Merry 1st Christmas!

The highlight of this past week was celebrating Caden's first Christmas. At last Thursday's holiday party at the lab, he had the chance to talk to Santa for the 2nd time this season. Those of you who have been following this blog will know that Caden wasn't too happy during his first meeting with Santa. This time, perhaps because Santa had a real beard and a more cheerful demeanor, our little guy enjoyed his meeting with Kris Kringle, as you can see. Based on Caden's happy reaction to his stocking on Christmas morning, he and Santa hit it off quite well.

On Friday, Nana and Grandpa arrived from Alaska, and we've had a fun time enjoying the holiday together. We had a good hike along the Sonoma Coast on Christmas Eve, then returned home to prepare a tasty chowder with fresh, local crab. After dinner, we showed little Caden how to thank his red-suited friend by leaving a plate of cookies, a glass of milk, and a carrot for the reindeer.

Christmas Morning

Little Caden enjoyed every aspect of Christmas...

from opening his stocking, ...

to opening gifts, ...

to playing with his new toys.

Mommy made cinnamon rolls, and Daddy made scrambled eggs, and all of us had a relaxing Christmas morning. Daddy and Caden had fun trying out the new sling that Mommy made for them. It is soooo cozy, and the little guy really likes being carried around in it.

In the afternoon, we fortified ourselves with more crab chowder and wandered over to Ragle Ranch park to stretch our legs. And on Christmas night, once the cozy little guy went to bed, we enjoyed a tasty dinner of smoked black cod.

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Holiday fun with friends

The approaching holidays have meant many good things this past week, including goodies to bake, share, and receive; friends to visit; and boxes to open and (in Caden's case) play in. We've had another relaxing post-orals week. Daddy enjoyed making rocky-road fudge and Mexican wedding cakes (a.k.a. pecan butter balls of goodness), and Mommy had fun not studying and spending more time with our cozy little boy. Days typically begin with Caden waving happily at the Christmas tree. The mornings have been frosty and bright, and we spend lots of time listening to carols and enjoying the glow of our tree--it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.


BML Baby Boys

Caden invited his friends Owen and James over on Saturday to celebrate their approaching first Christmases. The boys played together while their parents munched on goodies and chatted. We also did some fun crafts projects, including making hand and foot print ornaments and gift wrap. Caden was (and continues to be) especially excited about the fun new maracas from Owen, Amy, and Brian. His new trick is to throw things (he has a pretty good arm, though his aim is erratic), and the maracas make very satisfying noises when they land.

More fun with friends

There was a BML dress-up holiday cocktail party on Saturday evening, and Mommy, Daddy, and Caden had fun putting on seldom-worn clothes for the event. The highlight of the evening, for little Caden, was the papasan chair in the living room. What a comfy place to hang out and watch the pretty lights and the grownups in their fancy clothes!

On Sunday, we ventured down to Oakland for a super-tasty brunch with Mark and Anne. Caden was especially interested in their kitty, Lucy, though she wasn't so sure about him.

Preparing for the holidays

Mommy passed her Ph.D. candidacy exam last Thursday (yay, Mommy!), so we're finally able to relax a bit and prepare for the coming holidays. This week, we enjoyed post-exam celebrations with friends in Davis, a lab get-together at Suzanne and Keith's on Friday, and a Christmas-tree-finding expedition on Sunday. It was fun to spend time together as a family, clean the house, start decorating for Christmas, and, most of all, not study. Little Caden has been improving his balance, and happily stands while holding onto a chair, Mommy, or Daddy.

On Friday evening, Caden had fun playing with his friends James and Owen. Toward the end of the evening, when the little ones were getting tired of all of the adults talking, Caden and James were mesmerized by the slowly turning ceiling fan.

On Saturday morning, Mommy and Caden snuggled together on the couch and perused the gift catalogs for ideas.

Portraits!

On Sunday, we headed over to Santa Rosa for Caden's 8-month portraits. Yep, our cute little guy passed his 8-month milestone last Monday. It's hard to believe how fast the past 3/4 of a year have gone!

O, Christmas tree

The rain stopped for a few hours on Sunday afternoon, and we took advantage of the break in the weather to take Caden on his first Christmas tree cutting expedition. He had a great time riding in the backpack in the sunshine and touching the different types of trees at the farm, including scaly cedars, prickly spruces, and soft firs. After a bit of searching, we found a really nice tree:

Lots to be thankful for!

We've had a good week at home. Mommy is studying really hard for her orals next week, so Caden has been spending lots of time with Daddy. We've been working on new skills, like standing up. See what a strong, tall little boy I am! Last Sunday, we returned home from celebrating Thanksgiving in Oregon. We had a lot of fun visiting with family and friends and spending time on the coast at Camp Magruder, where the Godard family gathers every year for Thanksgiving.

New Friends!

While we were in Corvallis, we had a great time visiting with friends and meeting their adorable new babies. Fiona, Karen and Brock's little girl, was born at the end of June, and Finn, Anne and Josh's little guy, arrived in July, but we hadn't had a chance to meet them yet. Here, you can see Caden with his new friends:

Happy Thanksgiving!

On the 23rd, family members from three states converged on Camp Magruder, which is between Garibaldi and Rockaway on the northern Oregon coast. It was great to see everyone, eat good food, and spend time in a familiar place.

Gathered for the feast
Four generations, celebrating together














Caden's Thanksgiving "meal"
On the beach at Magruder

Cozy with cousin Sandy
















More fun in Oregon

Of course, we had a wonderful stay in Corvallis with Grandma and Grandad, and we enjoyed a quick visit with Auntie Erika and Uncle Brad last Saturday at their home in Hillsboro.

















One last thing...

"Thanks for the Advent packages, Nana & Grandpa!"

A visit from St. Nicholas

Just before we headed up to Oregon for Thanksgiving, we stopped by our local hardware store for their (somewhat premature) pre-Christmas sale. Our primary motivation in going was the opportunity to introduce little Caden to Santa for the first time. As you can see, Caden's response was far from jolly. Does he know something that we don't?

Coming soon: Thanksgiving at the beach in Oregon. Stay tuned...

Can Caden really be 7 months old?

Nana and Grandpa left on Friday to drive up to Oregon. It was great having them around, especially because Daddy was away at a working group in Santa Barbara this week. Caden had a great time visiting with them, and we're all looking forward to seeing Nana and Grandpa again at Christmas.

While Daddy was gone, lots of friends came over to visit with Mommy and Caden, including Randall and James; Amy, Brian, and Owen; and Tessa.

Now, Daddy is back, and little Caden is happily showing off all of the new skills he has perfected over the past week. They include opening and closing his mouth like a fish (we're not sure if he's imitating us talking or if it's a sign that he wants to eat), "talking" with an expanded vocabulary of consonant-vowel combinations, and rolling over and over and over.

Caden is now seven months old! It's hard to believe how quickly the time has gone...

Happy 1st Halloween!

Nana and Grandpa arrived on Friday to spend a week visiting with little Caden. Their autumn trip down from Alaska has become something of a tradition, and we've spent two of the past three Halloweens with them. This year, we all got into the spirit of Caden's first Halloween and dressed as a bug family: Caden as the sweet little cozy bug that he is, Mommy as a butterfly, Daddy as a moth, Nana as a ladybug, and Grandpa as a yellowjacket. We all had a great time together, decorating Halloween cookies, making costumes, carving a pumpkin, welcoming trick-or-treaters, and eating way too much sugar. Below are a few photos of fun Halloween activities, including a baby costume party last week, cookies, and--of course--pumpkin carving:

Here's our bug checking out the other babies' costumes.

Yum! Those cookies look so tasty and colorful!

Carving pumpkins is a lot of fun...

...especially when you get to put your hands in the squishy pulp.

Happy Halloween from the bug family:

Other highlights of the week

Nana and Grandpa have had a lot of fun playing with, feeding, and cuddling little Caden. Other highlights of this past week have included a new pair of "baby legs" leggings made by Mommy; a surprise package (that, unbeknownst to us, spent the last five months in the garage of our old house) with a cozy fleece blanket from Erika, Craig, and Thorsten; and an increasing diversity of foods. This week, Caden decided that he actually likes squash. He also tried peas for the first time on Halloween--a holiday tradition of his mommy's--and we think that they are his favorite "solid" food so far.

Whew! What a busy week!