Caden's First Christmas!!

HEllo my little elf,

YOU ARE TOOOOOO CUTE!!! I can't stop saying that this Christmas week...You have been adorable!! So here we are, up at the condo in Frisco, Colorado right near Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin and Copper Mountain!! It is your VERY first Christmas!! Woo hoo!!! That's some exciting stuff!!! I can't ever think of a better place to spend this holiday than right here nestled in the middle of gorgeous mountains watching the snow fall in huge flakes all around us.

SNOW!!! You've gotten to see it for the first time, touch it for the first time and EAT it for the first time! (Just always remember, never eat YELLOW snow! :) ) You seem to be quite happy outside in the chilly air. We've gone out for a few walks through the park and down the streets of Frisco. You've been all bundled up as "snug as a bug in a rug", and you seem to LOVE it!! I've been paranoid that you aren't warm enough, but you seem to be quite content,....even more so outside!! You even take your naps in the cold! You amaze me more every day at how much of a trooper you are! My goodness....you are just perfect!!




We've been giving you your baths in the kitchen sink....you are almost too big now!! Your Aunt Desi snapped some cute pics of you...




Both your Uncles have been here, Uncle Matty, and Uncle Joey. You seem just mesmerized with them and they are so cute with you. It's been great having them around. Even your Aunt Desiree was here to see you!! We've had alot of fun with them for sure!!



So.....After our little "incident" at the airport last week we got on the plane and had to make two different stops before we made it to Denver. YOU were a perfect angel. Thank you baby!!! :) I just couldn't believe how good you did...not a peep out of you all day. I must have done something REALLY good that week to deserve such perfection from a baby on a plane. Caden.....you really are the best baby I have ever known or seen. How did I get so lucky???

Your Nana picked us up from the airport.....You were SO happy to see her! It had been about two months since you'd seen your Nana and Poppa last, so it was a very exciting reunion. We headed up the mountain, enjoying all the sites along the way, and got settled into the condo and watched some snow fall down, and some neat icicles hanging across the street. It always feels like home up here to me. I hope that you will love the mountains as much as your mommy, and all the fun they have to offer from snow skiing, to sledding, to rock climbing and hiking....There are always endless possibilities and their beauty is absolutely breathtaking.

I always suffer a little altitude sickness the first few days I get here. I never knew there was such a thing while I was living here! People always whined about it, but I just thought they were being wimpy or something. Oh no! It's a REAL thing! I feel like I can't BREATH the first day or so.....I was really worried about you as we made the trek up the mountain, and unfortunately you DID suffer a little of the same sickness the first couple days. Poor boo.... I'm soo sorry. You just weren't quite yourself those first two days, but now you seem quite adjusted and as happy as can be! Whew!

We've spent our days playing games, eating, relaxing by the fire, and taking walks in the snow. I'ts been GREAT. We even got to go down the mountain and see your Gramma and Grampa!! It was a short visit, but it was so nice to see them again!

Your first Christmas....Wow....It just makes me think of all I've been through this last year. You have changed my life, and it amazes me the understanding and sacrifices that I have already begun to learn as a parent. And more than that, at this time of year, I am reminded even stronger of the TRUE reason of Chrismas and the TRUE sacrifice that God gave when he sent His son here to earth to die. I can't say I could have been that strong at all. We went to a really nice Christmas Eve service at a local church here in town. The pastor was telling a story of the ultimate sacrifice and it moved me deeply. It helped me understand even more what God felt like. Here is the story:

"There was once a bridge that spanned a large river. During most of the day the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to pass through freely on both sides of the bridge. But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge would be turned sideways across the river, allowing the train to cross it.

A switchman sat in a shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed.

One evening as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance through the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train lights. He stepped onto the control and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance. Then he was to turn the bridge. He turned the bridge into position, but, to his horror, he found the locking control did not work. If the bridge was not securely in position, it would cause the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river. This would be a passenger train with MANY people aboard.

He left the bridge turned across the river and hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river, where there was a lever switch he could hold to operate the lock manually.

He would have to hold the lever back firmly as the train crossed. He could hear the rumble of the train now, and he took hold of the lever and leaned backward to apply his weight to it, locking the bridge. He kept applying the pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives depended on this man's strength.

Then, coming across the bridge from the direction of his control shack, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold.

"Daddy, where are you?" His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him. His first impulse was to cry out to the child, "Run! Run!" But the train was too close; the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time..

The man almost left his lever to snatch up his son and carry him to safety. But he realized that he could not get back to the lever in time if he saved his son.

Either many people on the train or his own son - must die.

He took but a moment to make his decision. The train sped safely and swiftly on its way, and no one aboard was even aware of the tiny broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the on rushing train. Nor were they aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing man, still clinging to the locking lever long after the train had passed. They did not see him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked; to tell his wife how their son had brutally died."

Just like this story, so many people are oblivious of what God did for us, and we walk around trying to do everything on our own. If only we would give it all to God a little more? As we walked down the street that crisp evening with all the beautiful Christmas lights I breathed several words of thanks for you, and for my life. I'm one lucky mommy. :) We opened lots of fun presents the next morning, and had a blast watching you tear into some of the wrapping paper. You especially liked the bows and ribbon!! It's been a perfect Christmas. :)





I find that I can barely remember what my life was like without you. You are only now eight months old and I feel like these last few months have been simultaneously the longest and shortest periods I’ve ever experienced in my life. On one hand I am amazed that you are growing so fast and barely have time to enjoy one moment to the next before it changes, while on the other I am so excited to see you grow up and learn about your world that I almost can’t sleep at night! You've been sleeping with me since we've been here and its been sweet to wake up to you softly cooing or dreaming or KICKING! :)and to realize that you are no longer a figment of my childhood dreams, but a living breathing human being lying next to me. It all feels so surreal. I feel like you has always been there waiting for your time to come into the world.

I don’t think that you can understand the feeling of being caught in a single moment while at the same time feeling stretched across the ages until you yourself become a parent. I find my thoughts dancing over all of the nights my mother had waited up for me to come home, and all the mistakes I had made as a teenager that in one way or another hurt my family. All of those nights that I came home late and dismissed my mothers’ worry and frustration with me all of a sudden have come around full circle. What will I feel like if you do not come home on time? Will I now be the one losing sleep waiting for the door to click open and heave a sigh of relief when the door quietly squeaks? Will I pretend that I am asleep to cover up the fact that I had been up late worrying? Will I get up and stand in my doorway as you come upstairs to your bedroom to ask you if you are all right?

I find myself singing you the same songs my mother used to lull me to sleep with, and comforting you with the same loving touch I always craved. No matter how much you may feel like you are different from your parents, there is never a time that you feel so completely molded in their image as when you have your own child. Seeing my parents hold you and love you is the most perfect gift I could have received for Christmas. You are all smiles for them, and all I can think about was how I used to be that small baby girl in their arms and now I am watching them hold the baby that will carry on in their likeness and memory years after they are gone.

Happy holidays to everyone celebrating their first Christmas with a new family, and to those dreaming of the Christmases to come. Enjoy the love and warmth that togetherness allows us to experience, and remember to make your memories count. I know I'm going to do my best!!!

I love you my little Christmas boy.

Love, Mommy