Kaden's First Christmas

Kaden had a very eventful first Christmas! We had a white Christmas! The snow came pouring down on December 14th and was on and off until December 28th. So our Christmas break started earlier than we had planned. The snow kept us from going to work that first week. And almost kept us from going to Seattle for Christmas! We went up on Friday before the second storm came in... which was the best decision we made all year! :-) We got snowed in with Lisa's cousins and family... played cards, watched movies, ate a lot, and laughed liked crazy! Kaden got some fun stuff for Christmas... a lot of things that make music and help him learn and grow! He also got some mula! We need to get him some more clothes... he is growing so fast! A whole 20 lbs!  The best present of all is all the time we were able to spend with family and friends. We were in Seattle for 9 days and was definitely ready to be back to Portland. 

Kaden wasn't feeling well the day we left Seattle... and we took him to the doctor's on Monday morning. The doc said that he got a virus cough thing... in adults is appears as a common cold...for kids under two it is a form of bronchiolitis. It is so sad to see him sick for the first time... coughing, running nose, really tired...but restless. We have him on a nebulizer thingy. Please pray for him and that he gets better soon... 

We have a busy beginning of 2009... Joel is going back to George Fox Seminary to finish his last term to get his Masters in Christian Ministries... Lisa has many events she's overseeing in the first few months for work... and Kaden will be busy learning to walk and grow and become a little boy. Only 100 more days of Kaden being a baby... then he will be ONE YEAR OLD!!! 

We hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! 

Snow Suit

So... after the first arctic blast...Joel got cabin fever and so we had to venture to the mall. Good thing we did go because we found a steal of a deal!!! A snow suit for Kaden for only $15 at the children's place. Original price was like $45.  :-) YEAH!!! So, now Kaden will be all bundled up! We were going to venture up to Seattle for Christmas starting Saturday night due to a prior commitment we had until Saturday evening. But after hearing ALL the news reports of the next huge storm to come in Saturday we called in some favors and left Friday afternoon. Which was the BEST idea ever!!! We arrived in Seattle with no traffic and clear roads... but then it HIT! The snow fell and fell and fell!!! It didn't stop falling for almost 12 hours!!! And what do we have!?! A house full of family, food, and fun!!! We stayed up and watched the snow and played cards and other games until 2 am or so. (Kaden of course didn't stay up that late...) He went to bed at a ripe time of 7:30 PM. :-) Being snowed in with cousins and siblings and grandparents who change Kaden's dirty diapers... what else could one ask for??? :-) So... we are in Seattle... we will see how long we are here for! :-) Merry Christmas to all!!!  

Arctic Blast '08

Like most Portlanders we laugh at the local news and how crazy they get when the weather changes here. Everything is so extreme and it's always the end of the world as we know it.  So when the news reported that we would have an "Arctic Blast!" we just thought there would be a few snow flurries and then it would clear up.

Well we woke up to a good dusting of snow this morning and it continued to come down. We under estimated the road conditions and were hoping to get to church so we got ready and packed up Kaden (oh yeah his first snow!). By the time we hopped in the car the streets had gotten a lot worse then we thought.  We pulled out of the drive way drove about three houses down and turned around to come back.

Joel didn't feel safe driving in the little FIT. You know what they say, "Better safe then sorry!" 

Now we get to stay home today and watch the "blizzard like conditions..." Oh the joy of living in the N.W. 

Kaden loved the snow but we didn't keep him out in it long.

 

Kaden 8 Months Old!!!

Kaden is 8 months old!!! Time has sure gone by so fast!!! 

Kaden is now about 20lbs. Not sure how tall... moves too much to measure. He crawls, pulls himself up on things, lets go... but doesn't last very long...he loves for us to hold his hands and walk with us. He claps his hands... says momma and dadda... shakes his head when he doesn't want to keep eating. He knows how to "pound" it...or explosion! (fist to fist) he can high five. He still loves his froggy. He is constantly exploring and trying to figure out how things work. You can see it in his eyes that he's studying whatever it is. He would rather play with boxes and paper and bottles than real toys. He enjoys story time... and takes frequent trips to the library with daddy. He still only has two bottom teeth... he eats a lot of things... mostly homemade. He loves anything he can pick up and feed himself. He's such a big boy now... he's learning new things daily and it's fun to watch and teach him. He has the biggest personality and loves being around people!!! We couldn't ask for anything more! Thank you Jesus for our 8 month old, Kaden! 

Oh Christmas Tree...Oh Christmas Tree...

So, tradition for the past three years has been to go out to a tree farm with some of our closest friends and cut down a beauty and make a day out of it! We planned and planned this year and found a date that worked for most of us. Saturday was out...so, Sunday it was! Saturday was BEAUTIFUL! Sunday wasn't so much. I know this is hard to believe but Kaden was super grumpy due to a weekend of no naps and lots of activities going on. So, when the rain came and grumpy child... we felt SOOO BAD! But for our sanity we HAD to cancel. So, as we sat there and pouted... (okay... Lisa pouted... since she wanted to get decorations up last week) Joel decided to load us up into Joel's dad's truck and take us to one of those precut places to pick out a tree. We thought it would be way easier than hiking through a tree farm in the cold. We did NOT realize that the cost of a tree would be triple what we would pay for at a tree farm. YIKES! So... we drove onto the next lot of trees... it was at a tree farm with some precut trees. We were just going to grab one of those but nothing looked nice...so, right next to the precut ones...there was this beauty of a tree... so, poor Joel had to cut it down! Good thing it wasn't too thick of a trunk! We threw it in the truck and went home! It wasn't near as fun as going with friends... but it was fast... and no cold baby! No grumpy momma and dadda... and now our house is decorated for Christmas! Kaden woke up this morning to a decorated tree with lights and smiled and clapped! :-)  

Kaden's Food Coma!

After a four day weekend with lots of family and friends to celebrate with, we think it all caught up with our baby Kaden! 

Our activities started Wednesday night when Kaden's grandparents (Ong, Ba Ngoai), auntie Lori (Di Ut) and uncle kyle (Cau Kai) made their way down from Seattle to celebrate with the To family. We stayed up way too late. I think Kaden knew his grandma and grandpa were coming so he wouldn't go to bed. They got in around 10:30pm and so we didn't get to bed until about midnight. 

Thursday was a morning of playing really hard with everyone, making food for dinner and then heading to Joel's sister and brother in law's house (Di, Duong Ba) for dinner at 4pm. The festivities lasted until about 9pm. Eating, playing cards, scrabble, eating, watching Kung Fu Panda and looking through the paper for next day sales! 

Friday: Grandma and Auntie Lori went shopping with Joel in the morning, the guys then went to play basketball and then Lisa took Kaden and grandma and auntie lori to the asian market and to Old Navy for some more shopping. Kaden's grandma CAN SHOP!!! Hhaha!!! 

Saturday: More shopping... we went to Woodburn Outlet Mall and had to drag grandma home. Then off to watch the Civil War Game (OSU vs. U of O). Don't ask who won...Joel is not a happy camper! Kaden played with his cousins and cheered and booed with the rest of them!  

Sunday: we went to church and had an amazing lunch with some friends at our house. Kaden played and laughed so hard this weekend and we think it all caught up to him. He was eating dinner at 6:15 (normally he goes to bed around 7:30pm.) And all of sudden mid bite, Kaden fell asleep. He has NEVER done that before. He's never just fallen asleep playing or crawling or anything. He's always let us know he's tired, we hold him and he falls asleep. We were laughing pretty hard and he didn't even budge. We think it all caught up with him and he decided he needed to rest! That, or he had TOO much TURKEY!!! Hhaha!!! :-)  

Hope you had a great thanksgiving! We are constantly in awe of this little child God has blessed us with and how much joy he brings us! Hope you enjoy this little video of him falling asleep while eating!!! We are still laughing at how funny he was! Happy Thanksgiving!!! (belated!)

Home Made Baby Food

One thing that mommy and daddy like to do together is make baby's food. ;^)

Some of the advantages of making your own baby food is:

1. You Know What's In It
2. It's Cost Effective
3. It's Fresh
4. It's Organic
5. More Variety
6. It's Fun

On the menu tonight were peas, (they were neon green) yam, and sweet potatoes. In the past we have made pears, apples, yams, green beans, carrots, and avocados. So far Kaden's favorite seems to be the yams avocados, and pears. 

We will cook up the veggies and then blend them up. We have a Braun Wand food processor and we use the attachment to puree the veggies into nice baby food consistency. Then we take the mixture and plop it into ice cube trays most of the trays we used were Rubbermaid. Drop those in the freezer then when they are frozen pop the little cubes into nicely labeled "Ziplock" bags. (wow we should put adds on the side of this blog for all the product placement going on in this entry.)

When baby is ready to eat we take out some frozen treat and put them in a bowl. Microwave for a few seconds to melt it and then add a little hot water. Then we add some cereal in to thicken it up.

Kaden  has been eating so much lately. The other day he ate two cubes of green beans and two cubes of pears. When we started a month ago he barely finished one cube. The transition from milk to solids has also brought on the same transitions in the diapers if you know what we mean. ;^P

So this concludes Joel and Lisa's baby cooking segment, we are glad you joined us and hope you come again for more adventures in parenting.

If you have a chance check out Joel's new blog RaisingDaddy. We'll leave you with a cute video of the effects of eating too many solids for Kaden. 

Silent Night... Holy Night...

As many of you know Kaden is very advanced in a lot of areas. Hitting his "milestones" earlier than what the books say. EXCEPT for sleeping through the night. We have so many friends' kids that have been sleeping through the night since they were three months old. The books say that a child SHOULD be sleeping through the night by six months. We tried every trick... and nothing seemed to get him out of his waking every three hours thinking he's STARVING! Hehhee!!! 

Last night was a good sign! Kaden "slept" through the night. He went six hours straight sleep from 8 pm-2 am. Woke up to eat and I put him back in his crib...and he woke up. We usually pick him back up cause he cries and get him back to sleep. BUT this time around... he sat up in his crib, stood up, sat down... talked talked talked. Then laid down and fell asleep! He has NEVER put himself to sleep like that before. I wish we had one of those night vision cameras set up. Then the boy didn't wake up until 7 AM! I think he might have slept longer than that if we didn't get up and were getting ready for the day. This is a very good sign... and hopefully it keeps up! :-) 

7 Months!!!

Kaden is now seven months old! Joel has been working on some video stuff for our keepsakes and he started with us in the hospital and Kaden's birth. It's wild to see pictures of him that small. Every day Kaden's personality comes out more and more. It's fun to explore things with him, new tastes, smells, touches, sights. He loves boxes and bags: the sounds they make when he does different things to them. He loves food: he's definitely a To. He eats everything-peas, green beans, carrots, yams, avocados, pears, apples, bananas, all types of baby cereals. He's learning how to use his pincher fingers to pick up snacks. Our favorite time right now is when he wakes up in the morning and is in such a playful mood. We lay in bed and play peek a boo with the covers...and he just laughs and laughs and laughs! It's so fun! (Especially when momma gets to stay in bed for a long time and not have to get up and go to work). This happens in the morning and right before bed time. Kaden gets the giggles and it's just so fun to play with him at this age. He's pretty technologically savvy... we have been video chatting with aunties, uncles, grandmas and friends... he loves to see himself on the computer!!! He's kinda weary of the phone still... I think he likes the fact that he can see someone through the computer and can't see them on through the phone. :-) Some fun seven month facts: Crawling, pulling himself up on things, taking a few steps holding on to stuff, eating solids, weighs over 18lbs, length of more than 26 inches, nicknames: chubbahwub, chubbabah, bubbah. Says dada and some other nonsense... loves his froggy! Loves you! 

Kaden Says His 1st Words!!! "Dadda"

Once again the boy amazes us with his tricks. 

Today Kaden clearly said Dadda many times.

Pretty soon he will be able to chat with his older 

cousins, who can gab with the best of them.

Professional Crawler

Kaden has picked up crawling very quickly and wants to move on to 

standing and walking. He has begun to pull himself up on chairs, sofas, and Mommy and Daddy's pant legs.

We'll get more footage of him standing soon. 

Kaden's First Hair Cut!

Kaden got his first hair cut on Saturday! We ate breakfast at our favorite-est place and Lisa's hairdresser's store is next door... so, we went over to say hi and asked if there was anything she could do with his long strands of hair and his "comb over". She went immediately to it! And chopped chopped chopped it off... and made a little faux hawk! SO CUTE! He was so good! It helped that Lisa's hairdresser was really fast too! Anyways... Kaden got a new hairdo!  

Kaden's Crib!!

The Three Amigos!

Kaden-7 months, Paker-2 months, Jonah-3 weeks 

The boys are destined to be best buds! They got the boy band look down and are on their way to making mucho mula for their parents!!! hahah!!! We will see who becomes the bully or instigators and who will be the followers... All we know is that it is going to be fun for them to have friends this close in age. They sure grow fast too... Kaden used to fit that outfit Jonah is wearing! It seems like a long time ago when Kaden was that small... but it also just feels like yesterday! Time sure flies with little ones... embrace each day... it goes way too quickly!  

Crawling... Standing...

We can't get a good video of the boy crawling... every time we pull out the camera he gets in the sitting position and poses that way!!! Hhahaa! He's way too trained! :-) Kaden has picked up crawling and gets around pretty fast! He is following us from room to room. It's funny the things we notice now that aren't really child proof... or unclean that is down at his level. He loves these bins we have for recycling! A little man after our GREEN hearts!!! :-) So, we figured he would just crawl around for a bit... but it seems like he wants to always be in the upright position. He basically crawls to get to a place where he can pull himself up. Soon he will probably want to walk about holding on to things. Kaden is very advanced and learns so fast! We are trying to teach him boundaries and what is acceptable to play with and what is not (ie. the lamp cord, shoes, our MACS!). Anyways, you can see his brain trying to figure things out. We are teaching him how to wave hi and bye to people... and sometimes he will be sitting playing and start staring at his hand and making it wave... it's very cute! Soon we will capture the crawling before he moves on to the next stage!!! :-) But here are some other cute pics of him! Much love!!!  

My new buddy Jonah!!

Kaden has a new buddy to play with...

Annette and Nappy (some of our favorite people in the world!) 

had baby Jonah on Friday Oct. 24, 2008.

We got the call in the middle of the night and took the two girls

while the two excited parents spent the rest of the day at the hospital.

We are so thankful that Jonah was born healthy and he is so cute.

We can't wait to see Kaden and Jonah run around and cause trouble!!!

Lisa and the boyz.
Joel and the boyz.

Annette and her little man.
Kaden showing Jonah the ropes! 

Costume Party!!!

Kaden went to the Mosaic Costume Party. We saw many

of our friends at the party and played lots of games. 

Kaden went as a lion a last minute choice, but a good one.

He enjoyed being in the costume, but by the end of the night 

the fur in his face and the heat finally got to him. It was a fun eventful night for all the kids.

Getting ready and sitting with Grandma.

Always having fun with the friends...

Kaden got a little warm so he took his costume off and dived into the balls.

UW vs. OSU

Not sure why Uncle John is wearing WSU gear.

Kaden loved the little Husky Dog.

Kaden cheering for the Beaves!

Kaleb is one big boy! (yes, he is 6wks younger...)

The To Boyz seeing Grandpa off.

We have been talking about going to a UW vs. OSU game for a few years now... and Lisa got an email from the University of Washington that was giving discounts for Alum. So, we got some of the family together to go to the game last weekend in Seattle! We were going to take Kaden, but it often is so cold there on the lake... so, we left him at home with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie April and Chu Kyle. We got text messages throughout the game that Kaden would only let Auntie April hold him and that he liked dancing to High School Musical songs!!! What a silly kid. Anyways, we also got to visit Kaden's little friend Kaleb, who is six weeks younger than Kaden and getting bigger and bigger than Kaden by the minute...so, Kaleb is Kaden's not so little friend! :-) hehehee!!! The game was fun...but UW lost... Joel was happy! :-) Going home is always fun to be with all our family! And we always eat well! Kaden didn't like to be in the car seat for so long this time around... he's becoming quite the mobile one! We made a pit stop at the Portland Airport to see Joel's dad off. He goes to Vietnam for a few months in the winter and he wanted to see Kaden before he took off. When he gets back Kaden might be walking! That's crazy!!! Here are some pictures of the weekend! 

Big Boy

Our baby looks so big lately... He is dressing like a BIG BOY.

It's really strange to see our little baby change before our eyes.

I know, it seems like every blog we talk about how fast he grows...

But it's true!

We had the chance to hang out with the Bankers (our good friends that we have shared life with for almost three years now.) Last weekend their family visited and we took them out to Saturday Market (Kaden's first time.) Then we went to an Apple Festival and sampled over 60 types of apples. Kaden had a ton of fun.

Here are some pictures that Co Amanda took while we were out.

 

Kaden sitting back in the car just hanging out. Don't worry he is still in a car seat when we drive!

Kaden and Daddy they like to match.
Our little gnome!