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.

It's Official!

On July 27, 2011 at around 2:30 pm Gabriel became Gabriel Kane Eaton.  His first name given to him by his biological parents and his second given to him by us, his parents.  He goes by Kane, the name we have chosen for him.  Both my brother and uncle also go by their middle name so it's not uncommon in our family at all to go by your middle name.  The court proceeding was fairly short, thank goodness because I was a bundle of nerves.  It was an  amazing day, I wish Jon could have been here to share the experience with us.  Luckily, my brother, Rodger, was able to come out and one of our close friends, Brooke, came with her four boys.

Kane waited so patiently outside for our turn in court.  We took that time to take pictures with his Uncle Rodger and Brooke's family.  There was a little girl that was having her adoption finalized before Kane.  Her mom and I brought them together so they could chat to each other (she kept trying to steal Kane's toy ;-) )

Earlier this month I got Kane a toy that he could play with while he sits up, he loves it!  He really enjoys the block people because they are noisy when you shake them..

Kane is doing a bit of standing now.  He really likes it because he is getting all these new views.  In the picture above he is hanging on to the toddler chair in his room, just the right size for a new "stander".

At the very beginning of this month Kane and I went to Louisiana to see my best friend, Brandi and her daughter Camille.  Camille was so good with Kane and he loved her to pieces.  She would dance all around him and he would look at her in complete awe and amazement.  We had a very nice visit and Kane is a fantastic traveler, as you can see in the picture above.  He was asleep before we got to our cruising altitude.  

A Month of Milestones!

I can't get over how big my sweet boy is getting!  All the moving and shaking on his back has paid off this month.  Gabriel has become quite a good sitter.  I can now put him in a shopping cart without him slumping over to one side.  He sits very well on his own but I do put a pillow wall behind him for the times he decides he wants to flail his body back.  I don't what him to have any brain damage ;-) 

Finally Gabe is rolling back to tummy!  He rolls all over his play-mat, it has really eased his frustration because now he can reach the toys no matter where I put them.

We decided to teach Gabriel to use a cup before a sippy cup.  It seems to be working, he just doesn't like to put it down.  I just put a small amount in the cup so there is no huge mess when he turns it upside down.  He has only let it spill once or twice though.  The goal is for him to be comfortable with it by his first birthday.  I think we can do it!

Look at me grow!

This month had good and sad.  We started out with a visit to Indiana.  It went so smooth.  I was afraid that Gabriel was going to have a hard time on the plane but he was fantastic!  Many people came up to me and commented about how good he was during our trip.  We stayed for a little over a week, it was so great to see everyone.  Jon's family had been so looking forward to meeting our baby boy.

On Mother's Day we parted ways with Jon, he was headed down to Florida and Gabe and I were headed to Kansas City to meet up with Jessica.  Shelly, who lives just outside of KC, just had her second child and we were able to stop and and see him.  Little Carter looked so small compared to Gabe!  Jessica and I drove from Missouri to Utah.  I was a little worried how Gabe would do on the 18 hour journey.  Once again, he was fantastic.  Jessica, Gabriel, and I had a nice week long visit before she headed to her final destination ...Las Vegas.  We are so glad she lives close because there are many visits in our future :)

Gabe had his 6 month visit this month.  The doctor joked that we don't need to worry about him falling into the "failure to thrive" category.  Shots went much better than his 4 month visit.  He cried but he was fine after.
Gabriel is such a fantastic baby.  He still falls asleep everywhere...the store, church, the car, you name it.

I am constantly sending Jon pictures and filling him in on the latest, he misses Gabriel so much.  I look forward to seeing how our sweet boy will change next month.