McMahon Happenings

I know it's been a while since I've updated. It's on my to-do list everyday, and everyday it gets bumped to tomorrow's to-do list. So, I'm going to wrap a couple blogs I've been meaning to do into one blog. 

First off is our attempt at using Kaden's new wagon that he got for Christmas. FAIL! It was really cute, but Kaden had no interest in sitting in it. He wanted to stand and look around. We didn't even make it half way down the street before we turned around and headed home to get the stroller. I tried to give him toys to distract him. We also tried to use the "seat belt", but he wasn't having that. We'll try again when he's a little bigger. 

We've graduated to the "big boy tub" during bath time. We got this tub that came with a seat for when he was younger. Once he started sitting on his own, we took out the seat, and he can sit and play. He loves to chase around his toys in the tub.

Meal times have been a bit challenging lately. He's very picky. He does not like baby food. And for the most part, he doesn't like to be fed. He wants to feed himself. This limits what he can eat. I found this apple & oatmeal breakfast I thought he might like. It has chunks, so it's not like baby food...or so I thought. So he mostly eats veggies, and cut up fruit. And apparently he doesn't get tired of it...at least not yet. I love watching him eat!!

You can tell from the shirt (that was once white) that an 8 month old feeding himself can be rather messy. You'll see in the pics below that we now resort to eating in a diaper. A bib only helps so much cause half of his food ends up in his lap, on the floor, etc.

  

Subway Art

Subway art has taken over the web, especially on Pinterest. I've seen tons of cute baby Subway Art. I decided that since I have CS4 and all of its elements, surely I could design my own Subway Art for sweet Kaden. So I set out on a mission. I used different ideas I'd seen on Pinterest, and ran with it. This is what I came up with. I made a few adjustments to my initial design, but I think I like it. We're turning what was our office into  play room for Kaden, and I'm thinking this will make it on the wall. What do you think?

Walk me to sleep

(picture with iPhone, thus the not so great quality)

Kaden & I have been going on daily walks. It's good for us. I don't always want to do it, but I make myself. It's good for the pounds I still want to lose. It's a good change of scenery, and gets us out of the house. The more I make myself get out, the more I enjoy. Last week, Kaden still wasn't feeling 100%, so the length of our walk depended on his mood. However, this week, he's done much better, and we've been able to stay out 30-45min most days. I'm hoping to continue to add time and length to our daily walks. Apparently Monday we went out for a walk a little too close to nap time. As we were rounding the corner to home, I looked down to find him like this. Notice the propped up leg....that's my favorite part!! Usually he props one leg up on the cup holder part, but this time he got really comfortable. Also, notice Sophie (the giraffe). He always has either Sophie or a ball in his hands...one or the other. I make sure he has several toys to distract him while we walk, but most of the time he just holds on to one and enjoys the outside scenery. We're getting to where we love our walk every day!

Lunch time

Apparently Kaden has decided he's too big for baby food. I mean really...he's 8 months already!! But I haven't really had any luck getting him to eat baby food the past week or so. Every now and then, if I mix it with baby cereal to thicken it up, he'll eat it. But usually an open container just goes to waste. So I've had to explore other options. Enter frozen veggies. 

 Mr. Independent can grab these and feed them to himself, so he likes that. 

 He also tries to use a spoon, but as you can see in all the pictures, he has it in backwards. He's only successful if I help him...which he's not a fan of!!

 He has the funniest way of grabbing food and feeding it to himself. He picks whatever it is up with his fist, than wiggles his fingers until the food slides up between his thumb and pointer finger. 

 I don't know how he does it. I've tried it. But he can get anything he wants in his mouth. 

 We've also noticed that he uses both hands. I actually think he uses his left hand more sometimes. Micah & I are both right handed. So we shall see. 

 Look at how he focuses on the spoon. He really does want to be using it all on his own. 

 Yummy food-filled smile!!

 Very intently picking up a piece of food. 

 I think at this point he's trying to figure out why I'm still taking pictures of him eating. He's so darn cute to watch though!!

 Notice, even if I give him a bite of my food, with my fork, he has to help hold it & guide it to his mouth. He is a pro at this you know!! 

Future musician???

Now that Kaden can pull himself up, I've caught him climbing up to the piano to play. I've put him in my lap before to let him bang on the keys, but I can only handle so much of that. Anytime I sit down and play, he wants a turn. Luckily, if he's in the standing position, he can only hit a couple of keys at the same time. It's more bearable. The past few times, not only does he play, but he sings along. I've tried to get it on video, but he catches me every time. I will not give up!! It's so cute everyone should experience it!!

8 Months

So I haven't been off to a great start in 2012. But, in my defense, 2012 didn't start off so great. Kaden got sick (for real) for the first time. He's had a snotty nose, and an ear ache before. But this was his first fever-running, bad cough, double earache, had to go to the dr. to get meds sickness. Then, because my baby is so sweet, he shared his germs with me. So the past few days, I've been not feeling 100%. Oh, and to top it off, Kaden was cutting 4 top teeth all at the same time. So all that to say, sickly/grumpy baby & sickly/grumpy momma, don't make for good pictures. Which is why you're getting them a week late. But, all that aside, you still get a way cute, smiley baby! He's learned now what the camera is, and as soon as I pull it out, he starts smiling. 

Stats: 

At Kaden's 6 month check-up, he was 16lbs, 10oz and 25.75 in long (25th percentile for both). Last week we went in because he wasn't feeling good. He weighed 17lbs 13oz. So, he's growing. Which isn't surprising cause he loves to eat. 

Sleeping Habits:

 Oh the wonderful, and not so wonderful, world of sleep. It's an up and down battle for us. Every time we take a step forward, we take a couple backwards. We were doing good with the cryout method, until he learned to pull himself up. Then he'd get stuck in the standing position, and couldn't get back down. Or he'd fall and just get mad. So, we put that aside for a while. Then, when we thought we were doing better, he got sick. Apparently a cough and two ear infections will keep a kid up at night. Oh and so will cutting 4 teeth at once!! But, we're on the down side of all of those things, and I can tell just in the past 2 nights that he's 
sleeping better. So we shall see...

 Eating Habits: 

Kaden has been exploring more foods. He's very independent. He likes to feed himself...which doesn't really work well with baby food. However, he's decided he's not really a fan of baby food  anymore. He'd prefer to eat off mommy & daddy's plate. And we try to let him as much as possible. We've also been putting more foods on his tray to let him feed himself. I started buying the baby puffs, and teething cookies. He loves those, and it make outings and going out to eat so much more pleasant!! Plus, he can do those himself. That makes him happy...and makes us very happy! I am still nursing, although we may be starting the weaning process soon. He has 6 teeth...enough said!!

(Look at that little belly hanging out! :)) 

New Tricks:

 Kaden has graduated from the army crawl to the real crawl. I was beginning to wonder if he'd just skip that step and go straight to walking. He still army crawls sometimes, but he definitely crawls now. He's up and down all day long. Now he's figured out how to get back down when he pulls himself up, so he's on the move all day. His newest trick is "singing." The other day Micah pulled out his guitar just to play around. Kaden crawled straight to him and stood there and "sang" while Micah played. For Christmas he got a table that he can stand at. It plays music, and often Kaden can be heard "singing" along. A couple times I've caught him climbing up to the piano to play & sing. It's soooo cute!! My favorite is when I can hear him singing in the backseat of the car. He also waves bye bye now. He's got the hand motion down, and he says something that sounds more like dada, but it's bye bye. He does say dada, although I'm not sure if he knows it's dada. He's quite the talker these days.  

 Dr. Visits: 

We've been to the Dr. twice since his 6 month check-up. Once to get the second half of his flu shot. (The first flu shot comes in 2 doses.) The second time was just recently when we discovered he had a cold and two ear infections. 

  General Observations: 

He has been so fun lately!! We loved spending the holidays with him. He's a mess. Other than still being very much a mamma's boy. (He likes to be able to see me). He's getting independent. He likes to feed himself, hold his own drink, and play with his toys by himself. I believe he thinks he's bigger than he really is. That's ok...he's a smart boy!! 

(Giving him a toy was the only way to distract him from grabbing the magnet board...but it was short lived!) 

Top 11 in 20011

Of all the thousands of pictures I took t his year, and I do mean thousands, I tried to pick my top 11 favorites from 2011. That was extremely hard...and probably why I saved this blog for last. But, I did my best. If I had to look again, I'd probably pick 11 new pictures, but we'll stick we these. And they're not in any order.

Totally not a good picture,  but I love the moment it captured!!

He was only a thumb sucker for a short while, but we loved it while it lasted!

I don't know what it is about this pic, but it's so Kaden!!

Gotta love cuddly boys!!

LOVE!!

Chubby thighs + feet in his mouth = perfect!

You can barely see the two bottom teeth. And his love for bath time!

Innocence!

Love that big, happy smile!

And his pouty face!!

How grown up he looks!!

Love them all and so much more!!!