Bad mommy!

I am the worst blogger... so sorry!  Lots going on the last few months!  I have been unemployed since December 13th (yuck) so I have been swamped with a job search with little time devoted to blogging!  I am happy to announce I finally took a new job on Tuesday this week!  Yay!

Linley and Caden are doing great, 20 months now!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown by!  Linley is still itty bitty... she only weighed in at 19 lbs 6 oz at her 18th month appointment!  Luckily, she is at least in the 25th percentile for height (that is saying something)!  Caden is now almost 23 lbs (still on the lower end of the weight scale) but shockingly, his is in the 50th percentile for height.  That is right, my sweet little boy is average even after being 8 weeks early and having 2 short (sorry Trip) parents.  They are both running everywhere, mastered the sippy cup, eating with spoons and forks, waving bye bye, blowing kisses and soaking everything in.  Lots of new words like Hi, Good Bye or Bye, Dog, Tiger, Yes, NO!, Nigh-Nigh...

Caden is such a boy, into everything and he likes to play rough.  Oh and he LOVES shoes!  He would wear his new balance tennis shoes to bed if we let him, as it is, Caden and Trip put the shoes away at night and tell the shoes "nigh-nigh" so Caden won't be upset that we have to take them off.  We just bought him a cute pair of Vans because his feet are growing but if he has the chose he still wears his new balance more than anything.

Linley Grace is our sweet girl, she loves to give kisses and if Caden cries she brings him his milk or paci (which ever is more convenient) and gives it to him because he is upset.  She gives kisses to her baby doll and pushes it around the house in the stroller that GiGi and Scotty got her for Christmas.  She also LOVES to kick her soccer ball and truthfully, she is pretty darn good!  I mean, future Olympics good :)!

On another note, we have a new nephew and a new niece!  My sister Kristin and her husband Preston had a little boy on February 6, Hudson and Trip's sister Gina and husband Clint had a little girl, Julianne, on February 23rd.  We are so excited for them both.

Here are a couple  photos from Christmas and the last several months.

A kitchen makeover...

I have wanted to redo my cabinets for some time now and after a crash course in glazing with a new laundry room cabinet I decided to redo the entire kitchen... 6 days later I finally finished.  Whew, it was a lot of work; sanding, priming, painting and glazing.  Maybe a smidge more than I bargained for but don't tell Trip :).  He told me, via text message, that he just didn't think I knew what I was getting myself into.  He might have been right but hey, it turned out great in the end.

We had a few bumps along the way, I thought I might have poisoned myself, did you know that not only did they put lead in paint in the 1960s but they put it in wood varnish.  Who knew?  But after all was said and done the cabinets look great!

FYI... it takes a whole day just to take off the cabinets and put them back on.

Thanksgiving...

We spent Thanksgiving in Austin this year, it was so great to get out of Dallas and hang out with GiGi and Pappa B and the rest of the family.  Linley and Caden spent a lot of time playing outside, luckily, we caught some of it on camera.

2 min photo session... not bad.

the whole crew

On the run!

Who knew a brown box could be so fun?

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween... we sure did!  Trip was a little late unfortunately, issues with the heater, but he made it just in time for the trick or treating!

As usual, we headed over to Shelley & Gabe's house to partake in turkey chili and cornbread before embarking on our evening of Trick or Treating in their neighborhood.  This year, instead of a hayride we had a wagon trail!  Lots of little ones who needed a ride!  Caden wasn't too thrilled about his lion headdress  but after a little distraction with car keys he completely forgot about it,  Linley on the other hand was a trouper, her hoodie never bothered her a bit.

Our little lion

Our little lamb

Most of the kiddos on the wagon ride

Sarah, Adam and Emma

Kelli, Chris and Jenner

Shelley, Gabe, Nancy, Quinn and Bennett

One full weekend!

This past weekend we headed to Houston for a wedding... Originally our plan was to stay with Byron and Sherry and visit Cason & Ashtyn.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out exactly as we planned... we still stayed at Byron & Sherry's but the Wilkinson's were in Dallas for their annual fair trip so we just borrowed their house.  It was really sweet of them and made it so much easier for Trip and I to bring the babies down without having to worry about hotel challenges.  It was really a fun weekend and the kiddos did very well with the car rides... the stroller ride was a different story.

** Weak stomach advisory... read the next paragraph at your own risk.

Poor Linley Grace didn't seem like she felt well Saturday morning, she was really fussy and kept wanting to sit on mommy's lap (I love that when you become a parent you can talk about yourself in the third person and it doesn't seem weird... or does it?).  MM and I decided to take the kiddos on a walk to pass the time until their morning nap, about a 1/3 of a mile into the walk I heard a weird noise and looked down to see Linley Grace throwing up, and I mean throwing up... it was like a fountain that just kept coming.  Yuck.  I ended up stripping her down on the side of the road and carrying her home in a blanket.  Poor Caden, he was such a trouper.  He rode all the way home covered in throw up and was such a good sport about it.  It took 2 full stroller "baths" to get the strawberry yogurt smell out.  None-the-less, she spent the rest of the day avoiding food (which I don't blame her); she stuck with saltines, bananas, mum mums and peanut butter crackers.

I have a uneasy feeling that she may have a sensitivity to milk because the last few throw ups have come after she has finished her milk bottle, which she hardly does.  Let you know what the doctor thinks later this week, they have their 15 month check up!

I am sticking with crackers mom!

I am tired, take me home.

Holden's Birthday Party

Last weekend Caden & Linley's friend Holden turned one!  We had a busy Saturday, 2 birthday parties and the Tech game over at Kelli & Chris'.  It was a long day but the kiddos did really well!

Oh, and Caden is finally walking!!!!  He has taken up to 8 or so steps by himself!

Happy Birthday Holden!

Courtney helping Caden push the chair around
at Kelli & Chris' house.  Go Tech!

September Updates

Our sweet little babies are 14 months old!  Linley Grace is walking up a storm, more walking than crawling now!  Caden still could care less although I am seeing him stand up on his own more and more.

They both have more teeth!  Linley Grace has 2 molars and Caden has 1 bicuspid that has come in.  Makes them a bit grouchy on occasion though.

The kiddos enjoyed their first trip to Oktoberfest in Addison this year!  We had a great time with Bennett and Quinn... they were crawling, walking and running all over the grass with one another.  Caden really enjoyed the music, he kept crawling to the stage to watch the singers and lights.  We thought they might dose off when the started getting tired but no such luck, they ended up staying away until almost 11 am... luckily, they slept a little later the next morning!  I will say, it was definitely a different experience for mom and dad though... not quite like it used to be.

We are so close...

To walking!  I can't believe it... they are both standing up on their own and pushing the toy cars all by themselves.  I can just see Linley thinking about taking a step every time she stands on her own... those wheels are turning!  I can't believe we are about to have Toddlers!  It goes so fast.

Caden pushing his car.

Linley clapping and playing "peek-a-boo".

Cabo 2011

Just thought I would share a few fun pics from our trip to Cabo 3 weeks ago with our dear friends the Simdons and the Bachmans.  We had a fantastic time, it was just the right amount of days... we were all very happy to come home by day 5.  We stayed at this amazing hotel on the pacific side of Cabo, the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica.  It was beautiful and the food was great!  I don't think it was supposed to be a "party" hotel but we met a group of people from Marshall, TX and turned it in to one.

there is always at least one of these... Chris, you are
so cute!

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