Chimney Rock, NC

Jered had heard from quite a few people that Chimney Rock was beautiful and he was so excited to take us there! The leaves are just now starting to turn and the weather is still so nice that we decided to make a day trip out of our visit. Chimney rock is a huge tall boulder sitting up by itself against the mountain. You have to climb 470 stairs to reach the top, but it was well worth the burn! I kept thinking to myself how it must have felt to have discovered the beautiful land! How so incredibly in debt we are to our ancestors for the blood, sweat and tears they shed to make our lives so comfortable. All it takes for us is a drive to the parking lot, bus ride to the base and a few stairs and we get to enjoy what they almost died for.

It Takes a Village...

One of the most surprising things about being a mother, for me, was how much I didn't know and that it didn't just come naturally for me. Over the past year I have been given invaluable advice and ideas from other moms, including my own, that I thought I would share.

1.) "Once your child is a few weeks old, you can stop changing his diaper in the middle of the night. This will avoid having to turn on lights and then the baby thinks it's playtime. If he cries go in and feed him with the lights off and put him right back to bed. Eventually this will help him sleep through the night."

2.) Babies LOVE to sleep. My doctor told me that when a baby is just 0-4 month's old, they get tired after just one hour. Once that hour hits, start preparing your baby for a nap, even if it's just for 30 minutes, they need it! I had no idea! I remember the first couple months I tried to keep Caiden awake for as long as possible so that it would help him sleep through the night. Once I followed my doctor's advice and allowed him to take 4 or more naps during the day, he started sleeping better through the night. At 4 month's Caiden was sleeping 7:30pm - 6:00am every night and we were finally able to get some SLEEP! Even now if Caiden gets home from daycare at 5:30 and he seems tired, we'll lay him down for an hour nap and he'll go back to sleep at 7:30 for the night. This was probably the best advice I received as a very new and even more tired mother.

3.) "When your child is in their high chair, it's not play time. No making silly faces or playing with toys."

5.) "Praise your child 10 times more than you correct them. It's easy to see what they do wrong but you have to pay extra attention when they do something right. And if you praise them publicly or in front of others, it multiplies that praise."

6.) "What a child wants is for his mother or father's eyes to light up when he walks into a room." (This one is my favorite :)

A Beautiful Fall Day at the Park!

Sunday afternoon we decided to take our bikes to a nearby park and ride around the trail a few times with Caiden. He's just now getting strong enough to sit himself up in the bike trailer so it's more comfortable for him to ride around for longer periods of time. Every so often I would turn to look at him and he was just so excited and curious with all that was going on. We passed by kids playing kick ball, playing in the little pond and flying kites. Some families were picnicing and others were getting their professional pictures taken. It was so fun to see the simple things people do to spend quality time together. Really, that's what it's all about! After a few times around the trails we decided to take Caiden to the play ground. This was his first time since he recently started walking.

Caiden's first time on a swing!

"Thank you, Dad, for this day!"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeee"

Baby steps!

He LOVES playing with other kids!

Happy Birthday to Our Little Squishy!

This weekend was an incredibly special, fun filled yet relaxing weekend together with the Stephens family. Randy, Janet, Adam and Sam, were able to plan a trip out to help us celebrate Caiden's first birthday. Since we are living in a smaller apartment and we wanted the weekend to be special, we looked into renting a cabin in the mountains or maybe a lake house. It turned out we found something that had a little of both. We tried to keep it a surprise and Adam and Sam were convinced that we might be headed to some sort of church camp! We got a huge kick out of that and let them believe it.

Since it was only an hour drive from our house, I got there a few hours early to get dinner started and get everything set up. Even though I had seen pictures of the cabin, it was just not the same in person! The view was breathtaking and the cabin was gorgeous and I couldn't wait for everyone to arrive! Once they finally did they were so excited and surprised! This was the view from our back deck.

The weather was beautiful in upper 80's which was perfect for a day on the boat. Gamma Janet had a good idea to bring Caiden's play pin in the boat with us so he could play around and take a nap if needed which was a GREAT idea. Caiden loved standing up holding on to the sides and watching out into the water while the wind lightly blew through his hair. We had such a fun day swimming, jumping off docks and cliffs (the boys anyway) and fishing! Gamma Janet stayed back with Caiden in the afternoon and got to spend a few hours reading while he took his nap. I was so happy for her that she was able to kick back and enjoy some quiet time!
The boys and I found a beautiful little white sanded beach and swam for an hour or so. The water was still so warm from the hot summer we've had and felt amazing! Since the water visibility was so clear, Randy spent a lot of that time snorkeling around and exploring! We had a blast!

Saturday was the day of Caiden's birthday party. The boys went out to go see a couple waterfalls and Janet and I decided to get our books and an iced tea and sit on the porch for a while before we started decorating for the party. We laughed some, we cried some and enjoyed the quite of the beautiful mountains. We heard some noises down below in the trees and convinced ourselves that it was a little black bear (not really but that would have been so cool)! When the boys got back Sam had mentioned that he may have seen Caiden's first tooth while riding in the car with him. Sure enough, there it was! Caiden got his very first tooth just in time for his 1st birthday!! Yaaaay!!

Mara and Blaine got in around 3:00 and the party was ON! While the boys were cooking up the ribs and chicken, Mara, Blaine and I were upstairs in the living room with Caiden watching him play with a few toys. At one point he had stood up, lamby in hand, and started taking steps, one foot right after the other, toward the other side of the room. We couldn't believe it and we all went silent watching to see how far he would go. In the past few weeks had had taken 4-5 steps here and there but this was the furthest he had gone and it had been a few days since he had taken any at all. After about 10 steps daddy walked up the stairs and stopped right in his tracks as soon as he saw what was going on. Mara was sneaky enough to grab the camera and get most of it on video! I'll try and see if I'm computer savvy enough to post it.

After we ate dinner, it was time for the cake! I had imagined him making a total mess, getting frosting everywhere and getting sick afterward from all the sugar but it didn't quite happen that way. Once he touched the cake with his little fingers and saw that the frosting had stuck, he started shaking his hand to clean it off. I even gave him a bite or two and he just wasn't impressed. I took a few bites to show him just how delicious it was but he looked at it like it was a sack of potatoes! The kid has an entire cake, all to himself and want anything to do with it! Oh well, more cake for us! After the cake it was time for presents. Even though he didn't know much of what was going on he enjoyed the new books, toys and DVD's that mama was opening and wasn't quite sure what toy to play with next. Aunt Mara and Blaine got him an adorable new big boy outfit. It was a collared, button-up shirt with vest and corduroy pants! I got a little teary-eyed thinking about him toddling around looking so big in his new outfit! The last thing we opened was a photo album that gamma Janet had made to remind us of the special times that Caiden had at their house while mommy and daddy had their date nights! Gamma Janet is so incredibly talented and put so much thought and effort into every page and even made a poem to go along with the pictures! Caiden is such a lucky boy to have so many people who love and care for him! Saturday night we played scrabble for hours, laughing and making lots of fun memories!

Sunday we packed up and headed to Greenville for lunch! After that, the boys went to watch the Chiefs game at a local bar while Janet, Mara and I went back to our place so Caiden could nap and we could relax before they had to go back to home. The chiefs ended up winning AGAIN which now makes us 3-0!!! Sunday night came and we all made the trip to the airport and had to say goodbye. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend away and the time that I was able to spend with my new family was incredible!

Happy Birthday C!!!

No means No!

A while back I was on the phone with a client and he had mentioned that he had a son who was a doctor, a daughter who was a lawyer, and another daughter who was a teacher. He also said that he is so thankful for the close relationship he still has with each of them. I asked him what his secret was to raising such disciplined children and the only answer he had for me was, "No means no." From that point forward I decided that that was going to be my motto as a parent.

Just yesterday we took Caiden downtown to get some frozen yogurt. Well, I couldn't resist giving Caiden a tiny bite and let him experience his first strawberry/blueberry ice cream treat. I gave him one bite and he seemed confused yet pleasantly surprised, and then he reached for another...and another. After the third bite I said that was all and he wanted more. After a minute or so he realized that I wasn't giving in and for the first time in his tiny little life, he threw a fit, a big one, and truthfully, it was incredibly painful for me and daddy to watch. It would have been so easy and made so much sense just to give him a few more bites to satisfy his want, and get on our way as to not make a scene. But we stood our ground and kept trucking forward through the busy sidewalk toward our car, getting a few 'what's wrong with that kid' glances along the way.

During the painful 2-minute walk to our car, I remembered back to what Mr. Client had said about "No means no" and I was so grateful for those simple words of wisdom he had so unintentionally shared. My prayer is that, as parents, we can follow this motto throughout these many years of raising our children so that they learn and understand boundaries, respect and self-control, something that we all need a little help with!

South Carolina??

Wow! So a lot has changed since we made our move here to Greenville, South Carolina. First, I wanted to explain how we even got here. It's a pretty remarkable story and God is certainly to be given the glory!

As you know this past winter was a difficult one! Since the day Caiden was born, the weather had been cold and with it been right in the middle of swine flu season, the last thing we wanted to do was get Caiden out of the house and risk him getting a dangerous cold! So we stayed in....all winter long! Now, you hear a lot of parents saying that they have such a good baby who never cries and is so easy, but unfortunately that was not the case with us. I had been couped up in a house with a baby who didn't just lay on your chest and fall asleep while you read a book and the muffins baked in the oven. This little guy wanted to get out of the house just like I did! By the time spring got here, well not quite, it actually snowed about 7 inches the first day of spring, but by the time the weather started to warm up I was ready to run forever and ever into a field of daisies with my arms wide open and the warm sun beating down onto my pale see-through skin and I couldn't wait to show Caiden what it was like to spend a day in the sun! Well it was about mid-march and I got this crazy idea that if perhaps my company was making plans to open a branch in the sunny state of South Carolina, then I wanted to be part of it! So I got the courage to send an email to corporate asking if this was a possibility and for a month I didn't hear anything. In fact I almost forgot that I even sent the email in the first place. Little did I know, God was working behind the scenes on something bigger than I ever could imagine! Psalm 37: 4 says Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Well on the morning of April 20th, I receive an email from corporate saying that they would love to open a branch and WHEN DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT THERE? I was on the phone with a client when I read this email and my mind went numb and my face bright red just thinking that this dream could now become very real! WHOAH! So after fasting, praying, a trip to Greenville and very serious discussions we decided to do it!

Over the next few weeks we worked hard to get the house ready to sell. Now in our minds we would get the house on the market and hope that within 6 months we would get a contract. Again, God had something else in mind. After just 6 days on the market, we receive an email from Mr. and Mrs. Manning saying they would like to come by for a visit. YIKES! So that next morning we woke up early, asked Aunt Mary to come over to play with Caiden while we got into high gear to get the house ready. Vacuum, de-clutter, cleared everything off the kitchen counters, put laundry away, mowed the lawn, and scrubbed all the floors. I wish we had this kind of energy to clean every weekend! The house was spotless and best of all totally organized to show off it's good side! It turned out that the Mannings LOVED the house! They put an offer in the next day and after negotiating, a contract was signed. Once the appraisal was done, the only thing we needed to do was put a new roof on, and the house would be theirs.

We were so excited yet a little nervous that it was all happening this quickly. We had two garage sales and were able to sell almost everything. Our bed set, maternity books, baby stuff, you name it, we sold it and we had a lot of fun in the meantime. Not to mention Caiden was so much fun and growing like a weed. He adjusted to well to our new hectic life and was as happy as could be.

On July 7th, the moving truck pulled in to take what we had left to our new home in Greenville. It was amazing to see our home become more and more empty yet we were filled with so much joy and faith that this is in fact where God wanted us to be! Two days later, we shut the garage door for the last time, buckled our seat belts and away we went! The photo above is the very last picture of us and our home on Hallet Drive. Randy, Janet and Sam made trip along with us to help! And what a HUGE blessing that was. Gamma Janet sat in the back seat with Caiden almost the whole way and Caiden didn't make a peep!

Well, that is the story of how we got to South Carolina! I am going to use this blog to keep a log of our adventures and trips as well as the new and excited things that Caiden does along the way. Stay tuned and God Bless!

Little Man

C A I D E N

I smile because you comfort me

I am safe because you protect me

I am confident because you build me up

I am giving because you shared your life with me

I am strong because you guide me

I am comforted because you provide for me

I am wise because you taught me

I am encouraged because you understand me

I am hopeful because you are faithful

I am whole because you forgave me

What was I thinking?

I have always pictured myself being the kind of mom that says, "Oh you're ok! Get up and shake it off!" Well, on this one particular morning, I proved to myself that it's going to take a whole lot more practice to master that skill.

It was around 7:00 am and Caiden was his happy little talkie, scrunchy self when I thought it would be a good time to give him a bath. Daddy was leaving to go to Dallas later that afternoon so I wanted him to smell good for daddy before he had to leave. Caiden is getting bigger now and had been sitting up on his own for about two weeks so I came up with the idea of letting him sit up in the bath without using the usual infant tub. Sounds like a good idea, right? Let him splash around and play with his water toys that he hasn't gotten much use out of and experience the small waves of a tiny bath tub. Well, not for this squirmy little guy! I put a towel down under his bottom so that it wouldn't be too slippery for him and let him play for a few minutes. He loved every moment of it, looking up at me every few seconds for reassurance that I was having as much fun as he was. There nothing better in the whole world than sharing the special smile with your baby only for him to smile back, and without using words he says, "I love you too, mommy!"

A few more moments go by and I thought to myself, "I can't let him take his first big boy bath without taking a picture!" I asked Jered to sit with him while I got the camera ready and in the .08 seconds it took for us to switch positions, Caiden gets excited about something, possibly the rubber ducky floating by and falls flat on his face! WHAT WAS I THINKING? We grab him out of the water only realize he had a bloody nose! This was the scariest mommy moment of my life! As the blood rushed down, filling his mouth as he cried, I held him as closely as I could and rocked him to let him know that I was here and that everthing was ok. Looking back, I think I was holding him so tightly because I, too, was in pain. After a just a few moments, some reassuring words from my wonderful, ever-so-calm husband and a quick feeding, our little scrunch was happy as could be and off being his nosey little self. We called the doctor to make sure there wasn't something we should be concerned about and, with all sincerity he says, "He can't even walk or crawl and he still found a way to get a bloody nose at the ripe young age of 6 months." The picture above is one that daddy took a moments before the fall. :(

I have a feeling there will be a lot of, "What was I thinking?" moments being a mommy. My prayer is that God keep his angels close so that the times that I am not able to protect my precious babies, the angels are there to watch over them.

Peas, Please!

Tuesday, February 23rd – peas! 7:30 pm.

Tonight we decided to let Caiden try his first real solid food, peas! And he loved it! He actually ate the peas better then he had been eating the rice cereal. Daddy and I thought we should try some too, and it was soooo gross! Luckily this is his first food otherwise I don't know if he'll ever eat them again! My little boy is growing up :(
Also, I have decided to start weaning him off breastmilk. Part of me feels like I would be giving up on him or abandoning him which is a terrible feeling. I don't know how moms do it! The other night after I laid him down for bed at 8:00 I just got so sad thinking about him growing up and slowly becoming more and more independent. One day we'll be getting ready to leave for school and he'll walk out of his room with is collared shirt and new pants, hair combed so he looks nice for the girls and he'll go down stairs and grab his backpack and jacket, not asking for or needing my help at all. Keefe will follow him the whole time knowing that he'll always play fetch with him a few times before he has to leave for school. I know this day will come, and it will be bitter sweet because although I will see him growing up before my very eyes, he will always be my sweet little baby boy. I will never forget the way he looks at me after he eats, he'll look up and see if I'm watching him, once he sees me, he'll give me the biggest smile, there's nothing better in the whole world than his huge happy smile! I love the little kicks he does with his chunky legs when he gets excited and the uuooooooo noise he makes, I know he has so much to say but just doesn't have the words to say them, yet! I can't wait to talk with him and for him to know how much me and daddy love him.
I don't know if all moms feel this way but there is really something special about Caiden's tiny little hands. I just know that he's going to be doing something very special in his life with those hands. Guitarist, pianist, artists, artitecht, carpenter, what ever it is I pray that it's something noble, something that he loves and something that he can do to glorify God.
My prayer for him is that he is happy, confident and that he loves God and loves to do God's work. That he is honest, respectable and is not affraid to mess up.