someone got a new toy

and it was daddy!

new etsy listing!

and i promise, last post for the day! geez, i'm not going to have anything to share with you guys the rest of the week. except that i will because i have a tendency to ramble on about unimportant things.

anyway...

one of my twitter/blog/interweb friends was asking me about the possibility of taking one of my custom name/birth date pieces and changing it into a wedding piece. um, suzanne? you're so completely brilliant! of course it can be done. and so it was.

newly listed in the etsy shop, you can now order a custom piece of wedding art! you can include the date, location, city, etc. and choose your own colors. i'm trying to decide what colors i want in our home now!

if you're hungry, i'll share my bubbles

sippy cups are bullies

check out my nose owie

it's true. especially if you walk around with one while trying to drink it. then that mean carpet just jumps up and trips you. & you fall down, not letting go of said sippy cup. it busts your lip AND cuts your nose. not cool, sippy cup. not cool.

there's a frog on our wall

it's a bathroom frog!

yep, it's true. it's this totally awesome boon frog. & it holds all of cayden's bathtime toys. can i tell you how much i love it? a lot. you see, if you aren't familiar with this product, that area that has a handle actually comes off and turns into a huge scoop. and since it has holes all in it, it gets the toys and all the water falls back out. plus, it's pretty cute.

before we got mr. frog, we just had this bag that hung on the wall with all his toys in it. and while it had a mesh bottom, we felt that there were was still too much water hanging out in there that could potentially cause all sorts of problems. mr. frog joined our family during cayden's birthday party.

the other cool thing about him? when we remember, cayden LOVES to drop his toys back into the scoop area when we're done with the bath. & i can see him loving to scoop all the toys out as he gets older. so all around? a great investment that looks cute in the bathroom.

for those of you wanting something a little more girly? they also have a ladybug!

an ode to fathers

have you guys seen the "dad life" video yet? maybe i'm super behind, but i just saw it last night. and? omg. funny stuff. just thought i'd share the video here. you know, make you laugh (or just giggle) on this friday morning:

a little playtime before bedtime

& we may have borrowed something from nana & pop!

a water baby

our water baby

yep, we've got one. only discovered this past weekend though. we were visiting nana and pop and decided to enjoy their neighborhood pool. cayden was quite the happy camper in his float. (don't let that photo fool you. he really did have a good time!) but when we took him out, we noticed that he was kicking his legs. like a frog. omg. probably the cutest thing ever.

jeremy would hold him on his belly, and cayden would occasionally dip his face in the water while kicking his legs. & considering that he doesn't like having water on his head in the bath, this was a huge deal. so jeremy decided to see what would happen if he let go.

one tired cayden

and wouldn't you know? our little guy held his breath and kicked his legs. & gasp!, enjoyed it. this mama and daddy couldn't have been prouder. cayden was pooped the rest of the day. (note to self: we really need a pool. cayden takes great naps after swimming.)

oh no, you've got something on your shirt!

stack-o-bibs

and how do you fix that problem? well, duh. a bib, of course! the hugs & kisses designs etsy shop has been restocked with 12 (yes, 12!) new bibs. all in different fabrics. some of the fabrics even match the new diaper clutches. so buy one, or buy a matching set!

feelin' the love

do you ever have those moments where you just stop and take everything in around you? i had one of those moments (or rather several) over the weekend.

if you're ever on twitter, you know that fridays are usually "follow friday" or #FF for short. basically, people will suggest twitter users to other people. my friend becca totally grouped me into a lovely bunch of ladies that i highly admire. the likes of gussy, modern bird and coconut robot. i mean, i was wowed to be grouped into this bunch... as silly as it seems. thanks becca! (and becca is a pretty talented lady herself! check out jumping jax designs.)

then, another beautiful blogger, allison, tweeted about one of my new diaper clutches. allison has to be one of the cutest, most sincere mama bloggers out there. and immediately? that one diaper clutch had over 100 views. thanks allison!

and then? on sunday, my friend emily showed all sorts of love for my blog and etsy shop on her blog. if only emily didn't live so far away. her sweet poppy is just a month older than cayden. and i'm pretty sure they'd be fast friends... em has just started a new etsy shop herself (& it's lovely!), so be sure to check it out.

i'm just feeling the love all around. and when a mama is feeling a little discouraged by some things? this is a great way to make her feel loved. i mean really. i couldn't stop smiling all weekend. i think jeremy may have thought i was just a tad crazy. (and, he might be a little bit right.)

they're here!

these guys can be found in the etsy shop

you guys? the diaper clutches that i've been talking about, um, all week, are in the shop! head on over and take your pick before they start disappearing.

want to see something sad?

um, yes, it's a mess

here's my "office" at home. the place where i get all creative and make things. yep. that's a sewing machine. on. the. floor. let's take a bit of a closer look, ok?

such a creative use of space

see how i've strategically placed the pedal against the baseboard? i sit with one leg under me (the left) and the other stretched out straight (the right). does this kill my back? you bet it it does. but do i manage to get work done still? uh huh. (and yes, this is a stack of new diaper clutches soon to be listed in the etsy shop!)

despite the working conditions, i'm still productive

i have a grand ideas of how i'd like to finish setting this room up. but the budget that doesn't exist to finish this room is kind of holding me back. i really think i'd like to make a trip to the thrift store, find a table that would be suitable (maybe even an old desk) and then paint it a fun, bright color. then maybe find a chair at said thrift store too that could use a little lovin'.

now i just need to find the time to get to that store. sigh. anyone have any photos of how their "offices" are set up? want to share?

new custom pet silhouette

kitten!

this little guy will be shipping out tomorrow. i'm always really please with how the pet silhouettes turn out. & it's so fun to see everyone's favorite pets. visit the etsy shop to get your very own!

do you follow jesus this closely?

that was the bumper sticker i saw on the car in front of me this morning. (clever, yes?) & no, i wasn't tailing him; i was at a red light. (i'm a stickler for driving rules. i don't like speeding. and i really don't like tailgaters. aggravates me to no end.)

but i digress. the bumper sticker got me to thinking. and well, thinking is sometimes good. and sometimes bad. this time it was good. good, because it had me thinking about my faith and do i follow jesus that closely?

the simple answer? no.

i'm a christian. and completely believe. but could i be a better christian? most definitely. could i attend church more often? again, for sure. and i know that we want to raise cayden in a christian home. jeremy and i both were raised in one, and i think we're better people to this day for it. and i want cayden to experience it too.

but it's not easy. believing in something that seems so far-fetched. but my faith? yeah, it's blind. it has to be. do i think it's ok to question things? absolutely. i think you learn more things when you're able to question them. and have discussions about them.

i want to have faith discussions with my family. jeremy and i do this already. so it only seems right to continue to do this as a family now. we're trying to improve our church-going. and speaking of church-going – no, i don't think you HAVE to go to church to be a christian. but you know what i do think? church is like school. and where else is there a better place out there to learn about your faith? so yeah, trying to improve on our church-going. and we're making more of an effort to say a blessing before every meal. with a one year old who clearly wants to eat (NOW!) this can sometimes be challenging. but we're trying.

gah, random thoughts all thrown together. stream-of-consciousness, what?

anyway, to sum up: no, i don't follow jesus closely enough. but do i want to? absolutely.

(as a side note, tiffany, a girl i follow on twitter & in the blogosphere had a cousin lose her three month old baby boy to SIDS yesterday. ugh, it's such an awful situation. and one that seems entirely unfair. if you would, please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.)

a tv watcher, he is not

trying out veggie tales for the first time

we were pretty adamant about not letting cayden veg out in front of the tv over the past year. we just felt that it would be in his best interest to not have a ton of tv time at such a young age. (and as a disclaimer, we also don't hold anything against parents that chose to let their itty bitties watch tv. promise.)

anyway, the kiddo's got quite the collection of videos already. and until sunday, they were all still wrapped in their shrink wrap. seriously. but cayden was in a clingy, zoned out kind of state (we think he's trying to cut his one year molars. fun.), so we thought we'd try a video and see what happened.

hanging with daddy in the beanbag

it went great! for about three minutes. ok, maybe five minutes. & then he was done with it. zoned out state completely gone. ready to play with everything. so even when we tried to let him watch a video, he chose not to. and in a teeny little way, i think jeremy and i were both proud that he'd rather play than watch tv.

etsy shop update

guys, i'm really excited about a few things that will soon be listed in the hugs & kisses designs etsy shop. like, hard to contain my excitement, excited. this is just a little sneak peek at what will hopefully be in the shop later this week.

so happy with how this design turned out

it took me a while to get the formula just right for these new and improved diaper clutches. they'll come in lots of different colors for all you girl and boy mamas. they fit a travel wipes case and two diapers easily. and they're the perfect size at around 10 inches wide by 7ish inches tall. complete with a contrasting velcro flap closure.

i'll be sure to let everyone know when they're finally up in the shop. (photos of everything still need to be taken; the iphone photos just won't work in the etsy shop, you know?) oh, and if you aren't a "fan" of h&k on facebook yet, then check it out.

who doesn't like ice cream?

messy face & shirt

as we were finishing up dinner on saturday night, i had the brilliant idea to hop in the jeep and head over to our local dairy queen to enjoy a ice-cold blizzard. no, really. it was a brilliant idea. we ordered our ice cream treats, found a great place on the outdoor patio and really enjoyed ourselves.

look at all my teefs!

daddy & mama enjoying time outdoors

cayden flirted with everyone around us. we've seriously got to get this kid saying "hi," as staring at people just seems rude. and if we ask him to wave at someone, he looks at us like we're crazy. & i promise that he does know how to wave hi. we just can't get him to do it on demand. only on his time.

sugar + almost bed time = one sleepy kiddo

anyway, the ice cream treat was exactly what we needed at the end of a really hot and humid day.

things i'm loving at the moment

• hearing jeremy chatting with cayden through the baby monitor
• skinny cow mint ice cream sandwiches
• letting my hair air-dry on the really hot days
• the fact that cayden laughs when we laugh now
• riding in the jeep with the top down & feeling the sun on my face
• feeling excited about some new things going into the etsy shop
• a make-up free face on the really humid days
• new summer music
• watching cayden trying to figure out the bathroom scale

advice needed

cayden comes home at least once a week with an accident report. ok, scratch that, he comes home with accident reports more often than not. but once a week, there's always a bite report. as in, another kid bites our kid hard enough to leave teeth marks on him. ugh.

and as most daycares do, they can only tell us that cayden got big. but not by whom. which is fine. i totally get it. & our daycare is awesome of taking care of the problem.

but the thing is, i don't want my kid to keep being bitten at school. people at school were telling jeremy that we should teach cayden how to bite. but doesn't that just defeat the purpose? i mean, hey, we already have biters in the class, let's add another one to the mix. um, yeah, that sounds stupid to me.

so what can we do? is there anything to do? or do we just hope that said biter grows out of this phase pretty quickly? help a mama out!

note to self:

jeremy couldn't find cayden's jammies last night (they were in the dryer), so he just put him in his diaper and a tshirt. no worries, right?

fast forward to this morning: enter cayden's room and see a very naked bum sticking up in the air. with his diaper beside his face. gah! just very thankful that there was no poop in the diaper. but still. bed had to be stripped. & an emergency bath given.

and wouldn't you know, while we were waiting for the water to run for the bath, mr. cayden decided to pee on the floor. "uh-oh," he said. uh-oh is right. i knew the day would come when he'd start removing clothing. but it has to happen now? sigh. how i love this kid. and his "uh-ohs."

handmade recess

totally needs a spot on our kitchen table

you guys, if you've paid any attention to this blog, you'll realize that i might have a slight obsession with elephants around here. blame it on the fact that i went to alabama. but even if i didn't, i think i'd still love the things.

imagine my little heart stop when i saw that handmade recess is giving away two placemats to two very lucky blog readers. & guess what's on them? that's right. elephants.

& can we talk about the mess that cayden makes at the table? how adorable would this look with his mess all over it? um, let me just tell you: it'd be freakin' adorable.

if you want a chance to win one of these yourself, head on over to handmade recess and enter (you can have up to three entries, but you know, i loved it so much that i thought everyone should know about it too. or, maybe i didn't pay attention to the fact that you can only enter three times. CAUSE I WAS BLINDED BY THE ELEPHANTS!). but let me just warn you that i might have to hunt you down should you win one and i don't.

best wishes!

check out the new ride

just chillin' in his new seat

not mine. cayden's. i only wish i had a new car.

but i digress. we installed cayden's new forward-facing car seat in my car over the weekend. he's still rear-facing in jeremy's car. which he's in a lot more often than mine. cayden's never been a poor car rider. in fact, i'd say that he's a great car rider. but now that he's facing forward, he feels the need to talk to us a lot more. very. loudly.

& it's totally awesome.

summertime and the livin's easy

our little red-faced family enjoying the day

every june, our city throws this great festival that's completely free. well, except for the food and drinks. and we all know how much those can cost at these types of things.

but it's a really cool thing. they have all these great bouncy things for the kids. for free. cayden was only big enough to attempt one of the bouncy houses. and he was only allowed in that one because it had a huge sign that said "three and under only." otherwise, he would've been trampled. as it was, he just sat in it bouncing on his butt. but he seemed to love it as he squealed and laughed.

cayden chasing the army tank; he could've done this all night

it was hot though. like, whoa, hot. & as we all sat there in preparation for the free concerts that go along with this event, we contemplated maybe leaving. then, we look over our shoulders and see a HUGE raincloud coming at us. jeremy pulled out the iphone to check the radar, and sure enough, we were about to get pelted.

taking several drink breaks

i was all, "let's make a run for the car." and jeremy, being mr. cool most of the time, was all like, "um, we'll never make it." thankfully, we did know someone at the soundboard. which just so happened to be covered by a tent. the first rain drops started falling, and i didn't think it was going to be so bad after all. & then a huge gust of wind came. & all the tents in the kid play area behind us didn't look so nice. after one missed us by about ten feet (seriously, i was on jeremy to protect us!), we headed for the soundboard and a little reprieve from the now pelting rain.

too much excitement for me.

the rain cooled things down for a bit and then the great alabama humidity kicked in. & believe me, if you've never experienced southern heat AND humidity, then you have no idea what i'm talking about. but we tried to forget about it. we listened to music, danced, and wore ourselves out.

cayden was asleep before we barely got out of the parking lot. good times...

private pool

yep, that's right. we have our very own private pool! it's totally awesome. and well, it holds about three people. standing room only.

trying out the pool for the first time

haha... ok, so it's a baby pool that nana and pop got cayden for his birthday. it attaches straight to the hose. depending on water pressure, it either shoots sprays all the way up in the air, or it bubbles little amounts of water.

small amounts of water are ok

cayden prefers the small pressure of water. jeremy and i preferred the bigger sprays. maybe because it made cayden cry all funny. is that wrong?

best face ever?

happy the water went down

i think we'll be having some fun with this through the summer. and once cayden realizes that it's like a bath outside, he'll be down with it too. i hope.

corn on the cob

nom nom nom

this little guy loves some corn. he'll pick it up one piece at a time and put it in his mouth (ocd? perhaps. but it's super-cute too.) while we were at granna and poppa's over the weekend, we thought we'd just see what he'd do with the whole cob. no worries there; he figured it out pretty quickly.

twelve months old