Holiday Happenings

So I realized I'd better get to blogging about our pre-Christmas activities before Christmas actually gets here.
Two Fridays ago, my Luna Moms Club got to have a trial class at My Gym, which is a children's fitness center. Eric's mom, Vickie, was in town so she joined us and I am grateful that she took pictures while I was playing with Caiden. Here's a few:

if you look close you can see teeth!

After the kids played, the moms had a cookie exchange.  Here are my goodies I got to take!

That night was Eric's AA Revenue Management Holiday Party so Vickie watched Caiden while we enjoyed our (second) date. 

Last Wednesday, Caiden and I rode the North Pole Express.  It's on the Grapevine Vintage Railroad and includes caroling and a visit from Santa.  We got in the spirit and Caiden wore his Christmas jammies even though it was about 70 degrees out!

All the excitement was too much for Caiden and he fell asleep!  I guess the gentle rocking of the train helped a little!

Unfortunately that night I got really sick. At first I thought it was food poisoning, but then Caiden got sick 48 hours later so I guess it was the bug that's been going around.  Poor guy, I don't think he knew what was going on.  I don't want to give too many gross details, but after I got out of my very dirty clothes I sat with him in the bathtub for awhile.  Ahh, the blessings of motherhood :)  Then, we covered our bed and Caiden slept with me so I could make sure he was ok.  The next day we just hung out in bed most of the day.  Here's he is with his favorite "toy".

I guess it's not too bad considering he's 8 months old and this is the first time he's ever been sick.
That's about it for now. I'll try to post tomorrow or Thursday for his 8 month milestones so check back soon!

Santa, Playgroup fun, and Nana's visit

When we were in Iowa, we took Caiden to see Santa at Bass Pro but I forgot to upload the picture!  So here it is:

He didn't seem scared at all- but I think he was intrigued by Santa's white beard!

We have been lots of fun with our new friends.  Here is a pic of his playgroup with the GCS Moms League.  All of them were born in 2010 so their group name is the "Tentastics"

Last week we had fun with musical instruments with Luna Moms Club (this is the fun side of my Stroller Strides workout group)

Caiden is checking on Emma (2.5mo)

with Caroline (6mo)

Two of my friends from Stroller Strides and I decided we should get our boys together to play.  Of course, we enjoy the mommy time together too! Erin's son, Landon, is 10 mo, and Amanda has Camden, who is exactly 1 week younger than Caiden.
They started off playing separately:

Then Camden wanted to see what Caiden was playing with:

So Caiden switched toys and Landon wanted to check it out.

Then they all wanted to be in the jumper.

We loved having my mom come visit this weekend.  She took off work Friday so she could come down early and we went to the GCS Moms League Christmas Party.

Caiden even got to meet Mrs. Claus

Mom watched Caiden Friday night so Eric and I could go out on a date.  We went to the Movie Tavern and saw Harry Potter!  While she was here she helped me cover the lamps in Caiden's room with fabric.  It's the same fabric from his bedding so it really ties everything together!  We were sad to see her go home on Sunday but it's just a few weeks now and we'll see her again at Christmas!

Anyway, we've got lots more fun stuff going on this week so I better get rested up!

7 month milestones and Thanksgiving!

So last week, my little baby boy turned 7 months old!  He is still the happiest baby, loves attention from us and strangers, and loves to eat!  His favorite foods so far are mixed vegetables and summer vegetables. Here are his current milestones:

• sits without support! 
• drags objects towards himself- he's learned to pull the blanket to get the toy closer
• jabbers- he's recently started being very vocal while sitting in his high chair while we get his meal ready.  Basically he says AAAHHHH really loud until we start talking back to him, then he laughs!
• loves to stand- with help- and bounce on his legs
• bangs objects together
• loves playing peek-a-boo
• he just cut his FIRST tooth! 
• he has started pushing up on this hands and knees and rocking! 

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Des Moines with Eric's family.  When we left Dallas on Wednesday morning it was about 70 degrees and when we arrived it was barely 30!  Brrrr.  Luckily we had prepared to bundle Caiden up.

Of course we had lots of good food!

Caiden even got to try some mashed potatoes, but he wasn't a fan!

So overall Caiden enjoyed his first thanksgiving!



We've got lots of fun stuff planned for the holiday season so stay posted to join in our holiday spirit!

Catching up!

It seems like we have stayed pretty busy lately!  I have fallen behind on blogging and uploading pictures to the Shutterfly site so I have been catching up with 5 and 6 month pics.  And to think Caiden is already 7 months today.  Yikes!  Caiden and I have been playing and learning to sit up all by ourselves!  (Luckily I learned that skill years ago so I can help him out!)  He is doing great and can now sit and play by himself for stretches at a time (which is what he is doing as I write this blog).  Here are a few pics of his big self:

I'm really enjoying this phase because he's so much fun- but also because he stays in one place!  I'm sure it won't be too long before he figures out how to move and then he will be EVERYWHERE!!

A couple of weekends ago Caiden and I made a trip up to KC. We got to spend some time with family and see some friends from our Kansas days. 

Enjoying some (baby food) green beans at Strouds

New toys!

Loving naptime with Nana!

In the meantime, we have been getting into the holiday spirit.  Last Saturday we went to the Southlake Tree lighting. We got to see a mini train and some big horses pulling the carriages and I enjoyed some hot chocolate (even though it was about 70 degrees!)

so cute with Caiden's arm around daddy's neck!

I will post again soon for his 7 month update!!

Halloween fun

Happy Halloween,

To give you a quick update before the Halloween fun- Caiden had his 6 month check up last Thursday.  He is 15 lbs 13oz (which is the 25th percentile).  He slowed down growing in length and is at 26.5 inches, which means he went from the 90th percentile at 4 months to the 50th percentile at 6 months).  She said he is doing great developmentally and told me to get him moving on solids- adding more vegetables and fruits and then proteins.  Here he is with his carrots (he liked them the first day, but not so sure about them the second day):

And now on to Halloween fun...

Sunday we carved a pumpkin- just a plain old jack-o-lantern this year.

Wednesday was the mom's league Halloween party.  Since it was about 85 degrees and we were outside, I put Caiden in his "lighter weight" costume that my dad got him.

Thursday was Trick-or-treating at work with Eric.  His area (Revenue Management) always decorates and invites employees to bring their kids in to work.  About 750 guests came through that day.  Here's a few pics of the decorations.

On Saturday, our wonderful neighbors Jamie and Joe Don invited us to their annual Halloween party.  I wanted to help out so I offered to help her with some decorations.  I ordered a printable party pack from Etsy and went to town:



a small banner



a big banner and paper flowers

a little sign

I made the paper flowers and printouts for the wreaths

cupcake toppers


I also made cookies (pumpkin/oatmeal/chocolate chip) and pumpkin cupcakes shaped like ghosts.

We had already gotten Caiden's costume, so I had to come up with coordinating costumes for me and Eric. Caiden couldn't stay in his costume very long because here in TX it's still 80+ degrees and he was about to be well-done (pun intended)

There were some other great costumes too. I'll have to get the group photos from Jamie to upload, but here's my two faves:

cotton candy- very creative!



 Hope you had a wonderful Halloween as well!