12 Month Stats

Weight: 20 pounds, 9 oz (61st percentile)

Height: 30 3/4 inches (93rd percentile)

Head circumference: 47.2 cm (95th percentile)

 I started packing today for our trip to Peru.

 Apparently, Cayden wants to come too.

On Saturday, we had a joint birthday party for Cayden and her third cousin, Jamin.

 Mrs. Ha was kind enough to make a cute "Number 1" cake for her. 

It even had a picture of her in pigtails made with icing!

We had burgers and hot dogs, 

and Cayden got to play with her other 3rd cousin,
Bryer....he already weighs as much as Cayden and he's only 6 months old!

 Cayden got bubbles from aunt Nellie!

 This is from earlier this week, when we had some beautiful weather. 

We went to have coffee with Daddy and went on the swings at church.

 She was having fun playing with her little friend Violet.....

 Then it got a little scary!

 They found a lady bug and proceeded to smash it because
Violet is very afraid of lady bugs.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl

For the first time in three years, I am not spending March 7 in the hospital. 

March 7, 2010 was the worst day. 

March 7, 2011 was the best day. 

March 7, 2012 was today, and it just keeps getting better.

The year before Cayden's birth, March 7 was a day I would rather forget;

 a day of head-in-my-hands heartache 

-- the day I miscarried our first child.

 I think God knew how hard it would have been to live through another March 7 with empty arms because I went into labor at 3 a.m. March 7, 2011 and Cayden finally arrived at 8:03 p.m. 

People who don’t believe in God call situations such as these “coincidence” or “ironic.” 

I call Cayden’s birth on March 7 a redeeming gift from God…and His timing is perfect.   

Today, our little gift from God turned 1. 

This picture makes me laugh!

 For some reason she reminds me of one of the Indians in Peter Pan!

Cayden had an early birthday party last Saturday. We had about 30 friends and family to Bryan's parents' house to celebrate. Below are the Lute girls helping Cayden open her presents. 

 Here are all the girls! Cayden, Eden, Isla and Kylie. 

These girls are gonna be great friends.

 Here is Cayden eyeing her cake that I made.

 It was a special not-so-sugary cake with fruit polka dots....

 It quickly became a not-so-sugary mound of mangled cake and frosting in Cayden's belly.

 Here's a pic of Cayden walking yesterday....I realized I didn't have any pics of her actually taking steps. She is now basically running all over the place. It's pretty dangerous when she's sleepy though because she turns into a tottering battering ram.

 Here's her new Beaver's jersey she got from the Bartruffs. She was really excited about it!!

Also today, Cayden watched daddy mow the grass. 

Very exciting for both her and Macie.

Dear Cayden,
You are the best thing I have ever done, and the most precious gift I've ever been given.
I knew you before you could breathe.
I knew you before your scream had air.
I knew you before you had a name.
I knew you before you had eyelashes and a milky chin.
I knew you before your hands had dimples,
but He knew you before.


“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…” Jeremiah 29:11

Valentine's Day

Bryan has been pretty busy this month, with planning our youth group retreat and getting ready to go to Peru again, so I told him that I would take care of planning our Valentine's Day activities. The great part about planning the activities is you can pick something you've always wanted to do! So I did just that (know Bryan would love it too!). We got away after church on Sunday (thank you to Bryan's parents for taking care of our kids!) and drove 2 hours to Belknap Hot Springs. 

For more info on Belknap click on the link

We were gone less than 24 hours, but had a very relaxing time attempting to make a fire in the wood burning fire place (there was a hidden flue!), eating lots of fondue, exploring the hiking trails and secret gardens,

 

and of course, enjoying the 104 degree hot springs!

 On the actual holiday, Cayden and I went to Salem to hand deliver our Valentines. First we stopped at Grandma Julie's.

 Then we trekked out to Corban, where we saw Kyle, and delivered cards to Grandpa Bryce, Aunt Carrie and Uncle Shane (in their classes - sorry teachers!). We also stopped by Beth's tree to say hi.

 Then I dropped Cayden off at church with my dad while I went to work for a few hours, and he took her to    my parent's house, where Cayden played with Grandma Jill.

 She's getting better and better at standing while doing other things. She also took her first steps the day before Valentine's Day. I didn't see them, but Bryan said she took three steps toward him from the couch.

To end the Valentine's Day festivities, we had chocolate fondue with Lauren and Joe after Cayden went to sleep. Good times!

11 month update/stats

Weight: 19 pounds, 14 oz (60th percentile)

Height: 28 1/8 inches (43rd percentile)

Head: 18 1/4 cm (87th percentile)

This month, Cayden learned how to brush her teeth. She absolutely loves it, but hates when I take her toothbrush away. And I mean HATES.

We took advantage of the few days of sunshine and took Macie for walks. Macie loves walks.

Cayden, not so much.

 She did learn how to grab her binky while wearing mittens! 

 She looks so grown up in this picture.

 Below is her newest trick. 

Grandma Julie taught her the "How big is Cayden?" trick....this is her responding with "SOOO BIG!"

 And this is her other trick, growling like Macie. 

 She loves Yogurt Extreme (and so does Lauren!) 

 Cayden now has 6 teeth (two are still coming through, but I'm counting them). She takes two very long naps every day, and sleeps from about 8pm-8am every night. She doesn't LOVE eating as much as she used to (probably the teething), but loves grapes, Korean Crispy Rolls, applesauce and rice. She's discovered that Macie comes and eats things she throws on the floor and she also learned how to spit (not fun). She knows a few signs - "more" and "all done" and says "ohma" and "da" and "na" and "ba" - all of which mean different things at different times.

 She has become clingy, especially when I'm trying to cook dinner in the kitchen. She cruises around along couches and such, but isn't very interested in walking. She loves the stairs, and has started climbing over Macie and smacking her in the face. Cayden has made a daily routine of emptying her bookshelf of all the books, and about 2-3 times a week, I will let her empty my tupperware drawer out of desperation to get dinner done without her pulling on my pant legs. She absolutely loves music, clapping and dancing whenever she hears it. She has also started copying us more and more. Lauren discovered that Cayden will try to match her pitch when she would sing single notes to her. It's pretty cute.

Waterbabies FINALLY

So last September/October, Cayden and I participated in a Waterbabies at the pool in Corvallis. When the class ended in October, they took underwater pictures of our babies, and I promptly paid the $2 and ordered one. They were supposed to email the photo within 2 weeks.....really? It takes 2 weeks to email a digital photo? So I waited. And never got the photo. By the end of November, I called the aquatic center, but there is apparently only one guy who can send the photos, and he only works Mondays. So then I promptly forgot every time Monday comes around. So I finally went in to the pool this past Monday and talked to them, and they were surprisingly helpful for the first time! They found my order form and apologized and said they would email me the photo. This is the photo that came to my email...

For many obvious reasons, this is not me or my baby. FAIL. So I emailed them back, with a picture of Cayden and asked if they could send a picture of my baby. She promptly sent me 3 pictures of Cayden (YAY!), two of which are shown below!

Isn't she so cute underwater? Apparently she doesn't know how to close her mouth.

This is her going underwater....

She did not love being dunked, but she never cried either. She did like the water, probably because it was nice and warm!

She's smiling!

Anyway, three months late, but better late than never!