a little daydreaming

yep, that's right. this long memorial day weekend has me dreaming of being outdoors. sitting by a pool. grilling out. enjoying a ton of meals at our dining set. on our awesome deck.

but here's the real deal: it's raining. and it's supposed to rain all. weekend. long. monday, too. fun, yes? we do have a sweet new pool to sit by. it's about four by four. um, feet. and it has a weight limit. but it looks like cayden will have a super-fun time in it. [you know, if it quits raining.]

we do have a grill. and we will most likely grill out at some point this weekend. but i really want this grill. badly. and i want it to go on our awesome deck. that hasn't been built yet. & then it'll house a great dining set. again, that we don't have.

see? all a daydream. but this grill? we will own it one day. in fact, i think jeremy and i will be buying it for each other for christmas. [you know, in seven-ish months.]

just a few more birthday shots

ol blue eyes

cupcake tree

blowing out the candle

enjoying the sweets

custom-made decorations

new toy love

after bath time last night, we caught mr. c playing with one of his new birthday toys. and, omg!, was it funny. jeremy and i were dying. he apparently LOVES this thing. like, really loves it. i couldn't decide which video was better, so you're getting both. the first one shows his total love of the penguin; the second shows the love & some squealing, but also shows off some of his new "dancing" skills [with a nice head roll thrown in at the end]. dying.

a happy birthday

aunt jodi took this photo

cayden's party went really well on saturday. we were able to get him down for a nap before all the festivities happened so that he'd be ready to party like a rockstar. & party like a rockstar he did. around 25 of our closest family and friends came over for the shindig. we cooked out, ate, talked, laughed, sang "happy birthday", ate some more and opened gifts. it might have all been a little overwhelming for the birthday boy, but he didn't seem bothered by any of it.

cupcake tree

he ate his lunch like a champ. and then dug right into his cupcake. he was a little tentative at first. but once he got a taste of the [homemade!] icing, he was a goner! i'm pretty sure he ate the whole thing. [and yes, we could tell that he'd had some serious sugar afterward!]

enjoying every last bite of my cupcake

after a quick bath [um, icing pretty much everywhere], we changed him and opened presents. again, he still doesn't really get the whole present thing yet. tissue paper? yes, that's a great present! but he's seriously loved on every thing since saturday. [in fact, he's getting really good at keeping himself entertained with all the new toys around. gah!]

sittin' on the bean bag that mama & daddy got me

loving my new bama hat

these are just a few photos from the day. i downloaded the ones from our camera last night – all 187 of them. seriously? we still have some to get from one more friend as she let us use her camera during the day. and i'm telling you, those photos are going to be awesome because it's a way better lens than what we normally shoot with. i'll be sharing some of those once we have them.

one year check-up

cayden loves sitting in the big boy chair

the well-kid check-ups are something i love and hate all at the same time. i love finding out how much our sweet babe has grown. & i really love our pediatrician. and i'm sure that any mama out there can figure out why i hate them. ugh, the dreaded shots. today, we only had three. but it was awful for me [and obviously cayden]. like, i seriously almost choked up. i was only watching; jeremy was the one holding him down! i'm such a sap these days. [let's not even talk about me choking up while everyone was singing "happy birthday" at the party over the weekend.]

but i digress... the check-up today went really well. dr. c loves cayden. and cayden seems to love everyone.

one year stats:
weigh > 21.13 pounds
height > 30.25"
head > 18.75"

giveaway winner!

gah! i'm posting from my phone and it sucks... but random.org gave me #10. promise!

it's jen from the dojo!

(and, if i were cool & knew how to use this app better, i could link you to her blog so you could see her adorable twin girls!)

jen, let me know the best way to get in touch with you. congrats!

he blows kisses

happy birthday!

i think jeremy and i kind of freaked cayden out this morning. he was awake, so the both of us went into his room singing "happy birthday." he didn't know what to make of it. he looked at us funny. then started bouncing on his bed. and then just looked back and forth between us. it was fun, even if cayden didn't really understand what was going on.

we're going to have a quiet dinner at home tonight [cheese-stuffed pasta – yum!]. we'll try to do his very last round of monthly photos too. although, i'll admit, the little guy likes to take naps right before dinner and isn't always in the best of moods when he wakes up. we'll have those posted soon though, no worries.



cayden's birthday party is on saturday. we have family and close friends stopping by for the cookout. should be a good time, and i'm hoping to have a lot of great photos to share afterward.

happy birthday sweet boy! mama and daddy love you to the moon and back [and then a little more!]



oh, and you know what, while we're at it... i've been thinking about doing a little giveaway of my own on this here blog. and what better way to celebrate a birthday than by giving away one of my custom birth date pieces of art from the etsy shop?



just leave me a comment, maybe tell me which colors you'd like should you win. and that's it. if you want to follow the blog, that's awesome, but nothing mandatory, and no multiple entries to win [i'm a simple-is-better kind of gal]. i'll draw the winner with random.org on friday, may 21 at 5ish. [be sure to leave an e-mail address so that i can contact you after the giveaway ends!]

best of luck!

birthday series: twelfth month

this twelfth month is so bittersweet. it's been a great month, and we did a lot of great things... but the end of this month also marks your first birthday. which i thought i was totally okay with. until i was driving home yesterday, and it all hit me. cayden, my sweetheart, you're about to be a whole year old. just a short year ago you were still in my tummy, and a year ago from tomorrow, we were blessed with the most beautiful child one could imagine.

instead of doing a recap of this past month, we'll let all your friends and family just view the photos, yes?

cayden, this past year has been one that me and your daddy could never have predicted. i know every family thinks their child is the most beautiful and well-behaved child in the world... but for you, we both know it's true.

you amaze us every day. from that very first smile that you ever gave us, to the super-cheese grin [complete with squinty eyes] that you give us now. from that very first attempt at you lifting your head on your own, to your full-on running through a room. from those first sounds that you made [which often accompanied a nice big poop], to all the new words you're discovering... you blow us kisses now. and wave bye. you give your daddy high-fives [which mama kind of can't stand, but it's ok]. when you're feeling a little down, we scoop you up, and you throw one arm around our necks – we think we're comforting you, but really, you're comforting us.

our precious little thing... we love you so very much. and look forward to celebrating your first year with you tomorrow and on through the weekend. we're excited about what's to come and can't wait to share every day of it with you. love you to pieces...

birthday series: eleventh month

during your eleventh month, we celebrated your first easter! the easter bunny wasn't entirely sure of what to bring you, but i think you were happy with what he did bring. i'm guessing your second easter might be a little more fun – expect to hunt eggs!

by this time, you were a pro at walking – you would still take a few tumbles – but, for the most part, you'd figured it all out. and you would raise your hands up above your head for balance. um, definitely cutest thing ever.

you met a great friend of mama's [and daddy's now, too] during a dinner one night. stephen was in town for one of his best friends weddings, so we got to squeeze in a moment so that you two could finally meet.

mama and daddy also celebrated their fifth anniversary during your eleventh month. this meant that aunt rachel babysat you [a couple of times!] for us so that we could have a date.

tomorrow is your twelfth month wrap-up... which only means that on thursday, you turn a year old. big sigh.

birthday series: tenth month

oh, sweet cayden... you were all over the place in your tenth month. you were pulling up on everything. and, about three quarters of the way through the month, you decided that walking would be your new thing. at first you were very tentative about it. and it was the funniest thing in the world to watch.

you tried more and more new foods – with foods of the italian variety being your favorite. [hello, pizza and pasta!]

this is also the month that we discovered that you think dogs are the funniest things alive. seriously. to this day, the only time you laugh that hard is around a pup of some sort. once mama and daddy get the back yard fenced in, we'll go check out the pups at the local shelter and see what we can do about getting you one.

birthday invitations

the long-awaited invitation photos emerge! ok, yeah, so not really a big deal, but here they are. we didn't go the typical first birthday route, complete with a photo of our little one. instead, i designed the invite to set the theme of the party. so in the photos from saturday, expect to see these colors recurring and you know, an elephant theme of sorts going on. i was really happy with how these turned out. & thoroughly enjoyed making them and constructing the final invites by hand.



[oh, and i love you guys, seriously... but i didn't see any reason to give the whole world our address or our phone numbers. if you need them, you already have them. or, you can ask for them.]

birthday series: ninth month

apparently we had another month of parenting failure when it came to taking photos of you, sweet cayden. honestly? i think what happened was the photos started turning into more videos... because you started doing all these great things that are really hard to capture in a photo.

you were chatting up a storm by this time, and crawling like a pro [and yes, you finally figured out how to move forward rather than backwards].

mama and daddy were in the process of packing up the house to move to our new home, so that might explain the lack of photos during this month too.

birthday series: eighth month

christmas! and while you were seriously way more interested in what wrapped your presents, it was still a complete joy. we spent christmas eve evening with grana, poppa and aunt jenny. and we had christmas breakfast with nana, pop, aunt rachel, uncle justin and ethan.

we went to steak n shake for the first time ever. and while you weren't so pleased with the hat we put on you, you did look entirely too cute. we also made an unscheduled trip to the pediatrician because you developed hives randomly one day. [we still don't know why. they just came and went.]

and you started to get really serious about that crawling thing. you were up on all fours. but moving backwards. or you just showed us how well you could balance by sticking your little butt up in the air and one leg in the air with it.

poor thing

our little guy has been pretty sick this week. when the coughing was getting to be too much, jeremy took him to the doctor to discover that he still had an ear infection [that's apparently lasted for about three weeks now] and he has croup. ugh.

so, we had new antibiotics prescribed for the ear infection and a steroid shot to help with the croup. and guess what? we get a call from school yesterday that he has 103º fever. so home he comes from school. he had a fever all day yesterday, and after he threw up his last milk of the day and his medicine, we put a call into the on-call nurse. she reassured us that the fever was ok; that this thing was normal. but since he'd thrown up all his medicine, we needed to give him a fun suppository for the fever – to make him more comfortable [how in the world shoving something up someone's back-end will make them more comfortable, i'll never know.]

he woke this morning with a fever of 101º. we've been told that if it stays up through tomorrow to call and get an appointment... but that most times these things clear up within three days.

jeremy and i were both a little nervous about him sleeping half-way across the house last night, so we thought we might try letting him sleep in our bed [i know, i know]. but the little guy is SUCH a bed hog. seriously. he wiggles around everywhere and then decided to lay out sideways. he went back to his room; we turned his monitor up super loud. and all was well.

here's hoping that the stupid fever disappears tonight. or at least in the morning. [thoughts & prayers are appreciated.]

birthday series: seventh month

apparently we failed as parents taking photos of our cute kid during the seventh month. i know we did things. and there's an entire holiday that we have no photos from. [it's thanksgiving, by the way. if anyone that attended lunch has photos from that day that involve cayden, could you please share? otherwise, we have none that document his first thanksgiving! so sad. and big fat fail for us!]

we did, however, take your photo for your very first christmas card. and had tons of fun while doing it. you were a great sport, as always, and provided us with not only some good photos, but some really fun blooper photos too.

at our favorite place

this is now what goes on at our favorite store. if the aisles didn't get in the way, he'd just keep going. forever.
[and, as a sidenote, jeremy has to hold the cart; he's not pushing it. promise.]

birthday series: sixth month

how did we get here? half a year gone already. this was a big month for you, cayden. not only did it include one of mama and daddy's favorite holidays, but it also included your first trip to tuscaloosa to experience your first tailgate. [which you thoroughly enjoyed.]

you also got to meet poppa rip during your sixth month. he's daddy's daddy. but he lives all the way out in california, so it's sometimes hard for him to get to alabama. one day, we'll buy fly out and go see him. we're both pretty sure that you'll love cali. it doesn't have this humidity stuff that we have here.

we slowly introduced you to more solid foods [pureed, of course]. we caught several funny faces of you eating [bananas especially!]. it was fun to see how you would react to different flavors.

cousin ethan had his fourth birthday party [your first birthday party to ever attend!] at the local bouncy house. you did go down the big slide with daddy, but you also spent a big part of it napping on nana's shoulder.

to enjoy the halloween festivities, we went to a semi-local pumpkin patch. took a ride on their train [your first train ride too - what a month of firsts!]. we also went to boo at the zoo. it was a little chilly out, so uncle justin snuggled you up in his cozy jacket. and then, on halloween night, we all went trick-or-treating in aunt rachel and uncle justin's neighborhood. just know that mama and daddy usually throw a pretty big halloween party. so your second halloween might be a little different.

you were an expert sitter by the end of this month. & dr. c was very impressed by your sitting skills at your six month check-up. you continued to amaze us with your sleeping habits and continued to give us tons of smiles, laughs and giggles throughout the month.

good friends & good times

last thursday night we were able to meet up with our friends tom and jennifer. we don't get to see these two nearly as often as we'd like [they freakin' live in pennsylvania!], so we take what we can get. we spent a good couple of hours at p.f. chang's eating and hanging out. & catching up.

it's so awesome to have friends like these two. you can go months without seeing them, and as soon as you do see them, the friendship just clicks again. and then it sucks because the night has to end and you realize it'll be a while before you see them again. we love these guys, and miss them both terribly. sigh.

we'll definitely have to try to make the trip up north next. could be an interesting car ride with the little guy in tow... but it'll be worth it!

birthday series: fifth month

cayden observed quite a few things during his fifth month. he came to watch mama and daddy run [ha!] a 5k. [we were really awful.] we also went to watch cousin ethan play soccer. [it was freezing out!] we watched more football, and got to visit with some oklahoma friends [hi brad, kim & hannah!].

oh, and the semi-big thing this fifth month? cayden did his best to sit up unassisted. it took a little while to get it just right [and many nose-plants into the ground], but he got the hang of it.

birthday series: fourth month

during cayden's fourth month, we had our first major problem with diaper rash. and while we had him laying out naked to air everything out, he successfully flipped from tummy to back. [and we have all the nekkid photos to prove it!] we also went to cayden's first farmers market and caught up with old friends. this was also the month that we had him baptized at church. and, like most kids, he spit up all over himself right before we walked to the front of the church. it was also the beginning of football season, so we definitely had to dress appropriately.

birthday series: third month

[a little note: i've been major sick the past couple of days, so please forgive me for my lack of updating. catching up today. promise.]

oh, the third month with cayden. this is when things started getting really fun. there were smiles galore and the beginnings of your laugh [which is still to this day, almost exactly the same. just louder.] we took trips to tennessee to visit nana and pop. and, we made our first family trip to logan martin lake [with a few of our close friends]. the bumbo was a favorite and cayden suddenly became very aware of all the cats around him.

birthday series: second month

during the second month, cayden continued to sleep. but there were many more moments of being awake. we also started getting longer stretches at night. [i'm talking at about six weeks, down at 9 p.m. and sleeping until 4 a.m. then having a bottle, and going back to bed until 8ish. and he's seriously still a great sleeper!]

this was also the month that we started cloth diapers. i swear, looking at the photos below makes it look like he hated them, but he was having one of his rare fits. he started wearing them at about six weeks; we waited until then because they were a little too large until then.

and, it was also the month that he started daycare. such a bittersweet moment for us. but it's turned out really good. he loves school and his teachers love him.

tomorrow = third month...

birthday series: first month

that first month was quite a learning experience. for everyone.

we had some great highs: a baby that slept wonderfully from day one [in his own crib that very first night], a non-crying baby [seriously only cried when he was hungry] and overall, just a really good routine between me, jeremy and cayden.

and, like every new family, we had some lows: discovering that my milk never came in [resulting in me breaking down when the pediatrician told us he wasn't eating enough], weird sleeping schedules [yes, i know this happens to everyone] and just generally trying to get everything figured out.

cayden's first month home was awesome though. from his first bath, to his first teeny-tiny dip into a swimming pool. he also attended his very first concert at 2.5 weeks. he continued to meet all sorts of family and friends [including his six cat sisters and brothers]. it seemed like bringing cayden home was just a natural process for us. the cats just took him in. and, like all new parents, we'd sit and stare for hours at this beautiful creation that we'd been blessed with [and to be honest, we still do this sometimes].

stay tuned for the second month tomorrow!

birthday series: cayden's arrival

taking a cue from my friend em over at last train to pooksville, today starts a thirteen day countdown to cayden's first birthday. each day will represent a month, and today starts with his actual birth day.

i remember the day we found out that cayden would be joining our little two person family. i'd been feeling "off" for a few days. exercising felt strange. weird smells would hit my nose. and [sorry guys], but my boobs just felt weird. so i took a test. and at only about one week late, we found out we were going to be parents.

my mom was in town that weekend, and we had huge plans to take her to tuscaloosa for an alabama football game. [notes to self: i believe there was also a gas shortage that weekend. i think we paid over $4 a gallon just to get to tuscaloosa. ridiculous.] but to tuscaloosa we went. and we didn't mention one. single. thing. to my mom. seriously. held it in the whole time. it was torture, yet so much fun having that little secret.

the pregnancy went really well. just a little "all day sickness" until about 12 weeks and then that suddenly disappeared. and the delivery went as smoothly as i think it could have. [a slight complication with an epidural leak, which caused this awful headache. second day in, i had to have a blood patch to correct it – you can google if you want.] otherwise, we completely enjoyed our hospital stay and the little guy that we got to bring home with us.

just a few photos leading up to cayden's birth day. the day we found out. a couple of belly photos. and of course, mr. cayden's arrival...

oh, the beach

our first family trip to the beach could not have gone better. we had a great place to stay [thanks teresa!] and while the weather could have been better some days, we certainly weren't complaining to get out of town and relax.

the place we stay is in this great snowbird community at the almost very end of panama city beach. snowbird = no annoying teenagers. and usually mostly quiet. it wasn't so quiet this time because we apparently scheduled our trip right in the middle of thunder beach week. harley davidsons & any other type of motorcycle you could imagine were there. [including some scooters. and guys, you just looked like dorks next to all the men on the bikes. yeah, i said it.]



we thought the bikes might bother cayden, but no. he instead would whip his head this way and that trying to look at all of them. really, best kid ever. and i say that a lot. but it's true.

he wasn't entirely sure of what to make of the ocean. he cried the first time we put him in it; mostly because it was so freakin' cold. but once he realized he could do pretty much whatever he wanted, he was all about the ocean. and the sand. and, you know, eating the sand. gross.



he loved the pool too. [well, he loved the heated pool in the back of the complex. again, the front pool? way too cold. daddy put him in and made him cry there too.]

we had dinner out a couple of times. we were going to go to our beloved treasure ship. it's this awesome place on the marina where you can watch boats come in with their catches of the day. unfortunately, the treasure ship burned to a crisp the day before we got there. i almost cried. at least cayden will never know what he was missing. instead, we went to pineapple willie's [with all the bikers].



on our way out of town, we hit up fudpuckers [in destin]. they have little alligators. and, y'all, we thought that cayden would love them. i don't even think he noticed them.



and, no trip would be complete without an emergency stop in nowhere alabama. on the side of a two-lane road. what happened? oh, our little guy decided to throw up all over himself. and his carseat. and his diaper bag. we stripped him down on the side of the road and cleaned up what we could with baby wipes. cayden definitely felt better afterward. he chattered the whole way home from that point.



we're looking forward to a beach trip in the fall with my parents and my sister and her family. cayden should be a pro by then.

it's just awful

i know that unless you've been living under a rock, most of you are aware of the flooding going on in nashville. it's unbelievable. i just spent a few minutes flipping through a facebook album showing all the landmarks that are under water, or close to being under water. and it's heartbreaking. seriously.

i was born in nashville, and grew up in franklin. i still have family in franklin. and family friends spread throughout the franklin/brentwood/nashville area. i hate seeing one of my favorite cities like this.

if you live in the area and are able to help people out, please do so. me? i plan to do a little research this afternoon to see where my donations might be most helpful.

ball y'all!

ok, so i didn't get around to doing beach photos last night. we had errands to run and groceries to buy. we did manage to stop by target, and cayden enjoyed one of his favorite things there:



{sorry for the awkward vertical layout; we sometimes forget to turn the phone horizontal.}

beach tease

we had a wonderful time at the beach. the weather wasn't 100% perfect, but it worked for us. here's a small video of cayden enjoying the ocean. i'll edit the rest of the photos tonight and hopefully have a big beach post to share tomorrow. {the wind's pretty loud, but you can kind of hear the ocean & cayden.}

pet silhouettes

in case you haven't seen these in the hugs & kisses shop yet, check 'em out!