Christmas Festivities

 We had such a great Christmas break! For us Normanites, it started on Thursday the 22nd. On Thursday afternoon, I headed up to Tulsa to see Kendall and our cousin, Olivia, dance in the Tulsa Nutcracker. They did a fantastic job and both girls had a blast performing. It was great to see all of my mom's side of the family too. We don't have many opportunities to ALL get together so it was nice to see everyone. On Friday, Garrett and Meghan (and the puppies) came to stay at our house for the week. It was fun spending time and relaxing around the house with them.  

On Saturday, Christmas Eve, we celebrated at my mom and dad's house. Trish, Tim, Mitchell, and Kendall came down to Norman. (We missed you Senters!!!) I guess I was so busy helping Caden open presents that I managed to miss out on all picture taking opportunities. I did get a couple of Aunt Trish spoiling her nephew though. 

On Christmas morning, Cameron and I had a mini celebration with Caden before we went to church. Santa brought him a new OU hat! 

 We got him a jumper to bounce around it. He LOVES it. He also loves when you jump along with him.

 After church, mom invited everyone over back to their house for Christmas brunch. Cameron's family all came too and we had a great time sitting around and visiting for awhile. 

We snuck a quick family photo in front of mom and dad's Christmas tree.

 Here is Caden hanging out with Uncle Tim.

 Kendall always manages to get in some kind of war with Cameron. This time it was a pillow throwing war.

Santa baby with his Grandma!

 Baird family photo - we missed you Senters!!!

 And then it was on to Christmas number 3 for Caden! After brunch, we headed over to Cameron's parents house to celebrate with Cici, Poppy, Garrett, and Meghan.

 Rocking with Poppy and playing with his new keyboard from Garrett and Meghan!

 Cute family photo :)

 Cici made Caden this sweet stiched outline of his handprints. It is darling!

 We had some posing time infront of the Christmas tree in our Santa outfit.

 Then on Monday evening, we got together at Aunt Jo's house to celebrate Christmas number 4 with the Ingram side of the family. Caden got to meet cousin Lance!

 Family fun!

 Matching Christmas doxie socks! 

 Caden and Lainey had a great time opening presents together. Of course, Lainey had to get a good tackle in first :)  (Just a note, Lainey did have on a very cute Christmasy outfit, but we had an "incident". Notice she is decked in Christmas socks, however.)

 Sweetie Pies!

 Aunt Jo got him this sweet golfer hat. His eczema was flaring up at the time making his cheeks nice and rosy for this British look :)

 Cuddling with cousin Jaiden.

 We kinda laid low on Tuesday and Wednesday. Garrett and Meghan went to Stoolwater to celebrate with her family. Caden and I hung out at home with the four puppies :) 

On Thursday, we went out to Heisman park so Garrett could see the statues. 

Here's daddy with Caden.

 Uncle Garrett and Caden with matching shades :)

 Aunt Meghan with Caden.

 Mommy with Caden.

 Thursday afternoon, we went out to the Outlet Shoppes in OKC. Our little man is such a good shopper! He is such a trooper for letting us drag him all over the place. That evening we met up with Jo, Eddie, and the Loopers to eat at Old Chicago. Again, forgot the camera... 
Then on Friday, it was time for Garrett and Meghan to head home. We snagged some last minute photo opps at Cici and Poppy's house. 

 All decked out for the bowl game later in the day. Go Sooners!

 

Although, we had lots of celebrating and family time, the breaks never seem long enough.He had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family time! I hope that as Caden grows up, we establish lots of fun traditions around the holidays. 


Congratulations, you made it all the way to the end of the longest blog post ever.

Half a Year!!!

Last week, Caden turned 6 MONTHS OLD! I can't believe it. Time has gone so quickly - probably because we are having so much fun. I've told people that it's hard to imagine what we did with all of our time before Caden. Being at work all day, we try to cram as much Caden time in the evenings as possible. It's getting harder and harder to go to work every morning. When I drop him off at my mom and dad's house I just want to stay and play! We are SO fortunate that Caden gets to stay with grandparents every day (except Cameron keeps him on Fridays... lucky.) I get to leave knowing that he is WELL cared for and loves being there. No matter the day care situation, that is what every mommy hopes for! Couldn't ask for more. 


This month we have been much more independent. We have learned to roll over much easier from back to belly and belly to back.

 Look at me go!

 Hi Mommy!

 We are sitting up solo now, and LOVE to play with our toy basket... literally... He usually he figures out a way to turn the basket upside down to check out the bottom too. His favorite toys right now are the Snoopy that plays the Charlie Brown song, anything that rattles, his jumparoo at Grandma's house, his Sophie, his baby "ipod", computer keyboards, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. Oh yes, his feet too. His favorite books at home this month are "Bialosky's Christmas" and "Where's Baby's Christmas Present?" At Grandam's house, he loves the big green tractor book.

 I'm a charmer when I see the camera now. Not camera shy anymore!

 I don't even mind wearing my shades Aunt Sara got for me :)

 He's getting much better at staying in the high chair when we eat out. A couple of months ago, he would have stayed for all of 5 minutes before getting upset and wanting to be held. Now he stays entertained with his toys and trying to reach for anything and everything on the table.

 Last month, we went to Houston to have Thanksgiving with Uncle Garrett and Aunt Meghan. He was a great traveler (us with Phil and Christie along with four dogs!)

 Molly was his travel snuggler while he was stuck in his seat. He LOVES Molly and Dougie. He's learning how to "pet" the puppy... usually means grab on to ears or skin as tight as possible! The dogs are so good with him and patient as Caden is learning to love on them.

 We are a pretty good eater. We have tried rice cereal, peas, green beans, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, prunes, pears, and peaches. Peaches, cereal, squash, and sweet potatoes are for sure his favorites. I think someone inherited his parents' sweet teeth... Not a big fan of peas or prunes. We tolerate green beans, carrots, and pears. 

 Hi again! Love that camera!

Caden loves to be Mommy's helper. Whether it's working on the computer, getting his food ready, or wrapping presents, he is always willing to lend a hand! So excited to experience his first Christmas! More posts to come soon!

5 Months

We are growing, growing, growing! Everyday, Caden is learning something new! This month he discovered his feet and is really enjoying grabbing them and sucking on his toes. He has learned how to pull his socks off too (most of the time in the middle of the grocery store)! He is squealing, laughing, cooing all the time which just melts my heart. We are so blessed with such a happy baby. (We'll choose to forget the nights he wakes up screaming at the top of his lungs). 

There are lots of other big things happening this month too! We've started rice cereal and added peas and green beans to our eating repertoire as well. Not a huge fan of peas, but I mean, come on, can you blame the kid? 

He's started sitting up fairly well as long as he's lunged forward with a toy to focus on. If something else grabs his attention to the right or left, he usually topples over! He's started to engage more with books (mostly by putting them in his mouth). But he loves to feel the pages and see bright colors. 

 Since he's sitting up better, we've started using the stroller without the car seat now. He likes this MUCH better because he can see everything that's going on around him. This pic was taken after our first big boy stroller ride around the neighborhood. He was tuckered out after looking at everything from a new angle!

 

 Cousin Lainey still tackles him with love whenever possible.

 Cousin Mitchell even got to come for a quick weekend visit!

 Hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving! We have a lot to be thankful for this year! 

Caden's Fourth Month

October was a busy month!  It's hard for me to believe my baby is already 4 1/2 months old.  We are having the best time and are blessed with such a happy baby. Big news for Caden this month. No more harness! We went back to the orthopedic doctor and had new x-rays taken. His hips have shown improvement so we ditched the harness and wear a new hard plastic piece at night to keep his hips in that abducted position. He is so happy to be able to kick around during the daytime. 
Below is a picture from the beginning of the month when he still had his harness. He started drooling like crazy so we think he might be starting the teething process. We went and got his Sophie giraffe and he loves it! 

Caden loves to go grocery shopping with us! He helps keep our coupons super organized (yeah right...)

"And I've had enough now."

Caden is such a happy boy. He loves to giggle and laugh as much as possible! His new favorite noise is to blow raspberries all the time. We have not rolled all the way over yet, but we know that's close! Caden loves to stand up and use his strong legs. He especially loves to lay under a mobile and move his arms and legs as fast as possible! (We're making up for lost time now that we don't have the harness to keep us tied up anymore.) Caden is already a sports fan. He LOVES to watch football and baseball. We've watched lots of games this season outside on Poppy and CiCi's new deck. 

Sometimes he gets VERY focused on the game and does not want to be bothered. 

I've also had some good quality time with my cousin Lainey this month. Now that I don't sleep all the time and I can actually give her some attention too! We watch football together, go to Bible class together, and dress up for Halloween together! We took our 4 month and 7 month pictures at the pumpkin patch at the same time and Miss Lesley took some of our pictures together too. Can't wait to see how they turn out! 

 Notice the drooling I mentioned earlier... :)

Caden kind  of runs on his own schedule right now. He's pretty predictable, but sometimes he throws us off a little. He had an early evening nap that went longer than usual, so he ended up staying up late that night. I think he knew the Cardinals were about to win the World Series! Go Cards!!!