Cade Michael is 2 (and about 2.5 Months)!

Hi Folks! It's been a while. What can I say, it's a busy life. Doing my best at balancing it all and never accomplishing as much as I'd like. Anyway, enough excuse talk, let's get to the meat of this post.

WAAAAY back at the end of January, our dear Cade turned 2. Seems like so long ago given how much has happened behaviorly with him since then. More on that later, for now, let's talk about what a fabulous little 2 year old he is.

Now every kid is different and it's not right to compare. However, being a mother of 2 boys, it's only natural to take your experience with the first and put it side by side with your experience of the 2nd. Not for good or bad, but just to observe. Dylan was an early and proficient talker. By the time he was 2, he could almost hold a conversation with an adult (really...only a slight exaggeration of his abilities then). Cade, on the other hand, has been on the later side of development in the verbal arena. He truly only had a handful of words and sounds he used before his birthday. While we were in California the week before then, something in him clicked. He picked up new words and started parroting us much more. He's still got a ways to go in that department but he's made big strides. You'll be interested to note that important words like "bellly button" and "spiderman" came before little inconsequential ones like "momma." Yep, you heard that right. It wasn't until just a couple of weeks ago that he finally spurt "Momma" out of his mouth. I felt as if the sky had parted and a heavenly chorus had erupted. I've only heard it once since but gosh darn it, I will have him calling my name non stop and annoying the bejesus out of me before long!

While Cade is behind the curve with verbal skills, he's definitely fairly advanced in fine motor skills. In fact, doing that comparison thing again, he can do things now that his 4.5 year old brother doesn't do as well. Things like unscrewing bottles (had to lock up our liquor cabinet long before the teenage years after he opened and dumped a bottle of vodka) and riding a scooter like a big boy.

Cade had been a pretty reliable and great sleeper until California travel and a return home to a nasty cold, then the time change kind of broke him. What was a pretty easy\straightforward bedtime routine became a try out new things to try and get him to sleep without screaming bloody murder for 10-15 minutes. It's truly heart wrenching to listen to. As recent as just the last couple of nights, we may have found the right combo of things that works. Hopefully, at least. Time will tell. He's also been fairly regularly waking up at night which was a new thing. That seems to be tapering off now too.

Now apparently, Cade got the memo that you're supposed to be terrible at 2. Because the second he turned 2, he did just that. We had an interesting couple of months of navigating his new attitude and tantrums. We have mostly figured out how to keep the peace....at least most of the time.

When he's not screaming and throwing tantrums, he is truly a joy to be around. He has lots of funny looks and faces he gives you, has a great sense of humor, loves to dance and has a stupendous laugh.

Cool Dude

And as he should, Cade adores his big brother Dylan. He loves to follow him around, do what Dylan tells him to do (we'll see how long that lasts), laugh with him, race with him and pretty much do whatever Dylan's doing. Of course, it's not always completely peaceful, but the majority of the time they get along great and are best friends.

Best Friends

Cade is also my favorite person to see when I get home from work. Not that I don't want to see the big and bigger boys too, but Cade gives me the best greeting. He runs at me full force with the biggest smile on his face and hugs me like he'd rather be no where else on earth. Pretty sweet.

So to summarize, Cade is an awesome kid. Definitely has some typical 2 year old challenges but brings an immense amount of joy and love to our family.

Adorbs

The Reason For The Trip

The whole big reason we planned to go to California in the first place was to go to my dear friend Amy's wedding. There was not a chance I would miss this very happy occasion. To make the trip worthwhile, we made a week of it. Luckily, we were able to spend some quality time with wonderful friends in the area. After a week of that, we finished off the trip with the wedding celebration.

My good friend Eddy from college, also in attendance at the wedding, put my sunglasses on Cade while he was keeping him entertained at the hotel while Mike and I finished up getting ready. Cade apparently thought they made the outfit because he kept them on for the next hour.

Waiting to Begin
Those folks behind us in this picture ended up being at our table.
They were fun friends of the groom's. We had a blast with them.

Picture of a Picture

Super Cool Dude

My Lap Buddy (With Special Toys, of Course!)

It's awesome to have so many handsome dates to a party!

It was a beautiful wedding venue, very sweet ceremony and a blast of a party afterwards. The boys did very well the time they were there. Mike, being the great husband that he is, agreed to let me stay and spend time with my friends while he took the boys back to the hotel for bed.

Amy and Rob Saying Their Vows

Cade Hanging with His Buddy Eddy

Dylan's Lovey is Always Close By

He Seriously Loves Drinking Out of Wine Glasses

Wedding Crashers!
I invited Georgia and her boyfriend to join us for the party (with the bride's permission of course).
I used to be an after school nanny for Georgia and her brothers when I was in college. Amy's the one that introduced me to the family. Since Georgia lives in San Fran, it was a small distance to go to join in the fun and get to spend some time with my family.

The Beautiful Couple
Seriously, they were so damn cute and sweet.

While the boys were at the party, they played with the fun toys that the thoughtful bride had provided and, in return for that favor, entertained the bride and groom by spinning and dancing on the dance floor during dinner right in front of the bride and groom's table.

Such Cute Centerpieces

Captivating Dinner Talk Apparently

Dancin'

The boys also helped our table participate in a rousing scavenger hunt game. We got a little rowdy and competitive...the prize was for a free round of drinks after all. Of course, with our nutty gang, we easily claimed the prize!

It really was a super fun night and a fabulous way to end a great week. After a short night of sleep for me, it was up and adam very early the next day to get us ready for our long flight home. The boys actually did really well on the trip back. Due to the long trip and the time change, despite leaving first thing in the morning, we didn't get home until bedtime that night. 

Our next few weeks ended up being pretty rough. Dylan flew back with a nasty cold that made it's rounds through everyone in our house and the boys apparently forgot how to sleep while we were gone. We got home on Sunday and I returned to my busiest week of the month at work (and it was worse than usual). My parents arrived on Thursday for Cade's birthday party the following weekend. Cade was not great company to them since he was feeling pretty lousy while they were here. To be honest, I don't think we got back to our "norm" until sometime last week (this trip ended January 26th). February was a rough month of not sleeping, a lot of feeling not great and tired of not seeing the sun all winter. So, we are thankful for the time change and happy for our (hopefully) soon to be upcoming Spring weather. It's time for a change in season to perk us all back to our happy\healthy selves.

5 cents of San Fran

After leaving Saratoga, we heading into Oakland and checked into our hotel (with a fabulous view). Then we set out for dinner.

Oakland

It had been a long day with not good napping so dinner out had the potential to be very dicey. We walked to a Vietnamese place just a block away from the hotel which ended up working out very well for us. There were cool horse and Buddha statues the boys enjoyed looking at and the food came out ridiculously quick so we were in and out of there in no time. This was Friday and the wedding day was Saturday. So it was early to bed for all of us to prepare for the fun ahead.

I had committed to helping decorate the wedding venue for Amy's wedding (the reason for doing this whole Bay Area trip) but that wouldn't be until early afternoon. So Saturday morning, we got up and ready and decided to do some (very) quick highlights of San Francisco! Mike and I have both been to the area as tourists so focused on some things that would be interesting to the boys.

We drove the minivan down the crookedest street in the world, Lombard Street:

One of the Many Hairpin Turns

Yay! Fun Street!

Then we headed towards the water to check out some of the action along the water\piers.

Saw one of the infamous trolleys along the way.

The boys and I went and walked on the sand so that we could touch the Pacific ocean. Mike opted to not get his shoes sandy and hung back to take pictures. (Note - The above has been corrected per a loyal reader pointing out that we were not at the Atlantic as originally stated. I had originally put in something about the special experience of being able to see both oceans given where we live and then visited and then deleted the wrong one in my final draft. Oops!)

And we chased seagulls.

So those little 2 pier nubs in the background of the below picture? Well, I thought it would be fun to have each boy stand on one. Which is was. Until the water all of a sudden came up much higher than it had been and came up around the nubs. I ran back so that my suede boots wouldn't get wet. Dylan stayed put on his stump. Cade must have gotten disoriented by the water and fell off and got all sandy and wet! Our stash of clothes in the backpack came in handy once again that week! He was the only one that "officially" got to touch the water. Lucky guy.

Then we headed towards pier 39 and did some shopping along the way. Dylan is, of course, obsessed with skeletons. We said they could each have a little souvenir. Dylan decided he wanted a skeleton. But not just any skeleton. Not the pirate skull and crossbones we saw everywhere but a skeleton with feet. I tried to prep him for the fact (after several stores of seeing the exact same thing over and over) that we might not find it and he would need to be happy with something else. Low and behold his persistence paid off and we found (the last!) Alcatraz dressed skeleton magnet with legs and feet! Lucky boy. He was pretty happy about it as you'll see from it's regular appearance in the pictures of the rest of the day.

Seal Statue

Now the absolute highlight of our short time in San Francisco and on Pier 39 was the California Sea Lions. They hang out there and are quite the entertainment for the crowds. The boys and I loved hearing them talk. Seeing\hearing Dylan and Cade belly laugh at the sea lions crawling all over each other and pushing each other back into the water was just wonderful.

ALL of those brown bumps are sea lions!

Me, Dylan and Skeleton With the Sea Lions

Self Family Portrait

After enjoying the sea lions for a while, we needed to head back to the car, grab some lunch and get the boys back to the hotel for a good nap to be refreshed for the wedding. But not before taking Dylan's picture with the pirate skeleton:

And Holding the Skeleton Magnet

As it is with all good plans, they're made to fail. While Dylan had a good nap, Cade absolutely refused and wasn't happy with anyone but dear old Mom. Guess who "helped" me with wedding decorations? I had to climb up on chairs to hang things and do table centerpieces all with that cute little guy on my back. A big maturity that Cade gained on the trip was being able to make choices. If he wriggled in the pack, I tried to make it clear that the alternative was going to take a nap and he would decide to be happy in the pack. That new skill has (somewhat) helped in the challenges we've faced with him in the last month. I'll do a post dedicated to him soon, but let's just say we are experiencing the terrible 2's with him in a way that we never had the pleasure of with his brother!

Anyway....having dedicated as much time as possible to wedding decor, Cade and I rushed back to the hotel to get the gang showered and gussied up. It was time for the main event!

Apple, Cake and Jumpin' Beans

The reason our dear friends, the Prellers, relocated to the Bay Area was because Theo was offered an amazing job with Apple. He's overseeing all the finances for the new campus Apple is building. Pretty cool, huh? What's even cooler is that he invited Mike and I to have lunch with him at the existing campus - address 1 Infinite Loop. While Mike and I enjoyed lunch with him there, brave Ana Maria watched all the kids as they played at the girls' school playground.

Handsome Fellas

But that wasn't even the big news of that day. The big event was Elise's birthday! When Ana Maria told us we would be there for Elise's birthday, I was really excited. How fun to be a part of her celebration. That evening we had a little party for her, including a birthday cake made by moi. Not exactly the fancy ones my mom is capable of but Elise liked it and it sure was tasty.

Her BIG present for her birthday was a new bike! After unveiling the gift, we all watched as she got to give it a test spin. Cade LOVED trying to follow her around the long driveway.

Ana Maria, Cate, Cade, Elise, Theo, Me and Dylan

The next morning we continued the birthday celebration at Pump It Up. It's an indoor blow up\bouncy house place. The kids (and adults) LOVED it!

Elise

Dylan Built a "Castle"
Cade Knocked It Down

My Boys

Dylan and Elise had fun racing through the obstacle course we pretty much camped out on. Cade needed a lot of help at first. By the end of the house, he was scaling everything pretty much solo....just a spot from the parents now and then. He seriously impressed me.

After finishing our bouncy fun, it was time to say goodbye to our friends, thank them for their incredible hospitality and fun times together and head into Oakland. The Saratoga portion of our trip had come to an end.

Winchester House and Hanging Out

Hey Folks! Still blogging about our California adventure that happened about a month ago. Let's get to it.

The Redwoods were on the top of my short sighting seeing list. With that checked off, the next day we hit the 2nd one on my wish list - The Winchester Mystery House. I had told Mike before we went to CA that I wanted to go here and sent him the link to see if he was interested in going. If so, great! If not, even better because he could watch the kiddos and let me go and actually focus on the tour. I asked a few more times and he said he wasn't sure he wanted to go. They day before we were to go on the tour, he all of a sudden was like (to paraphrase the conversation):
Him-You said it was a mansion...you didn't mention it was the Winchester House?!?! (all incredulous like)
Me -Um, ok. I sent you the link.
Him - But that house is totally famous. I saw an awesome show on it on the History channel.
Me - Ok. Never heard of it before Ana Maria sent me the link and I decided I wanted to go but ok.

Turns out this wacky house is pretty infamous. Mostly because the woman who built it was a whack job and did totally bizarre things. The house was under construction for 40 years, 24 hours a day and includes strange things like stairways to no where, stairways that zig zag with tiny little risers to the next level, secret passageways as well as doors and windows to walls. Definitely weird, definitely a sight to see.

The kids did pretty well on the tour. We played up the "mysterious" part of the house and, of course, that made my spooky lovin' Dylan totally into it. Mike and I took turns entertaining Cade. In one of the rooms, Cade and I counted the hooks in a nook several times. For some reason he thought that was great. How many hooks were there? Glad you asked. 13. There were a lot of things that happened in the number 13 in the house. Kind of a thing wacky Mrs. Winchester did.

In usual house tour form, we couldn't take interior pictures. The only time we were free to use the old camera was when we got up on this deck. I tried to get some shots of how wacky the roof line is to show just how non architecturally sound this house is, or rather is not.

The spider web design was also recurrent in the house.

Here are some kids that are kind of over the tour now:
Elise, Cade and Dylan (not me...I thought it was great)

Dylan's absolute favorite part of the whole experience (other than the room with cracked plaster damaged in an earthquake that he still talks about today...the broken room) was the gift shop. Not for the knick knacks though. There was an old school "game" that was totally up his alley and really one of the oddest things I've ever seen. When you put in a quarter, the "spooky" church graveyard came alive and the zombie and skeleton came up and down out of hiding. The drunk guy in the grave also sat up and down and the gate swung. Totally weird, right? We were also entertained by dropping a few quarters in the player piano.

The Haunted Churchyard

After that morning's activity, it was naps and night time hanging out. We did a lot of that at the house but didn't get many pictures of it. Dylan, Cade, Elise and Cate really got along great and did lots of drama free playing together. Here are some of the few (and not so great) hanging out pics:

Dylan and His Friends Cate and Elise.
Dylan announced last week that he was flying to California to see his friends Cate and Elise and he would be back in a few minutes. Then he set up his seats in the play room to be the plane. He was the pilot, Cade the copilot and me the passenger. Too cute!

Aren't Theo and Ana Maria just adorable? That purple polka dot kid chair really suits Theo.

We also read a lot of Skippy Jon Jones. The kids loved that book and now a couple of the books live at our house, thanks to Mr. Cupid.

With only 1 more full day left with the Preller's, we had a lot to pack in. More tomorrow.