Coming Soon

Hey All (4 of you)... Been busy with work, again. I will get some pictures, videos and stories up as soon as I can. Baseball season is getting close and I've got some other work things about to start, so things are definitely not slowing down. The little man is starting to walk and talk and all of my free time is spent with Kristi and him. I love watching the learning process he goes through on a daily basis. I can't imagine what its like to try to figure out EVERYTHING that is going on around him. Anyway, talk to y'all soon.

Peace.

9 Months

Holy crap, does time fly! I cannot believe its been 9 months already. It wasn't until I saw him next to my 1 month old cousin last week that I realized how fast it went. At his last doctor appt he's in the 45th percentile for weight and 87th for height. As of right now I think there are only 1 or 2 Lefflers over the 6' mark. Let's hope he gets some of that Hageman-side-of-the-family height!

Touchdown

Hey Caden, what never happens when we watch the Browns on offense?

He loves to clap and he loves to give the Touchdown signal. I love watching the learning process this kid is going through. He's starting to do these things on command now. He can turn off light switches when we ask him and he knows where his alphabet picture is. Now we are working on waving to people and blowing kisses. And by the way, he's gonna be walking in the next few weeks. Just needs a little courage to take that first step.

Does Anyone Else Have This Problem?

Ok, it's not that big of a deal, but just shows you how people in customer service just don't get it. My last name is Leffler, which never seemed too difficult to pronounce or spell. So why is it that everytime I give my name to someone over the phone (ie ordering pizza, making reservations, over-the-phone shopping orders) does my name somehow become Lessler or Wessler or Wexler. I would chalk it up to poor phone connection or maybe cell phone interference, but when I tell them my name, I always say L-E-FF (as in FRANK)-L-E-R. Now does anyone know any people named SRANK out there? Neither do I. Let's break this down into something more simple. If I'm giving you directions over the phone and I tell you to take a LEFT, what do you do? Do you take a LEST? Or do you get easily confused and take a WEST? Maybe I should say take a LEFT, L (as in Louie), E (as in Echo), F (learn my F***ing name), T (as in Tom).

Trust me, it really doesn't bother me that much, but I find it strange that EVERY time (and by EVERY, i mean 100% of the time) my name is spelled wrong. One of these days we're going to show up for a reservation somewhere and not have a table because the actual Wesslers showed up and stole it.

I Stole This From the Yellow Rose

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate, Eggnog is not too friendly to my waistline
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa Always wraps them. What kind of lazy Santa just puts present under the tree? Kinda defeats the purpose of being surprised when you already know what you gifts are. And what if you see something you love and then find out its not for you?
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I always like colored lights. White just seems kinda blah.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? I don't personally, but this girl I know...
5. When do you put your decorations up? Always the day after Thanksgiving. It's become a nice little tradition. F*** Black Friday
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Uncle Ed's 5 Course Italian Meal. Wedding Soup, Salad, Pasta dish, Meat Dish, Dessert... Absolutely delicious!
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Laying in my bed one year hearing a strange squeak for about 2 hours. I was dead set on not going to find out what it was because I was sure it was Santa. At about 5am I couldn't take it any longer so I went to check it out. It was a big square box with a sheet. I pulled the sheet back really slowly and found a damn hamster running on a wheel. Consequently (and unbeknownst to my parents), that Hamster was pregnant. She eventually gave birth... and ate all of her babies, except for 1/2 of one which she left in the cage.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Somewhere along the line I figured he wasn't real, but I always believed in the spirit of Santa (and I still do). The difinitive year was when my dad was working X-mas eve at the FD and my mom asked me to help put presents under the tree (my brother was still young enough to believe)
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Only if we have a family Christmas with people we won't be seeing on Christmas Day
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I sit on the couch with a beer and watch Kristine do it. She makes it look so good, and I would hate to ruin that :)
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I love snow. I hate shoveling and snowblowing. I love the cold too. I also love how no matter how long you live in a snowy area, the first snow of the year always leads to 5000 car accidents. People are dumb. On a side note, you ever notice how when places like Atlanta or Dallas get 1/2" of snow life just stops? Its like the world ends for a day!
12. Can you ice skate? I'm really good at going forward and fast. Stopping is a little tricky. It's usually just me crashing into the boards! Forget about trying to skate backwards
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? The Pool Table and Ping-Pong Table. They currently reside in my living room of my house
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Tradition! I wish we could see our extended families more often than just the holidays. Xmas Eve- Hanging with Hagie's, Xmas Day- Morning Breakfast and Evening dinner. The chaos every year trying to plan the Leffler's and the complete randomness of the Raymond's. And beginning last year going to my brother and sister-in-laws. I cant wait for everyone else to start having kids. Its gonna be a blast
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Kristi's Kristmas Kookies
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Movie Marathon Day, hanging out with Robert and Beth and the bacon with my father-in-law
17. What tops your tree? Currently a star that Kristine and I bought
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? I love to give gifts. I really don't like getting gifts. I would prefer everyone just NOT buy me anything. There is so much more that they can spend money on other than me. I don't need anything. I would rather they spend $$ on Cade or Kristine of themselves... just not me
19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy? I have a few each Xmas season. I like the traditional ones the best
20. Favorite Christmas show? National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Eight Crazy Nights (gotta show the love for my Jew friends). I had a great Cousin Eddie costume one year. I'll try to find the picture somewhere

21. Saddest Christmas song? Easy... "Feed the World"! What a stupid song. A bunch of rich ass people singing to help the people of Africa. Ready for me on my soapbox? "Tonight thank God it's them, instead of you" Uh... I do. "Do they even know it's Christmas?" Probably not, how many of them are Christian? I'm guessing not too many, so they probably have no idea who Jesus Christ even is. "Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears" Maybe they should learn to purify those tears so they have decent drinking water. "And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime" Bullshit. There are ski resorts in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, not to mention Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. South Africa actually gets enough snow that children can build snowmen. What an awful claim. "Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow." Has anyone ever heard of THE NILE RIVER? It's the longest river in the WORLD. The whole freaking WORLD!! I rest my point. Stupid song by stupid singers (all British, by the way). Thank God there were no Americans involved in this garbage)
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night... hands down! This year my fave is Josh Grobin's version. My 2nd fave is the version by Eric Cartman. I am also a huge fan of Trans-Siberian Orchestra- especially Christmas Canon and Carol of the Bells

Teething and Walking... Where Did the Time Go?

He's been furniture walking for over a month now, but the other day we found him trying to climb the dvd case. See the board games to the left of him? He was up on the Scattegories game, reaching the top shelf!

He got bored at the Acura dealership the other day, so why not try to eat his stroller? Well, all that hard work paid off because he cut his first tooth yesterday. Most babies get their bottom middle teeth first, then top middle and so on. Our kid? NOPE... some random upper tooth that popped through out of nowhere

Love This One

Kristine sent this to me one day while I was at work. Apparently his car broke down and he got right under there to figure out the problem... or he just slid out of the seat and ended up on the floor. Either way its funny

Some New Pics

The only way this pic could get any better was if that dude on the left lost about 25 lbs

Someone figured out how to get the last drip out of his bottle! I was just drinking out of mine when I looked down and saw him tippin his bottle back. Gotta love it!

So proud of himself when he's crawling. He's gettin quick... a little too quick!

Wonder Where I've Been?

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last 7 months... I've been a little busy lately. I'll try a little harder from now on. It would be a lot easier if I had the internet at work.

PLANKERS!

Cade got things started off with a mailbox plank. He needs to work on his form a little bit, but its a good start!

Kristine set the mark for highest plank on her parents roof

Love the football helmet

On the high dive at the Beachwood Family Aquatic Center

This one was fun

Then and Now

What a difference 2 months make

March 22, 2011

Late May, 2011

I know he's my little guy, but you have to admit... he is a really cute kid

2 1/2 Months Already!

I can't believe how fast 2 months go by. Cade is doing great, sleeping most of the nights and smiling all day. Memorial Day was a lot of fun and he's been a hit with everyone he meets.

In his crib showin off his sweet baseball outfit

Gotta love the cowboy boots from Aunt Sue

Planking

Dumbest fad ever... and I love it. I don't know why, but it cracks me up. Its called planking. Started in some Asian country in 2003, it quickly caught on in Australia and New Zealand and is making its way to America. For me, it just makes me laugh. Apparently people are getting seriously injured and dying because they are doing it on top of buildings, but that's their own fault. Here are a few safe examples...

They're Comin...

I have about 9 or 10 pictures to post... but its not a great time right now. I'm trying to get things straightened out right now. I'm trying to work 2 fire jobs, coach baseball and study for a promotional exam right now, all of which I'd rather not be doing. I just want to go home and hang out with Kristine and Cade. I'll get the pics up as soon as I can.

Yup

Poop flies... and there is a lot of force behind it too! I have to write another poop story... I know a lot of these early stories are, but all he does is he eat, sleep and poop. Besides being extremely cute while he is sleeping, there is not much to write about. Same with eating... however...I am really jealous that he gets to suck on boobs 12 times a day. So, all that really leaves me to write about it his poop.

Anyway... I took him in to change yesterday. Not only was he completely dry and clean, he was keeping a little secret from me. I was gettin ready to close him back up when he started poopin (no big deal, the diaper is right there and I've got everything covered). Now, learning from prior experience, I let him sit there for a few minutes because I know more was coming, which happened. After seeing the pool in the diaper, I decided that was enough, time to clean up. I lifted his legs to wipe his butt, and as I lifted he shot a perfect stream of mustard over his diaper all over his changing pad and all over the changing table! he almost his the wipe warmer... which, no joke, is about 18" away from where his butt was. NICE DISTANCE was all I could think of at the time. Oh, and to top it off, he peed all over while this was going on cause I lost track of his "blocker". So... long story short, he didn't even need changed when I took him in there and I got a great story out of it!