the popcorn in the air from when the circus was in town. Ha! It was so busy, busy I forgot to snap pics of all the kids together. Oh well next time!

Our Big Visit to Home to Grandma and Papa's

Jaedyn and Caelan having a lunch date

We arrived at Grandma and Papa's on Sunday 9/14/08. Caelan was incredible on our flight out here. What an angel. I can't say the same about the flight itself, because the weather was so bad in Chicago, we had some stomach dropping turbulance, hoowee! Well, we are here safe and sound and having a wonderful time.
Monday, Caelan got some funtime with Moshe, Ty and Jaedyn. Running around inside, outside, everywhere. They were so fun to watch. Caelan was a little shy at first but is warming up with great smiles and hugs!

My Favorite Snack

Grapes!!!

I keep a little bowl of grapes for him on the bottom shelf of the fridge. Every time he hears that fridge door open, he comes a runnin!

Playground Time

Yesterday, 9-10-08, Caelan and I decided to check out a playground by us. We found out this is a place where fun happens and we had it all to ourselves. He was everywhere. Crawling in and out, up and down. And it even had a slide. We were a little nervous at first about being on the slide by ourselves but by the end of our playtime he just wanted the tips of my fingers to hold on to on the way down.

I was really excited to bring Caelan here, it turned out to be a great teaching time. How to go up and down stairs, how to hold on when sliding, don't climb on the slide and always wear shoes when at a dirty playground. (Oh, that was my lesson.Hee.)

Bear'in up for the Season

My game gear....
My game face!

How to Play the Straw

Caelan found this straw one day in a kitchen cabinet and now he carries it everywhere. He plays with it, whips it around, its funny. Shawn has been trying to teach him the correct way a straw is to be used. As an instrument of course!

Birthday #2

A huge box of gifts arrive from G'Ma Betty and Aunt Robin
My Fav!

A couple days after Caelan's birthday he received a wonderful surprise, birthday celebration #2 in a box. He was so excited to see all that wrapping paper. After all was ripped open and explored, he decided his favorite was the mini lunch box. Which we now carry almost everywhere with misc trinkets or snacks inside. Thank you both for all the gifts, we love you!

"Spencer for Hire"

Shawn found one of his winter hats and Caelan found it very interesting. We put it on him and he became "Spencer for Hire", strutting around. Prior to the camera being turned on he was taking steps so we hurried got the camera and of course he didn't do it again. But the scolding we got from him was hilarious!!

The Big Move

Caelan was having far more fun on our moving day than we were!

September 1st was the big day,

and we are finally settled in our new apartment.

Mom, Dad and Caelan now have lots more running room!

A Child's Song

We settle in for a nap.

As we snuggle close and his eyes begin to flutter, I heard it,

a faint sound....a tiny hum. Just a little song, quiet and slight.

Life's Joy!

The Big One Year Old

I am one year old!

We truly cannot believe a wonderful year of love, laughs, thrills and spills have gone by. This little man made us parents and the happiest we could ever imagine. Caelan is growing leaps and bounds (and bounding, and bounding, and bounding). We recently had his one year physical and everything is wonderful. He is still a biggin by growth chart standards, weight: 22.71 lbs, length: 31.1 inches. He's currently in the 90th percentile for his length. The doc said he's a tall slim fellow. He now wears 12-18mos clothes and a sz 4.5-5 shoe. (yep his feet are boats)

We were told at the visit we needed to add two more snacks to his diet. I sincerely cannot imagine feeding this little man anymore, he eats a lot. Shawn always says, if he's eating like this now, what's it going to be like in a couple years? He's off baby food and formula, pretty much likes to eat what we're eating, and is drinking whole milk now. His current food favs include: sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, tomatoes, avocados, adamame, bananas, apples, grapes, nectarines, grapefruit, blueberries, pears, oranges, raisins, watermelon, strawberries, mangos, pineapples, peaches, chicken, turkey lunchmeat, turkey meatballs, veggie patties and sausages, orange roughy, tofu, soy yogurt, ice cream, oatmeal, noodles, cream of wheat, puffs, oyster crackers, cheerios (go Big G), cereal bars, teething biscuits, pancakes, french toast, bagels, bread, tortillas, spaghetti w/ sauce, cheese pizza and of course cookies (but not birthday cake as we found out.) Sometimes we have still have to disguise some veggies in some other food, but usually he is such a good eater. Although his new favorite thing to do is chuck his food off his tray onto the floor. We correct him and correct him but to no avail....we are hoping its a quick phase. He is also in this take apart or take out phase. Any clothes in a drawer or basket, dishes in a cabinet, toys in a basket, DVD's on a shelf, etc. are all fair game. They all get chucked behind him.

He is using a lot more of his sign language now and has added a couple more to his repertoire. He now signs: up, eat, please, more, good, thank you and his two new ones are excuse me and I love you. Blowing kisses and waving bye or hi have come naturally to him.

I love watching as his little brain is working, he'll sit and observe or work on something until he figures it out, sometimes I catch him just staring at me. (I know he's gotta think I have absolutely lost it.) He really loves to look at books, play with animals, wrestle around and get chased. He's really interested in dogs (how convienent we have many in our building), and will bark at them.

And for his grand finale, he is taking steps by himself. He is always so proud when he takes off. We are still wobbly but getting stronger every day!

It has been an unbelievable journey so far watching as Caelan grows, learns and teaches us a thing or two (or twenty). We cherish every second spent with him and look forward to all the crazy laughs we have to come. Especially with number two on the way!