Broken Hearts

I often wonder if Caysen's birth family ever looks at this blog. I gave them the address, but I don't know if they look. I wonder if they think about Caysen, if they miss him, if they wish it could have been different...

I don't know the answers to these questions, but it still makes me feel just a little bit guilty. We love Caysen SOOOO much, and we get to act on that love every day with snuggles, smooches, and smiles. I guess it makes me feel guilty that we get to enjoy him so much while their hearts ache to be with him.

And it's not just Caysen's birth family, but there are families all over the world who have had to make the same difficult choice. I can't imagine how hard it must be for them. It is hard to accept that our joy comes at such a great cost to others.

I hope it brings Caysen's family at least a little joy to see how loved he is, and maybe just maybe, the pain will lessen in time.

Tech

Our trip to Texas was full of firsts for Caysen, including his first college football game. It was chilly, and it was bed time, so he might not actually know he went anywhere, but it was a lot of fun!!

Here we are at the game. Caysen is somewhere in the mound of blankets in front of me ;)

The Red Raiders were able to hold off the Cougars; it's always more fun when the home team wins!!

On My Mind

The day after Thanksgiving, Christmas preparations began. We were trying to make these Martha Stewart ribbon stars:

As you can see, it wasn't working out so well:

I gave up pretty quickly and my mind went somewhere else:

He's always on my mind...

Maybe it's because he makes faces like this:

And this:

And this:
And this:

All within about six seconds ;)

Thankful.

We have been so incredibly blessed this year. God picked the perfect little boy for our family and we are so thankful!!

We are thankful always, but here are some pictures from the day dedicated to giving thanks:

The Hostess

Working Hard

Team Effort.

Let's Eat!

Caysen's first Thanksgiving meal.

No turkey or stuffing; how about one of his favorites, apple-cinnamon oatmeal :)



"Family"

Aunt Lori

This year for Thanksgiving, we went to Lance's sister's house.

Lori and Caysen finally got to meet; and it was love at first sight ;)

Caysen got to meet another one of his cousins too! If you haven't noticed, he has lots!!!

15

Caysen, you are 15 months old! Where has the time gone? We continue to love you more and more every day; who knew two people could love one little boy so much!?! As usual, you have changed so much over the last month (in most areas at least). Here's what you're up to:

You weigh 13 lbs 15 oz, yes, that's exactly what you weighed a month ago! We're working hard to help you eat and drink enough without puking so hopefully you'll start gaining again soon.

You are 26 inches long!

You love to scoot around the floor like a little inch-worm; cutest. thing. ever.

You love to eat apples, pears, and yogurt. We've given up on making you eat your veggies for now; we just want you to eat without puking up the entire contents of your stomach :(

We are getting you to laugh more and more, also the cutest thing ever!

You have TWO teeth! Your two bottom front teeth have come in over the past few weeks and uncle John thinks you'll be ready for steak soon ;)

You are much less interested in your hands these days, but you do like to hold them clasped, which is, you guessed it, the cutest thing ever!

When you are sitting in your high chair, you bob your head up and down and think it's hilarious. It makes it challenging to get any food in your mouth, but we think it's hilarious too, so we let it slide ;)

You wear 6-9 month clothes.

You are tough! When you get your shots, you cry for all of 10 seconds and then it's like it never happened. Or when you are scooting around and hit your head on a piece of furniture, you barely even whimper! I think we're going to have to watch out; you might be a little bit fearless ;)

You say da-da-da, and ba-ba-ba, and mmmmm (when we're feeding you). Lot's of jabbering, no actual words. We love hearing you talk in your sweet baby language :)

You still sleep all night in your own bed. Lately, you've started scooting around your crib when you wake up, so we never know where we might find you!

You love the Baby Bjorn, we put you in there and you just start kicking your legs and flapping your arms like crazy, grinning from ear to ear (as Aunt Trena says, smiling with your whole face and body too)!

You are starting to mimic us. If we clap, you clap. If we shake our heads, you shake your head. Monkey see, monkey do ;)

Loving you doesn't get old. Snuggling you doesn't get old. Staring into your sweet little eyes as you stare back definitely doesn't get old. We continue to be so thankful that we get to have you in our lives. Love you sweet boy :)

Haircut- Round 1

Here is a picture of Caysen a couple of weeks ago when he was really starting to need a haircut:

He really needed a haircut, it was actually in his eyes by the time I got around to cutting it this week.

Where did Caysen go? This is a teenager, not the little baby boy from the picture above: Thanks to my hair cutting skills, the poor guy also has a little bit of a "Dumb and Dumber" look going on ;) Especially when he makes this face:
I will be touching up his haircut, but it's not his favorite thing to endure, so I just did enough to make it look sort of normal and I'll touch it up once he gets over the trauma from the first round.
A. His hair really does grow to one side so it's partially an optical illusion that it's longer on one side.
B. It's only partially an optical illusion that his hair is longer on one side.
C. His hair is too thick to just trim around the edges anymore; it gives him the bowl cut/Dumb and Dumber look mentioned above.
D. I will no longer be giving Caysen haircuts ;)
E. He is still the cutest teenage Dumb and Dumber precious sweet baby boy ever!
F. The End.

Baltimore Family

We went to Baltimore last week to see my sister and her family. We got to check out a really fun place called Storyville, we went to my sister's toddler group, we went shopping, shopping, shopping, and we ate at a yummy Taiwanese restaurant! It was a busy week and we were worn out by the time it was over, but we had a really good time.

Here are some pictures from Storyville:

Roqaya

Karim

Caysen licked the floor...in public...and I didn't stop him! I don't know what's happening to me ;)


Super Baby!!!



We tried out my sister's Baby Bjorn, then we went out and bought one the next day. I don't know how I lived without one!!

Then we saw a sign that showed us how far we were from China:
It made us miss Taiwan...so we went to a Taiwanese restaurant and got noodles and bubble tea:
It made us feel a little bit better ;)
On the way home, the seat next to us was empty so Caysen got to use it as a bed. He slept for 2 hours of the 3 1/2 hour flight...it was GLORIOUS! Actually, Caysen is an awesome traveller, but it was still nice that he napped for a good chunk of our long flight.

We had a great time in Baltimore, but it always feels good to be home :)

Sugar & Spice

The last two weeks have been busy, busy, but we're finally getting back to normal...until next week when we have big plans for Thanksgiving ;)

I hosted a baby shower for my SIL, Jen, a couple weeks ago. The theme was Sugar and Spice since she's having a little girl. I think it turned out pretty cute!

It was my first time hosting by myself so I definitely learned a few things, but it all came together in the end.

We had fruit and dip as well as Pamela's vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing:

For the spice, we had a seven layer dip and jalapeno popper cups, which were a hit! I got the recipe here.

It was a lot of fun; I think we're all ready to meet Miss Kennedy!!