OMG, We're 3 and 0!!

This weekend was HUGE at the Cox house! HUGE, I tell you! It was the prefect tri-fecta of sports excitement jam-packed into TWO glorious days! And for us... those TWO glorious days were spent in Houston... in the equally as glorious home of Aunt Ree and Uncle Tag. If a picture could sum up our weekend, I'd have to pick the following...
It's the 3 and 0 face!! His face is priceless! Actually ALL of his faces are priceless in my book, but this one even a perfect stranger would agree to be quite a look! Caden is the type of kid who uses people, mainly family members for their phones! iPhones, BlackBerries and even Albi and Nana's cool red flip phones... you name it he loves them! SO when we get together with family especially the Cox side of the family we play a few "phone tricks" on the lil man! He'll be ho-hummin' along with the phone of the minute in his hand and then one of the others of us with an unsuspecting phone will call the phone of the minute and make it ring... hence getting the most thrilling rise out of Caden!

It's ringing! OMG!! Somebody help!! I'm being called!! Someone's finally CALLING ME!!

Poor kid... he really does need to get out more!

In between all of the phone hysteria and I say hysteria simply because we the game is HYSTERICAL... we do what normal families do when they get together... EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY, of course!

Upon arrival to Houston on Saturday, Cori and Trent had a GREAT burger/hot dog feast for us to kickoff the weekend. We finished up just in time for the Ranger game which made for our FIRST EXCITING victory of the 3-0 weekend... GO RANGERS!!!

While watching Rangers, Aunt Ree Ree put Caden to work! He did some serious sweeping and in fact she said he did such a lovely job that she might have to consider firing her current help, Myrna! Chade's got a bright future ahead of him at my house too... I'm definitely ready to hire!

One of the BEST parts about our weekend was getting to celebrate Nana's birthday! We surprised her with a YUMMY cake that we successfully devoured over the course of the weekend (Saturday!) and a new set of Fiestaware!! YAY!! :) It was so nice to ALL be together to wish her an EXTRA-happy and super special birthday! WE love you Nana!!

Of course Nana had to really work for her cake this weekend with Caden constantly following her saying, "Nana, Nana, Nana!" "Nana?" And even yelling to get her attention sometimes... "NANA!!!" Poor Nana... she was definitely queen in Caden's eyes this weekend which does come at a price! :) But I'm pretty sure she didn't mind the price at all!

Saturday evening everyone went to the Baylor/Rice game except for the Chade and I! We were glad to stay home in the A/C and watch videos on Aunt Ree and Uncle Tag's big TV! I snagged a few pics from Aunt Ree (actually to be truthful ALL of these pics are from Aunt Ree... Mommy was off camera duty for the weekend) of the game...

Not too long after the game got started it was delayed due to lightening... BUT don't you worry the Baylor Band gave an impromptu pep rally under the stadium!! They were apparently making lemonade out of lemons... well done BU!!

BU WON which leaves us at 2 of the 3-0 victory weekend...

After a VERY late night on Saturday we all took it easy on Sunday morning before the TWO bro-in-laws headed to the Cowboys/Texans game. Caden and I hung out with Nana, Paps and Aunt Ree and did some park time, some lunchin' and then come cupcakin' ... it was fabulous!

And despite how hard Uncle Tag cheered for his Texans the Cowboys came out on top... and that ladies and gentlemen will conclude our last victory of the 3-0 weekend... THREE AND ZERO!! 3 AND 0!!

Once Caden woke up from his nap we HIT the road and traveled back to the Rock!! Caden and Uncle Tag did some last minute bonding just before we left...

It was a GREAT weekend of wins and an even better weekend with family! We are excited to get to do it all over again in a few weeks when we all head to Dallas for the Baylor/Tech game!

Thanks Aunt Ree Ree and Uncle Tag for a FABULOUS weekend! We love y'all!!

C's First Day of School: A Poem

Today was Caden's first day of school.

I didn't think I would cry, boy am I a fool!

We woke up bright and early to be sure we'd have time.

To not get a few videos and pictures would surely be a crime.

While still in his crib, I interviewed the Chade,

And asked him if he was excited about this new decision we made.

He didn't seem too thrilled until I mentioned the nap mat.

We have no idea how he learned to use a thing like that.

We the anticipation of nap time building by the minute,

I knew we had started this day ready to win it.

Breakfast was good and his lunch was ready made.

And by this I mean I packed all sorts of goodies for my sweet Chade.

After we got dressed in our new duds we had some posing to do.

We tried outside first but the grass was super wet with dew.

Inside we ran and pulled our trusty rocking chair out,

It's the only place Caden will sit still and not wiggle all about.

He wore his new shirt, his name all done up in white.

We knew it'd sure help his teacher and her helpers, alright!

When we pulled into the parking lot he was looking pretty brave,

But by the time we got to his classroom things were a bit grave.

Caden started to cry, shake his head and say "no!"

As a stood there and held him, we proceeded to put on quite a show.

My tears didn't turn into snot until I left the classroom,

But the embarrassment I felt was already sprouting into full bloom.

"He'll be fine," they said and I knew this was true.

"Then get out of here ma'am, you MUST have things to do!"

Not really, I thought, but then again I knew it was time.

The calendar note on my iPhone was about to chime.

To the doctor I went and then to the streets for a workout,

I even got some antiquing done and a took shower before heading back out.

I was anxious to see Caden and hear about his day,

And proud that I had not called once to check on him today.

When I got to his room he was running wild and willy.

It took Mrs. Rissa to grab his attention, "Get over here you silly!"

He finally realized I was there and he came running on over.

I could live those sweet two seconds again, over and over.

We hugged and we laughed and Mrs. Rissa told me about his day.

He did great and had fun and even got a nap, HOORAY!

All his projects and progress reports I intend to save forever,

To hide them from my hubby, the trash monster, I'll have to be extra clever.

Surviving the first day of school deserved a trip to Sonic Happy Hour,

A Sprite and a few french fries he surely did devour.

As he ate I made my best attempt to learn more about his day,

But darned if he wouldn't look at me and kept turning away.




This afternoon Caden was tired and unusually chill.

He had lots to process after today, after all it was a big deal!

We are thankful and excited that God found Caden this special spot,

A great place and a wonderful teacher, surely we've got!

Happy First Day of School Buddy!

Dude Stuff

Not much to report from our weekend... pretty low key, football watching family fun around these parts! Unfortunately, it wasn't a good football weekend for either of our college or professional teams BUT there is always next week... RISE UP! :)

We have a big week ahead of us so it was nice to take it easy. Of course, I had several "mom projects" to attend to to get Caden ready for his first day of school on Tuesday and of course the painting continued!!

My beautifully-old-Craiglist-China-Cabinet-find that I worked SO HARD to give NEW life too has suddenly become TOO NEW and so NOW I am antiquing the entire piece along with our kitchen table and chairs... oh the irony of it all! I AM pleased with the results though so the hard work is worth it... so far... I'll post pictures when it's complete... in five years... or THIS WEEK?!! I have high hopes!

Alright so now onto the DUDE STUFF...

Caden and Justin had a grand 'ol time watching football or "ba-ball" ALL weekend. On Saturday afternoon Caden felt it was only fair that his DUDE SNACKS matched Daddy's... and he too wanted a koozie! I kid you not... he pointed at the one sitting on the counter and wouldn't have anything to do with his water until it was in the DUDE KOOZIE... so alas, for the REST of the weekend his various cups have been in a kooize! I wonder how his teacher will feel about leaving Caden's cup in a dude koozie?! HA!

It's amazing how observant kids are... it's amazingly scary actually... have to be careful what kind of behavior we want him to imitate! A koozie I can handle... as long has he has the right "insides" until he's legal!



I had a SUPER cute video to share of Caden doing one of his newest DUDE tricks, BUT I have been trying to upload it for the past 43 minutes and counting and I'm over it... SO I'll work on it this week and post soon! I'm sure BLOGGER's had a long weekend... Bless poor blogger's heart!

Happy weekend!

Welcome to My World...

There are very few times when I write posts about me... mostly because I am not NEAR as interesting NOR as cute as CADEN! So for obvious reasons I stick to my most exciting subject matter 99.9% of the time, but ever so often I get the urge to write a little ditty about what's going on in my world...


Of course as most of us moms tend to know... even the "my world" involves our kiddos! And truth be known the reason we even have a world to write about in the first place is entirely their fault... in a good way of course! It's no secret that motherhood/parenthood is hard! I know we all know that on some level, but for all of us it is hard for different reasons. For me motherhood is hard because I battle FEAR...


AND hello... FEAR and having a kid... I'm going have some serious "motherhood is SO hard" moments when I struggle with something that I think, to some degree, all mothers struggle with. If you watch the show Parenthood (and if you don't you SHOULD start) you probably saw one of the Moms on the show having one of these FEAR and MOTHERHOOD combo moments. She called it catastrophization... in other words... normal situations turn into FULL ON catastrophe in her brain. People who ail from this sickness are people like me who don't necessarily believe the worst will happen but nevertheless they imagine it! The worst! The absolute worst! At the end of the conversation with her daughter the mother concludes with, "I just love you TOO much, it hurts!" Amen, amen sista! Preach on for us all!

It's unbearable sometimes how much we love our children and because our love is SO intense and almost too much at times our brains go into shock and allow our minds to travel some dark and dreary paths! EVERY day I have to remind myself how to battle... and I say OUTLOUD several times a day all, pieces and portions of this set of verses:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. 2 Cor 10:3-5

I have had to train myself through MUCH prayer to take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ AS SOON as I think, feel, or see FEAR heading in my direction and I have to RUN the other way! And it is HARD for me... BUT through Christ and this practice of catching myself before the downward spiral I'm hangin' tough!

But I struggle... take today for example: I am driving down the road and I start thinking about my next pregnancy (which by the way I AM NOT EVEN PREGNANT YET) and I think about all of the things that might/could/(will) happen... it started with... what if I'm sick the whole time...what if I'm too sick to play with Caden...what if I get put on bed rest... what if the next baby has lots of problems and we have to spend all of our time in the doctor's office...what if I get really sick and something ends up happening to me... how could I leave Caden and my new baby alone??? OMG... it's sick! Isn't it?! You see how that one little thought can send me FAR, FAR, AWAY completely robbing me of ANY joy that I could have in thinking about the future of our little family! Now... that's not to say that I believe that NONE of this could or would ever happen to me. I guess that is the reason I struggle with fear in the first place because I know that I am not exempt from the worst... it could happen to anyone, BUT what I have to remember is what is TRUE... and what is TRUE is that God is good, He is faithful, He is perfect and that He is sovereign... so no matter what life throws at me I can handle it because I rest (or don't rest as it may be) in Him!

I always tell people and I believe it to be true for me... I have faith in the end result... I KNOW 110% that God's plan is the BEST for me, and if the worst things imaginable happen to be part of my plan I KNOW it will work out for the good... I believe that with all my heart, BUT it's the process of it all that makes me afraid! The end is peaceful but the process is muddy... and it makes me scared!

So enough of all the serious stuff... I thought I'd share another story from my day today to give you a bigger taste of my world...

Before today I have never fed Caden peanut butter. But he is starting school next week (another blog on that soon!) and the teachers obviously need to be wary of food allergies. So with peanuts it is either a YES or NO. BUT I've been saying "Well, I don't let him eat any nut products because we have a family history of food allergies and our doctor says it would be best to wait, but he is not necessarily allergic but we're not really sure either!" Which means kids in his class will likely bring nut-products in their lunches. SO of course thinking about this I started to Catastrophize and imagine Caden sneaking a peanut butter cracker from his neighbor and going into anaphylactic shock at school... without me there! Can you imagine?! Awful!

SO... I decided that I would put on my big girl panties today... drive to the gas station and buy a 6-pack of peanut butter crackers and a sprite (for good measure) and then go sit in the parking lot of the Emergency Room (oh yes, yes I did) and let Caden have his FIRST taste of peanut butter. It felt this was as controlled of an environment as I could manage to create. So I found a PRIZE parking spot on the front row and threw my car into park and we did it! AND I am proud to say that he ate ALL 6 crackers and is still doing well! Phew! Of course during that time we happened to see the anesthesiologist that he had for his tube surgery leaving the building. He looked at us strange and gave us the head nod and moved on... "Don't mind us... just eating some peanut butter for the first time... sure there are PLENTY of moms who do this every day!"

RIGHT... I'm sure... I may not be the first mom to ever do this but I don't think this is the norm... But alas, this is me...

Welcome to My World!!

My Heart Belongs to #82!!

Really!! Number 82 has my WHOLE heart! And that big, goofy-grinned Daddy of his does too!! I love all my boys...

Let's go Boys!! (Cowboys...Caden...Daddy!!)

Here's our best attempt at getting Caden's new trick on video... the TOUCHDOWN sign!! His Daddy taught him "first down" tonight... maybe he'll be a ref someday! :)

PS: Happy, HAPPY, HAPPY Grandparents Day to KK and Albi and Nana and Paps from the Chade!

PPS: HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY Grandparents Day to Gram, Grandma, Gran and Poppa from Chade's Mommy and Daddy!

We love you g-rents!! :)

Thanks to Hermine...

Thanks to Tropical Storm Hermine...

• Caden got to stay up late last night and watch Follow That Bird with Daddy. (due to the two Tornado Warnings that delayed our bedtime routine)
• Mommy got a head start on cleaning out the Tornado Closet. (due once again to the TWO Tornado Warnings)
• Neither Daddy nor Mommy got much sleep because the RAIN was SO LOUD!

But when life throws you lemons or in this case, feisty storms named Hermine, you gotta make some lemonade and get a little wet!!

So, today Caden and I chose to make some lemonade and opted for a little rainy day fun!! We played for nearly 30 minutes outside before we were HEAVILY soaked... our clothes were hanging off of us, BUT we had fun!!

Caden post-rain play... (I told him to sit on his bottom until I got back with a towel. We were slippin' and slidin' all over the place!)

Mommy post-rain play...

An attempted pic of Caden AND Mommy post-rain play...

What about y'all??!! Any lemonade makers out there??!!

A Trip to Legoland Via Waco

Happy Labor Day!! I hope everyone enjoyed their long-weekend! I'm still having a hard time grasping that today is Monday... not a typical Monday when Daddy is around to play with us! It sure has been nice.

Our weekend started off pretty low-key with Caden recovering from his surgery on Friday or maybe it was Mommy and Daddy recovering... but regardless we didn't do too much of anything Friday night or Saturday. We spent a good majority of our Friday night and Saturday outside... the weather was gorgeous and Caden was READY to be back in the yard with his doggies... which he says now by the way! We hear "doggies" about 800 times a day! Doggies! Doggies?! Doggies!! Doggies. You get the idea... Caden loves him some doggies!

Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Waco to celebrate the last part of Labor Day weekend with the Coxes and Aunt Ree Ree and Uncle Tag. All summer Nana and I have been scheming to take Caden to visit the Lego Exhibit at the Mayborner Musuem and we just BARELY got it in! We went Sunday afternoon on the LAST day of the exhibit which also happened to be FREE admission day... yay!! Of course FREE day meant that Caden did have to share the place unlike when we went at Christmas and NO ONE was there! :)

So while the big boys played golf, Caden and the girls headed out for a few errands a yummy burger at Five Guys and then off to visit Legoland!!

I'm not sure Caden quite understood the "coolness" of the lego exhibit BUT he had a great time nonetheless! He needed to be a bit older to understand that these amazing things he was looking at were ALL made out of the tiniest little Lego blocks. One day he'll get it...especially when he starts trying to make his own Lego creations! :)

Here are a few pictures from our visit to the museum...

Aunt Ree Ree and the Knight... and Sir Caden, of course!


I tried to take a few pictures of the different showcases to show the detail... amazing!

Caden loved these items the most because they had a wheel he could turn to view all sides of the piece... or maybe he just liked turning the wheel... he was even turning it for other guests! :)

I thought this dragon was SO cool, of course Caden ran right passed it! Ha! :) Lots of people in the way, maybe!

Caden creating his own story with his Lego friends...

Here you go ladies... let me... I insist!

Playing peek-a-boo with Aunt Ree Ree behind the BIG, serious Lego dude!

After about 10-15 minutes in the lego exhibit, Caden was ready to move on... luckily there is always plenty to do at the Mayborne so we headed upstairs to some of his favorite rooms from his visit during Christmas... first stop... the PIANO!! Of course!

He looks a little different from his first trip... my baby is all grown up!

Oops... this picture jumped in the wrong spot somehow... Aunt Ree and Caden posing on the Lego-throne!! King and Queen of Legoland!!

Now back to the 'ol ivories...

I even got to take a break from being the photographer and got to play a little ditty with my man! Actually... he wasn't much into sharing the piano. He would point and give us a nudge... GET OFF! Hmmm... of course if anyone that he didn't know wanted to play he was fine with it... just treatin' us girls with no respect!! We'll be fixin' that!! :)

Next up, we headed to the Around the World room... Caden was REALLY diggin' all of the musical instruments from Around the World... he was a little one man band!

I'm actually surprised Caden likes this room as much because his Aunt Ree Ree is constantly trying to get him to dress-up in the clothes... the GIRL clothes no less. Really Aunt Ree Ree, a dress??!! Can't a guy get a dude shirt around here?!

The wood block... he's got a future in wood blocking for sure!

Uh-oh... Aunt Ree Ree struck again... at least she didn't bring the senorita gear again!

Aunt Ree Ree did play fair though and played dress-up too!

Osama Bin Ree Ree...

We went to just about EVERY other room, but after the pioneer room my camera battery died and thus the tale of the musuem through photos came to an abrupt end! :(

Caden and I decided that we prefer our car to the wagon, but agreed that it is a great place to take a quick break from our afternoon adventures in Legoland!!

We had a great time at the museum... I'm so glad we were able to visit the Legos before they moved on to another lucky city! Thanks Nana and Aunt Ree Ree for joining us... it certainly would not have been as well photographed or enjoyed without you two! :)

After the museum fun we headed home to visit with Great Poppa and Great Gran who came into town to see everyone (Caden!) and then once Caden went to bed the BIG kids feasted on some yummy fajitas and margaritas and had a ladder ball tournie in the back yard! We drew for teams to be sure it was fair but as luck would have it the two best players ended up together... leaving the rest of us a little reluctant to even play! BUT... we rallied and every team won at least one game of ladder ball so that was a very HAPPY ending to our seemingly stacked tournie! :) Gotta love late summer nights in the back yard... doesn't get much more American than that!

And on that note... Happy Labor Day America!!

Tube-u-lar Update!!

Good afternoon! Happy Friday!

Just wanted to give y'all a quick update on Caden. We arrived at the hospital at 6:00am this morning with our lil' man all bundled up in his cutest pair of PJs ready to tackle the upcoming surgery. Justin and I both had a great peace this morning about the surgery and knew it was the best thing for Caden. Of course, that is not to say that we were excited about it...but this would be the first of several things that are necessary and that we similarly don't enjoy! :)

Caden seemed a bit apprehensive when we arrived this morning. We sat his room, room #7, for a few minutes trying to get him interested in the TV show they had playing on Disney, BUT he was really wanting to explore and check out the place so we loaded him up in a wagon that have for kiddos and we walked up and down the halls of the surgery floor. The wagon was a lifesaver... and an arm saver... our little wiggle worm was putting up quite a fight to get down while we were in the room... and I can't say that I blame him. He knew something was up and he needed to find out what.

We met with our anesthesiologist and then the Doctor briefly and then before we knew it two really sweet nurses with big, bright colored hats came and took him away! Now this part was hard! I said bye gave him a big hug and a kiss and away he went through the BIG double doors that said authorized personnel only. He was UPSET... of course he was! After my last brave smile I walked back into the room and shed a few tears myself... of course I did! And then all was okay.

For the next 20 minutes Justin, KK and I just chilled and watched GMA in the room. Within 10 minutes the doctor came back out and reported that everything went great that there was LOTS of fluid behind his ears that he sucked out and that he should be back to us in a few minutes once he woke up.

Then sure enough... a few minutes later in walked a sweet nurse with our crying boy! Waking up was pretty hard on him... he wasn't in total control of his limbs so he was loosey goosey and his head was all wobbly... and because of the sheer size of his HEAD when it went wobbly the rest of him followed, so we had a kind of amusing yet sad time with him until he perked up.

Once they took his osat monitor off and we told him we were headed home he was like an entirely new person. He had refused popsicles, ice and juice (all HIGHLY unlike him) but as soon as we headed down the hallway and out the doors he was DOWNING the juice and waving goodbye to all of the kind people who treated him! "See ya suckas!!... I'm out!!"

We got home about 7:45 this morning and since then it has been business as usual! Now he's napping just like he normally would! It's like waking up at 5:30 this morning and having surgery was just a dream... and we are thanking the good Lord for that!

We appreciate all of the sweet texts, emails and voicemails we've received this week and this morning! Y'all are so sweet to think of us and especially pray for us... thank you!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! We're gearing up on Sunday to head to Waco for the day/night... can't wait to share our fun when we get home!!

MUCH LOVE!!! :)

(please note that no pictures were shared seeing as 5:30am is not a good look for any of us... especially a coming-out-of-surgery Caden! No one wants to see that!)

Happy 20 Months Sweet Boy!!

Caden is 20 Months old today!! Yah, I know it seems like I just posted his 19-month post ... time flies! I'm not going to labor over a REALLY long and sappy post today... I just can't! It's been one of those days when I have cried ALL day long and I'm over it!! Really! :) It's happy tears, sad tears, scared tears... all into one day!! As Amanda Jones of Baby Bangs said the other day... I've been EMOTING!! :) And I do it SO well... my poor Mom! God knew exactly what he was doing when he gave me to her and her to me... she's wonderful always... but on my EMOTING days she is essential! :) Love you KK!!

Okay so BIG developments this month include a new word... MA-MA!!! FINALLY!!! And he says it all cute like a little Italian... Ma-Maaaaa... he drags the last part out... SO funny! It melts my heart when he says it... I am loving being Ma-Ma instead of a grunt and a point! So refreshing to have a name!:)

He also popped out another tooth just a few days ago... bringing us to 13! Phew! He's got a mouth full of crooked teeth... takes after me in that regard I'm afraid... Braces here we come! I better start saving!! EEK! :)

He is still LOVING Sesame Street and has taking a HUGE liking to Sesamestreet.org and the games and videos they have for him to play and watch! He is doing even better in the pool still swimming like a big boy all by himself with his floaties. His favorite new pool trick is lying on his back... he gets so tickled when he does it. He is also eating with a fork!! He is doing so well! He isn't too good with his spoon still but the stab and eat thing that the fork requires is a good fit for him. He is really talking a lot these days... so many new words are popping up all the time. Too many to remember them all, but I know one thing... I love hearing them!! :) Music to my ears! I can't wait to hear his progress after he gets his tubes on Friday!! (And I'm not really wanting to talk too much about that right now... it's best for my tear ducts! I'll keep y'all posted though... for now I'm just going to rest in God's will... and pray that he helps me find strength and Caden bravery and the doctors/nurses wisdom!)

Okay... on to the better stuff!! :) Today we went to a new spot to snap a few pics... of course he NEVER stopped so I couldn't get many face shots, but I did my best!! Enjoy!!

Happy 20 Months my sweet lil' man! I love you to the MOON AND BACK and back again, and again and again and AGAIN! And then again... :)