Kaden 10 Month Update

Our 10-month-old is definitely growing up and filling out. He eats a lot more solid food these days, so he's starting to pack on the pounds (finally!) His legs are chunky and have some adorable rolls. Up to this point, he has been true to size. But now he's starting to wear 12 month sized clothes. He's also got 6 teeth and a whole lot more hair. Those eyes are hanging onto their unique grey color, which I am completely OK with. He is a handsome little boy!

 He is not only crawling like a pro, but pulling up on furniture and cruising around the furniture. While we were at my parent's house, he also figured out how to climb stairs. I'm thankful our apartment in Korea is all on one floor so I don't have to worry about our active and adventurous little guy taking a tumble just yet.

We're entering a challenging, but very fun season with him. He's becoming much more aware and interactive. It used to take a lot of work to draw a giggle out of him, but now he's laughing socially and trying to be silly and make us laugh. He enjoys playing with toys, reading books, and manipulating objects in his hands. I think he may have a gift for engineering because he's always quick to figure out how things work and LOVES technology.

Playing a game I call "Godzilla". I build a tower of blocks and he knocks it down.

Our boy is a bottomless pit. Now that he's old enough to eat a wider variety of dishes, he can't get enough! We've tried giving him some grains like rice and whole wheat pasta. So far he's not a big fan of chicken, but he gets some protein from a new love: cottage cheese! This is something neither James nor I enjoy, but we're trying not to let our food inhibitions or preferences limit him as he's developing his little palate. Of course, he's got a couple of favorites. If he could live on nothing but avocado and bananas, he'd be a happy camper. It's gotten to the point where we have to limit his intake of those items, and can only refer to bananas as "yellow fruit", because he understands what "banana" means! Whenever he's hungry he starts yelling for a "nanana". Amazing!

My little cooking partner

He loves avocado!

I am so proud of the way he's growing and developing, and can't believe how fast it's all happening! My heart breaks a little bit for James. We've only been separated for a couple of weeks but already he's missed some big milestones. I pray that Kaden will gain some valuable social skills while we're here in the States. He's still shy and has a hard time in new and unfamiliar situations. I had to go pick him up from the nursery the first week we visited my home church because he was crying inconsolably. Fatigue and hunger didn't help, but I know he has a hard time being separated from me. That's totally normal, but I hope he'll grow out of it and become a healthy, well-adjusted young man.

Our trip to the States was so special. This may have been Kaden's first time in Colorado, but I feel like he's at least half of a Colorado native at heart. So for his 10 month photo shoot we went out into Garden of the Gods and captured his smiles and expressions while dressed in Denver Broncos colors! I love my silly boy!

Teeth!

Checking out the construction equipment over my shoulder. Such a calculating look!

Ah, I get this face all the time... What a stinker.

Summer Vacation in the Rockies - Pt. 1

Kaden and I really enjoyed our month-long stay at my parent's house in Colorado Springs. Since we were there for such a long time, we didn't feel pressured to fill our days with activities in order to get the most out of our time. We were able to relax and just enjoy being together as a family. Nate came out and spent the first week with us. I treasured up a lot of sweet memories, watching them interact with Kaden and getting to know him. That was truly a luxury as a military family.

My mom loved reading to Kaden and playing with him on the living room floor

Two peas in a pod.

Kaden LOVED rough housing with his "Gim-pa"

One of my favorite memories - seeing Kaden play the piano with my mom. The pic on the left is me at that age.

It's not every day a baby gets to play a Steinway.

Of course, we didn't just stick around the house. We got out and enjoyed some of my favorite spots around the city. One of our first stops was the iconic Garden of the Gods. Our walk was interrupted by a typical Rocky Mountain thunderstorm. But the time we did spend outdoors was fun. Kaden really got a kick out of following all of the dogs on the path. He is such an animal lover!

We also sampled many of my favorite restaurants. Some of the meals were with family. Others were shared with special friends from my childhood and college days. I may have over-indulged a bit, but hey - I figured there would always be time to cook healthy meals and exercise when I got back to Korea. ;^)

Kaden's first trip to Chipotle!

Eating at Poor Richard's restaurant with dear friends, Dave and Claire Thorpe!

We tried to expose Kaden to new things and find stuff that he would enjoy doing. The zoo was a big hit. Unfortunately I forgot my memory card so we have no photos to document the day. But Kaden had fun walking around with me, my mom and Uncle Nate. He LOVED the giraffes and otters. We figured it would be worth going back again, so we planned to return when James' parents came out to visit toward the end of the trip.

If I had to pick one activity Kaden loved most, I'd have to say it was swinging at the park. Unfortunately, they do not have any baby swings on base here so this was his first time in a swing. I wasn't sure how he'd take it - but he couldn't get enough of that fast, high-soaring sensation! He is his father's child. ;^)

Of course, it's not a family reunion without a family portrait shoot. I couldn't think of a better background than Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods. To prove that my baby has some Colorado in his blood, I put him in Broncos blue and orange for this shoot. Happy 10 month birthday to Kaden!

Very cute - even if he refused to sit still.

Kaden makes that face ALL-THE-TIME now.

An Extended California Layover

Napping during the first leg of our journey on the bus to the airport

On May 25, Kaden and I began our long journey back to the States to visit family while James was in Alaska. It was a bit of a rough flight - he was over tired and did NOT want to sit still. But over all, everything went very smoothly. He is going to be a very experienced world-traveler before most American kids start kindergarten! Thankfully, we found many ways to keep him entertained including watching traffic whisk by on the bus, crawling around on a fun children's play place in the Seoul airport, and kind Korean Air flight attendants eager to make him smile. At the very least, I was thankful that he was so tired when we arrived because it made it easy to put him to bed at the normal time, which jump-started our battle against jet lag.

Airport play-place.

For some reason, it saved us a lot of money to purchase a three-city plane ticket instead of round trip tickets to Colorado, so we had a short layover in Santa Barbara on our way to my parent's house. This actually worked out really well, since Bob and Nancy were available and eager to entertain their jet lagged grandson as we adjusted to U.S. time. Those first couple days, Kaden was definitely a sleepy little boy, but he enjoyed making all kinds of noises and messes with Grandpa Bob, exploring the house and yard with Grandma Nancy, and playing with new toys from his great-grandparents!

Mommy got to have some fun too. We were there at the tail end of Memorial Day weekend, so we got to experience the I Madonnari Italian chalk painting festival at the Santa Barbara Mission. I've heard about this for years, but this was my first time seeing it in person. My sister-in-law Claire usually flies home to participate. Local artists fill 150 large squares with beautiful pastel "paintings" and transform the mission plaza into a free art gallery for the weekend. Each square is sponored, and proceeds go to benefit the Children's Creative Project, a non-profit arts education program in Santa Barbara.

By the end of the weekend, most paintings were finished. But we still got to see some artists at work.

The light was so beautiful that afternoon, so we couldn't resist snapping a few family photos in the rose garden. Kaden wasn't in a mood to sit still for pictures, but hey - a portrait is supposed to capture an accurate portrayal of a person or moment, right?

Bouncing.

Grandma Nancy was in heaven. :)

We wasted no time in taking advantage of all the States had to offer. Nancy and I enjoyed taking Kaden to the zoo for the first time. I wasn't sure how much he'd get out of it, but he seemed to enjoy our time. He noticed a couple of animals. He was very interested in the flamingos because they were brightly colored and very close to the railing. He also spent a good amount of time watching the elephants and giraffes. It seemed like the larger animals that moved caught his attention best. The rest of the time he just looked around at the greenery and people. We joked afterward that his favorite creatures were the young homosapiens - because he was most entertained by all of the other children!

Trying to figure out what the pink, feathery things on stilts are...

When we were not taking in the sights or napping, we were playing at Kaden's great-grandparent's house. They provided toys and books for him to play with, and there were all kinds of new things for him to explore and pull up on. Earle and Alice couldn't get enough of "Mr. Personality". I'm so glad we got to spend some time with them.

Kaden loves reading books!

It's always hard to say good bye to family - especially after so short a visit. But at least we knew we'd be seeing Grandpa Bob and Grandma Nancy again in a few weeks. They dropped us off at the airport in L.A., and Kaden was a very good boy on the flight to Denver!