You might be a redneck if...

...you let your child ride in the car dressed like this! It's not so much the fact that he's in a diaper, but the fact that he still has on the socks and shoes. And don't worry, we weren't going anywhere, we were on our way home from my parents house...we left Caden's outfit there with their laundry!

It plays music, and I love ANYTHING that plays music!

I also like my alphabet magnets.

It's good to be spoiled...

Everyone always comments about how happy Caden is (it's true...he's a GREAT baby!), and when I was with my brother over Christmas, he made this comment: "Well, why wouldn't he be happy? Everyone around him does whatever he wants them to do!" But I think that it's okay to spoil them a little at this age...they're only little once. Don't worry, we'll try not to go overboard. (But I'm afraid I can't say the same for the grandparents and great grandparents!)

Granny lets me eat my Cheerios right out of the box...

Look Mom...No Hands!! Notice the upside down paci...a sign of genius.

And a super-huge card from Babe and GrandPop...

Paci Heaven...

Right after Caden finished with his dinner tonight, he scurried across the living room and into his bedroom. I wanted to see what he would do in there, so I waited a minute and then went to see what he was up to. He was headed for paci heaven. Somehow during the night, Caden throws pacis out of his bed, and they end up underneath the bed. Well, he was rescuing them from under the crib when I came in. He is definitely in paci heaven...one in each hand, one in his mouth, and 2 to spare!!! He's a hoot!

CHD Awareness Week...Feb. 7-14

This week is Congenital Heart Defects Awareness week. The last day is, quite appropriately, Valentine's day (Heart Day)! Frank, Caden, and I all have t-shirts to celebrate the week. I had grand plans of getting a picture of us in our matching outfits, but we never had anyone around to take the picture, and the timer feature on the camera frightens me. So, you'll just have to see how cute Caden is in his t-shirt.

Caden is wearing his heart shirt very proudly!

Here's a close-up of the logo
And a couple more pics for your viewing pleasure:

Frank is letting Caden give him some piano lessons.
Frank giving Caden a breating treatment with the cute new mask.

Videos and Nebulizers...

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures to go along with this post, and I don't like to do that. But...Caden hasn't really been in the mood for pictures the last couple of days as he is having trouble with his breathing. Apparently he has followed in his mother's footsteps down the road of asthma and endless upper respiratory infections...Lucky Caden!! He hasn't slowed down to much even though he is getting breathing treatments every 3 hours (we even have to wake him up throughout the night!). He really is a little trooper. He sits so nice and still through each treatment, especially if we are watching "Praise Baby." For those of you with children now or soon will have children, "Praise Baby" is a MUST HAVE!! Frank calls it "baby crack" because it absolutely enthralls Caden the moment it comes on. This comes in quite handy for fussy days and breathing treatments. We are going back to the Pediatrician tomorrow, so maybe she will have some encouraging words for us! Again, I hate to post without pics, but I just wanted to keep you all updated.

What a week!

I knew that this would not be a good week for keeping the blog updated. We had the 5th grade play at school this week, so I have been very busy during the day and very tired at night! But, now that the play is behind us, we should be able to get back to some form or normalcy in my classroom...we'll see how that goes!!

My parents went to Disney World this week, and they had a fabulous time. Caden absolutely loves the Mickey Mouse that they brought back for him. It was quite appropriate because his favorite cartoon character is actually Mickey (on "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"). Other than that, nothing much has been going on with the Porter family. Caden got another tooth...it is on the bottom on the same side as the tooth he has on the top. He has discovered that he can grind this new bottom tooth with his one top tooth...what a lovely sound!!!

Here is Caden putting his blocks in the proper bin. (He's a bit compulsive!!)

What a face!!

Yea, Mickey!!!

Then and now...

With Frank away at a Disciple Now weekend, Caden and I have been having a pretty laid back time. When Caden woke up at 7:30 this morning, I was so sleepy and did not want to get up! But when I walked through his door and saw that sweet face light up, it was all worth it. It makes me think...if I delight in seeing Caden enjoy being with me, how much more does our Heavenly Father delight seeing us desire to be with Him?? God is so good!
For those of you who haven't heard, our child is apparently a vampire. He currently has 3 teeth with one more very close to popping through. He has his 2 center teeth on the bottom, and then he has his right "i" tooth on the top, and the left "i" tooth is getting ready to make its appearance! I would take a picture and show you, but Caden DOES NOT show his teeth for any reason whatsoever. You'll just have to take my word on this one.
As Caden's birthday approaches, I have become obsessed with "Then and Now" photos of him. We are getting ready to put Caden's swing away in the attic, so I put him in it for one last swing a couple of nights ago. Check out the difference:

Here he is at a couple of weeks old:

And a couple of days ago: