First Shiner

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon yesterday. Bobby let me escape to the gym for a little while and this is what I came home too. Our little guy got his first shiner or black eye! Okay so it is not a black eye, but it is bruised a little. Bobby said that Andrew fell on a toy. Have no fear it has not even been 24 hours and the bruise has faded. I asked Bobby if he had ever had a black eye, he looked at me and smiled. Apparently every boy has to get at least one black eye to become a man.

On another note there is a fungus among us and his name is….. Andrew. After two weeks of having a diaper rash that wouldn’t clear up, a few friends at church took a peek and said it was a yeast infection rash. So Bobby and I have been having fun calling him our little “fun guy” get it fungi. Again nothing to worry about we are applying cream and I am expecting it to clear up in a few days. Until then we will continue referring to Andrew as our fungi.

On the days that it was kinda chilly I changed Andrew's outfit almost 3 times a day. I am ready to dress him in fall clothes! He looks so much like a big boy in this picture.

These are the adorable boots I got him, they are cowboy slippers. Too bad I didn't realize how big Andrew's foot is. They fit perfectly right now and it is hot outside.

The bottom of the boots have horse shoes on them and say "right lead" and "left lead".

Andrew underneath his exersaucer. It was funny Bobby couldn't get him out and Andrew figured out how to get out on his own. He is really into crawling into things right now. He gets under the coffee table and just runs his hands on the under side of the top. He can barely fit. He also still uses the end tables as tunnels.

Pea and lentil balls are a new favorite food to self feed. He still is not in to touching mushy and slimy foods. Decker is enjoying Andrew feeding himself she get to help me clean up the floor.

First Day of Fall

Yesterday was the first day of fall, and we had so much fun. Andrew and I went on 2 walks in one day!!! We both love walking outside. I think it is good down time for him. He has a few toys to play with but he usually watches the cars and birds and babbles while we walk. Bobby took advantage of the cooler weather and was out in the garage starting new woodworking projects. In the summer it is so hot he isn't in the garage much and he is always having to mow the yard. So in the fall and winter there is more time to work on fun projects. A few weeks ago he cleaned it out and reorganized the garage in anticipation of cooler weather.

Not very much has been going on around the Caivano house. Andrew is pulling up on everything. I was going to write about how much he loves his electronic toys, in the picture he found where I put his favorite play table. So now I am going to have to actually hide it. We have to put it out of sight because if we don't he won't play with his other toys. I just don't like the idea of him playing with electric entertaining toys all day. I want him to use creativity as well. Plus there is not much need for Bobby or I to even be in the room, when he is playing with the table. So of course we take advantage of it some times, but we want to play and interact with Andrew too. So starting at age 8 months old we are limiting his "gaming" time and I am sure we will be doing this for 18 more years.

Here is a picture of Andrew and Dad watching their first Texas Tech game together. Sadly it did not end in victory, however Tech put up a good fight and Andrew was able to stay up until the wee hour of 8:30 pm. He currently takes after his momma and likes to go to bed early.

I am posting some pictures we have taken this week, because I think they are so cute! I have been in a picture taking mood, I think it is because Andrew will be wearing some new fall outfits. I get tired of taking the pictures of the same outfits.

We have started baby proofing. Bobby put in some cabinet locks. Andrew has not started to get into the cabinets yet, it just makes me feel better and this past week at home group a little guy was opening our cabinets, so it just makes us safer for our friends too. So far all we have done are outlet covers and a few cabinet locks and rearranging the kitchen cabinets some. So now Andrew can explore the cabinets when he is ready.

Da... DaDa...Da

Wow, where has the time gone???? I know, I know, I have been saying that way too often. I just can’t believe the little guy is 8 months old today!!!! Bobby and I were talking last night about how much Andrew has changed during month 6 and 7. It seemed like everything started going turbo speed as soon as he learned how to sit up by himself over the 4th of July weekend.

Da… babble babble… DADA… babble babble.. da… Tuesday night it was so precious. All three of us were on the couch hanging out and playing and all of a sudden this is what Andrew said Da… babble babble… DADA… babble babble.. da… Up until now we have randomly heard da and ma and hi. However we think it was really random. When he said it on Tuesday, Bobby’s face light up, he was beaming. I have to admit I was a little jealous. It was just special that all 3 of us were together. On Wednesday I was driving and Andrew was in his car seat “singing,” I heard it again dada!!! As of right now we have heard DaDa 4 times! There is an old wives tale that if the first word is mama your next child will be a boy and if the first word is dada the next child will be a girl. So will Andrew get a sister? (not any time soon) Time will tell if this old wives tale is true.

We have loved every minute with the little bug and I can't wait to see what month 8 holds for us. (maybe he will say mama???)

Saturday evening we all got to meet our new cousin Miss. Addyson Lynn Lewis! You can't tell in the picture, but she is so beautiful and tiny!!!

Here is a picture of Auntie Ash’s surprise late night visit on Saturday night. It was such a fun treat.

Wednesday was a long day Andrew woke up at 2 am with a fever of 102 and a snotty nose. This was Andrew’s first time with a fever. We both survived. It was hard to see the little guy uncomfortable, and I won’t lie I did enjoy how he clinged and cuddled with me more! Thankfully he woke up today fever free and standing in his crib again, so it leaves me to wonder if a new tooth will be making its appearance soon.

I have to brag on Bobby for a moment, he got a 100 on his first paper for grad school!!!! It was even a group project; his next assignment for this month is a 25 page paper. He has to find 16 multidisciplinary journal articles about a topic. I think his topic is going to be strategies to help type 2 diabetics become more compliant. Or something around those lines. So I have a feeling he will be at the library more this month.

Pre Teen and Exploring

Yesterday morning I was in the bathroom putting on my make up and I had left Andrew in his room to play. Next thing I know I was hearing his bedroom door opening and closing. When I come up to his door it was closed then I said "Andrew" and this is what I saw, he smiled, giggled and then shut the door. We played this game a few times and then he let me in. It was too cute. If only he would always want to let mom in the room and play, no matter how old he is.

On Tuesday I went to go run errands and this is what Andrew and Bobby did. Now, Andrew loves to climb our end tables, every day we are having to do more and more baby proofing. He loves to climb anything and everything!

Caught in the act!

Here is when Andrew found the piano another favorite thing to crawl too.

Bobby and I have loved watching Andrew explore. It is so fun to see the world through his eyes. His curiosity is adorable and now he is getting better at getting around so he is not crying/ fussing when he crawls. It is now the scary silent/ focused crawling. I am finding that after a few mins./ secs. if the house is too quiet, I need to find what new thing Andrew has found.

This week was Bobby and I had our first experience with teething in the middle of the night. My poor baby has been working on his 2 front teeth. Looking back it makes Bobby and I laugh, it has been several months since we have had to deal with Andrew crying for a prolonged period of time and not being able to fix or meet his needs. So far we both agree teething for Andrew has been nothing compared to the colic. It was crazy the past couple of nights I could feel my blood pressure rising while I rocked my teething baby to sleep and tried to comfort him. There is something about a crying baby, I guess God made us that way so we could meet their needs when they cry.

On another note, last night Bobby and I went to the Fort Worth "Just Between Friends" sale. It was like a giant garage sale of baby stuff. We got some cute toys for Christmas and some winter clothes. I had so much fun! I love bargains, Bobby did well for not being a experienced shopper. When we got home and looked at our stash I laughed because all of the clothes we got Andrew were either camo, brown, or green. I also got him the cutest cowboy boot slippers. They fit now, I didn't realize how big his foot is he is in a size 3 shoe. So I hope they still fit when it is cold outside. Right now it seems silly for him to wear winter slippers when it is 90 degree outside.

On a sad note, since today is September 11th it is hard to believe that 8 years ago I was a senior in high school when our country was attacked and that evening Bobby and watched Fox News about the attack.

Swinging at the Park

It is hard to believe that the first picture is Andrew's first trip to the park just 2 months ago. He enjoyed the swinging. It was cute how the bucket swing swallowed him up. This weekend we took him to the park again and he looked so big in the swing. He LOVED swinging high and squealed in delight. We thought Andrew was going to leap out of the swing he was so excited. Of course we looked like first time parents, taking way too many pictures, oohing and awhhing and making funny sounds to get him to smile for the camera. We tried taking him down the slide and he was not amused so in to months I am sure he will love sliding down the slide.

We tried to get a family pic of Bobby, me and Andrew but out of 10 pictures one of us is either blinking, not looking, or Andrew has his hands in his face. So we will have to try again another time.

Random Facts about Summer 2009 with the Caivano's

Since tomorrow is Labor Day and that marks the end of summer. I thought I would make a little list of events that happened over the summer.

1. The 1st week of summer vacation, I slept and napped so much it was embarrassing.
2. I have cooked more meals in the past 3 months than I think I have in the past 2 two years. this leads to me washing dishes about 5-6 times a week, in the past I only did this about 2 times a week.
3. Bobby found ANOTHER hobby to add to his list, night fishing= this lead to Bobby learning how to fry fish.
4. Andrew and I took a spontaneous road trip to Austin to see Dana. I discovered P. Terrys is the best and I can't wait to go back
5. Andrew slept in Aunt Dana's closet. (CPS don't worry it was the size of her old apartment in D.C.)
6. Bobby and I saw the movie "Up" in the theatre. It was our first time to go to the movie theatre in over a year. Hey redbox, pj pants, ice cream and our couch make the best date and movie nights.
7. We got new carpet, I love it! It gave our house a newer feel.
8. I fell in love with making baby food.
9. Andrew saves his giggles exclusivly for Bobby and loves to be tossed around and ride on dad's shoulders.
10. I read 2 books this summer, Mom walk by Sally Clarkson and Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I am still deciding on a book to read this fall.
11. I gave Decker a bath for the 1st time since March. Hey, she never got the stinky smell, I guess because she was too busy shedding all over our house all summer.
12. I grew 4 plants from seeds and 2 are still alive.
13. Started to go to workout classes again. Thanks Bobby for my Monday night therapy (step class)
14. We got major work done on our cars. Mine- new transmission, computer and tires. Bobby got a new radiator and we both got new spark plugs thanks to friends and now Bobby gets closer to 15 miles per gallon instead of the 8-10 he was averaging.
15. This was the first summer I swam for a total of 5 min. on the 4th of July. That was it all summer, due to a young baby and the lack of a pool. Don't worry I just got a super cute swim suit for next year and a baby pool both on clearance.
16. So I have no tan at all to carry me into the fall. So maybe that will keep 2 or 3 more wrinkles off my face when I am older.
17. We so videoed Andrew watching a Baby Einstein video. His giggles were so cute. So we now have 10 min. of video of him watching a movie. Sad and weird I know.
18. We ate lots and lots of watermelon and peaches!!!

All in all it was a wonderful relaxing summer. We created many memories and had lots of fun with friends. Maybe next summer we will go on a vacation. We should start planning now

Will you marry me?

It is hard to believe but this was Bobby and I 4 years ago today. It was a random Friday night, school had just started back up. I had finished 1 full week of my internship at UMC for social work. Bobby had told me on Thursday night we should go on a date. I was being a brat, he picked me up and we ate dinner at On the Boarder. On the way to the park, he told me he wanted to go look at rings on the next Monday. I told I was tired of looking a rings and to just propose. Then I took a twist tie from the bread we used to feed the ducks at the park and made myself a ring! Little did I know only about 30 min. latter my hunky soon to be hubby got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. He proposed at 8:00 pm while the sun was setting at the park while we dinned on a fabulous fruit salad and multiple juice options. It was cute he was nervous so we had 4 different types of juice to sample. Then I was on cloud nine calling friends and family only to walk into my apartment to find a flower arrangement in every room with CANDY!!! Again he was nervous and couldn't decide what kind of flowers so he did the sensible option and got me 4 different arrangements! hey you only get engaged once might as well go all out!

All I can say is that it was perfect and wonderful. We had dated for 4 years when Bobby proposed. And I am sooo happy I dressed cute for this date, who knew it would be such a big night.

It is funny Bobby and were talking how 4 years sounds so long ago but feels short and long in the same way. Our lives have changed a lot, and it has been a fun ride and we look forward to many more years together and we will laugh about how we used to think 4 years was so long.

So in honor of tonight we are going on a date. Except this time I know I won't be walking into my house full of flowers but that is okay.

baked potato

I just wanted to share a great home group dinner idea. A couple of weeks ago we did baked potatoes, and I was able to make potatoes for 35 people for only $9.00. It was easy and cheap and tasted good. Although I did learn that you could burn a potato in the oven , so they were a little crispy but good. But the real lesson I learned on Monday after home group, I tried to recreate Sundays dinner by microwaving a cooked spud from the night before and it ended up tasting like this.....

It was like eating a rubber flip flop!! So note to self reheating a spud in the microwave not the best idea.