Almost a Year Old!

Things have been pretty busy around here! Most of my time on the computer has been swallowed up by my newfound hobby--creating invitations and announcements (and 1 business card and 1 t-shirt graphic) for a ton of people!! I made Kamden's birthday invitations and then a couple people needed help with theirs and that led to me creating a grand total of 8 birthday invitations, 1 graduation invitation, 6 birthday Thank Yous, and the 1 business card and the 1 t-shirt graphic. I am LOVING it!!! I would put up pictures but I am pretty sure that everyone who reads my blog is also my facebook friend=)

I opened up a shop on Etsy, but I haven't put anything in it yet...waiting until after Kam's birthday party this weekend. It is stressing me out just thinking about it!! I'll be baking 2 of the layers for his cake tomorrow evening, 2 Thursday, then my sister is coming to help me put it all together and decorate it on Friday, my parents are coming on Friday for the weekend...we have family coming from out of town and are expecting between 40-50 people at his party! I am so excited! I just want it to be the best ever!

Kamden still isn't walking...or really even showing any attempt to! He still sits down as soon as he realizes he is standing on his own. He discovered the stairs at his Mema & Pawpaw's house a few weeks ago and now that is ALL he wants to do when he gets to their house! He is pretty quick, too. But he dives headfirst to go down. He pretty much dives headfirst to get down from ANYTHING. Kaleb asked me the other day (as he was diving off the bed), "Do you think he realizes that we are the reason he doesn't hurt himself when he lunges off of stuff?" I sure hope so. His next statement was something to the effect of letting him fall one day to teach him not to do it. I am 97% sure he was kidding! Haha!!

Speaking of Kaleb...my sweet husband...yesterday he went grocery shopping with me (HUGE deal for me), and today he went to Beaumont after work to pick up Kam's birthday gift from us AND he went to Hobby Lobby AND Michael's looking for cake stuff for me!!! And last week he, out of the blue, ordered the cutest phone cover for me! Sigh...I really do have the world in this one here!!! I love him so!

So, Kam will be a year one in less than a week. I am trying not to think about it. Or about the fact that I'd planned to have him weaned by then...he only nurses about 3 times a day and gets 2 sippies of formula at his sitter's...I am trying to figure out what to do next. I know a lot of things say that he will wean himself when he's ready and he still climbs up, assumes "the position" and starts nuzzling me when it's time to nurse. I am not quite sure how I'm supposed to tell him no???

Oh, that's another thing. Before now, Kamden would only really cry, I mean all out, tears streaming down, cry, when he was in pain. Well, now he has added "hearing the word 'No'" to that trigger list. Man. He really enjoys throwing food on the floor after he's finished eating. We say no. Sternly. And he starts working on the tears...the mouth turns down first, he turns red, and then the tears come. Sometimes it takes him a bit to work them up, but he sure does it big!! What a mess.

He also can say "Mama," "Dada," "bah" for ball, and "Nah-nah" when he's hungry. He waves bye-bye and occasionally blesses the person being left with a quick "Bye!" We swear we've heard him say "Eh-wa" for Ella, but he won't do it on cue. He loves singing "The Wheels on the Bus." He slaps his hands on top of one another when we sing it to him (his Nonna (his sitter) taught him that one!) and yesterday he actually did "Deep and Wide" for me! Well...he did the deep part. I was proud! This weekend we also discovered that he can catch a ball! I kind of flipped out when I saw it. I wish I would've recorded it!

He refuses all forms of baby food as well as food that's hotter than lukewarm. He loves fruit (oranges, peaches, and strawberries are his favorite) and his sitter tells me he loves veggies, too! He is a big fan of grilled cheese and loves brisket. When given a choice, he's chosen red meat over any other option at the time. He still loves his yogurt, goldfish, and animal crackers.

He gives big, wet, mouth-wide-open sugars when we ask for them most of the time. However, if he's holding any inanimate object (a stuffed animal, a picture, a pan) he will give it sugars every single time! And he kisses himself when he sees his reflection in a mirror. Tonight he also started giving me eskimo kisses...he doesn't quite grasp them yet, I don't think, because when I try to go nose-to-nose he just opens his mouth wider. Ha!

He's gotten so good at putting himself to sleep. We'd fallen back into the habit of rocking him to sleep, and we wanted to be sure to nip that again, and the last few nights he's gone down without any fuss. Tonight he talked for a while, but not in a whine or anything. I think he was probably saying his prayers.

I know this has been long, and it's basically been all about Kamden, but it's mainly for my records.

I have an Ella story! No picture of it because we haven't seen her since it happened...she cut her hair. I mean she cut her hair. It is short. I mean short. She'd been saying she wanted a haircut and her mom made her an appointment...but our girl is more of a proactive person, a "right now" kinda gal, so she took matters into her own hands. I promise I'll post pics of it after the birthday weekend!

(Pre-hair cut!)

We went up to see her weekend before last and were able to take her to Hodges Gardens...she pretended to be our hiking leader. She did a great job!

This is a picture of my dad and Kamden. Somewhere there is a picture of my Pappaw holding my dad on that same piece of petrified wood (which you cannot see, but trust me, my dad is sitting on it!) at Hodges a lllooooonnnngggg time ago. My goal: find that picture!!! Either way, this one is adorbs!

I think that'll do it for this update. I will (hopefully) be back after this fun-filled weekend!!

Spring Break #2: Ella's Home!!!

Ella's home!!!

That's the most important thing I have to tell you about this weekend=) Here's a rundown, though. Friday after work we loaded up and headed to Many via Jasper, where we got to meet up with the Williamses for a long overdue dinner!! It was so great to catch up with them! After a delicious Mexican dinner, we made it to Many around 10 or so Friday night. Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast with my family...

then headed out to get Ella!! We weren't the only ones excited to see her...

Kamden was watching out the door for her to arrive! It was the cutest thing!

We spent the day in Many on Saturday and then headed back home to Bridge City for the week. This morning, we went to church then came home for some lovely outside time! It was a BEAUTIFUL day!! This evening, Ella helped feed Kamden...

And entertain him...

With Pat-a-Cake...

And Peek-a-Boo!

He loves his sister so...and so do we!!

I cannot tell you how wonderful and complete it feels to have her back with us for a bit!! Just wish it could be longer! This is my last week before my Spring Break, and usually I'm wishing the weeks away until it's here. But if I wish this week away, it means Ella's week with us will be up...so I am all for dragging this week out as long as we can!! Hopefully we can make it a good one!

Spring Break #1

Friday evening, our friend/pastor Mark came over with his boys (we missed you, Lauren!!) to hang out while Kaleb did some work on his golf clubs. Now, the Snodgrass boys are 3 and 4 months, and Kamden was very much in awe of Paul, the 3 year old (after he investigated Luke, the 4 month old, and attempted to give him the initial head swat that he gives everyone he comes into contact with). So when Paul went to play in Ella's room, Kam followed closely behind.

A sidenote to say that Kamden loves Ella's room. We keep the door shut most of the time, so when he can get in, it's like a whole new world for him. She has this easel with dry erase markers, chalk, and watercolor paint. He's tried to taste the paints before, so last time he was in there I got smart and moved them out of his reach.

Fast forward to last Friday night...when Kaleb comes out of Ella's room holding Kamden and saying, "Hey, Jenni...are watercolors nontoxic?"

The kid is still here and never got sick, so I am going to go with a yes on that. Our boy...is there anything he won't eat?? (FYI, the answer is yes...and it involves most baby food right now.)

Saturday Kam & I stayed home while Daddy went to play golf...Kam got his special weekend breakfast of a pancake...

and cereal with blueberry applesauce. I say it's special...but really if the boy wants a pancake, the boy gets a pancake!

This week, the school district that Kamden's sitter lives in was on Spring Break, so she took the week off, too. It also happened to be Kam's Nan's (my mom) and Aunt Clair's Spring Breaks as well! So my mom came down Sunday afternoon and stayed through Wednesday evening! I know she had the best time keeping Kam...and I really enjoyed having her down here!! It really made me realize how much I miss my family and made me a little sad to know that we can't do things like that more often. But....such is life, right? So, Nan went back to Many on Wednesday and today Aunt Clair and Mema (Kaleb's mom) kept him. He hasn't been spoiled at all this week!!! He got to play outside all day today, and I hear he is quite the gardener! Ha!! Aunt Clair will be keeping him again tomorrow, then we will be off to Many for the night so that we can get Ella tomorrow!!! Because next week is Spring Break #2 for our house! I'm not off until next week, but Kaleb's taking off Monday to have a Daddy/Daughter Day with Ella, and then he will keep Kam for a couple hours in the morning the rest of the week until his mom can come to keep the kids. They are going to have so much fun!! I wish I could take off some, but I am way out of days at school...I've already been docked for 3.5 days, so I'm trying to save anything else for emergencies! After this week, we start our final week of Spring Break...mine! So Kam will be out of the sitter's for 3 weeks!!! He'll go on Monday of this next week and one day during my week off so I can get some errands run, but other than that he is in full family mode. And I think he loves it. Ha!! I know that he loves his Nonna (sitter), too, though! Hopefully he will do just fine when he goes back at the end of the month.

That's about it for tonight...I am worn slap out! Hopefully I will be back with a post after this weekend, finally with some pics of our sweet girl again!!! I cannot wait for this next week with her!!!

Oh, one last picture...did you know that Kamden loves to empty entire packages of anything he can get his little hands on? And then attempt to eat whatever he empties out? Yes, even diapers. Hey, at least they're clean ones!

10 Months Old!

Believe it or not, our sweet boy is 10 months old today!

That means that in 2 more months he will be a year old!!! Everyone says how quickly time flies and how fast little ones grow up...and even as much as I try to squeeze every ounce out of each day with him, I am still sitting here shaking my head, trying to figure out how in the world we are at 10 months already.

This week, Kam's decided he's not such a big fan of baby food anymore. He's ready to eat our food. All of it. Any time anything is being put into our mouths, here he comes, licking his chops and pleading with his eyes (and his little whimper). Tonight he was able to coax some Crescent Chicken Pot Pie out of his daddy and some WW Giant Fudge Bar out of me. After a whole cup of diced peaches and an attempt at baby food. We also learned that while he usually loves loud noises (i.e. the vaccuum cleaner, hair dryer, etc.) he is not a fan of the lawn mower. Kaleb tried to take him for a ride on it this afternoon and it didn't go so well. He'll have to learn to love that one! He's also started giving sugars on the lips, but only when he feels like it. Apparently, Sock Monkey deserved some love this afternoon!

Happy 10 Months, my sweet baby boy! I love you so very much and I thank God daily for allowing me to help raise you here! You are such a blessing in our lives. Your smiles melt my heart, and hearing you say "Ma-ma" makes me prouder than I've ever been before. I love you, I love you, I love you!

3 Years and a Fat Lip Later...

Three years ago today, that was me, minutes before I became Mrs. Kaleb Breaux!!! Can you feel my excitement? If you would've asked me then, I would've sworn to you that there was no way I could ever be happier than I was at that very moment.

But I am! I am happier, more fulfilled, and more in love with my sweet husband than ever before!! On one hand, I feel like there is no way it's been 3 years already since we walked down the aisle. I still get giddy just thinking about being able to say that he is my husband!!! On the other hand, I'm shaking my head in disbelief that it's only been 3 years...I feel like we've been together for much longer than that...I cannot imagine life without Kaleb, and find it hard to remember what life was like before. I do know that I love him more today than I ever have...and that I am so very blessed that God has given me the most amazing husband in the world! He is absolutely perfect for me, and I truly am The Luckiest!!

In honor of our 3 year anniversary, some awesome things happened! I got the most beautiful bouquet of roses at school today!! I just love getting flowers...and getting them at school is even better!!

Also at school, I got a new computer!!! Well, newer...new to me...and it is awesome!!!

And lastly, in honor of our anniversary, Kamden decided to be a little dare devil and push his Tonka walker at full speed through the kitchen...sideways...and then the groove between the tile of the kitchen and the wood laminate of the living room stopped the truck...but not Kamden. Our sweet boy went over the truck and came up screaming and bleeding. I won't lie...I freaked out. My calm, level-headed husband kept his cool and helped me get myself together so we could comfort Kam. There was a lot of blood...I was so scared he'd knocked a tooth out or something. But he just busted his top lip. And he busted it good. My poor baby. Nothing would soothe him except nursing...that definitely did the trick! He calmed down immediately, and then wanted his paci (which I thought would definitely be out of the question). He let us eat our supper and then happily played during his bath and post-bath minutes-of-freedom like nothing had happened. I mean, he can't see that his top lip looks like his mama was Angelina Jolie instead of me. =)

So, minus that little mishap, today has been just great! And the week is almost over! Saturday night, Kaleb's parents are watching Kamden so that we can have a Valentine's Day/Anniversary date!! We will definitely do dinner and we are trying to figure out if we can squeeze a movie in there, too. We shall see!!

Also, hopefully I will be able to get a 10 month picture and post up of Kam-man tomorrow...cannot believe it's time for that already!

Lastly, but definitely not least, please say a prayer for our sweet Ella Claire! Her mom told us today that she's got that dreaded stomach bug that's seemed to hit just about everyone lately. We are praying that she gets over it quickly! I am sure she is miserable, and I hate that we can't be there for her!!

That's it for tonight, folks...until next time!

I Hung My Head

I am ashamed to even post here! It's been 3 months. THREE MONTHS!!! Here are the monthly pictures we missed...I have missed chronicling so many things...Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's...visits from Ella, a snowy weekend in Many, and numerous milestones that Kamden's achieved. Sigh. I figure I've gotta come back somehow, though, right? I miss blogging big time. I really am going to try harder now...Kamden is going to bed early enough that I usually have time before I go down for the night. Mostly for my own personal records, here's what's gone on...we had wonderful end-of-the-year holidays!! We spent Thanksgiving in Many with the Lowe family, Christmas Eve Eve up there, too...came back to Bridge City with Ella (after seeing her Christmas program at school and going to her class Christmas Party and the kids' first trip to see Santa together) and enjoyed our new house on Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning...then went over and spent the rest of the day in Starks with the Breauxs...we had Ella until after New Year's, and we spent that with all the Coleman clan down here. Then we had a few weeks of school...Kam had an ear infection in late November...then a little viral infection in early February, then pink eye the next week, then was croupy the next week...now he's just got some congestion. We have discovered that he just loves Amoxycilin and that he hates both cough medicines he's had to take thus far in his life.

Here's where he is now...he eats everything. Seriously, everything. If he doesn't like it at first, we mix it with yogurt and he is good to go. He has a head full of hair...and in February he's cut 4 new teeth. The bottom two and the one to his left of those are all the way in...his top right eye tooth came in 3rd (bottom left came in after, but quick) and his front teeth came quickly after, but they're just about half-way in so far. He hasn't had much trouble with them...just loves to gnaw on things. He's been grinding his teeth lately and it drives us CRAZY!! It just makes my whole mouth hurt when I hear him do it.

(This picture was pre-any top teeth.)

Thanks to our good friends the Snodgrasses, we discovered this wonderful book, and Kamden has now been sleeping through the night since the first couple weeks of January. We had a few rough nights in the beginning, but it is well worth it now! He is in a good routine...eats supper around 6:30, plays for a while, has a bath around 7:30, has a 5-10 minute wild romp around his room (I do mean wild), nurses, goes in his crib, immediately stands up, gets cuddled and prayed with, and then goes to sleep around 8:15 or 8:30 each night. He wakes up between 5 and 6. I'll take that over the 3 hour intervals anyday!!

He's very interested in walking...he cruises anywhere he can and pushes everything around the house, whether it's his walker, a tv tray, a bowl, a laundry basket...if he can push it, he's using it to get around. He still doesn't show much interest in walking to either of us...he knows he is a speed crawler, so he drops down and takes off. He's discovered the toilet...both how to flush it and that he can reach it if we forget to put the seat down. YUCK, I know. He also is tall enough that if he gets some momentum he can throw himself over the side of the tub...so far, he's only done this once where he went all the way over, and I caught him before he made contact with the water or tub. He is into absolutely everything. Nothing is safe. He definitely is keeping us on our toes and he is only (almost) 10 months. 10 months!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable.

He says "Da-da," "Bye-bye," and "Ba-ba"(at bathtime) regularly. In the last couple days, he's also (finally!!!) been saying "Ma-ma," too. I also notice that when he's hungry he tends to say "Na-na." Not sure if that's a coincidence or not. He also waves when he says "Bye-bye." He started that around the 9 month mark.

He still is utterly fascinated by the vaccuum cleaner. He LOVES it. He cries when we turn it off. He loves to watch me vaccum the house...and mop, which doesn't make noise. His sitter says that he's just a little man who loves to watch women clean. Ha! I think he's just going to be a clean-loving guy like his Daddy.

Don't have time for much else tonight...just wanted to confirm that we are all alive and well and get the recent milestones written down for our own records. Yes, we have a baby book, but I like to have things in 2 places=)

Forgive me for skipping blogging for 3 months...and know that I am really going to try harder this year!!