a little cayden...

... to tide you guys over until we can get christmas photos posted!

you'd never guess that he was running a fever and feeling pretty poopy this morning, would ya? one shot and some antibiotics later (and a few doses of children's tylenol) and we should be good to go.

hugs & kisses

hey guys... after meeting up with some great friends yesterday for breakfast, i'm more encouraged and convinced to try to keep up with my blog for the etsy shop. some of you may not even be aware that there is a blog dedicated solely to the shop, so i'm sharing it with you here. become a follower and you'll know when new items have been added to the shop (of course, if you follow me on twitter, you probably already see those updates).

either way, here's the link to the hugs & kisses blog:
hugs & kisses

there's a bit of a new look going on over there too. figured since i had spruced this place up a bit, that i should do the same for the other blog. as you'll see, something new is about to be launched in the shop... i'll update the h&k blog again when it's a go!

merry christmas!

a little giveaway

hey guys! my good friend caroline has a giveaway going on at her blog: through rose colored glasses. click on the link, follow her and leave a comment for your chance to win an adorable 2010 calendar. who doesn't need a new calendar with the new year coming up? that's what i thought.

cayden and his cousins

on saturday, we had the annual kilgore christmas party. there were all sorts of photos taken, but this is one of cayden with the four other great-grand children. all. boys. crazy, right? a good-lookin' group of kids with their mamaw and pawpaw...

new skills

i may not be crawling quite yet, but look at the other new cool thing i can do. and sometimes i do it while my other leg is flailing in the air. yep. that's right. i'm super-cool.

btw...

i heard the new "in look" was the one-shouldered thing. so i thought i'd give it a try. momma and daddy came to get me out of the crib the other morning and i was rockin' the look. what do you guys think? shows off my shoulder nicely, no?

finally!

jeremy and i broke down and got cayden a high chair. you see, we could've gotten him one earlier, but we're much too stubborn to buy just any high chair. we got him this great stokke tripp trapp high chair. sure, it might have cost a little more than the typical high chair, but this one can do so much more. he can use it forever. literally. and well, it just looks better than most high chairs. and we can slide this one right up to the table and he can eat with us! we're very excited about it and can't wait for it to arrive. i think cayden will be glad to quit using the bumbo as his squishy legs keep getting stuck!

all the kiddos

it took a little bit longer, but here's a photo of cayden, ethan and lexie with santa. can you believe that all three of them were smiling at the same time? me either.

seven months

if you're looking for the monthly photo, you're not going to find it today. why? well, when cayden woke up yesterday, his poor little eyes had this nasty booger stuff coming out of them. and we decided that it really didn't look so good for a photo.

after a quick trip to the pediatrician's office, we have [another] double ear infection that has also spread to his eyes. he had his first dose of antibiotics yesterday, and woke up with no eye boogies this morning. whew! his eyes are still red and a little swollen, but i'm just glad that they aren't all caked over. it was so sad.

if you get the creepy-crawlies easy, you may want to just scroll on past the photo. no worries though; he's well on his way to recovery! we'll get his monthly photo sometime this week i'm sure... keep your eye out for it...

a bit of a new look

listen. i know you guys aren't idiots and have probably noticed a few changes going on around here. yeah, so i thought i should try getting a little more creative and actually create my own background and a new header. so as cayden grows, those photos to the side will be added to (one this next week!). we'll stop at a year - no worries. let me know your thoughts on how you think it's looking. it's feeling warmer and more friendly to me already... and well, it lets you know who this blog is centered around pretty quickly, too.

oh, aunt jodi!

i had so much fun opening my christmas present from you, uncle jason and balin this morning. and while i LOVED the bag and tissue paper that held it, i love what was inside so much more. you guys are the bestest... love, cayden

rockin' and rollin'

so our big guy is up on all fours, ready to go. he doesn't go anywhere yet (except backwards), but i thought i'd share this little snippet of him getting ready to go somewhere. i think we'll all be surprised when this results in a forward motion. we'll never sit still again... (oh, and that red spot you might see on his forehead? carpet burn. he face plants often!)



oh yeah, we often rock the one sock look around our house. i don't know. one of them always seems to fall off. we're just cool like that.

say ahh...

yep, that's cayden's mouth. and our attempt to photograph his first tooth! it didn't turn out. obviously. but i thought i'd share what we got anyway. so yeah, our almost seven month old has his first tooth. we found it on saturday. he's handled it pretty well. a few random fits of screaming, but hey, i guess i'd scream too. either way, such a big boy now... guess he'll be eating "real" food before we know it. ::sigh::

last weekend

last weekend, well saturday, was a busy one. we went to see jenny graduate from UAB! how exciting, right? welcome to the real world, aunt jenny! (and feel better soon!) here's a few photos from the event.

aunt jenny sitting with her school:


daddy and cayden bonding:


aunt jenny on the big screen:

christmas cards have been sent!

finally. whew! we had four photos that we were trying to choose between. and of those four, we couldn't decide between two of them... so some of you out there will get one version, while others will get a completely different version. you're welcome!

(the two photos above are the ones that didn't make the cut... but are still super-cute. oh, and here are two others that just didn't fit in the layout we were working with. all sorts of fun photos for you guys today!)

tis the season

just a little sneak peak into our christmas decorations... we don't go overboard; we keep it a bit simple (and even more so with the house on the market). merry christmas all!

hey miss cathy!

i just wanted to tell you how much i love my new blanket. it kept me so snuggly warm while momma and daddy went jogging last night. and then again when they decided to go grab dinner and make [another] run to target. i thought you might enjoy seeing me use it... thanks again so very much!

guess what we've been up to?

yep, that's right. we've been working on a photo for someone's first christmas. it's funny how i always have these visions in my head of how they should turn out... and then they end up being nothing like it. just gives me something else to work on i suppose.

anyway, these are a couple of outtakes. once we decide which photo to actually use, i'll share the rest of the outtakes. (and yes, it may look like he's crawling in that first photo. don't let him fool you; he's great at getting up on those hands and knees... but all he still does is scoot backwards... won't be long though.)

cayden's new cap

i just bought this cap from a fellow etsy creator. love it. and it'll look so cute on him this winter. it's custom-made, so we have to wait a few weeks to get it in, but i think it's worth it. i also think it's time i learn how to crochet. who wants to teach me?

a confession of sorts

ok, so here it is... before i got pregnant, i was a devout pescatarian. i hadn't eaten beef in close to five years, and chicken was going on three or so. i don't know what it was (perhaps my iron levels being low), but i craved steak like no other while pregnant. and i hadn't had steak in forever (longer than those five years i'm sure; i hardly ever ate steak). so i gave in. and had steak. and had chicken. and everything in between. and my iron levels thanked me for it profusely...

after cayden got here, i just kept eating it... guiltily at times, i'll admit. and then, this past weekend, it all clicked back into place for me. i just can't keep eating like this.

so i'm back to my pescatarian ways. many people always ask why i decide to torture myself this way. it's not torture. or say, "oh, i wish i could do that." well, the simple answer is, you can do it. easily. but for those of you wondering, this is why i do it:

1. first and foremost, my health is important to me. and, with that below post about the half-marathon, being at my all-time best is very important. there are simply WAY too many fast-food joints out there that make eating meat very easy. taking meat out of the equation severely limits our fast-food intake. (thank you burger king for at least giving me the option of a meat-free burger!)

2. even though many places say "free range," it doesn't mean what you think it does. and when i think about the animals being tortured and having to live in certain conditions, it makes my heart hurt. i know god put these animals here for a reason... he did not, however, put them here for us to manipulate and make them grow bigger, faster. it's just gross.

many people might say, "why don't you feel bad for fish/seafood?" and i honestly can say, "i don't know." maybe one day i'll be a real vegetarian, maybe i won't. either way, i'm happy with my decision to return to my pescatarian ways. it was much easier to flip that switch back than i thought it would be... whew! there, it's off my chest now.

(cause i'm sure so many of you were sitting on the edge of your seats for this post! ha! as a side note, we're going to attempt smoking tofu this weekend on our smoker. and then mix in some bbq sauce. not entirely sure how it's going to turn out... i'll try to take some photos and let you guys know how it goes.)

i need your help

jeremy and i have a wedding to go to next weekend, and i honestly have nothing to wear. i've found several dresses that i think are adorable; i can't seem to pick though! i want to get one that i can wear for events (like said wedding), but something that i can also wear to work without appearing too dressed up (heaven forbid i dress up for work!).

here are a few choices; feel free to click the links to see other views:

silver dress

chimney sweep


belle epoque


left in suspense


goldi-frocks


please just leave a comment and let me know your vote. thanks so much!

we just might be crazy

jeremy and i have decided to train for the music city half marathon. 13.1 miles. gulp. training starts this next week... which gives us right at 19 weeks total before the race. the cool thing about this race (other than it being in nashville) are the awesome sites we'll see while running (you start in centennial park! hello parthenon!) and there are stages set up along the way where there will be bands playing. and at the end, there's a huge concert for all the participants.

jeremy and i needed something to get us kick-started on a healthier us... and well, this just might do it. one day at a time.

(i put this all in "writing" so you guys can help hold us accountable. don't be afraid to ask how the training's going if you run into us somewhere.)

six month check-up

cayden had his six month check-up yesterday. he got more shots. fun stuff. actually, he did great. he screamed for maybe 10 seconds, we gave him his pacifier, picked him up and he was fine. such a strong little guy.

weight: 17 pounds, 10 ounces (50th percentile)
length: 27 inches (75th percentile)
head: 17 inches (75th percentile)

he's still growing on the same curve since his first check-up, so all is well.

let me introduce you

this is my friend, hey monkey. he got that name when i was just a tiny little thing and momma used to make him dance in my face and she would say, "hey, monkey!" and well, the name just stuck. he's my best friend (short of my seahorse, which i love more than anything). we nap together any time i'm at home. i can't fall asleep unless he covers my face. momma and daddy were being silly the other night and put him on my head. this was the end result... i thought it was silly, too.

our sweet little angel

sleeping so peacefully...

ice! - a charlie brown christmas

we went to ice! last year. it was the grinch then, and very cool. but everyone has a special place in their heart for the charlie brown christmas, right? it was very fun and very cold. (how cold do you think it is in here? one. ok, ok. after a little googling, it's apparently kept at sixteen degrees in there. much better than one? uh, no.)

anyway, a few photos documenting the day:

santa!

we were in tennessee this weekend visiting with nana and pop. nana had let us know that the franklin santa was already at the mall, and that there probably wouldn't be much of a line yet. so we all decided to tackle the big event.


as we were standing in line, cayden started getting a little fussy - it was time to eat and we had left the bottle in the car. i started to get a little worried that he wouldn't do so good with santa, so we asked rachel and justin if we could go first.

he was a pro though! just a happy little fella. after we had his photo taken, we got ethan and lexie in on the fun (nana wanted one photo with all the grandkids in it). all three of them did great and we got one with all three of them smiling (i'll have to get that one from nana).

overall, a great first santa experience. no worries, i totally expect a meltdown next year.

six months old

new moon

yes, like many others in the blogging world, i'm writing about new moon. it comes out this friday, but guess who gets to see it tonight? that's right. me! a dear friend at work was able to score some advance screening passes, and i got two of them for me and jeremy. i feel like our entire office will be there tonight... and you know what? that could be fun too. the showing it at 7:30, but i'm riding with a friend to the theatre right after work. we were told to get there an hour early for the line; we're thinking we'll be as close to the front as possible. i mean really, free tickets or not, who wants to sit at the very front of the theatre? not me. here's hoping we get a decent place in line, and ok seats. yay!

cayden's first christmas

jeremy and i are both really excited about all the upcoming holidays. i know cayden won't remember these first few years, but it should be a good time for us all experiencing them as a family for the first time. i set out on a mission to find a baby's first christmas ornament for him, and found the most adorable thing ever on etsy. i got it from this shop; if you're looking for adorable hand-made ornaments, then take a look.

on his hat, it'll say: Cayden's
on the little heart: 2009
and, on the banner at the bottom: First Christmas

cute, right?

trying out bananas

last week, night two of avocados was a BIG, FAT FAIL. he wouldn't even open his mouth to try them out. that's ok. we'll save what was frozen and try it out again in a couple of weeks. tonight, we decided to try bananas. we have a couple that were on the verge of needing to be thrown out, so we mushed half of one up (and froze the rest for future meals). it was, um, interesting to say the least. i think the bananas must've hit all the different tastes. and even after swallowing it, he would occasionally get a shiver. too cute. and laugh out loud funny.

a new experience

cayden's been sitting up fairly well these last couple of weeks, so we decided to see how he'd do in a shopping cart. we ventured out to tj maxx to find the kiddo a winter coat. their carts are a little bit smaller than the normal cart (read: about half the width of normal ones), so we felt ok trying it out. and he did pretty good. about half-way through, you could tell he was getting tired of holding himself up... walking him around the store took care of that though...

(and yes, we were the parents who whipped out a camera in the store to document his very first ride in a shopping cart. we're cool like that.)

finally!

after almost six long months, i was able to meet papa rip! yay! and he got to my house just in time to feed me. my great-granny allen also came over (momma didn't do a great job with photos, did she?). anyway, we all hung out for a while. and i slept most of the time. i guess i do that a lot. i'll grow out of it one day though.

either way, i'm looking forward to seeing papa rip more over the next week. he's silly. just like daddy...

first real food

i kept going over lists to see what a good first food would be for an almost six month baby. i read that avocado was a good one to try out, and easy for both baby and parents - it doesn't have to be cooked first! we mashed one up last night to see how cayden would do with it. i was impressed. his first reaction was pretty much as expected, but overall, he handled it well. we'll try the avocado again for three more nights and then move on to something else (maybe bananas!). everything i've read says to try a food for at least three days; if the baby is going to be allergic to it, it would show up by then. maybe tmi, but i'm interested to see how this affects his poop. weird, right?

maybe i did feel bad

but i definitely feel better now. for real, i wasn't being as loud as usual, but these last few mornings, i've been talking up a storm. i think momma and daddy realized that maybe i did feel a little bad... but now that dr. c gave me some good medicine, i'm back to talking all. the. time. yay!

unfortunately, momma and daddy are now a little under the weather. they have gross snotty noses and keep sneezing all the time. i kind of woke up with a snotty nose myself this morning. momma wasn't happy about that.

say a little prayer that we all get better soon. it's no fun being sick.

a small update

our sweet little thing has had a cough for the past couple of weeks. he hasn't run a fever with it, so we thought we were ok not putting a call into the doctor. when he woke up with the cough on monday morning (starting week 3), we decided it was time to put a call in...

... the nurse definitely wanted to see him; thought it might be pneumonia. not good.

so jeremy took cayden in to see dr. c yesterday and thankfully, no pneumonia. instead, he has a double ear infection. um, what? shouldn't he cry more, or at least be more upset? yeah, he wasn't... but we started his amoxicillin last night and drank it up like a pro. here's hoping that nasty cough makes its way out of here and that his ear infection clears right up...

(he weighed in at 16 pounds and 4 ounces yesterday. we'll know more on his stats dec. 1 as that's when his six month appointment is. gah! six months?)

tex mex chili

so last week, i tweeted about needing a new chili recipe, and foodista came to the rescue with this recipe. we went shopping yesterday and got all of the ingredients. i started the crockpot around 1ish and we ate at about 5:30. delicious. for real. it's a little on the spicy side (just the right kind of burn, not oh-my-goodness-i-can't-eat-this). it'll be added into our rotation every so often now.

we substituted a few things (morningstar crumbles for the pound of ground meat) and left a few things out (celery - mostly because i never eat the rest of it when we buy it, and rotten celery is just plain gross; and the can of tomatoes - neither of us are big fans of chunky cooked tomatoes). definitely try it out sometime... we topped it with mozzarella cheese, fritos and sour cream.

roll tide!

saturday's tailgate was a blast. cayden did great! a couple of his naps were cut short, but otherwise, he was as happy as could be. we hung out with good friends and ran into a few others. all in all, a great day. beautiful weather and a win against lsu. whew!