They're ONE! (written by Cavin)

Hey guys! Cavin here. It has been way too long since I've written to say how things are going from MY perspective. First of all, I've been quite busy learning to move around, eat with my hands, point out things to my mommy, tell her stories, and of course hang out with my friends some more! I'm way too busy for this blogging thing. See mom...she's got tons of free time to hang out with me and blog. She keeps talking about how her "boss is keeping her busy at work" but I'm assuming by 'boss' she means me and by 'work' she means changing my diaper. That being said, where does she go for 12 hours a day? Oh well, never thought about it...I'm too busy hanging out with my friends to notice!

On to my friends. This weekend marked two of my friends' ONE year old birthday parties! We bounced from one party to the next...it was quite crazy. I was so excited for Andrew and Delaney that I didn't take a nap all morning waiting for their parties to start. Mommy and daddy were super worried about that but I didn't see what the big fuss was about. I just took a quick disco nap on the way to Andrew's party and I was good to go!

Y'all remember Andrew right? He and I hung out quite a bit when our mommies were on maternity leave together. This is us hanging out at Nordstroms (against our will...I mean, seriously? What boy likes to shop?) when I was just 1.5 months old...

And here we are now with our mommies!

Aren't we a-friggin'-dorable? Drew is quite shocked as he just downed his birthday cake! See here...

It was super fun hanging out with all my friends! They had some fun toys there too!

Everyone kept saying "you're next Cavin"...I'm not sure what this means but I hope to God it means I get to eat some of that yummy looking cake next!

Once Drew's party was over we said 'bye bye' too all of my friends and headed to Delaney's house. Mommy and daddy keep referring to Delaney as my girlfriend. Whatever. So she held my hand once. Holding my hand does not a girlfriend make. Puhlease. Bleck! Delaney and I are JUST friends. That's it.

Delaney's mommy and my mommy hung out a lot when they were on maternity leave too. We played with them at Day One, ate lunch together a lot, and walked around the Rez in Lafayette quite a bit. Here's Delaney and I when I was about a month and a half old where she allegedly tried to hold my hand.

And here we are now!

She refused to share her birthday cake with me (women...*rolling my eyes*) and she ate it reeeallly slow...but it was fun to celebrate with her nonetheless.

I also met a new friend, Braden. He and I had a tea party together. Daddy was really nervous about this...I don't get why...it's just a pink and lavender tea set daddy. How's that going to hurt me?? Geez. Parents...they just don't understand.

Here's one of Delaney and her mommy Hope!

And here's one of my mommy and I...now you see where I get my good looks from.

After all the socializing, singing Happy Birthday, playing, and eating I zonked out on the ride home!

And, apparently, I'm next!

Mooooove over winter!

The weather finally turned warmer and got drier here in the bay area so we went on a family hike in the hills about a mile from our house two weekends ago.


Here are the boys...


And then the two hot blonds who like to shake their tails...



Mike took a self portrait of him and Cavin...



When we reached the top there was all of a sudden quite a bit of cattle. The boys got a bit nervous but it was 'aint no thang for these two cowgirls...

The calf you see in the background was our new friend. She followed us up the hill and then around to this barn...and proceeded to jump into every picture she could (see above and below).

The doggies got a bit dirty stomping through the mud and rolling in, yes, cow patties. Needless to say, they both got some baths and Jerry lost some weight again (aka. got a haircut).

My favorite miner

When you marry someone that went to the Colorado School of Mines there are many things that go along with that. On the upside, they are intelligent, can fix just about anything, and know way too much about Coors products. And on the downside, you begin to learn that they will look for every opportunity to put on their mining light (Katie - you know what I'm talking about)...even if it is just to kill a spider.

In my husband's defense, this spider was stuck on my car for at least 12 hours! He rode to work with me, hung out on my car while I was at work, then rode back with me. He didn't move an inch but did grow a really large egg looking white thing on half of his body. It was very scary crazy so I made Mike, the miner, take care of it. As our driveway is very dark the light came in handy; however, that does not diffuse the fact that Mike's face lights up with a big grin anytime he gets to put that ridiculous thing on his head.

More furry friends

A couple weeks ago, Mike and I took Cavin to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. The museum is great b/c it is about a mile walk from our house, is fun for little ones, and is right next to a playground. It made for a fun (and sometimes scary...see the snakes) Sunday afternoon!

Jerry was upset he couldn't tag along to say 'hello' to his other bear friends.





The first animal Cavin got to witness was a possum in a trash can!


He enjoyed the birdies...


And thought the squirrel running around was hilarious! (He learned this from Sandy I imagine.)


And, LOOK! THREE POLAR BEARS (in the middle of California no less)!!!


Probably the scariest part was the snake...



Cavin quickly walked away from the slimy creature...



Afterwards we hung out in the park...


And, naturally, made it on over to the swing set...

Happy Birthday Mikey!

Today is Mike's birthday! As he stated this morning he "is a third of a century plus a day old" today. For the normal-minded people out there that translates to 33 years. If you really want to know, I think he's pulling mind tricks on us to confuse us as to his real age. Either that or he's becoming senile in his 'old' age.

Either way, we love you honey! You are a wonderful husband, father, and friend. We hope you have a wonderful day today...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Calling Tod and Bryan...

Uncle Tod and Uncle Bryan...you are ON DECK!

Cavin has 5 uncles: Greg, Andy, Erik, Tod, and Bryan. (Not counting great-uncles or 'friend' uncles of course.) If Cavin needs his taxes done, his house remodeled, or a room at the Hilton he will know who to call. Right now he doesn't need those things. What he might need in the near future is someone who is trained in handling emergencies and injuries. Calling Uncle Tod, the firefighter, and Uncle Bryan, the police officer...you are officially on notice.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to stay home from work with a healthy Cavin. After another couple days of booger snot, coughing, fever (104.5 anyone?), and general unhappiness from my little boy I was thrilled to have my playful, smiling boy back! However, it was an unlucky day for the little guy.

In a short period of 24 hours, the following happened:

1) He hit is head against the wall while crawling down the hall (Result: lots of crying, no bruise)

2) He pinched his fingers in his dresser drawer (Result: lots of crying)

3) He pinched his fingers in his book by pushing down on the book with his other hand (Result: lots of crying)

4) As I was lying on the floor of his room, he got really excited and crawled really fast towards me, tripped, and his head fell right on my teeth (Result: lots of crying and a big swollen bruise on his head)

5) He was shaking a tambourine in music class and sliced the side of his eye with the edge of the instrument (Result: lots of crying and a swollen, red eye lid)

6) Tripped while crawling quickly across the room with a truck in his mouth (Result: lots of crying, cut his lip, and blood!!)

7) Slipped in the tub and hit his head against the side (Result: lots of crying and a red bruise that went away rather quickly) - If ANYONE can give me some points as to how to get this kid to sit down in the tub, I am all ears! Mike and I have been struggling with this for a while!!

8) Decided in the middle of the night to stand in his crib to pull a blanket down, but in his 1/2 sleep, he must of slipped b/c all I heard was a BANG! (Result: lots of crying and a big 'ole red mark on his cheek)

This morning I am happy to say that two of the bruises are gone, his eye looks clear, and his lip looks normal. He does have the red gash on his cheek still from the overnight incident.

There. Judge me as a mom. I'm okay with it. I will take the blame for a lot of these but if any of you are a parent of: 1) a boy or 2) a very energetic baby who wants nothing to do with you and everything to do with the world around him/her, you are probably empathizing with me. For every one of these occasions, I was no further than 5 feet away from him. At many times, I even had a hold of him and couldn't protect him from injuring himself!

I am home with Cavin again today so if yesterday is any indication as to how today might go, then Tod and Bryan, consider yourselves on call!

Happy 5th Birthday Jerry!

Our little bear turned 5 years old today!


Join Jer-bear in celebrating!