New Year, New Posts (Hopefully)

In the blogs that I read, I stumbled upon this list (below). You are supposed to check things off if you have done something. I was surprised what I had done and had not that was actually on the list. Hope you enjoy, I did at least!

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band. (Sang, only sort of a band, more like a group)
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris. (Is on the eventual to-do list)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. (No, but the Empire State Building, Yes)
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not sick.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb. (Petted a lamb)
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagra Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language. (Well, I had help, but I learned one!)
37. Had enough money to truly be satisfied.
38. Seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie. (Not proffesionally, just homemade)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served in a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. (It's actually in my son's closet right now)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Been to the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the paper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. (Um.. ewww.)
88. Had Chicken pox.
89. Saved someone’s life. (It's amazingly scary how often toddlers choke...)
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Sundays are always the hardest day of the week for our little man, I think that many other parents feel the same way. Church throws a kink into the regular schedule, Caeden eats at a different time, he normally won't sleep while at church because it is just too fun and exciting with everything going on, so usually he is exhausted and falls alseep on the way home from church. However, I guess our poor little guy was so tired this past Sunday that he fell asleep in the stroller (as you can see by the pictures above!). This is remarkable for Caeden, because he is always so interested in everything that is going on to even THINK about falling asleep in the stroller. Needless to say, he was worn OUT! He didn't even blink an eye when Ben transferred him to the car seat to go home!

Exploration and Discovery

Caeden has found a new favorite past-time that his daddy introduced him to this weekend, crawling under the coffee table and looking through the glass above him! He also loves to play with all the magazines underneath there too! He is becoming such a little toddler lately, and I can really tell that he will be 1 years old in a little over a month! I still can't believe it, but his mannerisms are so much less baby-like these days. He is still such a happy little guy, just content to be around people or kids or doggies, and he is learning more and more all the time. He has recently started to stand up from squatting all by himself, without holding on to anything. We have several guesses as to when he will take his first steps, but both Ben and I think that he will be venturing out on his own 2 feet in the next month. What a new phase that will be! He is already such a fast little crawler, I can't imagine the speed he will gain when he starts walking! He is such a joy and blessing to us, and we are so thankful that he is our son. I really enjoy the time I get to spend with him by staying home.

In other news, Ben has started his last fall semester at Southeastern (Lord willing!), and it seems like it will be a little bit better than last semester. He was able to set up his schedule to have 1 Tuesday night class and the rest of his classes are on Thursdays from 12-9. He is also doing "early morning" with Ravenscroft, which is great because it does not reduce his hours at work any. He is also taking only 1 independent study class, which will be better on his work load. We are excited about him graduating this coming spring, as long as everything goes as we think it will!

On Friday night, I had one of the scariest experiences yet as a parent. I was babysitting and giving Caeden his bath. As usual, Caeden decided that he wanted to stand up and see what the tub spout was like in this new fun bathtub. In a matter of a split second, while standing at the spout, he lost his footing and went face first into the spout and then down into the water. Immediately he started crying hard. I scooped him up in a towel and held him close. After his crying subsided a little bit, I held him away from me to see if he had hurt himself. I saw blood in the corner of his eye, and the whole right side of his face was red, with a purple spot on his cheekbone. Of course, as if I was freaking out already, I freaked out when I saw the blood coming from his eye, not knowing exactly where the cut was, in or outside his eye. I immediately called my mom, knowing that she was the closest person to me as I was in Cary, she said she would be right there. After a few minutes I could tell that Caeden had a tiny cut on the corner of his eye (thankfully!) and it stopped bleeding fairly quickly. He was acting very normally, and when my mom got there, she said the same thing. I am so thankful that the Lord protected his little head and caused him not to be seriously harmed by the fall! It was extremely scary, but the Lord is teaching me through this and many other thins lately that Caeden's life is not in my hands, he is protecting him and watching over him always. Only He can sustain Caeden's life, and I am not in control of that. This is a hard thing for me to learn, as I would like to be able to control Caeden's safety, but I cannot ever protect him as well as God can and I need to leave it up to "Him who is able to do abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine!"

Okay so I am a horrible blogger....

...But here is an update!

Well I know that it has been a long time since our last real update on Caeden but he is continually growing and changing every day! He has recently conquered the art of sitting up on his own! He loves to play on the floor and is so happy that he is not laying flat on his back. This week has been really good for him as he has played on his own in his room for at least an hour every day! What a great thing for mom! I have really seen him transforming into a little boy this week instead of a little baby. While I know that he IS still a baby, I have seen more and more mannerisms of a kid. It is crazy to think that almost 7 months ago he was a helpless little newborn and now he can sit up and play and babble and eat real (almost) food! This is how I left Caeden playing in his room on Monday:


As you can see he was having a great time playing with his toys! Well I came in maybe 30-45 minutes later because that babbles and talking and laughing had subsided a bit and I wanted to make sure that he was still okay. Here is what I found:


Yes, that is a TAG from one of his toys that he was enamored with! He had fallen backwards onto his boppy (which normally elicits at least an unhappy babble) and was just happy and content to be chewing on the tag of his toy. It is amusing to see what babies find fascinating!

He has also been taking really good naps this week! pretty much 1.5-2 hour naps twice a day! For Caeden this is amazing considering he has never been one to nap during the day. We are constantly working on his sleeping issues, especially at night lately, so this has been really encouraging for me to see some improvement, even if it is not at night. We are praying that the Lord will guide us in the right way to teach Caeden to sleep at night as we have reservations about letting him "cry it out." It is wearying to continually have interrupted sleep (especially since he did at one time sleep through the night!), but we are perservering through it by the grace of God!

In other news, Ben is nearing the end of his school semester which will be awesome when he is done with all these papers! It has been very busy lately and hard to keep up with everything but there is a light at the end of the tunnel! At least until next semester. Anyway, we are enjoying the nice sunny weather lately as it gives us an opportunity to get outside and do some different things! I hope it stays cool for a while but who knows!

wow...

Buckhead Church using rock band during service...

Guitar Hero controller used with live band... 

Thanks Josh Webb for the videos... 

Here is Caeden in his new Bumbo!

And here he is trying to get out of his new Bumbo!

He actually really likes sitting in it since he can't sit up on his own and gets tired of laying on his back all day long. It is funny how quickly they learn how to wiggle and wriggle out things though! Hopefully there will be more updates and pictures to come as we have made a long awaited purchase.....We got a MACBOOK!! Yaayy! This should make uploading pictures and videos much easier now that we have the space to do it!