Watch out Cirque du Soleil there’s a new act in town!

A

Just in case you might think that Adam is torturing Caden, here is Caden giving him a big sloppy thank you kiss right after

Caden LOVES BerriPop

A bunch of friends met up at the new BerriPop on Washington tonight.  BerriPop for those of you who don’t know (GASP) has awesome guilt-free tart yogurt.  I’ve been a little obsessed for over a year now.  In fact BerriPop was Caden’s first outing at 1 week old!  The entire time I was on bed rest that was all I wanted, but the old one was too far away and always melted in the July heat before he made it home.  Now there is one just a few minutes from the house.

Anyway, tonight was the first time Caden has tried it and he LOVED it.  So much so that after Adam and I ran out of yogurt he threw a GIANT fit.  Adam walked over to throw our empty cups away and he stumbled after him sobbing.  Then he pointed at everyone else’s cups.  We couldn’t calm him down so we had to leave!  He cried the whole way home in the car although part of that might have been because it was bedtime.  I guess we’ll be having more outings to BerriPop.  Oh darn!

Caden is 1 Year Old!!!!!!!!

Can I just say that I am crazy about this little guy!!!  I have a hard time believing he is already a year old until I think about how drastically different the little boy in front of me is from the tiny tiny pink baby  I brought home a year ago.  Then it seems impossible that he could change so much and learn so much in only a year.

Once again Caden has changed drastically this month.  He is a little sponge always soaking things up.  He has become a master walker.  He squats down, turns on dime, and stands with no help.  He loves to walk around all over the place and chases the puppies in tight circles around the kitchen.  He seems to have an endless store of energy.  He enjoys playing peek-a-boo around door frames and will even play hide-and-seek where I hide and he comes to find me.  I haven’t figured out how to teach him to hide.  He loves to climb in and out of small chairs where he sits like a grown-up.  He has a little rocker where he likes to “read” his books and a little table where he works on his puzzles.  He is a little monkey.  He climbs up big kid slides all by himself.  Several times I have found him standing on the chairs and table of his little play set.  One of his favorite activities is climbing up the stairs at our house.  He often escapes from the playroom and by the time I follow him out he is half-way up the stairs.  He used to be very loud running all over on our wood floors, but now he moves around quieter meaning I have to keep one eye on him constantly.  A few days ago I went into the pantry and came out to find him two steps up my step stool.  The next day Adam was watching him and in under a minute he made it up the stairs, through the baby gate (which he then closed behind him), into his room to get his lovey and back to the top of the stairs.  Really we are very attentive parents!  We have decided it is going to be necessary to put a gate at both the bottom and top of the stairs.  He is also starting to imitate us.  Every morning he brushes his 6 little teeth just like me.  He is just getting so grown-up!

Other things Caden enjoys are toilets and trashcans.  He finds every part of the toilet fascinating!  He always wants to lift up the lid much to my disgust.  One day he walked into his room, got the bottle of Baby Motrin off his side table, walked back into the bathroom and threw it in the toilet while I brushed my teeth.  I fear this is only the first of many things that will end up in the toilet.  Unfortunately, only one of our bathroom doors closes correctly (maybe I do want a new house!) making it difficult to stop him when he gets in a determined mood.  The other day Adam was in the kitchen with him and observed Caden walking over to a laundry basket of clean laundry, pulling a sock out, walking over to the trashcan and throwing it in.  I’m sure he is just imitating what he see us do all day, but I can’t help but wonder what other things he may have thrown away when I wasn’t looking.  A trashcan with a lid may be in our future

Caden is getting good at expressing himself.  He babbles with a purpose like he is clearly trying to tell us something.  We are working on baby signs and he has masted “All Done”.  We were working on the sign for more milk and he instead of signing tried to say it. He said the exact same thing (not quite more milk) three times in a row while pointing at his sippy cup.  There were three witnesses who heard the same thing.  I’m hoping he learns some words other than Dada soon.  He also waves hi and bye on command and at appropriate times.  Grandma Denise has been working for months on a trick where when she asks “How bigs the baby?” he raises both arms over his head and we say “SO BIG.”  The other night at dinner he just randomly started doing it and now does it constantly.  I think it is because we make such a big deal out of it and he LOVES the attention.  Also, when we read the book “8 Little Monkeys” to him we always shake our finger when we say the line “no more monkeys jumping on the bed!”  At first every time Caden saw the book he would immediately start shaking his finger.  Then he started associating it with no and when we told him no he would shake his finger at us.  Lately when he knows he is doing something bad, like sticking his hand in the dogs water bowl, he goes ahead and starts shaking his finger before we even tell him no.  It is hard not to laugh at that little finger going back and forth.  He is pointing at things he wants and doesn’t stop pointing until you figure it out.  He is definitely getting a personality.  From descriptions of Adam as a kid I think the apple didn’t fall far from the tree

As far as toys goes exploring the house and nontraditional toys are by far his favorite.  I let him play with just about everything in the kitchen that won’t hurt him.  Even still it is really hard to get a meal cooked.  Recently he became obsessed with my melon baller.  I thought it might not be the safest of all toys so I took it away and hid it in a higher drawer.  The kid doesn’t forget!  He cried and cried in front of the drawer.  I took him in the other room and he runs back to the drawer and cry.  I may be a bad mother but sometimes he can well outfuss my nerves so after an hour or so I gave in and let him play with it.  My mom came over the other day and looked in Caden’s cabinet in the kitchen and pulled it and ask me if I let him play with it.  Oops!  He loves to read his books.  Go figure you’d think an incredibly active kids like him would have no interest.  But he will sit in my lap every morning while we read through his pile of favorite books we keep on the couch.  Then he goes back throughout the day and studies them himself babbling and pointing.  It is super cute to observe.

If I told every story I’m sure I would loose everyone but the grandparents, so lets get on with the photos!

Adam was in Baton Rouge shooting a wedding on his birthday.  When he booked it over a year ago who knew that our little guy due August 15th would make his big debut July 23rd instead.  Caden and I went to Gymboree this morning where everyone made a big deal over him and Jimbo the Clown (his favorite) helped sing Happy Birthday.  I was so mad I forgot my camera.  After his nap we went with Aunt Allie and KK and helped KK pick out a dog at the SPCA.  He loved seeing all the dogs and of course the little dog she picked passed the good with Caden test.  The only hard part was keeping him from touching everything.  We went through a lot of hand sanitizer.  He had a birthday cookie from this adorable cookie bouquet Grandma Denise sent and opened some gifts from KK.  It was a good day, but I wish Adam had been here.  Next weekend is his birthday party which should be super fun for him!

He loved this puppy!

Here is the new dog my mom decided on.  She is a 3 yr old tiny little mix.  She only weighs 5.8 lbs and her name is Caira.

Caden wan’t too sure what to think of the cookie bouquet…

He quickly figured out what to do with the cookie though!

He was so excited about the first little scrap of wrapping paper he pulled off.  We could have just stopped there!

Here he is opening and then playing with his new drum set.  How cute is that!  He knew just what to do!

This is the front of the invite for Caden’s Birthday Party!  It is Cookie Monster themed.  I didn’t know this until much later, but apparently so was my first birthday.  I’m still hoping to find some baby photos where Caden resembles me

Here are a few other of my favorites from the shoot.  Normally we don’t give him handfuls of cookies

Here is a typical morning in the playroom.  Caden looking at his books and then trying to smother the dog.

That truck he is riding on was his Grandpa’s when he was a little boy!

Playing with his grandparents.  The poor kid doesn’t ever get any attention!

He is a little watermelon monster.  We eat it almost every day.  If only it weren’t so messy…

My mom told me that she took him to ToyRUS to pick out some toys for her house and he fell in love with this monkey.  I was skeptical until I witnessed it myself.  He is crazy about it.  He laughs and kisses it and buries his head in it and carries it all over her house.  I’d buy one for our house, but then it probably wouldn’t be fun anymore.

These are some pics from our Gymboree classes and open gyms.  He LOVES Gymboree.  It has been a life savor as an outlet for some energy!

In the second picture he is telling me he is “SO Big” while wisely keeping one hand on the railing (for a change)

A part of our class all the kids line up and push this air log across the room to practice walking.  This is open gym so Caden decided he would push it all alone

Here he is studying his puzzle at his little table.  Surprisingly he can sit here for up to 5 minutes playing.  After that I usually find him standing on it.

July has been so rainy!  He got this super cute raincoat for Easter and I almost forgot about it.  He wasn’t really sure what to think about the rain and the mushy mud under his feet.

I love this one!

Leave a comment if you like what you see

Another late post- Caden is 11 Months!

This was a month of firsts for Caden!  He went on his first family vacation, took his first plane ride, got his first stomach bug , went swimming for the first time, clapped his hands for the first time…it was mostly a really fun month.

I feel like Caden has changed so much this month!  He is really becoming his own little person with definite opinions on things even though we don’t exactly understand what he is telling us  This month I started keeping a log of all the cute things he does.  It may be a little on the meticulous side with exact times and dates, but what can I say that is the scientist in me needing an accurate record Caden has perfected walking and walks everywhere now.  If we open all the doors downstairs he will make laps around the house.  He is currently working on running which is causing a lot of crashes and tears.  He has become such a little charmer.  He flirts with everyone everywhere we go!  His little smile just makes my life.  He has started giving very intentional kisses.  Sometimes he gets in these moods where he wants to kiss you over and over again (always on the lips) and they get sloppier as he goes on.  I absolutely love it!  He also kisses the dogs, other kids we meet randomly, and the pictures in his books.  He has learned to share.  He likes to share his food by holding out his slimy little hand with a wet cracker in it earnestly waiting for you to take a bite.  He also has started to imitate.  When I am giving him a bath if I give him the wash rag he will try to wash my face for me.  He has really upped his communication skills.  He babbles about everything and points while he talks.  I’m hoping that he will learn a few words soon.  He also pushes things away he doesn’t want with amazing speed and accuracy.  At Gymboree he learned to clap and make stars with his hands while we sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Caden’s favorite activity by far is exploring.  He hardly even plays with his toys.  Opening and closing a door can entertain him just as well as any expensive toy.  He is very hard to contain.  Our house is so old that most of our doors don’t shut right.  Caden has discovered the trick to opening all the doors leading out of the playroom.  I spend a large portion of the day retrieving him from the office where he goes looking for Dada or any other fun strangers (aka clients).  We are starting to realize that a separate studio and house is going to be a necessity in the not so distant future! He has a radio flyer ride-on race car that he loves to push around the house.  He pushes it until it hits a wall or piece of furniture and then moves around to the back and pushes it all the way the other way.  This entertained him for a full 20 min one day, which in Caden time is an eternity!  He also loves talking into paper towel and wrapping paper rolls.  We take turns making funny noises and it cracks him up.  Of yes and always on the top of the list is playing with the dogs!

We went on our first family trip this month!  We started in Crested Butte, Colorado where Adam shot Kyle, our studio manager’s, wedding.  It was a beautiful place!  Unfortunately Adam came down with a stomach bug the morning we left, by the time we got to Colorado Caden had it, and by the next morning I had it.  Adam and I were fine within 24 hours, but Caden had a much rougher time.  There is nothing more pitiful and messy than a baby with a stomach bug!  I hope that it never happens again!  We spent 4 days in Crested Butte.  Caden and I didn’t leave the hotel for the first 3 days, but on the fourth we ventured out in the afternoon to enjoy a beautiful day.  That was Father’s Day.  The next day we flew to Chicago and met up with Adam’s immediate family for a few days in the city before heading to Wisconsin for a family reunion.  Caden was such a trooper!  Word of advice, don’t plan a multi-destination 10 day trip as your first vacation with a baby.  We had a comic amount of luggage between all of Adam’s photography gear, clothes for CO which got in the 40′s and Chicago which was in the 90′s, not to mention all the baby gear.  We’ve been home three weeks and I’m just starting to recover and Caden still isn’t back to sleeping through the night again!  It was great to see extended family though and super nice to have so many baby wranglers

Enjoy…

These are some fun fish eye shots of us playing in the playroom

Sometimes he can be a challenging subject

I think he looks like he is posing in front of his little empire…

We went to the Children’s Museum with his cousin Aaron.  They had fun, although I didn’t get a photo with them smiling!

How cute!  They are buddies!

I love the tongue sticking half way out like he has to concentrate on walking.

This is in Crested Butte.  We found it abandoned in an alley way.  Can you say perfect prop!  We just couldn’t pass it up!

Caden finally met his Great-Grandma Julie while we were in Chicago.  That make 3 grandmas, 5 great-grandmas, and 1 great-great grandma.  What a lucky boy!!!

Caden decided to play in the window display of the coffee shop across from our hotel in Chicago.  He was just so cute and we were so tired we let him

Of course he had to climb something!  He is kneeling on an old radiator.  I think he was probably the cutest window display on Michigan Avenue, but what do I know I’m just his mom

Thanks for looking!  Check back Friday for his First Birthday Post!!!

Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Adam and I had the awesome opportunity to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina in May. One of Adam’s wedding clients, Lauren and Wyatt, spend a lot of time in South America for work and decided it would be a great place to take their engagement photos. They flew Adam there for a two night stay. We decided it was a great opportunity so we sprung for a ticket for me and added an extra night hotel. I’m so glad we did! It is a 10 hour direct flight to Buenos Aires. The flights there and back left at 9:30 at night and got there at 7 the next morning. Since we were basically going straight south we only had a two hour time change so there was no jet lag. In the past when we have had overnight flights we feel like crap the next day, but I think a year of Caden not sleeping at night has made up quite adaptable We decided that South America is a great place to travel since you can sleep in the plane all night and not waste a day traveling. All together we were gone 4 days and 5 nights. Caden split the trip between his three sets of grandparents.

The morning we arrived we took a taxi from the airport into the city. It took over an hour because it was morning rush hour. We drove through some very impoverished areas. Apparently Argentina had a peso crisis about 10 years ago and their economy collapsed. Things seem to be improving and it is no longer a dangerous place to visit, but it was obvious to me that the infrastructure of the city is not what we’re used to in the US. A plus side is that the dollar is very strong there so we hardly spent any money while enjoying the best the city had to offer. BA is a very heavily populated in a small area, much like NYC. Our hotel was in a beautiful area of the city called Recoletta. It had tree lined streets and really cool old architecture. It felt like Paris. The entire city had a refined european feel, although as I mentioned a lot of the buildings were in need of repair. It was surprisingly clean for the size of the city.  Our only regret was not brushing up on our Spanish before we left.  Truth be told Adam told me they spoke Portuguese so I figured it was a lost cause.  We get off the plane and find out it is Spanish and were really kicking ourselves.  Adam and I both took several years of Spanish back in the day, and could have done a thousand times better if we had brought a English Spanish Dictionary to help us remember.  It is a very differently accented Spanish than I’ve ever heard though which added to our confusion.  We got around alright and Lauren and Wyatt are both fluent so it wasn’t such a big deal.

We spent most of the first two days scouting out areas for portraits. Every time we go somewhere new we really enjoy blending in and trying to experience the city the way the locals do. This is the prefect way to find off the beaten path locations that really represent the city. The city was just too big with too many great backdrops! We narrowed it down to 5 areas of town and spent one evening and the entire 3rd day shooting. Check out the pics from the photo shoot on Adam’s blog. There were little cafes all over the city and everyone served awesome espresso! We didn’t have a single bad cup of coffee the entire time we were there (and we had a lot of coffee)! I still find myself longing for a really great espresso. There are a few great coffee shops in Houston where I can drink espresso, but in general ordering a double shot from a restaurant is almost always nasty. The food was really good! They are known for their steak so we ate a lot of it! We went to several very nice steak houses and had the best steak I’ve ever tasted for a fraction of the cost of a steak house in the US! I also discovered that I really like Malbec wine which is another Argentine specialty. I have been almost exclusively buying it since we got home.

Enough with the commentary and on with the photos… On our first day we had lunch at this cute cafe called La Biela. It was a 10 minute walk from our hotel. The food was alright, but the view was great! This cafe is located on the edge of the Recoletta Park and Cemetery. There was a GIANT tree that our table was under. When I say giant, I mean GIANT. The branches were so heavy and long that they had built supports to hold them up! The picture doesn’t do it justice.

Our view!

Unfortunately we have next to no photos of the two of us.  It was a little scary to hand over Adam’s $5000 camera to a complete stranger in a very crowded city that doesn’t speak English.  We brought a tripod but never used it since that involved leaving the camera alone at least 20 ft from us.  We have insurance on our equipment, but better not to invite trouble!

BA is a very old city!

This is the cemetery at Recoletta.  At first I was skeptical when the guide book so highly recommended it, but as soon as we stepped though the outer wall I understood why.  It is laid out like a town with streets and the tombs line the streets.  Each one is completely unique and many were works of art.  It was huge and right in the middle of the city, but inside was very tranquil.  I can’t even imagine the amount of money spent on some of these tombs.  Some of them had staircases inside where you could see deep down inside to where dozens of caskets were kept.  Some of them were obviously not well kept with the doors broken and hanging open which I’m not going to lie was a little creepy.  I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t been there to stop him Adam might have gone down into an open one to explore.  Agh!  Adam and I wished we were able to understand more of the inscriptions.  When we came back with Lauren and Wyatt to take their portraits they translated some for us. Overall it was fascinating and we ended up wandering around for an hour or so and then coming back the next day for engagement photos in the cemetery!

Every tomb was different.  Some were super old and cryptic looking while some were modern and much more resembled a store front.  There were a bunch in art deco style also.

After leaving the cemetery we explored Calle Florida and the Plaza de San Martin. This gorgeous building used to be a wealthy family home, but now is a government building.  Apparently many estates became too expensive to keep and were sold to the government.

There were tons of dog walkers!

This is Plaza de Mayo where the Presidential Palace is.The President doesn’t actually live there, but does work there everyday.  Apparently we were there the week before their bicentennial so there were lots of construction crews and platforms and bleachers everywhere.  We were told that the Argentines are not overly excited about the celebration because normally their military vehicles lead the parade, but Argentina no longer has a military of any kind.  It is a reminder to the people of how vulnerable they are as nation.

Next we went into an area of town called San Telmo.  It is one of the oldest areas of town with cobblestone streets.  It is not a touristy area at all.  Apparently it used to be a very wealthy part of town, but over time the wealthy left and immigrants took over.  Here is a really cool market we stumbled onto.  It takes up a city block and looks like it hasn’t changed in 70 years.  If my grandparents were Argentine this is where I would picture them being taken as a kid to buy groceries.  I loved it and wished I the markets in Houston were this quaint.

This is me testing out a pose for Adam at the one of the oldest plazas in the city.  We came back the next day with Lauren and Wyatt.  Adam and I took a break here for coffee and dessert in at a cute outdoor restaurant and watched some novice tango dancers put on a show in the plaza.  The weather was gorgeous (it is early fall there) and I truly felt a million miles from home in a good way.

We took a taxi to La Boca which is a VERY touristy area.  It is an area that is full of immigrants and is very poor and not at all safe after dark.  Years ago the immigrants used left over paint from the shipyard and painted everything a hodge podge of different bright colors.  It stuck and is now their signature thing.  There were tons of street vendors selling tourist crap constantly heckling you.  This really doesn’t represent the city of Buenos Aires as a whole well at all, but we still enjoyed it.  More than anything all the bright colors were a photographers dream so we came back the next day with Lauren and Wyatt.  It actually reminded me a lot of Astroworld, but for real.

I’m pretty sure the laundry was just for show

This is a block off the beaten path.  Local kids playing futball after school

We left La Boca before dark and explored the area around Peurto Madero which is contrast is one of the safest area of town even though it is geographically not that far away.  There were tons of gorgeous brand new high rise apartments and condominiums. You would be able to easily see well out into the ocean from one of them.

This is a really cool bridge at Puerto Madero.  Adam and I got hopelessly lost looking for the steakhouse we made reservations at.  We walked for almost half an hour before realizing we must have passed it and had to walk the entire distance back.  We were a little irritated because our maps said two different things, and we couldn’t find anyone who spoke English to help.  We ended up finding it though and it was well worth the effort!  It is on the top of my list of best meals ever!  We came back the next night with Lauren and Wyatt and ate at another steakhouse nearby and took photos all around this area at night.

Our third day we spent shooting all day.  After staying out until almost one the previous night getting some night shots around Puerto Madero of Lauren and Wyatt, we all got up to get sunrise shots about half an our from our hotel.  Our taxi driver thankfully agreed to wait for us since we were basically in the middle of nowhere.  The sunrise was beautiful and well worth it.  There was not even any grumbling from Adam who is not at all a morning person!

The next two are shots of Adam in action.  The rest of the day was spent going back to all the places we scouted taking portraits.

Wyatt took this shot of us by this awesome tree.  It is amazing to me that this is a living organism!  I want to get a gallery wrap of this one for our house.

A fun pic of us at La Boc at the end of the day.  That night Adam and I went to a traditional tango show.  Although we were exhausted we really enjoyed it.  The dancing was fabulous and we were even able to follow quite a bit of the story even though it was sung in Spanish.

We spent our last day exploring a part of town called Palermo.  We happened upon a performance by a bunch of school age kids in celebration of the bicentennial.

We had a lunch of meat again.  This was the sampler plate.  It could have fed 5 people and cost us less than $20.  After this meal we swore of meat for a few weeks

After lunch we walked around Palermo Viejo which was a much quieter residential neighborhood.  We decided that if we moved to BA this is where we would live.

We got some coffee at this cafe and people watched before heading back to the hotel to get our bags and catch our taxi to the airport.

Ahhh…espresso

After at least 10 takes and a lot of confusion our waitress got this picture of us.  It is slightly soft, but oh well

Then we got on a plane back to Houston, picked up our little man, and life returned to normal.  It was a great trip!

Thanks for looking!