Welcome Home & Happy Birthday!

Today we had an old fashioned toys and candy Welcome Home and Birthday party for Caysen! We were actually in Taiwan on his 1st birthday, but there were a few people at home that would be pretty upset if they didn't get to help him celebrate turning one!!!

I love how the cakes turned out; my SIL is so talented :)
The Spread

Throwback toys that we found at Target, love them!

The only healthy option at the party ;)

I had to find a way to add his cute little mug into the decor!

Hanging out with Grandpa Kirk

"Happy Birthday to You"

At first, he didn't know what to think about having his very own cake...

It didn't take him long to decide he liked it ;)

Then he really went to town!!

Uncle John helped serve the cake to everyone else.

And here is Caysen, after eating his cake!

Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate our sweet and precious boy :)

Security Blanket

We thought it would be a good idea to let Caysen sleep in his pack-n-play in our room when he first came home from Taiwan. You know, so he wouldn't get scared or feel all alone...
Well, we've been home about a month and Caysen is sleeping through the night (more or less), so we decided that tonight is the night to move him into his crib in his own room.

Like I said, we thought we were making this slow transition for Caysen's sake.
Turns out, it's harder on this mama than it is on Caysen.
It's sort of silly when we think about it considering that Caysen has already slept in at least eight different beds since he was born.

I think he's going to like this bed ;)

No Words, Just Cute :)

Thirteen.

Caysen, you are 13 months old today!! You are the most precious and perfect sweet baby ever :) We love watching you change and grow all the time.

You are getting better and better at sitting up; you still have to brace yourself with your hands, but you are sooo close to being able to sit up without bracing yourself.

You are also holding yourself up higher and higher on your hands and knees, like you might be thinking about crawling :)

You are such a good eater! You love anything we give you...carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears, and of course yogurt!

You are almost sleeping through the night. You still wake up a couple of times, but if Mama rubs your back and tells you it will be ok, you go back to sleep after only a few tears.

Mom loves water and wants you to love it too, but you don't. Half water and half juice is the only way you'll drink enough so we're going with that for now ;)

You have finally outgrown your monkey jammies! We'll have to keep those since you just about wore them out!!

You have been babbling more and more. You love it when mom and dad mimic whatever you say; it makes you smile so big :)

You do NOT like the grass; we tried to set you in the grass and you cried and cried!

You still don't have any teeth, but you love to chomp your gums together and it is oh so cute!!

You love to hang out in bed with mama and daddy when you first wake up in the morning (Mama and Daddy love it too)!

I wrote this post earlier today and mentioned that Caysen is a good eater, and then we had dinner...This boy can eat!!! Two oz. of pears, two oz. of carrots, one oz. broccoli, two tbsp. rice cereal mixed with about an oz. of formula, and 2 oz. of banana yobaby yogurt! I don't know where he puts it all ;)

Squeaky Clean

Unexpected.

Things I expected when I went to Taiwan:

Missing Lance like crazy.
Missing home.
Missing peanut-butter and pancakes with agave nectar.
Missing my family.
Loving Caysen (a lot).
Being hot.
Enjoying lots of new experiences.


What I didn't expect:

Meeting several people that I grew to love and missing them like crazy when I had to leave!

It didn't even cross my mind before I left for Taiwan, but I miss some Campbells, Muirs, Hatchers, and others too...so much!!! It has been, without a doubt, the hardest part about coming home. Even worse than the jet lag.

Sometimes this world seems so small, but when there are people on the other side of the world who have become like family, all of a sudden, the world seems so big :(

It's been almost a month since we left, but it still hurts to think about the tearful, very tearful, goodbyes ( H&T don't say goodbye, so it was "see ya soon") I had to say when we left Taiwan.

Yep, not what I expected...

Still Bursting!

Caysen and I have been together for about two months now, and I can say without a doubt that he has captured my heart.

When I saw him in pictures before we met, I knew I was in love...

Over the past two months since I held him for the first time, my love for him has grown exponentially!

Sometimes, when I'm holding him, he just stares up at me and let me tell you, it is the best feeling in the world!

Tonight, I read him a popular children's book called "Love You Forever". It took everything I had to be able to finish the book without completely losing it!

Being Caysen's mom is everything I hoped for and more :) No matter how close I hold him, I just want to hold him closer because I just can't get enough of him. And don't even get me started on his smile; I'm pretty sure it's bright enough to light the whole world!

What else can I say, the boy melts me!

Every. Single. Day.

You Make Me Smile

Happy 5 years to my Mr. Kirk! Love you, love you, love you!! This journey has been amazing so far, and I can't wait to see what the future will bring :)

How Sweet It Is...

Here we are less than a month ago with the most amazing, perfect, precious, wonderful, sweetest sweet boy ever! Our love for eachother has only grown since Caysen became a part of our family :)

We treasure our time with Caysen, but we also treasure our time when it's just the two of us and we can talk and laugh and snuggle, and just be us. Thanks be to God, this life is oh so sweet!

Lucky I'm in Love With My Best Friend

Here we are in 2007, looking a little more grown up ;)

Kirkster, you are so amazing! Thank you for taking such good care of me and always making sure I'm ok! I'm definitely the luckiest...

Good Good Life

This beauty is from 2004 I believe; oh my, how we've changed!

I was pretty smitten with Lance back then, but I had no idea how much our love would grow. The best part is that it continues to grow deeper and deeper with each passing day :)

I thank God every day for bringing us together. Lance is the half that makes me whole!

We've come a long way baby!

I can't believe I'm posting this picture; but in the spirit of 5 years of marriage, here it is ;) That's right, as of this Friday, Lance and I will have been married for 5 wonderful years!!

This particular picture is from 2001, when we first started dating. It is wrong on so many levels (I mean, what were we wearing???) and we both look like babies, but I'm so glad we met all those years ago :)