Family Time

My oldest nephew, Mason, turned 13 this past week - so hard to believe. I remember the day he was born and holding him for the first time. He has grown into such a responsible, intelligent, athletic and loving young man. I can not believe 13 years have passed. To celebrate his birthday we went out to eat with he and his family to celebrate his birthday and then headed to their house to have cake and ice cream. Luckily while we were there we were able to get a picture of the four cousins together. Such a handsome group of boys if I do say so myself!

Mason, Braden, Camden and Casen

Casen getting some loving from his Aunt Melissa

A New Place to Play

The other day at school, one of Casen's classmates was in the exersaucer. I asked Ms. Ellen how old the little girl was and she told me 4 months, and then added that she has been putting Casen in it because he has excellent head control. Well, that is all I needed to hear. So today we brought out the exersaucer so Casen could have a change in scenery. I loved seeing him standing in it, however it made me so sad - he is growing so fast!!!! Casen and Camden both enjoyed it!

Raising Him Right

Casen has numerous University of Alabama outfits as shown in plenty of his pictures, however today he sported one of the best outfits yet!!! Hook Em' Horns!!! And I will tell you, he has already learned the Hook Em' Horns sign (when he sucks on his middle two fingers). He is showing promise at an early age!!!Maybe Casen won't be brainwashed into thinking that Alabama football is the only team to root for! ; )

Shake, Rattle and Roll

Camden has given Casen every opportunity to play with his rattles, trying to get him to hold them for quite sometime now. Well, yesterday Casen finally grasped the concept. Now he will hold his rattle and shake it. As with Camden, I was able to capture his first time on camera - love that!

For the past week or so Casen has been getting really close to rolling over from his back to his tummy. Today, he finally accomplished that feat. I did not get a before picture (starting on his back) however I did capture his proud moment when he arrived on his belly. Yea for Casen!!!!

I love how his little foot is caught in one of the rings

Friday Favorites

I have not done a 'Friday Favorites' lately, so I thought today was a good day to share some of my recent fun photos that I love.

Today was 'Safari Day' at school and Camden was
able to take his elephant

This picture was from several weeks ago, but was just posted
 on his class website. I love how happy he looks!

Sweet boy!



You want me to dress up how?

Love that head and his interesting hair growth pattern

Roll Tide - even elephants on his socks!

Today was 'Sports Day' for Casen - this was a picture taken at school.

The First Black Eye

Last night after showering, I walked into the living room and could tell that Camden had been crying. When I asked what was wrong, he told me that he had fell off the couch and hit his head on Casen's chair. Shane was in a different room on the computer when the event transpired, but as soon as he heard Camden scream he went in the living room to check on him, and was told the same story. I asked Camden to point where he hit the chair and he pointed to the outer aspect of his right eye. I felt the area and noticed there was a small bump there, but it didn't look to be swollen or red. Shane looked at his eye really good and then took him upstairs to bed since it was bedtime. While they were reading their bedtime story, Shane noticed that the area was getting a bit redder and brought him back downstairs so we could put some ice on it. After a bit of icing Camden said he was fine and was taken back to bed.

This morning when Shane walked into his room to wake him up, the first thing Camden said to Shane was that his eye hurt. And bless his heart, it was obvious as to why - his poor left eye was puffy, swollen and slighlty bruised! I guess this will be the first of lets hope NOT many black eyes!

Bowling Ball Head

Everyday I realize more and more that Casen is Shane made over. After relooking at baby pictures of Shane and comparing them to Casen they look so much alike it is scary. I remember Derenda telling me that Shane used to suck on his middle fingers when he was a baby. Well, look who started sucking on their two middle fingers.

I texted this picture to Derenda and asked her if the picture reminded her of anyone and her response was, "Yes he looks like bowling ball head Shane." Too funny!!!

Camdenisms

Due to my horrible memory, I have always known I would need to write down the funny things my boys said or did as soon as they happened or I would forget them. So, here are some of the funny things Camden has said over the past couple of days.

Yesterday after I picked the boys up from daycare we were riding home and I looked in Casen's mirror in the back and he was just a babbling while looking at his feet (which he has really taken an interest to over the past week). Camden looked at him and said, "Casen is talking to his socks!"

Monday morning Camden looked at his daddy's socks, which were University of Alabama socks and asked him about them. While they were talking Shane said, "Is Daddy being silly?" to which Camden agreed, then Shane said, "Is Camden sillly?" to which Camden replied, "No Camden is perfect."

Monday on the way home from school Casen was babbling and Camden said "Casen is talking to me." I asked Camden, "What is he saying?" and Camden said, "He is saying Roll Tide!"

Meeting Some Family

Tonight some of Shane's family from Alabama and Georgia came to visit us for a short time. They were in this part of the country due to a family wedding in Louisiana and decided to make their way over to Texas to visit with Shane's parents as well as his sister's family and ours. Casen got to meet his great grandfather, Pop Pop and his wife Nadine, as well as his great aunt Shirley, and his great uncle Ira. Shane's parents also came with them for the visit. We were thrilled to be able to see and visit with them, even if it was only for a few hours.

Nana, Aunt Shirley and Casen

Camden getting some loving from Poppa Ron

Pop Pop, Nadine and Casen

Just a short funny about Camden and Pop Pop. Before they arrived, Shane was coaching Camden on the names of his visitors and was trying to give him hints to remember their names. When it came to Pop Pop, Shane told Camden that it was what bubbles do, they pop. So as everyone was getting ready to leave Camden was being questioned on their names. When he got to Pop Pop and Shane asked Camden what his names was, he proudly said, "Bubbles!" I bet in all these years, Pop Pop has never been called bubbles.

Happy 13 Week Birthday

Yesterday Casen turned 13 weeks and it is a day I will not soon forget. He woke up yesterday morning in a very pleasant mood as usual, however on our way to school, I heard a sound that I knew for a fact was projectile vomiting! After confirmation from Camden that Casen indeed threw up, we continued on to school because honestly I thought it was because he had too much mucous in his little tummy. (Unfortunately he suffers from allergies like the everyone else in our family.) When we got to school, I told one of his teachers, Ms. Ellen, of what occurred and she encouraged me to head off to work that she would get him changed and take care of him. Well, by 9:30 or so I received an email from daycare just informing me that he had vomited two more times, but they too thought it was caused from his mucous due to the consistency (TMI, I know - sorry!) Well, by 10:30 they called and asked me to pick him up because he had vomited yet again and it was not due to him being choked on mucous or anything. So, after lining up coverage for my job, I headed to get my sweet angel. Unfortunately he vomited several more times once I got him home. Now let me tell you, I realize that I am a nurse and I take care of kiddos for a living, however when it comes to my own children, any nursing knowledge I have flies out the window and I panic - especially since he is 13 weeks old, not keeping any breast milk down, and sleeping any chance he could get. All I could think about was that he was going to get dehydrated and horrible that would be. He ended up sleeping most of the afternoon and was without vomiting for 4 hours or so and I was thinking we were on the upside of it all. I finally fed him an ounce or so of breast milk, which stayed down, so after an hour he got 1 1/2 ounces of breast milk and after that stayed down, he got 2 ounces only for it to return all over him and me. So what I thought was the upside, quickly turned south. He ended up vomiting several more times in the evening and finally a little after 11:00 pm Shane gave him 1 ounce of breast milk to see if he could keep it down, which he did. I put his pack and play up in our room because I sure didn't want him upstairs in his crib with the possibility of him vomiting. I will have you know he slept all night and didn't really wake up until after 7:00 am this morning thank the Lord. I am reluctant, but happy to say that thus far he is doing well. I let him eat for 5 minutes and after being very chatty and happy this morning, he is napping as I type this. I pray we are done with this stomach virus, because let me tell you, it is no fun for a 13 week old, much less this ol' momma!! Not a way to celebrate turning 13 weeks!

Sporting one of many onesies he had on yesterday!
And of course, extra blankets and burp cloths handy!

Picture Day

I had bought a Groupon months ago, before Casen was even born, for Studio One to One. I figured it would be a quick and easy way to have pictures taken of the boys together with Casen in his infancy stage. It was due to expire on Wednesday, so we headed to have their pictures taken today. It was good timing because Casen is 12 weeks and Camden is 2 1/2. Well, let me just say that Camden did an AWESOME job! His pictures turned out great. Casen did good, however he was not in the smiling mood - probably because the photographer was a bit creepy. The pictures of the two together were not the best, because Camden kept laughing hysterically while he was holding Casen, so while he has a great smile, Casen has the look like 'What the heck are you doing to me?' Regardless, I am glad we had them taken. When they come in, I will be sure and show them off!

While we were at the mall, Camden and I took a little ride on the carousel. Camden loved it!

As for updates of my two precious boys, Camden is loving school and doing great! He STILL is not potty trained, but does much better about using the big boy potty at school than at home. When we do his letter flash cards he can easily identify all the letters except for Y and sometimes W. I am so proud of him for being able to identify them all. He does pretty good with identifying his numbers as well. He loves to 'help' me in the kitchen by washing bottles, throwing away trash when I am cooking, and other odds and ends. I tell you if he didn't have his step stool, I don't know what he would do! He carries that thing anywhere and everywhere in the house to be able to 'help'. Love him!!! He is having melt downs in the evenings though, I just think he still has not gotten back into the swing of things with school starting back. He and Shane went and got haircuts this weekend and he looks like such a big boy. With his crazy 8 cowlick, we had it cut even shorter, and personally, I think it is cute (still a bit unruly, but cute)!!! If you look at the picture above, you can see proof of the crazy 8.

Casen is starting to wear 6 months clothes, which amazes me. Camden was always in the same size clothes as his age. When I pulled out the 6 months clothes the other day, I just about broke down. It seems Camden was just wearing these same clothes - yet another reminder of just how fast they grow and how I should cherish each and every day with them! Casen is very interested in his hands and his teachers say he is great at daycare. In the evenings he is a bit fussy and likes to have the attention focused right on him - which is a bit difficult since that is when we are getting everything, including kids, for the next day. I asked Ms. Caroline if he was needy at school and she says he is not - guess he has his momma wrapped around his little finger! Oh well, the are only little once! He is eating between 4 and 5 ounces every 3 or so hours at daycare and feeds for about 15 minutes every 3 hours or so until 10:00 or 10:30 pm when he goes to sleep and doesn't awaken until 6:00 am. Once again, we are so very blessed with a good sleeper!!!