Happy Birthday, Jack!

Today is a very special day! A certain someone in our family is having a certain milestone birthday today! My battery was dead on the camera so these are from my phone! Another certain someone was not thrilled to sit for a picture even if it did end with birthday cake :)

We love you, Jack!  I'm so blessed to be your wife - you are an amazing husband to me and a wonderful father to our boys! And just remember - you're not getting old - you're just chronologically gifted!

Caden - Week 3

(Yes, I realize this is 9 weeks late...but I wanted to get it recorded - I'll move it back to the right date later.)



Caden turned 3 weeks old on August 13. He's such an easy baby. He seems to have his days and nights figured out and can barely stay awake past 8 pm. The dilemma has been whether or not to wake him up between 10-11 to feed him a dream feed or just let him wake up on his own. The problem is that he wakes up anywhere from 12-3 and if Mommy doesn't go to sleep when he does; it makes for a short night. During the day he eats every 3 hours - sometimes every 2.



Caden doing his tummy time.

It's such hard work!

I love when he stretches so big. Is this the beginning of the sweet chubby cheeks?

3 Week pictures with Mr. Bear

Big yawn! By the way, Mommy's sweet friend and former college roomie, Jordan, made this beautiful quilt for Caden. I'll have to take a close-up so you can see all the fun patterns. She also made a cowboy themed quilt for Colton when he was born!

Sweet brothers.

Caden loves to watch his big brother.

Little did I know there really was water at the bottom of the ice chest...oops!

This summer began Colton's love of the trash truck! While we were staying at Bunny's house he looked forward to Monday "trash" day all week! Here he is watching the truck drive away. I wonder what the sanitation workers think when they see little kids in awe of their jobs :)

Week 3 also brought a very special visit from Mommy's good friend Stephanie (another former college roomie) and her sweet boy Lincoln! It was so great to see you

Real Time Update...Finally!

I've just been working on a post for Weeks 3 and 4 but since sweet Caden is actually 12 weeks old this week; I thought you might want to see what he really looks like :) He is the best baby! I feel so blessed to be his mommy. He brings us such joy and I'm so thankful God added him to our family! His last check up was at 2 months (about 5 weeks ago) and he had some pretty impressive stats: Weight = 13.8 lbs (90%); Height = 24.8 inches (97%); Head = 15.8 (70%)... I have to assume he's close to 15 pounds now. We love every ounce of our roly poly little boy!

What we've been up to: I started back to work full-time last week... It's been a roller coaster of emotions. It's getting somewhat easier and we're starting to get into a routine...but I cannot wait to see my boys after work each day! Caden started sleeping through the night around 8-9 weeks. He goes to bed around 7:30-8 and usally makes it until 5 am. One night he slept 7:30 pm -6:30 am straight! It's amazing what a full uninterrupted night's sleep will do for a mommy! The boys are doing good in day care. Naps are not what I'd like them to be, but hopefully they will get better. Colton moved up to the 2's class so I think that's been an adjustment, too.

This picture captures Caden's personality so well! He is so laid back and easygoing! He loves to smile and giggle. He loves looking at his hands and has started grabbing and holding his toys. He kicks and wiggles when he is excited. And his sweet little voice. He likes to coo and squeal - It's so precious!

More of our handsome boy at 12 weeks!

Colton is 26 months old. He seems to be going through a little "conflicted" stage lately. He will tell me, "I don't want my shoes on, Mommy.." and then a few seconds later, "I DO want my shoes on, Mommy." Or, I don't want a cookie followed quickly by a frantic I do want a cookie... It's very confusing. Today we solved on of the dilemmas by having one shoe on and one shoe off. Could this be the beginning of the terriffic twos???? :) Colton still sleeps well at night, but he has started protesting and stalling more and more before bed. This picture is him riding Mommy's back on his way to bed. Usually, Daddy gets the honors but he was out of town. After a quick piggyback "run" through the house, he then requests a drink of water, his medicine, a vitamin, "Mommy sing" followed by a "I don't like THAT song, Mommy!" Finally we pray, turn out the lights and leave the room. Then Colton takes about 30 minutes to fall asleep. He doesn't fuss but he talks to himself and seems to process his day. Lovey is a very good listener. Last night we heard him tell Lovey to clean up and tell his blanket not to bother him :) Fun times in Colton land!

That's all for now... My 5 0'clock wake up call comes early...but he's oh so cute and cuddly! I love this age!

Week 2 - Caden

It's 2:30 - they have both been napping for an hour and a half - woohoo! I hear Colton stirring so I'm going to make this quick. I love being a mom to these 2 boys! It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the most fulfilling and joyous endeavor ever! Could it be my heart is swelling with love after looking at the pictures below WHILE the 2 rugrats are sleeping peacefully :) Ha! Life is definitely "full speed ahead" when they are both awake! Well, I digress and the nap clock is ticking...

** I will post this today and then eventually change the date so it's around his actual 2 week date = July 6. 2 weeks down, only 7 more til we're up to date... **


Colton and Caden - Watch out Colton - Caden will catch to you in length soon!

Mommy & Daddy's sweet friends, Dana and Laine brought dinner over during Caden's 2nd week and Colton loved playing with Jackson!

Caden all swaddled up...

This picture of Caden is eerily similar to one we have of Colton - I'll have to find and post later.

Caden's first full bath! Not too thrilled about it, but loves them now!

The "Little Slugger" doing his tummy time.

2 week pictures

I love this face - he often sucks on his lower lip and wrinkles up his face - we call it his "old man" look.

Just chillin' on the Fourth of July. We celebrated with my dad, Karen and Brooke at their house.

He seems to be a pretty relaxed little boy! Life is good when you're little and cute :)

Big Brother holding Caden.

I think Caden likes his big brother!

This is from Papaw's house on the Fourth. Colton really enjoyed the pool once he got in. He spent a lot of time exploring the waterfall and playing water balloons with Uncle Zach and Aunt April...

25 months

Wow! Two posts in one week :) Just had to jot a couple things down that I don't want to forget. Colton is at a very sweet, precocious, curious and the beginnings of a slight rebellious stage. He keeps me on my toes! This morning he woke up happy and I heard him jabbering in his crib. Usually he is calling out "I wanna get out! I wanna get out!"... But this morning he was yelling, "I want french fr-ies! I want french fr-ies!" It made me laugh - he must have dreamed about them or something. Then as I walked in to greet him good morning, he also informed me that he would like a corny dog, too! He has begun saying too after every sentence... Example: I want milk, too. I want to play with cars, too. Mommy play too.

He says his fair share of no, but just in the last few months has begun sweetly saying, Ye-s (I don't know how to write it with the way he draws it out - but it's a combination of Texas twang and a sing-songy lilt). Beginning to be a bit manipulative at nap time - stalling and asking for more water, a song, books, medicine, you name it. For some reason since he turned two, it has also taken him longer to fall asleep at night. Thankfully he is still sleeping 11-12 hours at night and takes a blessed 2-3 hour nap during the day!!! Before the summer he was 1.5 hours or less. I guess we've been wearing him out.

He's got quite a sense of humor and loves to talk in a "Cookie Monster" voice taught to him by Bunny. He says "I like cookies, I'm a cookie monster" all day long and changes the object to fit the context... Ex: "I like chicken, I'm a chicken monster!" Too funny. He also loves to fill in the blank with "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?" and often blames Uncle Zach. Loves to ask "Where are we going?" in the car, "What happened?" when he hears a loud noise, and "What's that called?" all day long! It's really fun to carry on a conversation with him. He remembers a lot and will often bring up a subject that we talked about yesterday or even a few weeks ago.


I'm sure there's a ton more but that's all I can remember for now. Stay tuned for posts about our recent ranch vacation, Caden Weeks 2-8 (yikes I'm behind), Uncle Zach and Aunt April's beautiful wedding (Colton was the ring bearer), summer favorites and reflections on being a mom the second time around...Caden is growing up way too fast!

Colton at 10 weeks...

Caden at 7 weeks (at 8 weeks he can barely fit in his 3 month clothes). I thought it was cute that they almost have their arms in the same position wearing the surfer shirt. Caden looks like a baldy compared to Colton :)

Sweet Caden at 7 weeks sleeping in his Daddy's arms...

Colton loves to help me "make something" - his words for cooking with Mommy. Here he is licking the muffin batter off the spatula - hopefully it won't hurt him - he loves it for some reason!

My Boys!

Sweet Brothers!

I know I know --- I am terribly behind on blogging but I will catch up someday... my motto right now is "baby steps" and blogging often falls to the wayside. I couldn't resist putting up this pic though. We go Monday for Caden's 2 month appt. so I will let you know his stats soon. At 1 month he was 10 lbs. so I'm guessing close to 12 - he loves to eat! We are doing well...just enjoying these last few weeks of summer. I start back to work around the middle of Sept.

Caden is a great baby -- goes to sleep easily usually by 8 pm every night -- unfortunately he is only going about 5 hours at a time at night and doesn't do well with a dream feed so unless I go to bed at 8 with him I miss out on that long stretch. Mommy is tired. Could it be that I also have a tenacious toddler to keep me on my toes during the daytime hours! :) Colton is doing great but I can definitely see some extra clingyness this week. We were on vacation last week so he had lots of grandparents and family to give him extra attention. I think he's just now realizing that he has to share Mommy with Caden and is not thrilled with it. He loves to say "Mommy all done" in regards to Caden and I am often told to put the baby down and "play play"!

Happy 2nd Birthday Colton!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy! I cannot believe you are two! Your daddy and I are so very blessed to be your parents. We love you more each day and look forward to many, many, many more birthdays with you! You bring us such joy as we watch you play, run and learn. You are such a friendly and active little boy. You put 100% into all you do, greet each day filled with wonder and find such joy in the little things (like trash trucks, fire trucks, coffee making, play doh, parks and cars). We have learned a lot from watching you! It has been so great seeing you become a big brother to Baby Caden - you are so gentle with him. Thank you God for giving us Colton! Give us wisdom to raise him in your ways. Colton, may you always know how much you are loved & cherished! It's official! We are homeowners. We closed on Friday and decided to have Colton's birthday party at our new house on Saturday. It was fun to let the kids run around the empty house. We even put Colton's new bounce house inside for the party.

Colton enjoying his birthday cake with Cousin Wilkin and Henry! It was quite a change from last year when he barely touched his cake.

Blowing out the candle.

One year ago today...

2 years ago today...

More birthday pics coming as well as Caden's Week 2 adventures. No more craisins swallowed, thankfully! I'm off to bed for now... sleep is very precious these days. However; Caden is a sleeping champ so far and sleeping between 5-7 hours each night! He's such an easygoing baby so far...

Pictures from Week 1

Here are pictures from Week 1 with Caden. These were from my camera. Mom and Jack have several more from this first week that I need to add.


Bunny made it to the hospital about 3:30. Caden was so excited to meet her.

Mommy and Caden - just minutes old...

Brand new Caden and a tired mommy...

So glad you're here, little boy!

1st day at home and Big Brother is looking Caden over.

Hanging out in the bouncy seat.

Uncle Zach taught Colton that he could watch Fire Truck videos on Daddy's Iphone... He loved it and asks to see the Fire Trucks almost every day. This will come in handy if we're ever stuck in line somewhere!

More brother pics!

Colton has been so gentle with Caden. When he comes up to him he makes the sweetest sound - like a little puppy...

So sweet!

Caden's shirt says "Mommy's new man"... His newborn outfits are almost too little for him and he's already in size 1 diapers.

This is around Day 3 or 4... Colton wanted to share his snack with Caden and before we knew it he had put a craisin in Caden's mouth. It was so scary because we think he swallowed it - we never saw it again. Needless to say we've had many talks with Colton about NOT putting anything in the baby's mouth.

Sweet cheeks...

My friend Kelly came for a visit - It was great to see you, friend!

One week picture!

Enjoying the outdoors - and a rare cool front and rain on Monday. Even Colton has been saying "too hot" and not wanting to go outside as much these past 2 weeks which is very rare!

Colton eating breakfast with a bad case of bedhead :)

I think it's time for another haircut - we're going on haircut #5!