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... :)

My Weekend...Project!

WHAT A WEEKEND, WHAT A WEEKEND!

But this weekend was a WHAT A WEEKEND on an entirely different level...

Remember that super great deal of a China Cabinet I snagged off of Craigslist for my birthday?! Well... this weekend was time to paint that MONSTER of a piece! I don't know if I am stupid or naive to think that it wouldn't be too hard or take THAT long, but the more I think about it the happier I am that I WAS completely stupid and/or naive to the fact that it was, in reality VERY hard and it did take a SUPER long time, or else I would have NEVER done it! :)

And now that I have done it, I can honestly say I'm glad... and I'm proud... and I'm sore!! So sore... actually! Saturday night required a nice cocktail of Advil, tequila and Mentholatum just so I could get comfortable enough to sleep, BUT almost overnight my hand grew "official painter muscles" and I was ready to hit it again on Sunday!

Here's how the weekend went down...

Saturday started like this... on the driveway in the nice, cool breeze...

After some sanding, cleaning, hardware removal I started to paint...I used a paint that is primer and paint in ONE... SO GLAD!! I can't imainge how long it would have taken me otherwise! Worth the money!!

Notice the sun had TOTALLY encroached on my work space by the end of my first coat...It was HOT!


After the first coat was done, I HAD to move it inside and spent the remainder and Saturday and Sunday in the garage, with my trusty fan, Pandora on my iPhone and a HUGE cup of water by my side at ALL times!

Saturday I spent 8 hours painting... and Sunday I spent 7 hours! That's 15 HOURS!! And to think that I thought I would get it done in just TWO nap times... HA. HA. HA. I told you I was stupid and/or naive!!

Then last night in the wee hours of the night... or 8pm... Justin and I finally put the doors and drawers on and in and it was DONE! Victory!!

Here is a shot from Sunday... seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... barely... but still seeing it!



After the top coat dried we brought it in to give it a look...

And here is the finished product... complete with working LIGHT! :)

It was a BEAST of a project, but I am really happy with my result. Not bad for $250. $150 for the furniture and $100 worth of paint and supplies... can't beat that!! :)

Now I'm painting my kitchen table and chairs to match... so far I'm only partially done with one chair... it's going to be a week-long project for sure! It was SO great this weekend to take advantage of Justin and work ALL day, both days on the furniture! He was MOM-on-call this weekend and did a great job... I DO think he was VERY ready to get back to work today though... that Mom business is tough!! :) Thanks Justin for all of your help!! You are one good MOM and DAD! :)

This week we are gearing up for Caden's surgery (tubes in his ears) on Friday! BUT first Caden turns 20 months!! More to come on that soon...

TWO NEW POSTS

Catchin' up on my blogs... ENJOY!


FRIDAY THEME DAYS: Color Day


It's My Birthday...TODAY!

It's My Birthday...TODAY!!

August 23, 2010...the day I turned 28!! Can that be right?! TWENTY-EIGHT! Wow... that's serious! If you had asked me at 18 where I'd be in ten years I would never have said, married with a kid! However, if you had asked me at 23 where I'd be in five years I would have definitely said MARRIED (would hope so, right?!) and one kiddo and probably another one on the way. Well, as far as I know there isn't another one on the way... BUT all that to say that 28 sure sounds pretty grown-up... especially once you throw in that kid stuff!



And really, as long as we're talkin' about getting older or more seasoned as some like to say, a number doesn't really do much more than make it official... there are LOTS of clues along the journey that give getting older away!



I could make a LONG list... but I'll spare you... oh you don't want to be spared?! No, really, I shouldn't... BUT if you insist... just a few... okay?



My list...



You know you're getting older when...

• Two boxes of Fiesta Ware on your doorstep send you into fits of laughter and shouts of joy.


• You spend DAYS perusing Craigslist ads waiting for the perfect China Cabinet to POP up.


• You would rather cook your own birthday meal than go out to eat. At least then you'll know it will be good! :)


• You prefer maternity undies to your regular ones most days of the year!


• You think about getting pregnant simply because you have more cute maternity clothes than you do regular ones.


• Better yet, you go ahead and wear your cute maternity clothes... and take on the motto "just belt it!"

Ah, yes... these are the signs of getting older my friends...the times... they are a changin'! :)



As most birthdays tend to go... I've been celebrating mine for a while now! Staring with two HUGE yet delightful boxes of my new Fiesta Ware that were delivered mid-week, last week... All put up!!



I'm VERY excited about my color selections, even though I've pretty much decided I'm going to collect it all... I'm gonna be one of those crazy "day-after-Thanksgiving Fiesta Ware bargaineers"... okay so maybe I won't go that far, but I'm excited to have something to "collect."



Since I'm a collector now it is a REALLY good thing that I just so happened to find the MOST beautifully-boned china cabinet on Craigslist last week. We picked it up Saturday and now we're in the process of choosing the perfect shade of not-ultra-white white and then this weekend the real fun begins! I can't wait to show you the finished product!! AND I can't wait even more to display my new dishes inside!! :) Yay!!



This also means that I get to FINALLY unpack my nice China from the boxes it came in 6 years ago when we got married! Which opens up some serious storage room for more of Chadorade's junk (I mean keepsakes!).



The birthday fun continued on Friday night when Justin and I had an in-home date night. We do this A LOT but it never seems to get old and is the perfect end to a hectic week at work for Justin. I made a pitcher of yummy margs and some homemade chicken enchiladas and we curled up on the couch with a redbox... Valentine's Day... it was good... Justin fell asleep, but I blame this more on the tequilla in the margs than on the movie! :)



On Saturday we had FAMILY day and did all sorts of fun errands... picked-up china cabinet, went to Starbuck's, Home Depot, the AT&T store to cash-in my phone upgrade to an iPhone (YAY!), and lunch.



Later that night we met KK, Albi, Aunt Ermie and Uncle Sprady for dinner at one of my FAVORITE restaurants... Siena! It was SUPER yummy and we all had a great time! Caden did REALLY well, especially considering it was a 2.5 hour dinner! :) That is certainly not to say that we didn't have to go outside and burn off some energy a few times! :) I am so glad he was there to celebrate with me on my bday!! He's my buddy!



My family has NEVER been one to take pictures... we're horrible at it actually! We forget or get lazy and don't do it, but we did manage to snap a few before we all headed our separate directions... Caden and Justin were already loaded in the car so I just got a picture of the original three... me and my rents! :) After all, my birthday is just as much a celebration of them as it is me!! They are the reason I made it my 28 years thus far!! :)



Thanks for dinner Mom and Dad!! And thanks to Josh and Em for driving up too! I appreciate it so much!

Sunday the fun kept coming... birthday fun! Sunday evening for dinner we went and dined at another one of my favorite establishments... TACO BUENO! You either love it or you hate it and I LOVE it. I've been eating Taco Bueno since I was Caden's age and I have so many wonderful memories of eating at Taco Bueno every Sunday after church with my grandparents... it's just one of those feel good places that never disappoints! SO I got my Taco Bueno fix and then we headed out to he ballpark to watch the Express play!! :) They were playing the Rangers AAA team so of course Justin was loving that! :)

I LOVE going to baseball games! It is super hard for me to watch them on TV unless it's in the 9th inning and its nearing the end of the season, BUT going to a game is a whole different story... I LOVE it! And CADEN did too! We took him last year, but he was WAY young and not able to really enjoy the FUN, so this year was a totally different experience!

I had the MOST fun watching him get so excited about the game! He and his Daddy have been watching a lot of baseball lately with the Rangers doing so well, so he was very aware of what was going on and knew it was a BIG deal to be at a game! :)

He clapped ANY time anyone else did... no matter who did what!

We even got some spontaneous throw your hands in the air action... SO funny!

More claps...

After a while in our seats we moved to a REALLY empty section in the shade so that Caden could run around and have fun... he was GREAT until the mascots from all of the sponsors started heading out the door near our section... OH.MY.GOODNESS.GRAVY. Caden is TERRIFIED of them... all of them! Chick fil a Cow, HEB Buddy, Chuy's Red Fish, Spike the Express' Mascot... it was hilarious... to us! Every one else in our section was looking at us like we were the worst parents in the world laughing SO hard as Caden shakes (SHAKES) and wimpers at the sight of our energetically stuffed friends... oh my goodness, if I had only had my video camera! SO I'm pretty sure that Disney World is going to be a NO GO for a few years. We've gotta get over our fear first! I've never understood the whole "I'm afraid of clowns" thing... it just didn't make sense to me, but after watching Caden, I get it... I think he'll be afraid of clowns too and obviously mascots... :)

After all of that FUN...

We headed to the berm... it was finally in the shade so Caden could run around and play and we wouldn't sweat to death watching him! :) He had a blast! He ran UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN so many times his legs finally gave out on him. He face planted twice in a row and so we decided that it was time to pack it up... the poor kid was WORN.OUT.

UH-OH... more mascots... the birds that run around the field for the Pluckers Chicken Race (like the dot race) were taking the field... see the look of fear in his eye! At least they were FAR enough way that the shaking was not needed! :) Poor little guy!! How do they learn to be afraid of such things?!! So strange!

Phew... that brings us to today... my REAL birthday!

This morning Caden and I went on a run together (I didn't want to wake up early today) and then we did some shopping with a few birthday gift cards and cash. I picked up a yummy salad from Pei Wei and Caden got Burger King and we had a nice little lunch date at home! Tonight, I'm making one of my favorite meals Sweet-n-Sour Chicken and Justin may or may not be bringing home some yummy cupcakes from our favorite bakery in G-town! Sounds like a GREAT day to me!

Regardless of all of the fun, gifts, food and massive amounts of celebrating I always feel like the luckiest girl in the world... truly! Thank you (friends, bloggies, family) for all you do to make me feel especially lucky (blesses, loved, etc.)! I love y'all!!

Happy August 23rd!!

(Happy Birthday, Steph!! From one August 23rd'er to another!! I love you!!)

FRIDAY THEME DAYS: Color Day

I finally managed to get another theme day together. Last week was the first week in MONTHS that we were not traveling or curled up on the couch being sickies so I had some time to scheme up a little learning fun for Chadorade (like Gatorade...it's my latest nickname... it's a sickness, it really is! Poor child!).



So, last Friday was COLOR DAY in the Cox house. I had a lot of fun preparing for this one. I will say that Color Day was not nearly as successful as Animal Day, but I knew this might be the case...colors are tough stuff! A few of the activities I planned were a COMPLETE bust, but at least they introduced him to the concept of colors and I can continue to use them as he gets older and more able to grasp this idea! :) I'm no teacher... so I'm doing the best I can! :)



I had been "talking up" color day ALL week to Caden! Caden, do you know what Friday is???!! COLOR DAY!!! And of course because I was excited, he was excited... :) So Friday morning when I went and got him out of his crib we had our offcial "start of Color Day celebration" with a few jumps up and down and a high-five or two!



First thing we did was make some GREEN EGGS and Ham. We didn't actually eat green ham or ham at all for that matter. Since we didn't have green ham we decided to have green milk with our eggs! :) Don't those look yummy??!! I had my Lysol ready to go for any egg spillage! :)



While Caden dined on some YUMMY and SUPER HARD green eggs we read GREEN EGGS and Ham, of course!

He was REALLY excited to eat those eggs!! I think he likes green eggs better than regular eggs!

YUMM-O!

Then we did some more practice with GREEN and read More Mr. and Mrs. Green and looked at our GREEN color sheet!

We didn't have too much time to spend on GREEN because RED was waiting... we had an outdoor activity that we HAD to get in before the 120 degrees set in! :)

Caden and I went on a RED stop sign hunt in our RED wagon! I made Caden a make-shift stop sign so that he would know what to be on the lookout for...

He was PUMPED up about this and I am patting myself on the back because COLOR DAY is off to such a fantastic start... (don't hold your breath is what I really should have been saying though!)

STOP!

Look what we found... a RED stop sign!

And another RED stop sign...

And ANOTHER RED stop sign...

And then we found the park... so we stopped and played! The weather was uncharacteristically cool that morning so I couldn't resist! :)

After our RED stop sign hunt and our trip to the park we sat down and TRIED to play our first "color game" with our color sheets. It was a flash card game I came up with. He was supposed to place whatever color flashcard on the color sheet it matched...

But it turned into 52-card pick-up instead... hahaha... he was SO not interested in sitting down and playing a game... I should have known better! BUT I thought I'd try... in time, in time!

So we were RAPIDLY speeding through my list of activities so we moved onto finger painting... which sounds like it would be SO FUN, BUT not so for a kid who puts EVERYTHING in his mouth!! As it turns out PAINT doesn't taste so good... at least not to Caden. So then the icky paint became toxic all the way around and he wanted nothing to do with it. After a bit of convincing I got him to take interest in painting for .2 seconds using a paint brush! :)

OH NO! It's on my finger... I usually just lick things off my fingers but this stuff tastes like GARBAGE... HELP! Oh dear!

So he's no Picasso... :)

Next Color Day activity was all about BLUE! We got dressed in our BLUE swim trunks, our BLUE rash guard and our BLUE shoes to go to the BLUE pool, with our BLUE bucket and our BLUE floaties and splash in the BLUE water!

Mission Blue was a SUCCESS!! DUH!

Then it was time for our RED lunch! YUMM-O!

Before nap time we read several new books we checked out at the library to help us with our Color Day. We read Black Dog, Red House and Brown Bunny.

While Caden was napping I set up another Color Day activity that included FOOD... so I KNEW it would be a HUGE success!! Right??!! WRONG!! We got through a few flash cards before he got impatient with the "one-at-a-time" thing and just started grabbing handfuls from whatever glass he could reach and putting them all in one cup... SO I decided what the heck... let's just eat M&Ms and read what God has to say about colors... and how He used them to create the most beautiful promise... a rainbow! :)

AND that was Color Day... we won some, and we lost some, but such is life with a 19 month old, huh?! Regardless, we still had a fun day learning about COLORS!!!

Hopefully, more theme days to come soon...

He's Traded Me In...

Earlier this week I had an appointment with an allergist... first appointment and first time to see him. I will spare you the pictures of what the allergy tests did to me... in short I'm pretty much allergic to anything GREEN... which is fantastic, isn't it?! :) But I've got a new med and so far so good... I'll keep y'all posted!

Anyway, enough of me... so when I was at the allergist, my sweet friend Gina watched Caden. Caden was SUPER excited, of course because Ava was going to be there... duh, it's her house and Ava has a KITCHEN! OH boy! He is one kid who loves to be in the kitchen... funny, isn't it? Of course how Caden plays in the kitchen and how Ava plays in the kitchen are probably TWO different things... Caden is more IRON CHEF... throwing, banging, etc. But nonetheless the kitchen is one of his favorite new places to play...

It is certainly no secret that Caden has a crush on Miss Ava... no doubt about it he is foolish over her. He is ALWAYS trying to hug her and when he is lucky enough to catch her he is one happy man. Gina sent me these sweet pictures of the two little buddies playing on Monday and I just had to share...

This is actually from the nursery on Sunday... Gina thought their bags looked so cute next to each other (we got the idea about the back pack from them) so she took a snapshot of it! So cute!! A lady bag and dude bag!

The next two are of Caden ATTACKING Ava with some serious affection. She's expecting a little brother in January so there is definitely going to be more of this where she is concerned. Caden is a good trial for her! :)

SO HAPPY he caught her!! Cheesey Mc Cheeserson! :)

Thanks Gina for watching my lil man! He loves you and Ava so very much, but just so we're clear I'm not LETTING him trade me in ANYTIME soon... like at least for 35 more years! :)

Love y'all!!