Christmas 2011

On December 23rd we took Kane to see Santa.  As you can tell, he had a great time.  No crying at all, he enjoyed his visit with the big guy.

I gotta say, I was super excited about his new tricycle, Kane was less so.  There is a smile here but when we actually put him in it there was nothing but tears.  He was due for a nap, and we were inside, let's hope things go better when we take her out for a spin.

The Camelbak, on the other hand, was a hit.  He loved Jon's so we got him a Kane-sized one.

He squealed when he saw it and pretty much finished the bottle in one sitting.

The stacking cups from Jon's cousin Adam and his wife Stephanie were a hit.  The car rocker wasn't really...hopefully he will grow to love it.

Kane loved to watch Jon build the tower and then would knock it over.

Kane LOVES books, so this book was a hit, no surprise here.  He will sit in his room by himself and just flip through all the books on his bookshelf.  I truly hope his love of books continues.

The gift from Aunt Bobbie Jo, Rodger, Jack, and Erin was a hit as well.  Kane pretty much tried to figure out how to work the stacking cups into this toy so he could have them all together.  

Just before he went down for his nap, Kane decided he wanted to sit in the dishwasher.  Such a character.  

We hope all reading our blog had a wonderful Christmas!  Happy New Year!  We look forward to sharing our "Raising Kane" adventures!

On the move...

Kane will do laps around the house with his toy.  He takes a few steps on his own but the walker really allows him to gain some speed.

ZoO LiGhTs

This past weekend we  headed to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights.  They have over 250 animated light displays but what got Jon interested was the deep fried s'mores.  Kane is totally obsessed with lights right now.  Our good friends the Jimenez's are moving to California over the holiday season and we figured this would be a good way to celebrate the season.  It was sooo cold but tons of fun!

Kane was bundled up better than all of us, glad we brought his snowsuit!

We saw this cool light display...

The frogs were pretty cute too.

Kane got to stand with the big boys!

We had to stop at this cute train before we left.

At the end of the night we have tired Kane with some deep fried s'more on his mouth and daddy with the crazy eyes.  We had a fantastic night overall, I will be wearing my "boots with the fur" next year though!

Kane's "UNO" Birthday Party

 I can't believe our boy is ONE!  We decided to celebrate with an "UNO" themed party.  Luckily, we were having family pictures taken a little before, so I was able to bring the decorations to the shoot.  As you see above, we got some "smash" cake professional pictures thanks to Elaina Cowdell.

We celebrated Kane's birthday multiple days since it fell on Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving day we got Kane some balloons, he loves balloons!  

We also made him a #1 pancake...it's far from Kane because he is super grabby and LOVES pancakes!  I needed a picture before he dug in.  This was also one of the few pictures where he was looking forward because he was mesmerized by the balloons behind him....as was Alex apparently. 

The Jimenez's got Kane a birthday cake for Thanksgiving day...

He enjoyed it!

 The Saturday following Thanksgiving we had Kane's actual party.  He mostly wanted to eat the UNO cards.

Kane's party cake...his fourth first birthday celebration...he has cake eating down to a science.

I had each boy put their hands on the board so I could trace them, with Kane's in the middle, then we used it for pin the UNO cards on Kane's hands.  Daniel won.

 There was a pinata.  Kane loves to bang on things so pinatas are right up his alley.  Gabriel cheered Kane on.

  Daddy and Kane and...

 Daddy being silly showing off Kane's name on the back of his shirt.

The big smiles come from Jon running toward Jesse and Kane...

 and Brooke and Kane...

and Sheryl and Kane.

There was some singing and candle lighting,

more cake eating,

and a bunch of present opening.  Presents and well wishes came from all over, Kane is loved by so many!  We are truly blessed with our wonderful son as well as the rest of our family and friends!

Daddy's home!

 The day before we headed back to Utah we met up with our friend from Italy, Kristina and her boys.  It was great seeing her again.  As you can see, her oldest boy Christian,  really loved Kane.  Christian is about 8 months older than Kane.  He climbed up on the couch and patted his legs to tell me he wanted Kane on his lap, it was super cute!

 It's hard to believe how good Kane is getting around now, just a few months ago Kane could only pull himself up using the handles on the sides of the coffee table.  We returned home and he is walking all around it.  He barely uses objects when he is standing but he still holds them just in case.  He will stand on his own with no support for short periods.  We know he can do it, we think he just isn't quite sure.

 The day before Jon got home we went to Dinosaurland in Ogden.  It was FREEZING!  Kane and I walked outside for a short bit but went into the museum part pretty quickly.  He really enjoyed pointing out all the dinosaurs.  The Jimenez family came with us, we really had a great time!

 

Jon came home this month!  Kane waited patiently to see his daddy, he loved the airport...well, the vending machines at least!  

           

The Jimenez children held up Jon's sign as I impatiently waited for him to make it to the baggage area.  I pretty much talked to him via phone until I could see him in person.

 Yay!  It is truly wonderful to all be together again.  I actually became really sick the day he returned so Jon jumped back into fatherhood with both feet.  He handled it fantastically!

Next up:  Celebrating Kane's "UNO" Birthday!  We will be having his birthday party on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.  We did a photo shoot already with his birthday decorations and a smash cake.  I wanted to be sure to preserve his special day!

We're Going To Disney World!

Well Kane and I traveled to Disney World with my brother Rodger and his family for 8 days of fun at the end of September.  It was a fantastic visit!   Kane loved all the characters, I was so afraid he would be scared but we was in total awe the entire time.  He was such a trooper for the 15 hour drive and the long days too!

Our first ride in the Magic Kingdom was the hobby horses, he was bouncing up and down with excitement the whole time.  It was such a joy to see him so taken with all of his surroundings!

Kane was such a big boy sitting up ready to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride in the Magic Kingdom.  There were activities throughout the line to keep the little ones busy while they waited too...that was a real bonus!

It was quite a task to get Kane to keep hats on but that didn't stop me from putting several on him.  He was just too cute in them!

 And another..

And another...

We went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and Kane was extremely popular in his Lion Kane costume...he didn't wear it long though because it was too hot, even in the evening.

On the last night we went to Fantasmic (a show in Disney's Hollywood Studios) and Kane slept through the whole thing.  He was playing before the show started and was very popular with the girls behind us...I heard one say she would have a baby if she knew it would be as good as him.

As far as Kane's development...he is EVERYWHERE!  Lots of crawling, he cruises the furniture a bit but he knows crawling will get him there the fastest so he uses that the most.  He has also started waving, I think that started at Disney World when he was seeing all of the characters.  Every day is something new and exciting for both of us!  We can't wait to have Jon Baby home so we can all be together as a family!  

Show Me Your Teeth!

Well at the beginning of the month we could finally see Kane's first three teeth that have been working their way up.  I think this is the first picture I was able to get that shows them all pretty clear.  We do have a fourth working it's way through but it's still too soon to see it in a picture.  Overall Kane has been fabulous through the whole teething process.

This month Kane has really starting to understand how to feed himself.  He has to have it just perfect between his pointer finger and thumb or else he will put it down and try again.  Most end up on the floor because most of puffs get stuck to his palm and he shakes his hand back in forth to get them off.  The dogs patiently wait for the discarded puffs.

Kane makes sure he has the food all the way in his mouth before removing his hand.

All the effort has paid off, success!

 Although Kane could stay in the bath forever, getting him dressed lately is quite a chore.  He is all over the place and is less than thrilled when I have to keep him in one place to put lotion and pj's on him. It was nice to get a smile the other day during his least favorite time.

By the time 6:30 rolls around Kane is more than ready for our nightly routine of brushing his teeth, reading him a book, and our evening hugs and kisses cuddle time.