Caden and The Croup

Day Three with the Croup and I think we're winning!!

This is definitely the sickest Caden has ever been in his little 18-month life. I have never seen anything take the life right out of him like this pesky virus has! It is very surreal to watch a child who normal is always on the go only want to LAY on your lap and sleep or watch videos or read books! It was a little disconcerting for both Justin and I the first day to see Caden like this. I know it is normal and it won't be the last time, but the first time we do anything tough is always the HARDEST, isn't it? It's hard to watch and with the Croup it is even harder to LISTEN! The sound is just plain scary!!

So the first two days pretty much looked like this...

BUT, today Caden has sparked a little bit of extra energy and is looking, acting and sounding a little more like his old self. We're still working on getting that fever to come and stay down without the help of tylenol... we're getting closer each day!

I'm not so sure Caden knows what to make of the way he feels. He knows he doesn't have his normal amount of energy but I don't think he understands why. It's been kind of funny to watch him test his boundaries. He'll sprint to the back door to look at something and sprint back to me and then do it again and then by the second or third time he'll walk back with his arms raised ready for some relief! PICK ME UP MOMMA!! Sweet little thing!

Today, Caden kept picking up his bathing suit and swim shoes and bringing them to me. I told him how important it was for sick boys to stay home and rest and not go to the pool, but of course he doesn't understand. If we are home, we ALWAYS go to the pool! SO... we decided to bring the pool to the house and splashed around in a BUBBLE BATH in Mommy and Daddy's big bathtub!


Look at that little farmer's tan... I told you we go to the pool a lot! :)

And for posterity's sake... a bootie shot! :)

And there you have it... Caden and The Croup... a nail biter isn't it?! :)

Tomorrow's Friday!! Yay for the weekend!

The News Around These Parts...

Where do I begin...?!

Since we've gotten back FROM the beach our house has been full of sickies...

FIRST UP: Food poisoning! Thanks to some lovely fish tacos that we ate Sunday on our way home from the beach! They put my brother Josh, Justin and I down for the count for a few days. Ick! Ick! And double ick! Thankfully, Caden didn't partake!

NEXT: I came down with what I thought were my ridiculously terrible Austin allergies...come to find out it was a REALLY icky upper respirtory virus which I successfully passed along to Caden which caused him to get the Croup! Way to go, Mommy!

AND as if it isn't bad enough to infect your OWN family, how about a nursery full of kiddos on Sunday? Or a preggo friend and her daughter at a play date TWICE or what about the grandparents who so GRACIOUSLY came in for the weekend to see Caden and to let Justin and I go out for our 6 Year Anniversary??!! BIG FREAKING OOPS!

I knew I wasn't feeling good, but as a Mommy... y'all know how it is... you just tell yourself your fine, it's just allergies... and you keep on keepin' on! You can't lay up on the couch for a week and be sick! Chalk this one up to lessons learned! I doubt I could have protected Caden but all those others??!! Yep, pretty sure I could have!! I'm so sorry!!

So if you wouldn't mind saying a few special prayers for my nursery kiddos, my parents, my friend and her daughter and Justin too, we'd really appreciate it! And Caden and I will take a few prayers if you're offering too... :)

Despite our sickness, Justin and I managed to have a wonderful evening out on Saturday night to celebrate SIX EXCITING YEARS and Caden had the BEST time with his KK and Albi. We have ZERO pictures to share but we'll work on that soon! BUT first I gotta nurse my little man back to health! We've got a vacation coming up! :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Love ya blogworld!

Back FROM the Beach!!

Well, well, well...

Look who we have here... the Cox Fam... they are FINALLY blogging!

Yep... so we've been MIA over the past week because we've been enjoying the sun, sand and waves of the Texas Gulf Coast... Port-A style. 2010 is our third year in a row to partake in what it seems is becoming a Cox-Family tradish! Nana and Paps SO graciously host us each year in a FABULOUS beach house, right next to the water...

We eat, we drink, we swim, we rest, we play, we EAT, we swim, we rest, we play... WE EAT! You see we have a LOT of fun and ever since Caden has joined the picture the fun intensifies each and EVERY year! This year certainly did not disappoint! We had a LOT of fun especially since we all got to stay an extra day at the BEACH...

From Tuesday through Sunday we were BEACH BUMS!! And you gotta love that!

I would re-cap EACH AND EVERY day for you, but really if you know the schedule for one day you've got it down for the rest... are you ready?

1. Wake-up, eat breakfast... drink our mornin' cups o' jo!
2. LATHER up... suit up... and head out...
3. SWIM, SUN, WAVES, SEAGULLS... oh my!
4. Caden and Mommy come back to the house for NAPS!
5. Wake up... eat dinner... PLAY! PLAY!
6. Caden entertains us!
7. Caden goes to bed!
8. Adults play... games, with crabs, etc.
9. SLEEP!
10. REPEAT!!

Sounds like fun to you?! You betcha!!

So now for the good stuff... the pictures... and there are A LOT of them! Are you ready???!!!

On your mark...

get set...

GO!!!!

Celebrating the summer birthdays... the two in-laws... Uncle Tag and me! I think we are pretty good blowers, what about y'all?! We have excellent breath control! (Anyone watching A Minute to Win it?! If not, you have no idea what breath control is! Sorry!)

Caden is recently VERY concerned about hot food and has become an excellent blower! Aunt Ree Ree and Caden are being sure that they are better safe than sorry with their queso!!

A few nights Paps and the boys did some crabbin' but on one particular night... it got a little out of hand when Justin and Uncle Tag decided that they were going to catch two crabs and make them fight! OH BOYS! Then they caught a turtle by accident and put him/her in the mix! I cannot promise you that no animals were hurt during the making of this blog, BUT don't worry the perpetrators will face judgement for their handy work just like the rest of us! They'll get what's comin' to them! :)

Even Aunt Ree Ree got in on the action!! :)

Here's the turtle... DO YOU THINK JUSTIN IS EXCITED???!!!

One night was Italian Night in Port A... spaghetti! YUMMY! Caden may or may not have gotten ANY in his mouth! We decided to make the mess a bit worse and add a popsicle to the mix... thank goodness for outdoor showers!! :) Eventually, Caden finished BOTH he and his Uncle Tag's popsicles! Thanks for sharing Uncle Tag! :)

After our outdoor run in the shower, Caden put on his Ranger jersey so he and Paps could cheer them on! Stinky Red Sox had a bit too much for us, but we tried to do our best, sportin' our team colors!

Every day our camp looked like this...

Caden's pool made the trip you'll notice... and BOY was it a hit! No one could believe we got it for $15 at HEB! Oh the HEB... got. to. love. it!!

First day at the beach...

Caden LOVED collecting shells... and of course he had to put them in his dump truck!

We brought all of Caden's yard work tools... figuring he'd have some work to do cleaning up the beach...Silly Nana... you can't use my hoe!!! It's a dude tool!!

Such a big boy... all by himself in the ocean!

Every once in a while a guy needs a break...

AND maybe even a ride...

AND of course a snack! Dude snacks in the shade in his VERY own fancy chair that his Nana and Paps bought him for the beach and for Baylor tailgates!

Every year we take family pics... actually this is only the 2nd year we've done this... BUT I'm thinking this too is becoming a tradish... here are a few of my favorites...

After pics we went to eat at Snoopy's... YUMMO!

It was HOT so of course we hit up Scoopy's, the ice cream shop right next door! :)

Check out my lil man in his beach gear... too much for words... he is a heartbreaker is all I can say!

From the back...like his new backpack?!! KK surprised us with that... he LOVES it! He own little bag... but of course it does make me a bit sad to think that we've outgrown the diaper bag stage?! :(

More beach fun...

In the pool...

The big dudes lounging...solving the world's problems... or at least the Astros' and Rangers'

Me and one of TWO favorite sister-in-laws! :) Okay so I only have two but I love them both!! :)Notice... I am practicing posing for pics... FINALLY! I feel SUPER cheesey but it looks MUCH better than the flat arm pics... yikes!!

Now he's REALLY getting too big for his britches if he thinks he's gonna be a boogie-boarder!!! :)

We tried to help...

All in all Caden LOVED the beach! He LOVED the water which was no surprise to us since he is absolutely fearless when it comes to that! He LOVED the sand... mostly the shells... not so much into the sand castles just yet. BUT his favorite thing BY FAR... the SEAGULLS!! That poor boy would run halfway down the beach chasing one of those silly birds... they'd hop away and he'd run, run, run down a bit more... then they'd fly off and he'd find another one to chase! Finally, we decided to be "those people" who feed the birds just so Caden could get a close up look at the action! :)

We were thankful that Caden LIKES food as much as he does because that was the ONLY way to get him to slow down and take a breather in the shade! It was HOT out there but that sure didn't seem to stop him... he is one VERY tired boy now because of all of his fun in the sun, BUT I think we'll all agree that it was WORTH it! He was putting on quite a show! My little adventurer! :)

The last night we put on our Baylor gear for one more family pic... all of the graduates and maybe even a future graduate... for now he is definitely a fan! He loves to Sic 'Em Bears!!

We thought about all going out to eat in our BU stuff but we opted against it... and boy was I glad because my shirt isn't too summer-friendly! The last night we were there we went out with a BANG at a yummy restaurant called Virginia's! Pics from around the table...

Nana and Paps...

Cori and Caden...

And the last of us... Justin, Trent and I!

Virginia's is on the yacht basin in Port A so there were lots of pretty boats to check out before, during and after dinner! Caden thought it was pretty darn cool!!

He even said... BOOOOOOOOOO! Which means BOAT! :)

Later that night Caden actually asked to go to bed... it was the sweetest most pitiful thing I've ever seen! We wore that boy out... or he wore himself out! BUT whoever is responsible for the wearing out is off the hook because it was a LOT of fun!

Thank you so much Nana and Paps for treating us to such a nice vacation. Without you we'd be hanging around the likes of the Rock! It's nice to have a change of secenery and an exciting new place to explore!! We love our trips to Port A! You spoil us rotten!! Thanks for the memories! WE love y'all! We love you too Aunt Ree Ree and Uncle Tag!! Always have LOTS of fun with you two crazy love birds! :)

And we're back...

FROM the beach!!

ANIMAL DAY

Friday was Animal Day at our house!!

Long before I had Caden and I was just entering the blog world I was so excited about someday being able to do "theme days" for my kiddos. As I am sure many of you know and read there are a LOT of creative mommies out there that do some really neat things with their kids! I knew I wouldn't be quite like so many of the mommies because I just don't have that artistic, crafty skill set that so many do... I like doing all of it, but I'm not necessarily good at it. BUT I figured it doesn't matter if you are "good" at it or not, what matters is that you and your kiddo have a fun day of planned activities to do together and it will be something that they will remember (as they get older) and cherish... just some mommy and me time!

Yesterday won't be something that Caden remembers, but I will! And I hope that we can continue to have these "theme days" as he grows older and as we add to our family... oh the fun we will have.

The greatest thing about yesterday was that I didn't have to do too much planning, I went with something that we already had a lot of and I picked something that I knew he'd be interested in. I went to the library and checked out a few extra books to add to the mix and the rest of our Animal Day fun I just scrounged up at home.

So are you ready to see a little glimpse of what Animal Day looks like in our house??!!

It all started with a YUMMY gorilla-shaped breakfast! (You may laugh as hard as you need to at my breakfast and lunch creations... I never said I was an artist, remember?!)

The excitement on Caden's face after seeing the gorilla he was about to consume was worth every bit of mockery I might get for attempting it... he was SO excited!!

While he was eating his gorilla we read one of his favorite books... Good Night Gorilla!!

After breakfast we had some errands to run, but when we got home we had an ANIMAL DAY counting activity. I saved an old box of animal crackers and emptied it out. Then we counted out 10 animal crackers from our bigger sack and then put them in the box. We took them back out and counted them again and then we ATE them! We also checked out all of the fun animals on the box and sang our first of 50 rounds of "I went to the Animal Fair... the birds and the beasts were there..." You know the tune...

While we were eating up the last of the crackers we read our next book, Dear Zoo! It is such a cute book!!

And since we were having so much fun I decided I MUST snap a pic of the two of us! :)

The next idea I had was a BUST for Caden... but he LOVED watching me "be an elephant!" I used two of Justin's more hideous ties (one of which he told me he loved when he got home...oops) and tied them around our heads... and we had instant elephant trunks! I walked around swinging my truck pretending to be an elephant and we talked about how the elephants used their trunks to eat their food and drink their water, etc.

Caden wanted that thing OFF his head!!

And the next few pictures are just to redeem myself from the previous picture where the Animal Day tornado has hit my home... actually the mess has NOTHING to do with Animal Day... it was awful! So I spent 2 hours during naptime CLEANING ... see... I really do keep a clean house most of the time...

And now... Mommy the Elephant! I know... scary, isn't it?!

For lunch, Caden ate a giraffe!!

And again the excitement on his face and in his "ooooooooooooo" that he made when I placed it in front of him was worth EVERY bit of mockery! :) When I showed Justin the pics from our day last night he LAUGHED so hard at my culinary creations! :) And I must admit they are pretty hilarious!

After lunch and before nap time we read The Elephant Story, a book that we checked out at the library... it has beautiful illustrations but the story is a little too matter of fact for me...it's more like an encyclopedia entry about elephants than a story... but Caden loves the pictures so he sat still and listened!

After nap we colored three different animal pictures that I traced from a book we have.

While he was coloring we read another of our library books called Gumption... it is a CUTE, CUTE, CUTE story that Caden loved! It is about a boy and his Uncle Nigel who go on adventures in far away lands... this one in Africa... so we saw lots of giraffes, elephants and tigers!

After Caden was finished coloring we talked about where animals came from and how they were made. And we learned our Bible verse to help us remember how God made them the way they teach us to at church, with hand motions... :)

" Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air." Genesis 2:19.

After that I thought we should try the elephant trunk game again... STILL NO LUCK! :)

And other than the 50 other times we sang and danced to "I went to the Animal Fair..." that was our Animal Day fun! It was simple, sweet and was a GREAT distraction to my suddenly VERY troublesome little boy! It kept him out of the corner ALL afternoon and that is progress! :) I guess a little bit of structure every now and then is not a bad thing! :)

Happy Weekend!!