Niabi Zoo! First trip to the Zoo

This past weekend (July 13, 2014), we decided to go to the Niabi Zoo near Moline, Illinois.  Uncle Robert, Aunt Brenda, and Gabe came along with Aunt Katie and us.  I wasn't sure how Caden would react- turns out, he loved it!  It is great for kids.  He got to feed a giraffe, feed goats, pigs, cows, fish, and watch Aunt Katie feed a Lorikeet!  

Aunt Katie and Caden with the giraffes

Giraffes ready to eat

Caden (with his bump on his forehead) and the giraffe

Caden feeding the giraffe some lettuce!

Aunt Katie and Caden

Gabe and Caden

Caden and the cow

Feeding the Sheep oats

Feeding the Goat

(We may have found some left over oats in Caden's mouth when we left the petting zoo!)

Another close up of the giraffe feeding

Caden and Gabe (15 months)

The end of the zoo!

Happy Birthday Caden (3 months later!)

We celebrated Caden's first birthday in Des Moines so that all of our family could join.  We were lucky that there were cousins in town as well!  Since he has a Monster room and all the accessories, we decided to stick with the theme for his birthday.  The cake and cupcakes turned out so cute and daddy did a great job carving a Monster watermelon!

We started the big day with birthday pancakes!! 

Caden's Monster Smash Cake

Caden's Truck he got from Grandma and Grandpa

Balloons!

More decorations

Tired birthday boy in his birthday shirt

We made frozen lemonade slushies!

Daddy's Monster Watermelon fruit bowl!

All the food!

Caden with Aunt Katie

Close up of the cupcakes and decorations

Caden's cake

Happy boy ready to eat some cake!

The frosting was a hit!  (Thanks for the crown Coelle!)

Almost gone!

Oh no!  Blue is everywhere!

Birthday boy!

So Big!!

Wow! In the last month Caden has started to do so many new things!! He talks so much, he crawls, he pulls himself up to stand, he can sit from crawling, and he eats table food with us!! 

Also, in the beginning of January we took him to his first wrestling meet!! 

Here is Matt and Caden at the front of Carver.

We also started putting him in a bigger, blow up tub.  After a rough first time, he loves it!  He splashes and crawls all over it!  Daddy has a hard time getting the bath done with this funny guy!

Mr. Independent loves feeding himself little bits of whatever we are having.  His favorites are mashed potatoes, venison, and daddy's scrambled eggs! 

Here is our little man crawling!! He started to take a few steps one day and the next he was zooming around the house- even the slippery floors couldn't stop him!  As Aunt Katie says, he goes in turbo speed!!

This also means he can get to places and get into things pretty fast! 

Loves his hats :)

Christmas with Caden

Caden was the perfect age this year for Christmas  (Non-mobile) Ha!  He loved looking at the Christmas tree and touching all Grandma's pretty ornaments.  

Grandma Sue with Caden at Wetsch Christmas. 

All the Wetsch cousins

Caden loves cuddling with Grandpa Dave and 

Standing in line to visit Santa with Dad.

Best picture we got with Santa :)

In front of Grandma's Christmas tree on Christmas Eve!

With Great Grandma Joyce.

With Great Grandma Wetsch

With Cousin Gabe.

On the 26th, we opened presents with Matt's side of the family.  Unfortunately Caders didn't feel good and had a temperature of 102!  We managed to get a quick smile out of him next to his buddy!  

Now we are back home and Christmas season is over- boy did it go fast.  Matt and I were talking today and think that Caden has changed so much in the last two weeks.  He now giggles ALL the time.  Especially when Daddy and him play airplane.  His other form of communication is grunting.  He sits and plays with toys all by himself and still hold his bottle all by himself.  He prefers all table foods- bananas, meat, beans, mashed potatoes.  You name it and Caden will eat it!  No more baby foods- he gets angry when trying to feed him baby food with a spoon!  What a stinker...

He weighs 21 pounds now and wears 9 month clothes- big boy!

He is so much fun- I think both of our favorite moments are getting him from naps or when he wakes in the morning.  He is so happy to see you and has the biggest grin on his face. 

What a great year this has been for us- Have a great New Year!