Cups

At Cashion's 1-year-old check-up, Dr. Brown urged us to help him move from the bottle to a cup. Sadie started using a straw cup at 11 months, but like everything else the second time around, we were not as on the ball with this one. So, when he finally started holding his own sippy cup about a week after that appointment, we were thrilled. It seems like such a small thing, but we always held his bottle for him so this was quite an adjustment for Cashion.

Of course, it is even more fun to practice drinking from a cup while taking a bath in the kitchen sink!

Rodeo

That is a llama!

We always try to make it out to Rodeo Austin when it is here around Spring Break. Sadie and her daddy are always very excited about the petting zoo, and they wanted to introduce Cashion to the experience. This year, Sadie was big enough and brave enough to have a pony ride. She

even tried a couple of carnival games and won a stuffed banana (her choice) by popping a balloon with a dart on her own.

Cashion's Winter "One"derland

After the snow earlier in the week, Cashion's Winter "One"derland felt like a Spring day. We had a hot chocolate bar and S'mores around the fire pit in our short sleeves. He devoured the cupcake and was delighted to spend the afternoon with family and friends (ditto the rest of us).

Cashion is 1!

It was really tough getting a good picture with the blocks this time...he was too quick!!

Our baby boy is 1 year old. How did this happen? It may have been the fastest year of my life, but it sure was fun. Can't wait to see how he continues to grow and change in his second year. Even though I still like to pretend that he is a baby, I know he is growing up. He can pull up, cruise on furniture, walk behind his push toy and say several words. His favorite is "book" which he usually requests with his own version of the sign and by saying "a book." Any piece of paper that is folded is considered a book to Cashion, including the tags on his stuffed animals. He is babbling all the time now and we are starting to realize that some of his sounds might actually be words that we weren't recognizing, like "all done" which sounds more like "a da." He says "mama", "daddy", "adie" (Sadie), "bee" (Bebe), "nana" (Nana or banana) and "papa" (which he usually whispers). His favorite books are "Where is Baby's Belly Button" (a gift from the Cord Blood Registry, funny enough) and "touch and feel Baby Animals" at our house; "Goodnight Moon" and "Pat the Bunny" at Bebe and Papa's house.

He still loves to sleep, God bless him. He prefers 2 naps per day and when he doesn't get them he usually makes it up by sleeping late in the morning (why can't he teach Sadie to sleep in?) This week after I picked him up from Sammy's House and he had missed his afternoon nap, he went to bed at 5:30pm, without dinner mind you because when we tried to feed him he cried for his bed. The amazing part is that he slept until 10am! I am not trying to rub this in to all my friends out there with babies who have difficulty sleeping through the night or who wake up super-early, I promise. But, this blog is going to help my poor memory later down the road and I know I will read this some day and think, "Are you kidding me?"

We love our big baby and don't want him to grow up too fast! Love you, Cashion. You are charming, sweet-tempered, and do everything with gusto.

It snowed a long time ago

I haven't blogged since January, mostly because I have been overwhelmed by the number of pictures we have taken since then and we have been battling one illness after another around here. But, hopefully we are past all that now that it is almost MAY!!

Throw in a home improvment project and it is pretty much madness. But, when it is in the 90s in April it is nice to remember the snow we had the day before Cashion's first birthday. He was less than pleased when I sat him down in it (we don't have snowsuits, ya know.) Sadie had fun building a mini snowman and having snowball fights with her daddy.