#1
Mama - Caden, I need you to be real good this morning because Mama has a really bad headache.
Caden - (with a look of concern) Did you run into a wall?
Caden's learned the art of bargaining recently; we're not sure where.
Daddy - Caden, you have two minutes until bedtime.
Caden - No Daddy, three.
Daddy - Caden, TWO minutes.
Caden - THREE
Daddy - Do you want to go to bed right now?
Caden - (pause) Two minutes.
#3
Daddy - Can I have a hug?
Caden - I need ice cream.
Daddy & Caden hug.
Caden - (running into the kitchen)Now it's time for ice cream!!!
Seriously, where do they learn to barter like that???
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Marriage
I am happy to say that Stan & I are coming up on 12 years of marriage next month.
Through the grace of God we found each other & recognized each other and we've worked really hard to make our marriage work. Having a child - and especially having one so late in our marriage (9 years in) - changed the dynamics some, but we're a team by every definition of the word.
That's not to say we don't have our little tiffs. When Caden was a few months old, I looked at Stan and told him that I thought we may have a strong-willed child on our hands. His response - you think??? I guess he's right - I shoud've been prepared for Caden's spiritedness given his parents' stubborness and hardheadedness.
There are days, I walk around giddy in love with my man. He can do no wrong. I can't do enough for him. We are basking in the glow of eternal bliss.
There are other days we are puttering right along, perfectly content with each other and life in general. Busy, but happy.
And there are the other days.
The days that nobody talks about. The days that I like to pretend don't exist. These are the days that I actively choose to love him. He hasn't done anything wrong, but I'm not on the high of love. Luckily these days don't last long, but I think they're good for our marriage. It's during those times that we truly work at our marriage, that we realize, 'hey, this person isn't perfect; how are we going to get through this?'
And coming out of those days? Into days of bliss?
Priceless.
Through the grace of God we found each other & recognized each other and we've worked really hard to make our marriage work. Having a child - and especially having one so late in our marriage (9 years in) - changed the dynamics some, but we're a team by every definition of the word.
That's not to say we don't have our little tiffs. When Caden was a few months old, I looked at Stan and told him that I thought we may have a strong-willed child on our hands. His response - you think??? I guess he's right - I shoud've been prepared for Caden's spiritedness given his parents' stubborness and hardheadedness.
There are days, I walk around giddy in love with my man. He can do no wrong. I can't do enough for him. We are basking in the glow of eternal bliss.
There are other days we are puttering right along, perfectly content with each other and life in general. Busy, but happy.
And there are the other days.
The days that nobody talks about. The days that I like to pretend don't exist. These are the days that I actively choose to love him. He hasn't done anything wrong, but I'm not on the high of love. Luckily these days don't last long, but I think they're good for our marriage. It's during those times that we truly work at our marriage, that we realize, 'hey, this person isn't perfect; how are we going to get through this?'
And coming out of those days? Into days of bliss?
Priceless.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Favorites of a 3-year-old
foods
*queso
*tomatoes
*sandwiches (he wanted a birthday sandwich for dinner tonight!)
restaurants
*Casa Rodriguez
*Chili's
*Roadhouse (loves all the attention from the pretty waitresses!)
movies
*Incredibles
*Lady & Tramp (calls them 'blue dogs' b/c the DVD is blue as opposed to 'white dogs' which is 101 Dalmations)
*Cars
things to do
*read
*play with trucks
*work with Daddy in the dirt or the yard
outfits
*red shirts
*black sweatpants
*train shoes (Thomas)
toys
*trucks
*John Deere tractor
*blocks
latest habits
*coming to Mama & Daddy's bed sometime in the wee morning hours, climbing over us & snuggling down to go to sleep (we don't wake up, so we don't notice him until the alarm goes off!)
*'checking email'
*making up stories; he's got a very vivid imagination
stuff he's learned/almost learned
*counting from 11-20
*recognizing all letters (upper & lowercase)
*how to feed the cats!
Every day you learn something new Caden, and it's been so much fun watching you. Happy Birthday from Mama & Daddy!! We love you so much!!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Blessings on the highway
1 car
2 ladies
3 miles outside Huntsville
4 tires full of air
...And then there were only 3.
Luckily my carpool partner for the week knows how to change a flat tire.
But!
Before she could really get started, a car pulled up behind us.
The guy got out, helped us take the tire off and helped put the new one on. He made sure I knew I could only drive it temporarily and I shouldn't go over 55.
I pride myself on not judging people based on appearances, but this was a nifty reminder of that, for this guy had a doorag on his head, no shirt on, many tattoos on his person, and was puffing away on a cigarette the whole time. I made some comment about why couldn't this have happened in the winter when it would be much cooler and he said that he had been building houses since 6 that morning. It was now almost 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
All he wanted to do was get home, cool off, and relax, but he stopped to help 2 ladies on the side of the road.
God bless you good Samaritan!!!
2 ladies
3 miles outside Huntsville
4 tires full of air
...And then there were only 3.
Luckily my carpool partner for the week knows how to change a flat tire.
But!
Before she could really get started, a car pulled up behind us.
The guy got out, helped us take the tire off and helped put the new one on. He made sure I knew I could only drive it temporarily and I shouldn't go over 55.
I pride myself on not judging people based on appearances, but this was a nifty reminder of that, for this guy had a doorag on his head, no shirt on, many tattoos on his person, and was puffing away on a cigarette the whole time. I made some comment about why couldn't this have happened in the winter when it would be much cooler and he said that he had been building houses since 6 that morning. It was now almost 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
All he wanted to do was get home, cool off, and relax, but he stopped to help 2 ladies on the side of the road.
God bless you good Samaritan!!!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Father's Day & Caden's birth week
My family has a longstanding tradition that one day is not enough to celebrate the birth of someone, so we have birthweeks in my house. My dad thought this up long ago & Stan has jumped on the bandwagon with both feet.
In honor of Caden & the fact that it is Father's Day, I am copying a letter that my husband wrote a friend of his a few days after Caden was born. It's long, but it tells the story of his lively birth from the interesting perspective of Dad.
Here goes...
Caden Alan arrived on Monday 6/20/2005 at 1:14pm. Weight: 8 lbs. 5 oz. Length: 21 in. Both mom and boy are doing great.
We should have known the delivery would include a rather intense moment after the pregnancy ran very smoothly.
Let me begin by saying….Praise God for ignorance. I never fully understood how serious the situation was until late Monday night. Apparently God knew I needed to stay calm, so he didn’t allow me to understand.
This is going to be a bit wordy, but I think it needs to be in order to get you in the moment.
Because of his size (mainly his head) the doctor induced a little over two weeks early. His head measured 42 weeks at 37 weeks. Most of the other measurements were also around 40 weeks.
We went in Sunday night to start the induction. They gave DeAnn a pill twice during the night to help her dilate. The Pitocin began flowing around 6am. They broke her water around 8am. She got her epidural shortly after that so she was in good spirits. She was checked every hour and was progressing nicely. At noon the nurse felt Caden’s head and estimated he would be born around 4 or 5pm. At 1pm the nurse entered the room to do the hourly vital signs check on DeAnn and see how much she had dilated. The doctor entered the room about 10 seconds behind her. She said she had walked past the monitor at the nurses’ station and noticed an irregularity so she wanted to check DeAnn.
When she checked DeAnn she said the cord had come out. Since Caden had an internal heart monitor attached to his head I thought that was what she was talking about since she said it so calmly. I looked at the monitor and saw a heartbeat so I said, “What does that mean?” She said “We are doing a c-section NOW”. I said “OK”. (Not the words of a man that understood what was going on.) We had a prolapsed cord situation. Apparently Caden moved around and something caused the umbilical cord to start coming out first.
I went and caught DeAnn’s parents at the elevator. They had been in the room with us and just left to go get something to eat. DeAnn sent me because she wanted them there. All I said was “Don’t go anywhere. The baby is coming now. Emergency c-section”. I didn’t have time to explain to them but I’m sure you could imagine how this made them feel.
When I got back to DeAnn I saw her doctor (who is about 8 months pregnant) on top of DeAnn’s bed, strattling her legs. She was holding the baby’s head off the umbilical cord. The nurse was moving at a frantic pace to get everything disconnected to get her out of the labor room and into the room for the c-section. DeAnn looked terrified so I grabbed her hand and calmly comforted her until she got into the other room where we were separated. They immediately took DeAnn to the table and asked me to stand in the corner. The doctor told me I would need to put on some scrubs so I was taken out into the hallway. The assisting doctor walked past me and said “Everything’s fine. We will have him out in two minutes”. I didn’t think anything about it.
Then a nurse asked me to move DeAnn’s labor bed back to the labor room to get it out of the way. So I did.
Then a nurse came in and spoke with me. She appeared a little frazzled and was stammering a bit. Since I was still calm (I have no idea why) I simply said “I am fine. Will I be allowed in the room with my wife?” She immediately calmed down and said if they kept DeAnn awake I would be, but not if they had to knock her out. She pointed to the scrubs on the table and told me to put them on.
I just got to the bathroom in the room to change (roughly ten seconds after the previous nurse left) when another nurse stuck her head in the room and said “The baby’s out and he’s screaming. He’s fine”. I was also assured that DeAnn was fine. They had knocked her out and the doctors were closing her. She said a nursery nurse would come get me in a few minutes.
A couple minutes later the nursery nurse came and handed me my son. I got to do all the new father things in the nursery. When we got to the glass where other people could look in, DeAnn’s mother just stared at Caden with a huge smile on her face. Her dad looked at me with a rather scared expression and mouthed “How is DeAnn?” Apparently DeAnn is a daddy’s girl. I told him she was fine. Then he smiled and couldn’t take his eyes off his new grandson.
Later Monday night we went over what had happened. I finally understood the seriousness of the situation when I saw it through DeAnn’s eyes. I had seen doctors and nurses moving quickly to perform the c-section. I simply saw them doing their job. And they were very good. From the time the doctor called for the c-section until Caden was born was less than five minutes. (We’ve debated this a little, but I had looked at the clock above the door when the doctor came in. It was 1:10pm. He was born at 1:14pm.) DeAnn had seen the looks on their faces, heard the concern in their voices, and had overheard all of the conversations going on around her. Even with all the words I’ve used to describe the situation, I cannot begin to express the emotional toll it took on her. Of course it was quickly forgotten when they handed Caden to DeAnn for the first time.
I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, but now I have an interesting story. When people ask what my job was when my son was born I can say, “I was moving a hospital bed into another room”.
All kidding aside, we are just happy Caden is healthy. We were glad to welcome him to our family.
In honor of Caden & the fact that it is Father's Day, I am copying a letter that my husband wrote a friend of his a few days after Caden was born. It's long, but it tells the story of his lively birth from the interesting perspective of Dad.
Here goes...
Caden Alan arrived on Monday 6/20/2005 at 1:14pm. Weight: 8 lbs. 5 oz. Length: 21 in. Both mom and boy are doing great.
We should have known the delivery would include a rather intense moment after the pregnancy ran very smoothly.
Let me begin by saying….Praise God for ignorance. I never fully understood how serious the situation was until late Monday night. Apparently God knew I needed to stay calm, so he didn’t allow me to understand.
This is going to be a bit wordy, but I think it needs to be in order to get you in the moment.
Because of his size (mainly his head) the doctor induced a little over two weeks early. His head measured 42 weeks at 37 weeks. Most of the other measurements were also around 40 weeks.
We went in Sunday night to start the induction. They gave DeAnn a pill twice during the night to help her dilate. The Pitocin began flowing around 6am. They broke her water around 8am. She got her epidural shortly after that so she was in good spirits. She was checked every hour and was progressing nicely. At noon the nurse felt Caden’s head and estimated he would be born around 4 or 5pm. At 1pm the nurse entered the room to do the hourly vital signs check on DeAnn and see how much she had dilated. The doctor entered the room about 10 seconds behind her. She said she had walked past the monitor at the nurses’ station and noticed an irregularity so she wanted to check DeAnn.
When she checked DeAnn she said the cord had come out. Since Caden had an internal heart monitor attached to his head I thought that was what she was talking about since she said it so calmly. I looked at the monitor and saw a heartbeat so I said, “What does that mean?” She said “We are doing a c-section NOW”. I said “OK”. (Not the words of a man that understood what was going on.) We had a prolapsed cord situation. Apparently Caden moved around and something caused the umbilical cord to start coming out first.
I went and caught DeAnn’s parents at the elevator. They had been in the room with us and just left to go get something to eat. DeAnn sent me because she wanted them there. All I said was “Don’t go anywhere. The baby is coming now. Emergency c-section”. I didn’t have time to explain to them but I’m sure you could imagine how this made them feel.
When I got back to DeAnn I saw her doctor (who is about 8 months pregnant) on top of DeAnn’s bed, strattling her legs. She was holding the baby’s head off the umbilical cord. The nurse was moving at a frantic pace to get everything disconnected to get her out of the labor room and into the room for the c-section. DeAnn looked terrified so I grabbed her hand and calmly comforted her until she got into the other room where we were separated. They immediately took DeAnn to the table and asked me to stand in the corner. The doctor told me I would need to put on some scrubs so I was taken out into the hallway. The assisting doctor walked past me and said “Everything’s fine. We will have him out in two minutes”. I didn’t think anything about it.
Then a nurse asked me to move DeAnn’s labor bed back to the labor room to get it out of the way. So I did.
Then a nurse came in and spoke with me. She appeared a little frazzled and was stammering a bit. Since I was still calm (I have no idea why) I simply said “I am fine. Will I be allowed in the room with my wife?” She immediately calmed down and said if they kept DeAnn awake I would be, but not if they had to knock her out. She pointed to the scrubs on the table and told me to put them on.
I just got to the bathroom in the room to change (roughly ten seconds after the previous nurse left) when another nurse stuck her head in the room and said “The baby’s out and he’s screaming. He’s fine”. I was also assured that DeAnn was fine. They had knocked her out and the doctors were closing her. She said a nursery nurse would come get me in a few minutes.
A couple minutes later the nursery nurse came and handed me my son. I got to do all the new father things in the nursery. When we got to the glass where other people could look in, DeAnn’s mother just stared at Caden with a huge smile on her face. Her dad looked at me with a rather scared expression and mouthed “How is DeAnn?” Apparently DeAnn is a daddy’s girl. I told him she was fine. Then he smiled and couldn’t take his eyes off his new grandson.
Later Monday night we went over what had happened. I finally understood the seriousness of the situation when I saw it through DeAnn’s eyes. I had seen doctors and nurses moving quickly to perform the c-section. I simply saw them doing their job. And they were very good. From the time the doctor called for the c-section until Caden was born was less than five minutes. (We’ve debated this a little, but I had looked at the clock above the door when the doctor came in. It was 1:10pm. He was born at 1:14pm.) DeAnn had seen the looks on their faces, heard the concern in their voices, and had overheard all of the conversations going on around her. Even with all the words I’ve used to describe the situation, I cannot begin to express the emotional toll it took on her. Of course it was quickly forgotten when they handed Caden to DeAnn for the first time.
I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, but now I have an interesting story. When people ask what my job was when my son was born I can say, “I was moving a hospital bed into another room”.
All kidding aside, we are just happy Caden is healthy. We were glad to welcome him to our family.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
I don't share bread
Is it wrong that, when I went to get seconds of pasta, I took my garlic bread with me so Caden wouldn't eat it?
Hmmm...
Hmmm...
Give it to me now & nobody gets hurt
What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You
You are sweet, mellow, and easily satisfied.
You don't like anything too intense and dramatic.
Deep down, you're a kid at heart... and you're nostalgic for the past.
You are lively, goofy, and a total blast.
You're incredibly happy, and you always are lifting spirits.
You love the feeling of accomplishment. You enjoy doing what's important.
You feel lost when you have to do frivolous tasks or hang out with shallow people.
The Chocolate Oracle
And speaking of candy - the birthday party we went to last weekend had a pinata, remember? Now this was not the pinata that we grew up with. Nobody had a stick. Nobody was blindfolded. The kids lined up in a sweet orderly line and the pinata had a bunch of strings hanging down from it.
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PULL THE STRING!!!
What kind of bad bull is that?
Oh, I get it. It's safer. Blah blah blah.
All I know is - it's not a party unless someone leaves crying with a black eye.
That's all I'm sayin'.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Caden's heart
Every now and then I'm reminded that Caden is his own person and no matter the expectations that I put on him, he's going to go his own way.
We went to a birthday party this morning at The Bounce, a lovingly rambunctious place filled with those big bouncy things - hence the name.
There were quite a few other kids there, most of them older than Caden, and they were running around having the time of their lives.
Not my little man.
He was a tad bit clingy, not very sociable, and not at all interested in playing on the big bouncy castles himself. He wanted to watch before he dove in to the fray.
After a while, he warmed up and started playing - running around and screaming like the other kids, and then it was time for cake.
After cake, his little friend opened her presents, and her parents brought out the Dora pinata. Candy rained down and all the kids dove in and started snatching up candy.
Not Caden.
He hung back and waited for most of the kids to get their fill before he reached down and got some of his own.
And this is what reminded me of what a sensitive heart my little man has. Sometimes he's got to make sure of his place and his surroundings before he jumps in. Sometimes the noise and chatter is just too much and he'll go off and play by himself for awhile before rejoining the group.
I am blessed beyond measure to get to hang out with such a sweet-natured boy.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
First time tagged!
OK, I've been a little behind in my blogging, so it took me a couple of weeks to realize that I had been tagged by my sweet friend Jenny!
4 Jobs I've Had in My Life:
McDonalds manager - where I met the love of my life
bank teller - Frost and Nations Bank
Office assistant extraordinaire - UCS
High school English teacher - Conroe, Cameron, & now (drum roll) A&M CONSOLIDATED!!!
4 Movies I've Watched More Than Once:
Coyote Ugly - can't turn it off if I run across it on TV
Nine Months
Shawshank Redemption
The Princess Bride
4 Places I've Lived:
College Station, Texas
Bryan, Texas
Houston, Texas
Pasadena, Texas
(good thing it was only 4 b/c that's it!)
4 TV Shows I Watch/Watched:
House
Grey's Anatomy
The Biggest Loser
The Amazing Race
4 Places I've Been:
Colorado
Washington, D.C.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Pensacola, Florida
4 People Who Email Me Regularly:
Stan
Melanie
Stacey
Catrina
4 of My Favorite Foods or Restaurants
Casa Rodriguez
Taste of Texas
Stan's steak & baked potatoes
banana pudding
4 Places I Would Like to Visit:
Ireland
Italy
England
Yellowstone Nat'l Park
4 Things I am Looking Forward to in the Coming Year:
Hanging on for the ride of being the mama to a 3-year-old redheaded boy!
Teaching at A&M Consolidated
Celebrating 12 years of marital bliss with my honey
Coming to some sort of agreement with my hair
4 Websites I Visit Daily:
www.csisd.com
www.realsimple.com
www.msn.com
www.blogger.com
4 Bloggers I'm Tagging:
If your name is listed below feel free to join in the fun and participate!
Amanda
Shannon
Andrea
Leslie
4 Jobs I've Had in My Life:
McDonalds manager - where I met the love of my life
bank teller - Frost and Nations Bank
Office assistant extraordinaire - UCS
High school English teacher - Conroe, Cameron, & now (drum roll) A&M CONSOLIDATED!!!
4 Movies I've Watched More Than Once:
Coyote Ugly - can't turn it off if I run across it on TV
Nine Months
Shawshank Redemption
The Princess Bride
4 Places I've Lived:
College Station, Texas
Bryan, Texas
Houston, Texas
Pasadena, Texas
(good thing it was only 4 b/c that's it!)
4 TV Shows I Watch/Watched:
House
Grey's Anatomy
The Biggest Loser
The Amazing Race
4 Places I've Been:
Colorado
Washington, D.C.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Pensacola, Florida
4 People Who Email Me Regularly:
Stan
Melanie
Stacey
Catrina
4 of My Favorite Foods or Restaurants
Casa Rodriguez
Taste of Texas
Stan's steak & baked potatoes
banana pudding
4 Places I Would Like to Visit:
Ireland
Italy
England
Yellowstone Nat'l Park
4 Things I am Looking Forward to in the Coming Year:
Hanging on for the ride of being the mama to a 3-year-old redheaded boy!
Teaching at A&M Consolidated
Celebrating 12 years of marital bliss with my honey
Coming to some sort of agreement with my hair
4 Websites I Visit Daily:
www.csisd.com
www.realsimple.com
www.msn.com
www.blogger.com
4 Bloggers I'm Tagging:
If your name is listed below feel free to join in the fun and participate!
Amanda
Shannon
Andrea
Leslie
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)