Caden: Belated 9 month update!

I have probably said this at every stage of Caden's life, but I have officially decided up to this point, this is my favorite age! (6-9 months so far really!) Little man is  "moving and a shaking" as the saying goes. He is keeping us on the move ourselves, but we love it. Caden really is such a joy in our life with a high-energy, people-loving, sweet spirit about him.

In case you haven't noticed, Caden is a big boy. I am pretty certain I have not been into a public place in which a stranger does not comment on his size...."Mommy is feeding you well"....."You are just starving him aren't you?!"...."I bet you are giving mommy a workout"....so many more phrases! Some people have asked me if it hurts my feelings that people comment about Caden in this way-NO WAY! I love a healthy and big baby boy! His 9 month checkup proved he is still on a rapid rate of growth, but percentile-wise he is not "off the charts" as he was before. At 9 months, Caden weighed in at 23 LB 5 OZ and was 29.5 IN long. I am thankful for my arm exercise. (My right arm is significantly more toned and stronger than my left!)

Caden still nurses but is now eating finger foods. A LOT of finger foods. The pediatrician gave the green light on feeding him finger foods and leaning away from purees (of which I am not grieving)....and this was not a slow transition. He doesn't want ANY pureed form of anything now. He is very demanding in his mealtime now!

Caden loves so many things now, I don't even know if I can list it all but some of the highlights....

-LOVES cruising and crawling-the little guy is so fast especially when he thinks I'm coming after him!
-mommy and daddy's shoes are his favorite toy items unfortunately!
-stroller rides-we usually get to go walking outside 1-2 times a week weather permitting. I'll be glad for warmer weather so we can have our daily walks!
-Eating. Not kidding. He talks more in his highchair, claps his hands, and smiles in this spot more than any other. He LOVES meat and black beans probably more than anything. He really loves sweet potatoes, strawberries, bananas (and pretty much any fruit). He also loves crackers and puffs-which I am trying to give him sparingly but it is hard sometimes!
-Exploring everywhere-he joins me in the kitchen daily.
-Johnny jump up is still a hit...at this point he gets bored with the jumping and maneuvers it more as a swing. (I can't wait for it to warm up enough to take him to the park.)
-"WAAA, WAAA....and BAAA, BAAA" are his constant babblings. Sometimes we think he is trying to say "ball" or "water" but not so sure at this point. Brett claims he has said "da-da" but I have yet to hear it. :)
-Speaking of ball-he LOVES to play ball with daddy. He gets so excited if he sees a ball and "chases" after it and does his version of throwing. Needless to say-Brett is so excited about this.
-His favorite books are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"....and "Good Night Moon." I love reading with him so much because he seems to really enjoy it and with these specific books is very interactive.
-He loves dogs....especially Max our pup. (Which is unfortunate because we are having to find him a new home soon because of circumstances!) He laughs at Max all the time and pulls on his tail and just watches him for a long time.
-Bath time is also still one of his favorite activities. He is so active in the tub-I cannot wait to swim with him this summer!
-He seems to enjoy interacting with other babies now...but especially kids who are a little older than him. It seems as if we are entering into true play dates now and not just sitting babies next to each other and taking cute pictures!
-He loves his "LOVEY". He has never been a paci-baby, but he cuddles with his lovey now and sucks on it to go to sleep.
-Loves PLAYING with daddy and CUDDLING with mommy.

Caden is down to 2 naps now...approx. 2 hours long give or take some time! We usually don't get him out of his crib until 7-7:30 AM. I say get him out of his crib because we NEVER have to wake him up. I'm not sure where he gets his early rising tendencies from, but they didn't come from me.

Little man has 3.5 teeth. .5 being it is clearly coming in but not exactly visible yet!

Caden currently HATES....

-Nursery or childcare anything....or anything else where I am not in his sight. He is a little momma's boy right now. I'm sure it won't last forever and it is a little stressful that he freaks out if I am not holding him or by his side, but I can't say I'm complaining. :)
-Diaper and clothes changing. HATES it. And now I hate it as a result...
-When I take away his toy or keep him from going in a direction he wants to go. (i.e. climbing a lamp in his room!)

Cute montly sticker pictures are still cute, but not exactly easy....

Now on to birthday party planning, because it will be here before we know it!

The Story of God

A little perspective....

Missing Everlee

I am not sure about you, but I have been very fortunate to have a handful of women I can look up to and learn from in some way. I am so thankful for these women who are family by blood, or through friendship. One of these women in my life, I always find myself thinking about the most during this time of year: Everlee. December marks the anniversary of "Mamaw Hooks" passing. Her life and even death had a very special impact on me. She had a very simple life, nothing extraordinary to the naked eye, but very influential to me.

Hard at work in her beloved garden!

One of the last pictures taken before finding out she was sick. 

Growing up next door to her, provided a very special relationship which I probably took for granted until I was much older, but I am so thankful for the childhood memories I had helping her in the garden, eating junkfood, "going to town", and countless others. Most of all I am thankful I was able to be influenced by her faithfulness to the Lord, family, and neighbors. Her life was simple, but beautiful to me. The simple things about her were the things which still remain with me today and I pray I would be this sort of influence.

My first year in Illinois, my first month really, I received the news she had a brain tumor. Honestly, I was devastated and momentarily even bitter this would happen after I was 8+ hours away from being available to her. Through this, however, I experienced the goodness of the Lord and his perfect timing more deeply than ever before. 

Since she had opted out of treatment due to age, there was a window of time in which the doctors said she would have before her mind would go and they didn't know how long she would have, etc. so my biggest fear was I would not get to see her one last time before she stopped recognizing me even if she was physically still functioning. The Lord granted my request to see her 2 more times. The first visit was along with my other family, and it was one of the most special times as a family that I recall. Mamaw had always been so frugal and not one to eat out, but she was very determined that if she was going to go, she was going to go out with a bang. (I had to talk to her about being so spunky about something so dear to our hearts!) But "party" we did, and I cherish those last moments with this precious hero of mine. 

Years later, I still miss mamaw so much. So many things make me think of her. Her absence in my life is still so obvious, but her impact still remains. I find myself getting caught up in so many temporal and unneccessary things more often than not, but her life really serves as a reminder to me of the value of a life lived for eternity and the legacy this can leave behind even to only a few. I have a long list of things to be thankful for, but most certainly I think of Everlee...mamaw...and thank God for her.

Check this video out-not sure why I can't attach it normally...still encouraged by this perspective she shared with us weeks before she died.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xkG3JGtm4Y&feature=youtu.be

Caden: 6 months old!

This post is a month overdue, but better late than never! I cannot believe little man is 6 months. I know everyone says all the stages are so fun and it is hard to choose a favorite-I would agree! However, at this point, this is DEFINITELY my favorite stage. Caden is SO interactive, learning new things all the time,  and his little personality is really becoming evident. We are CRAZY about the kid.

At Caden's 6 month checkup he weighed a whopping 21 lb 13 oz and 28 in long! We are thankful for our big and healthy boy. He is wearing 12 mo clothes for the most part now, with a little room to grow of course.

Caden loves to....

-roll over
-sit without support
-he doesn't really care about solids as much as you would think, but his favorites are green beans, peas, and bananas it seems!
-his new Johnny Jump up
-play in his exersaucer
-blow raspberries
-sleep in funny positions in his crib
-"Who is the King of the Jungle" and "If You are Happy and You Know It" songs
-Peek-A-Boo
-Grab EVERYTHING, specifically loves pulling things off the dinner table
-be naked or in his diaper only
-hold his feet in the air and bringing them to his mouth
-his swing still-though we are unfortunately about to have to retire the swing. SAD DAY.
-read books, especially cardboard ones to chew on
-snuggle
-chew and drool on everything
-splash in the bath
-smile
-"find" his voice
-watch Max the dog, or any other dog for that matter!
-pull hair and pinch cheeks
-be carried in the ERGO
-be outdoors, so curious! :)

The list goes on and on... as I said, it is so fun for us hence my long list! :)

Enjoying his chair at papaw and mamaw's house.

Definitely did NOT love his monkey costume...

Loves to sit and grab whatever is in his reach. (Or not for that matter!)

1st flight!

Happy boy

Caden's baby "cousin"-love how much this reflects my relationship with my cousinLauren when we were little. (Jimmy's momma!)

Birthday Fun!

I'm 27. As of yesterday. It is official. I cannot believe it. I'm a huge fan of birthdays...and a believer in birthdays weekends, weeks, months?! However, I will say this is the first birthday in which I didn't get as excited about...to say 27 is old is certainly a stretch of the imagination in my opinion, but I do feel, well, old. :)

Brett is very creative in making me feel special, specifically on my birthday! This weekend really was so fun as he thought of things I loved to do and made a day of it. There are lots more details and events of the weekend, but my favorite by far was our lunchtime picnic to Shelby Farms. I am definitely a country girl living in a city environment....and though I have adapted well I miss nature-related things. Brett knows this and so we had some much needed quality time together going on a picnic, TAWG (of which was very distracting, because Brett is NOT a sit on a blanket outside and read kind of guy, but he was a great sport about it!), pretending we were young by playing on the playground, and going for a nature walk in the GORGEOUS weather. Little man stayed with Brett's parents, and I missed him (Yes, pathetic I know) but it was such a fun "date" with the hubs!

To cap off the weekend-I have been experiencing headaches, etc often and had an eye doctor appointment to check up on things. Turns out I am far-sighted now and thus the cause of headaches and tension in my eyes could possibly be curbed through wearing glasses! I have made it this far without them, but that chapter has apparently come to a close. Who knows what year 28 of my life will bring? I must admit I have always wanted glasses, so I'll have to think of it as a sweet little birthday gift to myself. :)

10,000 reasons

One of my new favorite worship songs, check it out!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!

-Psalm 103:1-

Pumpkin Patches and Purees

I love the Fall so much! There is something about the crisp, cool air (well, in Memphis, not everyday is it crisp or cool...), the scents, pumpkin everything, the rustle of the leaves....you get the picture! I really wish I could capture it, store it in a bottle, and save it for a dreary day. This season has been especially enjoyable because of our sweet little man. Every experience is a deeper experience somehow now. We really are falling in love with him more everyday. He is keeping us on our toes recently as his curiosity is growing, he loves to grab and pinch (especially my cheeks and ears...one day I'll have to break it to him he is the one with the pinchable cheeks!), we can hardly put a diaper on him because he is rolling and flipping around us! We are loving this stage! 

We recently had a little adventure to the pumpkin patch, er, church parking lot full of pumpkins for sale. Caden was so interested in this mini "patch" of pumpkins. I love the above family pic, mainly because 6 months of taking pictures with little man and it is the first successful pictures at all 3 of us smiling and looking toward the camera at the same time. (This would happen on a day neither Brett nor I had showered....but I'm not complaining!)

Not so enjoyable is the teething process! I really have decided teething is from Satan himself-no joke! I feel so bad for the little guy as he is such a happy-natured little baby and it is so obvious he is in pain...with no teeth to show for it yet. I will miss that gummy little smile, but I will be glad when a few teeth break through to provide relief for him!

I'm not a rustic, country-styled kind of girl, but something about fall is rustic and country to me. This is one of my latest Pinterest projects. This little banner was such a simple and cheap craft-5 bucks and 10 minutes since I hot glued the flags on instead of sewing. Not bad!

Little man has officially been introduced to solids. We are at the VERY beginning stages and it is a slow process, but it has been fun for me to do something new with him as well as research making baby foods, how to freeze etc. We decided to skip the rice cereal and oatmeal as the starters, and instead went straight to avocado. (You might be like my in-laws, my parents, and my grandmother and think I'm crazy....but hey, it is worth a shot!) The first two days of avocado he enjoyed the process and playing on his tray, and just being included in meals with Brett and me...but this was short-lived as you can see in the above left pic. Needless to say, we are taking a little break from avocado and have moved onto butternut squash...we will see how this goes!

Speaking of baby food-I got a little zealous about pureeing my own foods and freezing them. (hello http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/, you are an awesome resource!) Apparently, I didn't put carrot peelings, squash and sweet potato guts down the garbage disposal at a good pace....and caused a small large leak under our sink. Oops. I would like to say this is the first time I have messed up our disposal, but I would be lying....

There are a lot of things I am looking forward to currently, two of these things are....

1. My BURRRRFFFDAY is this weekend! (Some of the lovely ladies I am discipling now are trying to teach me the ways of conversation, hence "BURRRFFFDAY" instead of the commonly known "Birthday."  I am a slow learner, but they are patient with me.) I cannot believe I am turning 27 years old. Seriously, I have been a college graduate for years now, been a resident of Illinois, now Memphis, gotten hitched, and now have a sweet little almost 6 month old? 30 is closer than 20 now, I'm gonna embrace it! 

My Tia, precious cousin, and her new little boy are visiting at the beginning of November. I am SOOOOOO excited I can hardly stand it. Lauren and Tia have such a special place in my heart. It has been so wonderful crying together and getting excited together in this motherhood journey with Lauren thus far. I cannot wait to snuggle with her little cutie who is about 3 months younger than Caden! The above pic is one of my favorites, but do not be fooled-though we look very loving in this picture, I was so mean to her at this stage of our lives and it was a VERY rare occasion you could find me in a dress....obviously things have changed!

There are a 100 more things to talk about being excited about (the hubs and me celebrate another wedding anniversary, holidays, New Year's Conference, but those will come later!)

Until next time....