Hogue Heaven

2009-11-21T22:28:00.001-05:00

Greetings from Greyson

2009-10-14T14:25:00.007-04:00

Surprise! Pay no attention to the ticker at the top of the screen, Greyson has made his debut. Last Thursday night around 9:00 pm, just after a normal OB visit (at which we commented on how it was the exact day that the dr sent me to the hospital with Maddox - 21 days early) and after telling my mom she had time - I wouldn't be going into labor yet, I started feeling uncomfortable. By the end of that hour, I was having contractions. By 11:30 we were on our way to the hospital. At 8:50 am Friday morning, October 9th, Greyson Gage Hogue was born. He weighed 4 lbs 13 oz and was 17 1/4 inches long. Thus his new nickname - "Little Bit". He had a knot in his umbilical cord which is why we think God brought him to us a little early and probably the cause of his small size. Because he was early and so little he had to stay in the nursery while we were in the hospital, but he passed all of the million tests they ran on him with flying colors. We are now home and he is doing great! Maddox is such a great big brother too. We have had a couple of busy days since we got home because Greyson has had dr. visits both days so we haven't had our official "photo shoot" yet, but I wanted to put up some pictures from the hospital for you.

Just after his first bath

Maddox passing the time in the hospital playing with his cars

Wide awake

My boys!

We have been trying to find things to take Greyson's picture with that will show how little he is - this is my preemie cabbage patch kid that Maddox has been calling "Little Brother" for months now.

CeCe got here on Friday - she has been cooking, cleaning, driving us around, sewing, she is Maddox's best friend, oh and staying up with the baby all night so I can sleep. She is a Superwoman I tell ya!

We are so excited Greyson is here and can't wait for him to meet all our family and friends!

Summer Recap

2009-09-08T15:45:00.006-04:00

It has been a fast, fun, and somewhat crazy summer. I have put together some pictures for you to recap all that we have done. I started where the last pictures left off...Maddox's birthday. His actual birthday was on a Monday and we partied all day. It was rainy, so we partied inside, but we had a great time. We have spent most of the summer swimming, at the park, a little trip to Texas, and I also decided after 31 years it was time to expeirience a broken bone. I broke my foot in August so that brought our days of fun in the water to a screeching halt. Maddox has been so good and patient with it all though. I am hoping it will still be warm enough when the cast comes off that we can take one last trip to the beach to celebrate.

So here is what we have been up to since May...double click so you can see the whole picture...

Just in case you haven't heard yet, Baby Hogue is a boy and his name is Greyson. (no middle name yet....) I only have 7 more weeks to go. Mom and Dad helped us so much in getting things moved around so we can get the nursery ready since I am not too coordinated in that department with a cast. Maddox has moved to a "big boy bed" and he loves it! I didn't expect that because he liked his crib so much but we couldn't be happier. We took him for pizza and a snow cone after the first night. I don't think he had a clue why we were so excited about it, but we partied anyway. I know I have promised so many of you a belly picture, I just keep forgetting to take it until it is 10 at night and I have digressed to my usual t-shirt and pajama pants. I will work on that...

Hope you all had a great summer!

Where is the pause button when you need it?

2009-05-21T13:11:00.002-04:00

So I thought I would give you a rundown of my day so far in case you are in need of a good laugh.

We are having another nasty weather day today, but it wasn't raining (yet) so I decide I am finally going to drain the splash pool that has been up for several days. Maddox and I venture out into the backyard with Macy and Runty following close behind. Maddox, who has turned into a girl today with all the drama he has given me, is following me around saying "shoe" every two seconds which means a piece of grass has touched his skin and he would like it promply removed. (I think I may need to invest in some knee high boots for this kid) I go to empty the pool and learn that a pool that has been left for several days during rainy weather makes the ground underneath smell exactly like that of an ELEPHANT STALL at the zoo. Oh my, it was terrible. We just happen to be having a very windy day, so you can't escape the smell no matter where you might try to hide. So I try to get the hose to wash some of the nastiness away, but the crazy catapiller sprinkler is stuck on the end. After giving myself blisters trying to get it off, I run to the other side of the house to get the other hose, turn it on, run back to the backyard, only to find out it is too short by 12 feet or so. Run back around, turn it off. Run in the house, find two clamps, attach them to the silly catapiller and long water hose, and finally free the "bug" as Maddox calls it. (With plenty of "help" from Maddox) I go to turn on the water and when I come back around the corner I see both dogs rolling in the elephant pit. Great. Just the thing I was trying so hard to avoid. So I spray them both down with water to get them out, and begin to spray the pit when Maddox comes up mortified again by the grass that has dared to touch his toe and he runs right into the middle of the pit. Awesome. Now he is really upset. So I spray his legs down, move him out of the way, finish spraying the pit and put the water hose down. As I am going to turn off the water my neighbor puts her dog out, which causes my psycho dogs to go crazy, so I run inside, get the bark collars, put them on each dog and proceed to the side of the house to turn off the water. Before I get there, Maddox begins to scream, I run around to see that he has picked up the hose and soaked himself. I think this is hilarious, he doesn't. So I go to turn off the water and he heads for the house. As I come back around, I see he is running inside with Runty, who smells like elephant poo, following behind. I try to catch Runty beore he makes it inside, but he is too fast. He crawls under the couch to try to get away. I crawl under, grab his belly, and because he is the most skittish dog I know, he yelps, which activates the bark collar, and we both get sprayed in the face with a healthy dose of lemon juice. Proceed to get the dog outside, shut the door, strip Maddox out of his wet clothes down to his diaper. He is still complaining about his feet, so I stick him in the sink and clean him off. Now, take a deep breath, let's have lunch. Usually I fix something simple for lunch, a sandwich, hot dog, chicken nuggets...etc. Well, today chicken chili sounded good and I thought it would make the day feel better. So I get it all going and have just put the chicken and onion in the pan to start cooking when Maddox comes around the corner saying "stinky" with poop on both hands and smeared all over his chest. Apparently he went fishing in his diaper to see just what was weighing him down and decided to paint himself with it. He is trying his hardest to grab me, I am doing my best dance around him trying to get to the stove to turn off the chicken. Turn it off, turn him around to grab the only parts not covered in poop, carry him up the stairs to his room. Wipe off his hands and chest, then put him on the changing table to change his diaper. In the middle of cleaning this area, I run out of wipes. Pick him up, run to the closet, get the wipes, back to the changing table. Finish cleaning him, then put him in the bath for good measure. He is not happy about this either. Finish the bath, get him dressed, gather up the bath toys and throw them in the dishwasher, just in case....
As we wait for the chicken to cook, I pour myself a dr. Pepper and call my Dad, who always appreciates a good story and can make me laugh about anything.
Finally, we sit down, eat lunch, then Maddox goes down for a nap! Yippee!
So, I guess instead of working in the garage during nap time like I had planned, I will be washing two smelly dogs and giving myself a second shower for the day. Best laid plans...right?

The scary part is it is only 1:30! Hope your day smells better than mine!

TWO!

2009-05-16T15:25:00.002-04:00

I can't believe Maddox is turning 2! His birthday is actually Monday, but we had his big birthday blow out today and it was so much fun! We had the pool and a crazy sprinkler out at first, but the clouds decided to downpour, so we brought the party inside. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, cake and homemade ice cream. Then of course we finished off the party with the BOUNCE HOUSE! We also gave Maddox a train set this morning, so that helped fill in when there was nothing else to do...ha ha! So here are some pictures from our fun afternoon.

We're Baaaack!

2009-04-30T16:10:00.009-04:00

I am sure you had lost faith that I would ever update again, but I am glad you came back to check on us! Here are some pics from our recent trip to Texas. (I don't know why this one is stretched and the other one isn't but until I figure it out you can double click on this first one and it will play on the You Tube site so you can see the whole picture. Sorry!)

My camera was full so I missed out on a lot of pictures toward the end, but maybe I can get some copies from the rest of the family. We also went to the bounce house with Presley and Carter, the park with the Hogues, and had a FUN 1st birthday party with Carter. We also had a lot of fun putting all 3 kids in the bath together at Kimberly's house, but I always feel a little weird putting those pics on the internet, so you will just have to trust me...they were FUNNY!

And here are a few pics to catch you up on the rest of our life.....I didn't put titles on this one, so in the order you will see them...
Enjoying the Lowcountry Childrens Museum
Dying Easter eggs, an egg hunt and some fun on the slide
A trip to the park
Maddox and Issac having some fun in the pool
His first mini roller coaster and zip line rides!
With some music from his favorite movie - CARS!

And finally, for those of you who may not have heard yet.....

Here is my excuse for not updating for so long.

The nausea started at week 4 this time and I thought I was tired with the first pregnancy....when you add chasing an almost 2 year old around it changes the definition a bit. (Do I still want 3 kids?????) So, when Maddox went to bed....so did I! But I feel much better now. The nausea is pretty much gone and I don't feel like a narcoleptic anymore. This sonogram was taken just shy of 7 weeks. (My dr. was making sure I wasn't having multiples because I found out so early and started getting sick so early. And because my friend Crystal was trying to play a trick on me. It is not good when your best friend works with your OB!) I am now at 14 weeks and crazy enough I already have a bit of a "baby bump". That has started much earlier this time too!

So, there you go. I believe we are all caught up now. Maddox's 2nd birthday is coming up in a few weeks....CRAZY! I wish I could freeze time and keep him at this age. He is so much fun and amazes me (and cracks me up) every day! His favorite thing right now is his alphabet foam puzzle that Cece sent him for Easter. We work it at least 4 times a day. He is so enthralled with letters, he knows all of the alphabet and he can even spell a few simple words now. What really amazed me was the other night when he found Waldo on 3 separate pages in one of my old "Where's Waldo" books. I mean I know exactly where Waldo is on every page and he beat me to it! So I am guessing he is a real thinker or I am getting dumb in my old age. Maybe a little of both!

I hope you are all enjoying the warm weather and thanks again for not giving up on us! We might be heading out to the Orangeburg festival of roses tomorrow depending on the weather, so if we go I am sure I will have some pics of that for you. Have a great weekend!

A Christmas Slideshow for You

2009-01-19T15:51:00.005-05:00

December flew by with a trip to Sapphire, NC with our good friends Ben and Crystal, then a visit from the Hogue family and a visit with the Sublette family. It all went way too fast and we had SO MUCH FUN. It has been a little sad now that it is all over, but we are looking forward to coming to Texas sometime in the spring. Here are some pics from the fastest month of 2008.

And I also just realized that I was tagged by my sister way back in Dec. So if you haven't given up on me yet....

8 things I did today
1. Went to Old Navy to check out their 50% off already clearance items (thanks Kimberly!)
2. Went to Michael's to get stuff for Maddox's playroom
3. Read some books to Maddox
4. Enjoyed listening to Maddox trying to sing with me when I was putting him down for his nap
5. UPDATED THE BLOG - Yea for me!
6. Ordered some presents that were long overdue.
7. Worked on Life Group stuff
8. Sent some e-mails

8 of my favorite restaurants
1. Oak
2. Posados
3. Dickey's (Note #2 and 3 we don't have in SC so count yourself lucky Texans!)
4. Mellow Mushroom
5. Texas Roadhouse
6. Chick-fil-A
7. Chili's
8. Outback

8 Shows I watch
1. ER (so sad it is the last season...)
2. Grey's
3. The Office
4. Private Practice
5. 30 Rock
6. Prison Break
7. Law and Order SVU
8. Sesame Street (on right now...)

8 Things I wish for
1. A trip to Texas soon
2. That Maddox will be close to his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. even though we live far away
3. To keep a cleaner house
4. For Life Groups to grow and succeed
5. Another vacation! fun times
6. To be a good teacher, friend, example and Mom for Maddox
7. Warm weather to return (I know it is Jan. but that is why I live in the south!)
8. Friends to always be close by

8 Things I look forward to
1. A trip to Texas soon
2. getting my Smith family cookbook
3. Starting gymnastics with Maddox on Wed.
4. Retiring to the "Man room" every night (basically to fall asleep in the recliner!)
5. Hopefully going to Charles Towne landing this Sat. with Caisson and Maddox
6. Seeing the plantations with my visitors pass
7. The new Jodi Picoult book in March (I wait a year for these things!)
8. Getting Maddox up from his naps - he dances in his crib for 10 minutes. so funny.

There you go! Have a good week!

Fall Fun

2008-11-15T08:15:00.002-05:00

Here is a slideshow update for you...to the tune of Maddox's favorite dancing song -
ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man.

Have a great weekend!

Summer Catch up part....I've lost count

2008-10-14T15:09:00.011-04:00

I know these pics are old news now, but I really want to post them...so here goes...more from our summer of craziness....

When I got back to Texas from our cruise, Mom and Kimberly had made signs for Maddox and P to hold at the airport. They were so cute. When Maddox saw me he started waving the sign back and forth and had the biggest smile I had ever seen. It melted my heart I tell ya.

Happy to be home with my little man.

Even P was excited to see me. It was the greatest welcome home I have had in a long time. (Our welcome home times from Saba were quite exciting too - airport people helping our family holding signs and eating krispy kremes as they waited for us to get off the plane. It was awesome! But back to 2008...) P started calling me Cris for some reason, and I love it because she made it up, so we go with it.
P was very excited to show off her sign. I was very excited that she was very excited. I love this girl!!
These cars were a nightly routine for P and Maddox. Ok, actually they were more like a 24/7 routine for these two. They had so much fun chasing each other around in them.
How manly can you get? A pink barbie convertible with a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the front. It was his favorite though. Once he figured out how to hold the button down instead of giving himself whiplash in 30 second increments by pushing and letting go repeatedly, he really got around!
Maddox followed P everywhere she went. By the time I got back from the cruise, there were 2 strollers in an effort to appease both parties. They were great because if Kimberly and I were trying to accomplish something we would just get out the strollers and send them on their way!
One day they were pushing strollers and we noticed it got quiet for a bit. That is never a good sign with kids unless they are in bed. Low and behold, P had uninstalled her Dora training potty and given it to Maddox to take for a stroll. Don't worry, they traded after a bit so they both got the benefit of the germs. Gross.
While I was there, Carter got to start on solid food. He didn't seem to care for it too much, but P sure loved trying to feed it to him. "I wanna do it."
Cute little Carter had to put up with A LOT of noise while we were there. I am sure he was happy for a little more peace and quiet when we left.
I don't remember how it started, but P and I would play "silly hair" every night. She would do my hair and I would do hers. Then we would make silly faces at each other. I am sure it was part of my pathetic attempt to get her to play beauty shop with me and brush my hair for hours on end. Funny that Kimberly and I used to think Mom and our Aunt Elaine were crazy when they would fight over whose turn it was at the "beauty shop" and we found ourselves doing the same thing with P.
We took CeCe out for her birthday. P and I made her some birthday cupcakes with sprinkles. We had a great time. Not sure how mom ended up taking care of both kids all throughout her birthday dinner. She claims she likes it. I don't know if she even got to eat her meal. We really tried to take them away for a bit, but those of you who know mom know that is quite impossible. Carter just chilled in his car seat the whole time.
Wearing Papa's hat and watching the olympics. Does life get any better than this?
Papa and Maddox in their matching seersucker outfits. Two of my favorite "sharp dressed men"
Watching Cricket in the backyard waiting to leave for church.
While I was in Dallas I also got to go see my dear friend and college roommate Meredith. She was such a trooper and had such a great attitude seeing that she had been stuck in that hospital room for weeks on bed rest. She has now had the babies, a little girl named Kathryn and a little boy named Garrett. To see some pics of these precious twins and read about her story you can click here. I love this girl so much and have missed her since we have been moving around so much.
Cece and her 3 bundles of joy. They flock to her. Who doesn't love Cece?
We met the Hogue side of the family at Cozumel's (I had to get my Mexican food fix) and had a great time. Great Aunt Staryme and Uncle Ronnie brought Maddox some books, one of which goes with us everywhere now he loves it so much, Nana and Pappa brought him a shrek flashlight that he was infatuated with (he still loves to stare directly into the light for some odd reason) and Grammi and Pappy brought him a cute frog slinky that ended up being oh so much help on the plane! I tell you this kid is spoiled even living so far away! We love it!

Maddox loves his Grammi and Pappyand his great Nana and Pappa. We kept trying to get some good pictures with everyone, but with his newly acquired skills, all he wanted to do was...
RUN!!!!
Enjoying some Chicken Express Sweet Tea. Man that stuff is good. So good I had to trick him into thinking it was gone by pulling the cup down so that the straw was out of the liquid. If you are thinking I am mean to not let him drink it all, let me give you one word: CAFFEINE!

Ok, only one more post to be caught up. Well with our summer at least. Then I need to catch up to present day, huh? Ha ha. Well, I am off to paint for a bit. Catch up with you soon!

summer catch up part 3...the cruise

2008-09-27T16:45:00.007-04:00

While Maddox was chillin' in Texas, we were on a Royal Caribbean cruise to the eastern Caribbean. Ports of call - the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We had a room with a balcony which was awesome. I loved sitting out on that deck and watching the waves. We had an awesome table for dinner. The first night we were stuck way in the back corner of a back room. But we loved the people we sat with. The next night we got a note saying our seating arrangement had changed and we had a new table number. Let me tell you that I talked to everyone I could to make sure we got to sit with the same people. We were sure we wouldn't get lucky twice. Funny thing is all of them were making sure they didn't get changed either. Turns out we had the same people, they just moved us to the table right next to the captain's table. I guess they thought they couldn't put such cool people so far in the back. :)

These are our dinner friends - from the left, Raul and Lisa, some weirdos in the middle, and Brad and Kris on the right. We had so much fun, ordered SO MUCH food, and even gave the waiters a run for their money a few nights.

We always went to the after dinner shows with our new friends. It was a lot of fun. One night we ended up in the karaoke show. Caisson sang some Boys II Men....it was a tear jerker....so hard to say goodbye....

And the girls did an amazing rendition of the Dixie Chicks "Goodbye Earl". We brought down the house. Well, we had a few people clapping at least.

Our first port of call - Coco Cay, Bahamas. And yes, I typed that right. It is Cay not bay. I have to say I was disappointed in this because all it was was some land that Royal Caribbean bought, shipped in some sand, chairs and water sports, and threw in an almost authentic market. We had a great day relaxing, reading our books, trying to find all the fish everyone was raving about (we did see a few, but we figured out we are snorkel/dive snobs after being at Saba) and eating quite a bit of food. I just really like to explore new islands, not fake ones. So on we go...

To St. Thomas. We had planned a BOSS excursion and it just so happened Raul and Lisa had planned the same one. BOSS stands for Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter. You can go to this website to see more about it if you want: http://www.bossusvi.com/default.aspx?name=ourtours
It was so much fun. The water was so clear and we were able to just scoot around under water for about 30 minutes.

From the left: Lisa, Raul, Caisson and Tiff

It was funny how small our heads looked inside the bubble.

Raul scootin' along...

This gives you an idea of how clear the water was. It was beautiful.

We had a beautiful ride back to the dock. I have missed this view.

Next up: St. Maarten. Despite our best efforts to go back to Saba, we were not able to find anyone who could get us back in time for the all aboard at 4:30. So we rented a 4 wheeler and went to all our old favorite spots on St. Maarten.

If you look closely in the background, just to the left of the side of the mountain, you will see the faint outline of Saba. This is as close as we got. We were so sad to be so close, be able to look at it, but not be there. We will try again someday.

This was one of our favorite beaches on St. Maarten - Orient Bay. It is beautiful, has lots of water sports, oh and our favorite sport, see how many nude people you can catch in your pictures. We kept it clean for you this time, although we did see a lot more than we wanted to of some people.

No trip to St. Maarten would be complete without a stop at the AMAZING pastry shops, or boulangerie as they say in French. It was the greatest thing when we figured out what that word on all the signs meant. Oh they are sooooooo good! My favorites - a chocolate croissant

and the fruit tarts.

This time we opted for the strawberry. YUMMY!

Oh and don't forget the Ting. This drink is so good I wish we had it in the U.S. It is a grapefruit drink, so coming from a girl who does not like to eat grapefruit, you know it is good!

The building with the red roof is one of the hotels we stayed in on one of our vacations to St. Maarten back in the day. Fun times.

We also went back to the infamous airport runway to experience the jets landing one more time. We saw it on Ripley's one time and thought we might need proof that we had done it before, so this time we took pictures and video. Surely one day they will block this off before someone gets sandblasted!

One of our favorite trees from Saba. (This is still on St. Maarten, but they were everywhere on Saba and so pretty when they were all in bloom.)

Up next...fun times in The Lone Star State...see you soon.

Summer catch up part 2

2008-09-23T09:11:00.004-04:00

So since we last left off with Maddox at the beach.....

We move on to Spoof Night - this is where the graduating residents get a chance to make fun of all the attendings, then the attendings return the favor. It was hilarious, and I am sure even funnier for those who actually got all the inside jokes. This is Caisson in the wig pretending to be one of his attending physicians.
Then we had GRADUATION!!!!! I can't express how exciting this night was. Caisson has worked so long and so hard for this day. I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished since the day he started college and I couldn't even get him out to get a cup of coffee with me because he was always studying. It has been a long hard road, but he has hurdled every obstacle and tackled every problem like a champion. Now we can start a more normal life! No more 36 hour call at the hospital, no more 5 year anniversary dinners in the hospital cafeteria...in fact NO MORE HOSPITAL! (Unless one of us is a patient of course)
The Hogue family was here to celebrate with us. It was so good to have them here to share in this VERY SPECIAL DAY!
The most valuable (in Hard Work and COST) papers we have ever held.
Hanging out on Shem Creek with the Hogues watching the dolphins play in front of the boats. I do love it here.
Then....we bought a house. It is a Charleston style home which I love, because then I feel better about the siding. This Texas girl just misses her brick homes. They are almost non-existant around here. We do love our new house and I am trying to pace myself with all the projects I want to do with it. When I get some decorating finished I will post pics of the inside. In July, Maddox got to have his first vacation without Mom and Dad. We went on a cruise (pics of that on the next post) and he stayed with my Mom and Dad - or as he will call them, Papa and Cece. First stop - the Smith Family Reunion. I have to say I am jealous that he got to go to this and I didn't. Maybe next year we can both go. We just couldn't figure out with everything else happening this summer how I could make that too. So he got to spend some quality time with all my extended family. There are rumors he never quit moving, spent a lot of time rolling around in the stroller, and eating all kinds of food I can never get him to touch. Here he is spending some quality time with Uncle Bud (Garrett). Sharing a chair and some tea with Presley. How cute are they? I wonder how much of this ended up in his mouth and how much was on them! By the time we got back to SC, drinking out of the "Big Boy" glass had become one of his favorite things. Well, we are about to go to the park with our new friend from down the street, so I better go get ready. There are oh so many more pics to come, so stay tuned. Cruise, wedding, 60th birthday, fun with cousins, good mexican food with the Hogues.........

Oldies but Goodies

2008-06-11T09:34:00.005-04:00

So I have been working on giving you a review in pictures from our summer and I found this post that was saved as a draft, but never published. I guess I got the pics uploaded, but never wrote anything before the summer of insanity began. So here are some cute pics from his birthday and a trip to the beach at the first of June while you wait for the 40 others I am about to post.

Lookin sharp on his first birthday with Dad.

what a ham!

I think he knows he is cute!
Our trip to the beach was spent mostly on the blanket. He was not too fond of the sand and really does not care for the waves.
He did enjoy lounging in the chair
Nothing like a good ol' beach mohawk!
He has been to the beach since this trip and has learned to love it a bit more so we are glad for that. Can't live in SC and have a kid that doesn't like the beach, now can we?

The Birthday Boy

2008-05-30T10:19:00.007-04:00

Happy Birthday Maddox!!

Enjoying his first take of cake and Connie's almost famous icing!

He really didn't know what to do with it at first. He stuck his fingers in the icing, but then just kind of looked at them like, "What do I do now?" We broke it up into pieces and then he understood, "Oh - this is FOOD!" Then he tore into it. He loved it! He ate most of the 4" cake by himself! That's my boy!!

Please notice Maddox's interest in his dad's face while we are trying to take a family photo...

It is hard to see it in this picture but he smeared icing right under Caisson's nose. Again....that's my boy! ha ha!

Now it is time for presents!Wow! A dump truck! Even better....dump truck WHEELS! He immediately turned it over and started spinning the wheels.

He did pause for a second to see what I just pulled out of the top of the dump truck. Hmmmm....building blocks.....those look cool......

But not as cool as these wheels. Anybody needs me - I will be spinning.

...And spinning.... (this is a big wheel that sings the alphabet and animals when you spin it. Of course he doesn't care what else it does as long as it moves in a circular motion!)

...And Spinning...

...and spinning....even while I am trying to put on his bathing suit.

Oh wait...more spinning.

He does love his chair from Papa and CeCe. I don't know how many times he has traced these letters with his little fingers. Then he stands in front of it and rocks it back and forth. I have tried putting him in it a few times. He really just likes to rock it empty. He has enjoyed his new seat when Elmo is on though.

By the way...the pool party part of the birthday bash didn't go so well. Could be that he didn't like the little pool we got him, or could be that we took him away from spinning the wagon wheels. I am betting on the latter.

It was so funny because most of his presents (from everyone, not just us) were picked out by what they thought would spin the best. I guess his obsession is more than obvious!

We are so lucky to have such great friends and family that really made this day so special for Maddox, but even more so for me and Caisson. We love you all!

Coming up next....
Maddox's 1 year pics with the blocks...or I should say my best attempt at getting the blocks in the picture, his first trip to the beach, and I am still looking for Caisson's birthday pictures. I am afraid those might be gone forever, but I continue to search. Keep checking back!

A Novel in Pictures...

2008-05-20T10:44:00.014-04:00

So 2 motherboards, a processor, a new modem and several reboots of the computer later, we are back up and running (until the 3rd motherboard gets here at least). I have lots to catch you up on...so I think I will just do it in pictures....so here goes...

Presley and her new baby brother, Carter Garrett Holmes. He surprised us all and came a little early. He was born April 5th. Presley is such a good big sister. I am so behind on blogging, I am sure you all know about his arrival already, but you can go to my sister's blog to see more pics. He is such a precious little boy and I can't wait to see Maddox and Carter playing together! We are so excited for our new nephew! If only we could cut out a little of the distance.........

Watching Sesame Street together.

Isn't he so cute??? I miss him!! With 2 other kids running around, I really didn't get to spend enough time with this little guy. Can I say again that I really need to live closer?!!!! I love this little girl so much.

Playing cars with PresleyWe LOVE CeCe!!
Bathtime fun with Presley. They both loved it!

P trying to help me get Maddox to eat. He would actually eat it when she gave it to him so I was always thankful for her help!!

Poor Maddox wishing he could play with the big kids. Our homemade wagon worked great.

I really can't believe my sister has TWO kids now. When we are together it is kind of baffling that these are ours. Maddox sure does love his Aunt Kimberly though.
Nana and Pappaw hadn't seen Maddox since he was 3 months old, so they were very surprised at how much he had changed. We had a hard time getting him to be still just for a few pics.

Uncle Shayde is a lot of fun....and he has the biggest tires I have ever seen!Now if only he could figure out how to spin this thing...(for those of you who may not know, my son is OBSESSED with spinning things.)

Pappy sings me funny songs while I dance!

Maddox and his friend Conrad playing ball. (We were supposed to be inside the auditorium for a wedding, but we figured the bride and groom might not appreciate all the commentary these two had to add to what the preacher was saying!)
Our 11 month and 30 year birthday breakfast at Krispy Kreme. The best doughnuts ever. I have heard rumors that we have one here in the Charleston area, but I have yet to find it, possibly because it is in West Ashley which is about 45 minutes away. That gives me 45 minutes to think of how many inches I will add to my thighs once I get there. It is actually quite a good thing, otherwise you know I would be their favorite customer.
Maddox and Maddox meet for the first time. I think they were a little confused!
Garrett (aka Uncle Bud) holding all 3 kids....we were a little nervous, but he pulled it off. They love their Uncle!
Our attempt to get all 3 grandkids with Papa and CeCe. This was the closest we got to everyone looking in the general direction of the camera.

One of our many trips to the park. P loves going down the slide. It was even more fun when I would come down after her and surprise her at the bottom. She is so much fun right now.
Waving "Hi" to Mom before we take the plunge down the BIG slide!

Swingin' together.

I realized once I got home that I never got a picture with Landis, Lacey or Rob. We were only able to see Landis the weekend of the wedding which Sat. was a little crazy and Sunday I started with the ever amazing stomach bug. I am really terrible at remembering to take the pictures in the short time we are there. Then Maddox and I were at Lacey and Rob's house for almost a whole week and never got a picture. They were kind enough to let me be a sloth on their couch while I had the nasty stomach stuff. I may not have been smart enough to get pics, but I do have fond memories of cups and cups of sonic ice......ok, maybe not fond memories, but they took very good care of me and I am so very happy they did not get it (again in Rob's case!) Thanks again Rob and Lacey!

Ok, I also have pics of Caisson's birthday party, and Maddox's 1st birthday, but I can't find the CD that we backed everything up on (including Caisson's party pics) before the computer was torn apart, and I can't for the life of me find the transfer cord for the camera to get Maddox's birthday pics off the camera and onto the computer. Caisson is at the hospital tonight - he has been the leader of this whole computer remodel business, so maybe he can help me find those two things tomorrow. You might be on overload anyway, and the birthdays have a lot of pics that are blog worthy. I also have had a request for some video, so I will reload that software and work on that tomorrow too. Caisson is on call again on Sunday so I have a lot of extra time this weekend.

Check back soon for more!

Hoppy Easter!

2008-03-22T17:42:00.003-04:00

Maddox's first visit with the Easter Bunny. Our best Easter Basket Ever!
Look! I can almost fit the whole egg in my mouth!
Here I'll let you see from the side - almost the entire egg! What do you think about that? Now that is talent.
Happy Easter! We love you all!

Celebrate Good Times, Come on! Sing with me....

2008-03-20T17:03:00.010-04:00

10 MONTHS! Crazy. Maddox looks a little dazed too....

We have been bragging to our parents about their grandson's crawling, talking, clapping and window washing abilities. So since Maddox doesn't get to see them often enough, we have put together a video so they can see his brilliance. ;)

And another reason for celebration...

Caisson officially has a job!!!! He has a signed contract with Palmetto Primary Care Physicians here in South Carolina. We are so excited and I am so proud of him. This has been a long time in the making with a lot of sweat, tears and HARD WORK on his part. He has sacrificed so much for our family and I am so glad it is about to pay off for him with the job he was really hoping for.

Congratulations Caisson! I love you and am proud of you more than I could ever express.

We also want to wish a Happy Birthday to Maddox's new cousin

Makinley Kate born on St. Patrick's Day

and his new buddy Will born March 19th. We can't wait to meet them both in person!

And finally, for a parting laugh, meet our new subdivision mascot, O'Malley the Opossum. This little creature was giving us his best performance of DEAD as we were driving into our subdivision yesterday. I guess rolling on your back with your legs in the air is so yesterday. We stopped to watch O'Malley and he did not move AT ALL, even with my funny noises in an attempt to scare him into a final sprint into the woods. Well, he did blink a few times, but give him a break.

Yeah, I know, gross.

So that is all for now. Maddox was walking behind the Huggies box yesterday pushing it across the living room, but by the time I had the camera out, he was stuck on the door stop. It was quite exciting though. So maybe we will have some "starting to walk" videos soon. Thanks for letting us indulge in the simple excitement of the accomplishments of a 10 month old.

Have a great weekend!

Growing Pains

2008-03-07T14:50:00.005-05:00

I know you will be shocked to see 2 posts in the same week...but I had to share this. Maddox has moved to a "big boy" car seat and I took one last picture of him in his infant carrier.

First day in his first car seat. We had everything on the smallest setting and it was still not tight enough. The chest piece is digging into his poor chin.

Last day in his first car seat. A short 9 months later, his feet are touching the back seat, all the straps have been moved to the biggest setting, and he can sometimes get his arms out of the straps when he really isn't into being stuck in "baby jail".

It makes me kind of sad and sentimental. Where has the time gone?

My son the tazmanian devil

2008-03-05T13:51:00.010-05:00

Maddox has become a wild man and is constantly moving...and fast! Now when I am trying to change his clothes or get him ready for bed, I end up having to put him on the floor and straddle my tornado of a son just so I can get him dressed without constantly chasing him across the room. The other night I got his clothes off but didn't have the diaper ready, and by the time I got out the desitin and the diaper, he had made it into the bathroom and was standing up at the tub. I have to plan ahead or else he is off and into everything! Maddox got a new car seat yesterday. (He is past the length limit and 1 pound away from the weight limit of his infant carrier, so we got a big chair that can go backwards until he turns 1) I put him in the box just to see what he would do and he loved it! He got upset when I took him out to change his diaper!This picture made me think of my favorite comic...
Maybe with inflation he can charge 10 cents for his infinite wisdom instead of Lucy's 5 cents.Having some fun by the pond.

This is what I see every morning when I come to get him. He can't wait to be rescued from his crib. He is a morning person for sure!
Begging Daddy to stay home from work and play.
He has also started mimicing what we do. He thought this was rather fun!Fun times at the park. He wasn't sure what to do with the mulch. I know...eat it. No. Not happy when Mom took it out of his mouth. 'Cause you know - wood chips are so tasty!

Watching the big kids play.
Watching the baseball game. He was very interested in the game...could be the start of something big!
He loves the swing.
This picture is a little dark, but please notice the mohawk. Some days no matter what we do it will not lay down. He woke up from a nap with this rockstar do and we couldn't quit laughing.
Favorite way to pass the day - looking out the window. He loves to be outside. Who cares if it is raining and there are tornado warnings?

Another mimicing skill - I turn my head side to side to get him to laugh when he is grumpy at dinner time. Then one day he started doing it with me. Now it is his favorite dinner game.
And the other side...back and forth.
We also have to have the lick test with everything! And I mean everything. We think he gets this from his Uncle Shayde.
Tonight we had another major mimicing event - he clapped. I have been working with him for days on this, and tonight he did it, I think on accident at first, but then he turned and looked at me with this expression of wonder and amazement and then just went crazy! He was so excited he was bouncing up and down on his bottom and laughing like he had just discovered electricity. I was in the middle of cooking dinner with my hands covered in sauce of course, but clapped with him for a second, then washed my hands to try to get a video of it, and of course then he was more interested in the camera than clapping. Oh well, we will try again tomorrow.

Bye for now!

VISTA stands for Very Irritating Severely Terrible Application

2008-02-19T17:11:00.012-05:00

So I would like to start out by offering an invitation for anyone who wants to come give our computer a swift dropkick to the motherboard, please do. I will take multiple volunteers. It needs a good beatin'! We have been having trouble with it since just after Christmas. Then we got Vista because several message boards described the same problems and said Vista fixed it. HA! That is some undercover agent from Microsoft posting those messages. It is now worse! You know all those funny Apple commercials making fun of Vista? We have painfully experienced all of the downfalls Mac so rightly pointed out. All this to say I worked during all of my free time today on a video to update you since it has been a while. Vista has this new "Movie Maker" that I thought I would use because it looked quick and easy instead of taking forever on our good software because it gets downgraded so much when we upload it to youtube that there is no need to put forth that effort. (By the way - there must be a better way to publish to youtube because other videos look pretty good - any suggestions, please pass them on. We have tried everything it says in the help video - still looks not so great.) So, the program was quick and easy, like promised, but after I finish editing and watch it one final time, I hit "Publish Movie" and....NOTHING. So, now it is stuck on my computer in a format that I can not upload to Youtube. Nice. Love it. Then I tried installing our good software so I could make a video there - guess what - it is not compatible with VISTA! Surprise surprise. So, for now, you will only get some, ok, lots of pics. HOPEFULLY we will have this resolved SOON!

Maddox's first plane ride. He did so good!

He was asleep before we even leveled off. I luckily had an empty seat beside me. I just laid him down and he was out until the pilot felt the need to announce our cruising altitude (why do we need to know that anyway? Does anyone really care?). That startled him a bit and he was up for the rest of the flight. We had a good time.

A pic with Uncle Garrett in the monogrammed polo he gave Maddox. I think he looks so cute in it and that color green looks so good on him. Good job Garrett!

Two happy Grandparents with their two tired Grandkids.

I am so terrible about getting pics of my sister with Maddox. I was with her longer than any one else on this trip, and we didn't take pics until I was at the security line at the airport going home. I don't know if we are just too busy playing with and chasing around two kids or what. Sorry sister! You are the best Aunt! I will set a reminder alarm to take some pics of the two of you next time I am in Texas! Ha ha!

Presley was so cute with Maddox (or Mawix as she would say) all weekend. She helped us keep him entertained in the car, wanted to help feed him, change his diaper, put on his lotion after the bath, and everything she did, she wanted him to do too. This is P pushing Maddox in the swing at Grandma's and Mama C trying desperately to keep him in it while it is going back and forth. P loved this swing so she thought Maddox would like it too. When we got back to Kimberly's house, P wanted to take a walk in the wagon, and of course, Maddox needed to go too. He actually really liked it. I was afraid he wouldn't be able to sit up well enough to handle the turns, but once we had him strapped in he loved it. P really was excited about the wagon ride....

She just wanted to pull it instead of riding in it! Michael and I had to act like we weren't helping when she would turn around and look. She kept saying "I wanna do it."

This is why I love Charleston - FREE FESTIVALS! All the time. The weekend after I got back, Caisson, Maddox and I packed up and went downtown for the Southeastern Wildlife Expo. We had a great time walking around. We thought Maddox would enjoy seeing the animals because he loves watching our dogs, but he wasn't so interested. He still loved hanging out in the stroller. It was a great day. This is a jazz band that was playing on the corner. They were hilarious!

9 months old!!!

This is all he wants to do all day now. He loves to stand up. He will crawl up to me and pull on my pants until I give him my hand to pull up on. I have also learned not to leave the remote controls or my cell phone on the couch. I am not sure how well they would work after numerous times of being immersed in slobber!

My happy little boy! (Notice the drool down the front of his shirt. Still no teeth though.)

I just thought this was a sweet picture.

Ready or not....He loves pulling up on his walker. We took the wheels off for now until he is a little more sturdy. He is good at standing up though. I really can't believe he is already to this stage. I know it has been 9 months, but it sure doesn't feel like it.

Well, I have several more pics and some video I want to share, but I will save it for another post. Hope everyone is having a good week. Thanks for stopping by to check on us!

The 8 month catch up!

2008-01-18T17:33:00.000-05:00

Maddox is 8 months old today! I can't believe it. He has started so many new things in the last month I can't hardly keep up! I had been working on this video of Christmas morning, but every day that passed, I had something new to add to it. It is now 6 minutes long - so that is your warning before you hit play. It is a lot of video of him trying to crawl, opening presents Christmas morning, and his visit with Carl, Landis and Lacey, with a few other random videos included along the way. I know most of you probably think this is overkill, but the Grandparents love it...so this is for them. It is so long that YouTube really had to compress it, so I am sorry about the quality. And yes, you will see him several times in a Halloween sleep sac, and I know October is long gone, but we put him in it for his naps anytime he only has a onesie on because we have figured out the window in his room has a draft and it can get quite cold in there. So, we have literally worn that sleep sac out.
Hope you enjoy the video. We will be taking 8 month pics tonight so look for those too.

We hope you had a Merry Christmas!

2007-12-27T23:48:00.000-05:00

Well, we just had our first official "family" Christmas and it was great! This was the first time we were not able to be with either of our families on Christmas day. We were sad about it, but tried to make the best of it. We figured since it was our first Christmas with Maddox, it was only fitting. Well, he made it so much fun that the day flew by before we had a chance to get too sad about being away. We really had a great day even though he had no clue what was going on.

Maddox meets Santa for the first time. They had a good talk.

Waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Is it time to open presents yet?

Maddox opens his first Christmas present

Playing with his new building blocks

He is facinated by his new dragon!

This ball has some really crazy bright lights and music. He was enthralled!

Our best Christmas present. He had a lot of fun sitting in the box and tearing off the paper.

He has also reached or is about to reach several milestones. His teeth are going to break through any day now, he can now sit up on his own (for short periods) and he gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, so crawling is just around the corner. Which also means I have been working on baby proofing the house!! He is actually pretty good at getting around by rolling or pushing himself backwards. When he starts rocking he doesn't know to move his arms so he ends up just pushing himself back. He knows how to put his pacifier in his mouth all by himself....Ok, I know this isn't technically a "milestone", but I think most parents would agree is needs to be added to the list. It has greatly cut down on the number of times he wakes up during the night. In fact - last night my total number of trips to Maddox's crib......DRUMROLL Please.......ZERO! Can you tell I am excited about that? He also taught himself how to spin the rainbow wheel on the jumparoo the other day. I know it doesn't sound like much, but he has always been interested in it and I would always spin it for him, then he would reach for it and it would stop. It was amazing to watch him as he figured out how to spin it himself and let go so it would keep spinning. I wasn't even helping him, he just all the sudden figured out what to do. It was really awesome to be able to watch that. Here are some more pictures:

His first meal in the high chair

Rolling around and slobbering on his feet

Helping put up the Christmas lights (providing comic relief at least!)

Sitting up all by himself!! We still have to sit close and watch out for the occasional face plant!

Maddox also got to meet our friends Ben and Crystal for the first time. He LOVED Crystal and wanted to talk to her all weekend. He is a flirt already. We are SO excited that Ben and Crystal will be moving back to Charleston in April!!!! We had so much fun visiting with them...now it is time to get busy house hunting for them!

Well, I was also wanting to post some videos with the other presents he opened, but it is getting late, so that will have to be the next post. We tried to get pics with everyone's presents, but we ended up with video of most of them. So I will put that together and get it up in the next few days. Thanks for checking in with us. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Thankful for laughter

2007-11-26T21:11:00.000-05:00

My Mom, Dad and brother drove all the way to South Carolina to visit us for Thanksgiving. We had such a great time, but it went by way too quickly! I can't wait until we live closer. While they were here, we drove to Savannah, ate at The Lady and Sons, found a great candy kitchen that I spent way too much time in, had a great Thanksgiving feast, Dad and I went Black Friday shopping and did a Civil War walk downtown. Somewhere inbetween all of that, we also played a lot of games and laughed a lot! I absolutely love my family! On the way back from Savannah, Maddox was getting a little restless, so Mom decided she would entertain him. It was obviously the best comedy show he has ever seen. I have 6 minutes of video of him laughing, but I pulled out just a bit of it so you could share in the laughter...

Waiting to be called in for lunch at The Lady and Sons

Ringing the dinner bell as we all got called in for our lunch

Maddox chillin' in his stroller as we tour Savannah. As you can tell he was thoroughly impressed!

Maddox wearing short sleeves on his first Thanksgiving.

This was our first allergic reaction episode. Now if you know Caisson or me, you know we fully expect Maddox to have more of these, poor kid. He unfortunately has inherited our "sensitive to everything" genes. We found out he is allergic to Pampers diapers. Long story, but once we figured it out, we gave him a bath and this this is my attempt at turning a burp cloth into a diaper while we waited for Caisson to return from the store with our ever faithful Huggies. All I have to say here is THANK GOODNESS for disposable diapers. I got to expeirence all the joys that come with a dirty cloth diaper. YUCK!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed your family and friends!

Can he really be 6 months old?

2007-11-18T20:34:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it -Maddox is 6 months old today. I remember in those first few days thinking this was so far away, yet it feels like I have blinked and here it is. He has changed so much in a short 6 months. Sometimes I miss my little 5 lb bag of sugar, but he is so much fun now I wouldn't go back for the world. I bought him some new pj's the other day and I went ahead and washed them for whenever I would need them. I remember looking at them and thinking they looked so big, there was no way they would fit right now. Well, I am a little behind on laundry because I have become obsessed with cleaning out closets, so I pulled them out tonight. When I zipped him up I realized that they actually fit him pretty well. I couldn't believe it. I have to say it made me a little sad. It is crazy to see the difference from the preemie clothes he started out in to what he wears today.

I thought I would share his six month pics with you. But first, here is a newborn pic just for reference: (that is a preemie outfit he has on that is swallowing him, and don't ask about the one mitten...I don't know what happened to the other one or why we didn't remove this one before we took the picture. Maybe a Michael Jackson reference for his Rock N' Roll room!)

Here he is at 6 months

My cute little bucket of fun

Then I decided since he was wearing his cowboy shirt, I would put Bevo in the picture with him. Seemed fitting. As soon as I set it down he got this concerned look on his face.

So I thought I would make it moo and maybe he would think that was funny. I was wrong.

This is when it hit me that my son really isn't a true Texan. He is scared of the sound of a cow.....

We will have to work on that!

Happy 6 months Maddox!

Say Thank You!

2007-11-17T10:14:00.001-05:00

I am always thankful for the men and women who have devoted thier lives to keeping me safe, but it especially hits me during the holidays. I can't imagine spending Thanksgiving or Christmas in a sandy tent surrounded by guns and armor rather than presents and lights. Trying to make the best of a meal made for hundreds rather than the homemade feast I enjoy with my family. And certainly missing this time with thier kids. I just saw on Fox news that you can send text messages to the troops to send your thanks. So, I have already sent a few. I am glad to know I was able to tell at least a couple of soldiers how much I appreciate their service. I am passing along the website so you can do the same. It only takes a few seconds and it means so much. Click on the link below for more info, or you can just text your thanks to 89279 (You can remember the number for later by "TeXt America Supports You" - TXASY.)
http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/americasupportsyou/index.aspx

That kid in the mirror is HILARIOUS!

2007-11-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

This is my favorite part of the day. Getting Maddox ready for bed consists of a bottle, the solid food of the day, a bath and a quick game of "Who's that Baby" before we go rock him off to la la land. Tonight he thought our game was especially fun. We laughed so hard, so I thought I would share it with you. He is so much fun right now. I love it!!

Just a bunch of monkey business...

2007-11-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

I am so glad we have finally gotten a cold spell here. Glad because I finally get to put on the monkey hat and gloves that Kimberly sent Maddox before he was even born. He has worn it out a few times now and we get rave reviews. It is really funny, and he also looks sooooo cute!!!

The back even has a curly tail.

I know this is the second picture you have seen like this, and I was hesitant to put it on here because you might think I don't pay attention to him, but it is so funny I have to post it. He really doesn't like laying down anymore, but he can't sit up on his own yet. So we usually prop him up in the corner of the couch if we have to put him down for a few seconds. This time I was trying to get his bottle ready, so I propped him up while I assembled it and within the 30 seconds it took to screw the cap on, he had tipped over. What I love about this is the arm straight up in the air. A last ditch effort to stay vertical. Sorry Maddox, it was a good try!

I just thought these next 2 pics were cute. Here he is successfully propped in the corner of the couch.

And in his favorite spot - the jumparoo. He can't get enough of this thing. I hear the elephant in my sleep now!

Last night Maddox officially had his first non-family babysitter. Our church has started a new ministry for "Parents night out". Once a month, a group of "seasoned parents" as they call themselves, meet at the church and host a night for the kids so the younger parents can have a date night. It was so nice because I felt so comfortable leaving him with our church friends, and it is FREE which really helps! Maddox did pretty well. (And I have to say I did pretty well too! It helped a lot when I saw who was keeping the kids in the nursery.) They said he cried for a while, but they think he was just tired and there were so many kids that there was just too much comotion for him to go to sleep. Once he gave up on the idea of sleep, he just hung out in the bouncy chair and in the arms of 3 loving ladies. Caisson and I had a peaceful dinner (being able to use both arms to eat and eating while your dinner is hot can be a wonderful thing!), and went to see The Kingdom. It was a great movie! The food was good, but we had the second worst service ever. (1st place goes to our 3 hour visit to IHOP. Yeah, you read that right, 3 hours at IHOP - for coffee, hot chocolate and ONE omelet. Sadly enough, we had been to early service at church and thought we could quickly go to IHOP then get home for Caisson to work. We were wrong.) Last night we watched THREE tables get seated, (after we had already been seated and placed our order for drinks and an appetizer) get their salads, thier meal, and yes, their bill, all before our Texas Tonion arrived. Then we thought for sure our meals would come out quickly. We were oh so wrong. Caisson had to ask the girl if she had remembered to put our order in. So we ended up 30 minutes late to the movie, but we sent Garrett a text message and he updated us on what was going on. We did have a great and much needed date night. It is really nice to sit down with your spouse and use sentences that don't include the words poop or spit-up, and talk in a normal tone of voice rather than two octaves above. Caisson is an awesome Dad, but he is also a fantastic husband and it was nice to have him all to myself, even if only for a few hours.

2007-11-02T12:47:00.000-04:00

Maddox got to watch his first episode of "The Great Pumpkin" the other night. He loved it! I couldn't get him to pay enough attention to me to eat his cereal...and he usually loves his oatmeal. While we were getting ready for trick-or-treaters, we propped him up on the couch so we could carry the chairs outside. When we came back in, he had toppled over...it was pretty funny. He didn't seem to mind much though.
He wasn't really sure about the pumpkin at first. He wouldn't take his eyes off of it.
Our little purple monster.
Maddox with our neighbors, Allison, Cole and Nathan. We had a great time with them.

Hope you had a great Halloween!

My Pouty Pumpkin

2007-10-22T14:16:00.000-04:00

Our adventure for Monday was to go take some pictures at the pumpkin patch. My neighbor and her 3 kids went too - looked to be a fun time. Well, Maddox didn't agree. He decided his "trick" for this Halloween was to make everyone at the pumpkin patch think I was the worst Mom ever. He screamed from the time we got out of the car. I promise I had fed him, changed him and he had slept right before we left. Maybe my kid is afraid of pumpkins. I don't know. At least we got the trick over and now I can wait for the treat! Mindi got some good pictures of her kids and they each got to pick out a pumpkin so that was fun. We got some pictures of Maddox - not really what we were going for, but they are funny anyway.

Notice the grumpy pumpkin behind him...they could be good friends!

My poor little man looks so sad. "Why do you do this to me Mom?"

This is my neighbor Nathan with the pumpkins they bought that day. He was so proud of his jack-o-lanterns.

Maddox has decided that everything tastes better when eaten sideways. I tried everything to get him to sit up straight, I thought I had him in the Bumbo lopsided, but he just kept leaning over, so we just went with it. He ate the whole bowl of cereal in this position.

This is his cute little outfit Mama C smocked for him. The blocks have his initials in them. He wore it to church this past Sunday and everyone thought he looked so cute!

We have started "sleep training" this week. He got to the point where he was only taking 30 minute naps during the day and was so unpredictable about when he would nap. He was also fussy a lot of the time and I knew he was tired, but couldn't get him to sleep. He was waking up about every hour or so during the night. Well, I can't keep up with that, so I plopped myself down in the floor of Barnes and Noble and picked out a book. I am only about half way through, but I have put into practice what I have read so far, and it is already working! We have only been in our sleep "boot camp" as I like to call it for 3 days but he is already doing so much better. So, if any of you are having the same troubles, I would like to recommend to you "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." It is so great, and he acknowledges the real life factor of all of this as well, which most of the books don't. It also goes up through age 3 I think. So future help as well. I told my Mom I feel kind of dumb now after reading it, like I should have realized this on my own, but maybe I get a free pass since he is my first. Poor first kid has to suffer through his Mom's stupidity. Hopefully he will survive without too much damage!

The jumping Russian

2007-10-20T20:21:00.000-04:00

Maddox has aquired two new abilities in the past two days. Yesterday he figured out how to make this funny gurgling noise and he thinks it is quite entertaining. In fact, it is pretty much the only noise he makes all day now. It doesn't matter if he has his pacifier in, or his hands in his mouth, or just laying around, he loves it. We find it quite amusing too. Caisson calls it his "Russian" language. Then today he was in his jumparoo, which he has always loved, but before he was just content with the toys and lights. He would sway a little bit, but mainly just played with his hands. Well today he figured out he could make it bounce too and he had the best time! Caisson took our good camera with him to Canada, but I did get it filmed on my old camera. The quality is not as good, and there is no sound, but you can see how excited he gets when he starts to bounce. I wish there was sound so you could hear the squeals of excitement and giggles that were coming out of my little man. He thought it was the best thing ever. I was cracking up. I know this is probably only really cute and funny to us, but I wanted to put it on here anyway. Carl, Landis and Shayde will be able to tell how much he has grown - we had him in this same jumparoo at their house a month ago and we had to put a couch pillow below him so his feet would have something to touch. Man, he is growing so fast!!

I am getting errors again trying to post my other pics, so I will try to put those up tomorrow. Blogger really doesn't like me.

Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

Long live the Raiders

2007-10-13T09:58:00.000-04:00

I have been cleaning out closets all week. I have been in one of those moods to get rid of the stuff that has been laying around forever and make my house a little less cluttered. So it hit me even harder with the unsentimental mood I am in that I can't get rid of this t-shirt.

I have loved this shirt since I got it when I was in 8th grade. (I think it was 8th grade - Kimberly and Garrett will correct me if that is wrong. I leave those details to them.) This is just the back of it, but if you look closely you will see the all the holes and the badly faded print. It is also so thin that you can just about see through it. This is not because of how hard I have been on it, or from wearing it while working on mission trips, because this shirt was never put in the "work shirt" pile. It is worn out simply because I have worn it. I have tried to throw it away several times and every time it ends up back in the good pile. Saying the "good pile" is funny - I couldn't wear this out of the house. So I started thinking why I can't give this up. It is not because it is the coolest t-shirt on the planet, it is because of the story behind it. One fall, Mom and Dad packed us all up and drove to Lubbock, TX for a Texas Tech football game. (Dad graduated from Tech). I don't remember who they played, or even if the Raiders won, but I do remember my Dad telling me to watch for the Raider who was about to ride around the stadium, seeing his excitement at having all of us there watching his alma mater play. I remember Dad taking us around campus and telling stories all weekend of the crazy things he did in college. Mom and Dad took us to the book stores and let us all pick a souvenir. This was mine. Now I know you were expecting this grand story of some amazing adventure that would prompt me to keep a t-shirt for this many years, but that is it. It is just such a great memory to me. It really hits me, now that I have a son of my own, how much something like this can mean to a child. I hope and pray that Caisson and I will be able to create the memories, traditions, and closeness that my parents created for us. I know that it must take a constant effort, and I have already found out in Maddox's almost 5 months how fast the time passes. So, Thanks, Mom and Dad, for taking us to the Tech game, and to Florida, and California, and for coaching our softball and t-ball teams, and coming to every sporting event, whether at home or away, and every pep rally, even when it made you late for work, and to the pool at Idlewild with lemon cookies, even though you don't like to swim. For making the trip to a small island in the Caribbean and to South Carolina and every other place we have lived so you can be involved in our lives. Every day I come across a memory and I thank God for the family I was born into.

Now I know that most of my visitors are coming to see pictures of Maddox, so I am not going to leave you hanging. We have some good ones this week:

Our air conditioner broke this week (again!). For the most part it hasn't been too bad because we have had some really nice days. One day was particularly hot though, and with Maddox being so hot natured, he really didn't enjoy it too much. So, Caisson finally stuck him in the freezer. He was actually happy there and got upset when we would take him out. Poor kid needs to live in Maine or maybe Alaska.

We are gearing up for Halloween, you know we love it, and of course we have to get Maddox ready too. This is the two eyed, two horned, flyin' purple finger eater that Aunt Kimberly got for Maddox. We laughed forever once we got him in it. It is a little reminiscent of the kid from "A Christmas Story." This picture is a little blurry, but it is the best one we got of the wiggle worm.

Side view of my little monster. He was such a good sport letting us dress him up and laugh at him!

Enjoying some game time with Dad.

This was the first time he wanted to hold his blanket. I thought it was so cute. He was just hanging out in the swing looking out the window and next thing I know he is catching a cat nap.

More attempts at cereal. This is so much fun! He is starting to get the hang of it now.

We also went to the doctor yesterday for his 4 month checkup. (We had to reschedule because of our Texas tour, so it was a little late.) Here are his current stats:

Weight: 15 lb 11 oz - 50th percentile

Height: 26 1/4" - 75th percentile

Head: 41 - 25th percentile

He was a champ about getting his shots. And I was so proud to answer all of his developmental questions with a yes! (cooing, lauging, rolling over, etc.)

Well, we are going to go take a nap...talk to you later.

Cereal and Surfin'

2007-10-04T14:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I was finally able to upload pics. I don't know what was happening before, but they are here now! Maddox tried rice cereal for the first time last week. These are some pics from his first encounter with solid (semi solid at least) foods.

I don't think he was too impressed!

We have tried several more times and even thickened it up a bit since then and he is starting to take a good bit of if. I will post some more pics of that later. It is so much fun to feed him! We crack up the whole time and the camera never stops!

This surf board is the only way I can get him to spend some "tummy time".

He was working so hard to get that crab!

He is also the most hot natured baby I have ever known, (takes after his dad for sure), so this is now his usual attire - just a diaper. I think he looks so cute though, and it saves me quite a bit of laundry.

This was just one night after a bath and he was talking up a storm. He looked so cute in his little towel so I had to share this pic.

I haven't forgotten about posting pics from the party at my Grandma's for those of you who are waiting for those, we just haven't found the laptop cord yet so it is still out of commission.

Well, Caisson is bored and wants to play the Wii, so I am going to beat him in a game of bowling. I will post more tomorrow.

Something is not right...

2007-09-25T14:58:00.000-04:00

I have tried to upload new pictures for a week now. Every time I try, it sits there and tries to load forever then tells me there is an error. So, sorry for the delay. I will keep trying. Is anyone else having issues?

The tour of Texas!

2007-09-20T12:50:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics of our Texas tour. We have had a great time visiting everyone and getting to show off our son! We have some really good pics from the party at my Grandma's house, but they are stuck on the laptop which is dead and we think the power cord is in SC so we will have to add those when we get back.

Swinging with Grandma and Grandpa

Great Aunt Staryme rocking Maddox to sleep

Maddox is the first great grandchild for Nana and Pappa.

Uncle Shayde

3 months old!

He looks like he just finished Thanksgiving dinner and is lounging on the couch watching football and holding his fat belly!

Cousin Presley loved to hold Maddox.

Watching Sesame Street together

Mercy Me concert before the Ranger game

At the Ranger game - We had a great time and I had a lot to eat! I haven't had a good ball park hot dog in a long time!!

Dad and Garrett at the game

Maddox hanging with his Papa

The Baby Whisperer...also known as Mama C. Maddox couldn't wait for her to get home from work so she would rock him. He would sleep for hours!!

Showing off his Texas pride with Papa and Mama C

The "Sharp Dressed Men"

Maddox's friend Conrad. He is only 6 weeks older than Maddox.

Conrad waiting patiently for his Sweet Potatoes.

Gramie rocking Maddox to sleep.

Pappy rocking Maddox to sleep....do you see a pattern here? I am going to have one spoiled boy after this trip!!

Uncle Shayde bought Maddox this cool jumperoo. He loves to look at the Gecko and parrot. I think this was the first time he discovered them and it took him by surprise!

Having lunch by the pool.

More fun in the jumparoo.

Another car ride....he actually acts like he likes it now. (That makes mom and dad very happy!)

Rockin' in the "Training Room" at church. We had to strip him down because he was so hot!

Just chillin' at church.

He loves taking baths now too. (Another thing Mom and Dad are very thankful for!)

4 months old! I can't believe it!

He loves trying to stand up.

Caisson's Aunt Karon.

Caisson's Uncle Jerry. I think Maddox was very interested in his moustache.

Daddy and Maddox chillin' out after a great hamburger at Karon and Jerry's.

We will start the journey back to SC tomorrow. We hope to be there by saturday night. We sure have loved our time in the Lone Star State!

TAG!....I'm it.

2007-08-29T23:55:00.000-04:00

I have been tagged by my friend Lisa to give 8 random facts about myself. I sat down to do this and told my sister about it, to which she quickly gave me 12 facts - I guess I am a pretty random/quirky person since she was able to rattle them off so quickly. So I am posting mainly from her list.

Here are the rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (if you don’t have a blog, email me)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I lived in the Caribbean for 2 years on a 5 square mile island named Saba. Our house was in "Hell's Gate" (yes that is really the official name). We made frequent trips to "Windwardside" to get our groceries, "The Bottom" to pay our bills, and I worked on "Booby Hill". After I recovered from the initial shock of it and got used to the "island life" I really loved it.

2. I take my shirt off by pulling my left arm through, then over my head and slide it off my right arm. According to my sister the rest of the world takes their shirt off by pulling it over their head and arms simultaneously. I can't help it if everyone else doesn't know how to prevent getting deoderant on their shirt! :)

3. I LOVE Peanut butter and I LOVE Chocolate. I HATE the taste of them together. Reeces pieces lovers are crazy. These two things were definitely meant to be enjoyed separately.

4. I eat my food one thing at a time. I don't like to mix them and would prefer for them not to touch on the plate if at all possible. (The divided plate is one of the greatest inventions of all time!) I eat them in order of what I like the best - of course saving the best for last. Michael can back me up on this one. If you have never tried eating like this, you should give it a whirl. It makes everything taste so much better. It is like the world of colors. Red is so pretty when it is just red. When you start adding too many colors with it, it just becomes a muddy brown.

5. I count my steps. Not deliberately, but I do. I will make it half way down a stairwell and realize the number 17 is in my head. I can usually turn around and count the steps and the number will be right. Don't know why I do it, guess I am just a little strange.

6. I LOVE the Price is Right. And yes, I am so sad that Bob is gone and I never made it on his show. I still watch it whenever I can. In college, I had one semester that I had no 10:00 class. I would rush home to watch and was usually running to get to chapel in time because I had stayed to see who had won the Showcase. I think it is the greatest game show ever.

7. I have 3 freckles that form a triangle just under my right eye. This wouldn't be too random or strange if I didn't also always have people trying to clean them off my face! I have had numerous old women lick thier finger and start to wipe them before I realize what is going on. I am ready and aware now though. I mean that is hardly ok when my mom does it, much less a strange woman's spit - on my face no less! Now people will start to tell me and I immediately point right to them and ask if that is what they are looking at. The speedier I am, the less likely I am to receive unwanted saliva!

8. I have these sudden inclinations to pour water on people. Caisson has obviously gotten the most harassment from this bad habit, but Michael got his fair share back in the day too. The first time I met Caisson's parents I was in a white t-shirt soaked in water. I had become somewhat stir crazy in the car and squirted Caisson with my water bottle. After a few times he decided it was time for retribution, pulled the car to the side of the road, and dumped the whole bottle on me. To this day I still think it is a very fun game. Caisson tries to start it sometimes but I remind him I am the champion of this game and he usually changes his mind. I think you should all try it sometime. It is very satisfying.

I am tagging Kimberly, Becca, Laura, Lindsey, Jodi, Meredith, Hollie, and Ally.

Sorry there are no pictures to post. We are in Texas right now. Caisson is in Wichita Falls and I am in Tyler. He has the computer and I have the camera. I am going to try to put some pics on my parents computer tomorrow and then I can post some. I have some great pics from when we were at my Grandparents house so as soon as I get to our computer I will put those up. Thanks for praying for our trip. It was a long 21 hours, but we made it. Maddox was a champ for letting us drag him around for that long. I think he is glad to be out of the car for a while though...as am I! Our first stop was at my Grandma and Grandpa's house in Little River. The whole family fixed food and drove up on Sunday afternoon to meet Maddox and visit with us. We were so excited to see everyone and felt so special that they would all drive up for us. We have the greatest family!! We even got to teach Grandma how to bowl on the Wii. It was so fun! Then we went to Nana and Pappa's house (Caisson's grandparents) and had dinner with them and Shayde and Caisson's Aunt Staryme and Uncle Ronnie. Staryme was working some magic on Maddox. He loved rocking with her. Then Caisson did a tour of Dallas to see his friends and brother and sister and I hung out with Kimberly, Michael and Presley. Presley is at such a fun age now. I really enjoyed getting to play with her. She was constantly cracking me up. I love Maddox being little, but I can't wait until we can interact with him. We took some pictures of the two cousins while we were there. I will try to scan them and put those up tomorrow too. They turned out really cute! I am now in Tyler with my parents. Maddox loves his Papa and Mama C. He talks up a storm every night when they get home from work. We got to show him off at the church I grew up in on Wednesday night. That was fun. He was trying to talk through the service too. Good thing it was a singing service! He just wanted to join in the fun. I will be in Tyler through next week, then on to Wichita Falls. We can't wait for Maddox to meet his friend Conrad. So goes the tour of Texas. I even found a onesie for Maddox that looks like the Texas flag. I have to make sure he can properly represent the great Lone Star State when we return to SC!

His future's so bright....

2007-08-08T15:47:00.000-04:00

We got out to run errands yesterday and I put Maddox's sunglasses on for the first time. I couldn't quit laughing everytime I would look at him in the mirror. I thought I would share the laughs with you. Doesn't he look cute? He loved them.

We have stayed inside today because of the crazy heat. The picture below is from weather.com as of 3:45. It has actually cooled off since I checked it at 1:00. Oh my word it is so hot! The humidity is only at 56% which is somewhat low for us and it still is giving a heat index of 115!!!! Living by the ocean has its perks, but on a day like today, I am wishing for the drier heat of Texas! (in 10 days....Yea!!)

Hope you are all staying cool!

2007-08-05T20:30:00.000-04:00

Well, not much has happened this week. Caisson is studying a lot and Maddox and I are having fun hanging out. I thought I would give you a few more pics.

This is Maddox's favorite entertainment. His Uncle Shayde sent this to him and he loves it! It is a light show that moves blue and red lights across the ceiling. He loves to lay in his swing and watch it. Thanks Uncle Shayde!

Maddox is practicing his channel surfing skills.

We had a play date with Sophie and Max last Wednesday. Sophie had just gotten a fabulous new hat. We had a fashion show/photo shoot with her. She is adorable.

This is her brother, Max. He will be one year old on the 18th. (Yes, Thea now has 2 kids under the age of 1. Superwoman, right?) He is also very adorable and so much fun! I can't wait until Maddox can actually play with them.

Well, I will try to have something more exciting to post this week. We are counting down the days until we come to Texas. Maddox has been practicing taking naps in his travel bed. He is doing pretty well. We have also been taking lots of outings for random errands to get him better aquainted with his car seat. He is doing really well - as long as we remember to bring the fan. I just can't wait to get him to the Lone Star State and in the arms of his great grandparents!

P.S. - the poll ended up 50/50 for Yankees vs. Braves so I guess Kimberly and Garrett will just have to keep battling it out for themselves!

Polling fun!

2007-07-30T10:13:00.000-04:00

My brilliant friend Becca found this new feature on Blogger where you can add polls and let your friends vote. I love it! So to start it off I am helping my brother and sister solve thier long time debate about their favorite baseball teams. Please help them end the fued by voting in the sidebar on the right. This should be fun!

Get ready for some fun games of "Would you rather..."

All burning questions and debates come to an end here!

I hate HTML!

2007-07-27T14:08:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I went in a while ago to try and update the blog. I also tried to put a new picture of Maddox on the Lilypie ticker. When I did that, I messed up the HTML somehow so all that was showing on the blog was stupid code. After almost having a heart attack thinking I had lost all the pictures and comments from when I got pregnant, I finally found those archives. Well, after hours of work and days of confusion, it finally hit me that maybe I can just change the template and whatever I messed up would be replaced with the new template. IT WORKED! Yea! So now we have a new look - I was kind of tired of the dots anyway.

So now that we have that crisis fixed, here is an update....

Maddox is doing great! The Zantac has worked wonders. He is now smiling all the time and even thinking about laughing. He is also rolling over! He started this a few weeks ago and we thought it was just coincidence because we thought it must be way too early for him to really know what he was doing. But after the 3rd time we figured he must really not like it on his stomach. Now every time we put him down, he immediately rolls himself over. It takes him a while to make it all the way and he is still really surprised when he makes it to his back. It is really funny. At his 2 month checkup, he weighed 11 lbs 4 oz, and was 22 3/4" long. Both of those are in the 50th percentile. His head was only in the 25th percentile, but the doctor said that is in the normal range. (I guess his cousin Presely took all the head space!) We are coming to Texas on the 18th of August and we can't wait to see our grandparents holding our son! If you don't mind, if you could add that trip to your prayer list. Maddox still isn't too fond of his car seat so we aren't sure how this is going to go and it isn't the shortest trip in the world.

Ok, enough talk...here is what you really came for....pictures!

Dad's dream...someone to play X-box with...start em' early!

All dressed up in his Longhorn gear thanks to the Bighams...once again...start em' early!

Ready for his first 4th of July (Thanks Aunt Kimberly for the cool outfit). He was so excited he slept through the whole fireworks show!

This is Maddox's new friend Sophia. Our friends Steve and Thea just adopted her from Guatemala. Isn't she beautiful? She has a brother Max as well, but he had already gone to bed. I will have to get a picture of him next time. I can see many play dates in our future!

On his 2 month birthday, Maddox got to go to the doctor and get a lot of shots! What a birthday present, huh? I should have known to take his picture BEFORE we went. He was not very happy afterward. We have ice packs on his legs here to try and numb them a little. He would scream if we would slightly touch them. Poor kid.

After he knocked himself out from crying, I finally got this picture. I was very careful not to wake him up, so it is not the best pose, but it will be funny to remember how we spent his 2 month birthday.

This was our first successful walk. We had attempted once before, but we only got a few blocks up before he was ready to go back in. This day was pretty cool outside, so I think he enjoyed it. We also bought a fan that is hooked to the inside of the stroller. That helped a lot. He is very heat intolerant...just like his Dad!

Chillin' on the couch after our walk.

And...his newest trick...rolling over!

We are having so much fun with him and can't believe how fast he is changing. He is such a sweet baby. It melts my heart when I walk in the room and he looks for me, and especially when he smiles at me! There is nothing better!

The Many Faces of Maddox

2007-06-30T15:59:00.000-04:00

Here is a video we made showing off our happy little boy...well "Happy" is such a relative term...haha!

Here is a picture of Maddox being all dapper at graduation.

I'm a big boy now!

2007-06-29T13:37:00.001-04:00

First, let me say thank you for all of the encouragement you have given us. It always helps to hear stories of parents who have survived hours of screaming fits. It gives us hope. :) Last week Maddox started throwing up after he was feeding. That, coupled with the fact that he was always fighting me when he was nursing made Caisson think that he might have acid reflux. With all the crying and fighting while nursing, we had assumed he wasn't able to get enough to eat. We had tried all sorts of things and kept supplementing with bottles, but it didn't seem to help much. So after the throwing up started, we went to the pediatrician and she agreed - probably reflux. She gave him a prescription for Zantac that we started last night so we will see if that helps. So, that was probably his problem this whole time instead of colic. Wouldn't it be nice if babies came out with the ability to talk? I mean we could have saved him weeks of pain and us weeks of sleeplessness and insanity! So I am hoping this will make him feel better. I always felt so sorry for him because we could tell he was hurting, we just thought it was from his excessive tooting!! ha ha! Thanks again for the comments...it makes me feel better knowing you had this problem too and the medicine helped.

We also found out at the pediatrician that he now weighs 10 POUNDS!! I can't believe it. Caisson had told his parents that was what he weighed and I told him he was crazy. Well, I was wrong! He is still wearing the smallest clothes we have, so I guess all his weight is in his double chin! He has just about doubled his birthweight in 6 weeks. The doctor said usually they want a baby to double the birth weight by 6 months! I guess we sped that process up a bit! I am sure our thinking he wasn't eating enough and stuffing more milk down him helped pack on the pounds!!

He has also gotten pretty good at sleeping close to 5 hours most nights. We are loving it!! I never thought I would be so excited about 5 hours of sleep.

Here are a few more pics for you...

All dressed up for church. Uncle Bud would be proud of his seersucker pants.

Chillin' in his swing. This is where he lives these days. It is the only place we can get him to go to sleep. Now that we know it is reflux it makes sense because the inclined position helps.

One of the many pictures we take when he is just sitting there making faces at us and we of course think it is the most adorable thing ever!

We are going to a dinner for the residents graduating tonight. I am hoping Maddox will get to wear his shirt and tie if it is not too terribly big. We will have to post some pictures tomorrow of his big night out.

Well, I better go get myself ready before he wakes up...more pics and stories soon!

We're still here!

2007-06-19T11:51:00.001-04:00

I know it has been a while since we posted pictures of our new addition, but I will give one word as my excuse...COLIC. Yep, fun times in the Hogue house. We have our good and bad days, but not much sleep is going on here. So, when we have had free time, it has been used in bed with our eyes closed! Today has been a really good day so far, so I thought you might appreciate some pictures to catch up.

Some pictures of the "firsts" we have had so far...

First bath in the bathtub - He is not too fond of this yet!

First trip to church. He was presented with his own little Bible and the church said a prayer just for him. It was very special.

First butterfly kiss...Cousin Presley loved holding her new friend. She loved to pat his head too. It was so cute! She would constantly come over and rub his head and say "Hi Baby". I can't wait for more memories like this one.

First designer Polo shirt - Thanks to our resident fashion guru Uncle Bud. It has his initials monogrammed on the chest and the matching polo logo on the bottom right. Garrett is already trying to work him onto the golf course!

First outing - we went to Queen Anne's Revenge on Daniel Island to celebrate Garrett's birthday. Maddox was so excited he slept through the whole dinner!

Maddox has also had fun meeting his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousin P during his first month. I can't wait to bring him home to Texas to meet the rest of the crew!

Thanks for checking on us! We will post more pictures soon. Please pray for Maddox to feel better and for our sanity as we make it through his colic. We love all of you!

The Best Picture Ever!!

2007-05-26T14:20:00.001-04:00

Ok...so maybe were going a little crazy with this whole Rock 'N Roll Theme, but Maddox seems to be playing right along. Other than the crowd in the background (a tasteful addition by daddy and photoshop), this picture is Totally Real!! We were feeding him last night, and after he finished he made this pose as if to give us a wink and say "ROCK ON". But, that hand sign also means "I love you". So, maybe he's just the smartest kid in the world and knows sign language already.

He's also one week old now, this is his "I'm One Week Old Picture". The blanket with his name embroidered on it is a Color Coordinated Camo Creation by Mama C (aka grandma from the East Texas side of the family). How'd you like all those C's. This blanket represents the future of him terrorizing deer, ducks, turkey, quail, and maybe some squirrel with the whole Hogue Crew: Uncle Shayde, Aunt Lace, Pappy and Gammy (aka Crazy Carl and Landis).

Later, we'll let you know when there's more to come.

The Maddox Update

2007-05-24T16:27:00.001-04:00

Maddox Caeden Hogue...The Man, The Legend

Well we are home now and having a great time with our awesome little kiddo. He is so cute. We've had a couple all nighters feeding him, but we are all getting the hang of things now. Our dog (Macy) thinks he is one of her little puppies. She is very protective and chases off our other puppy (Runty) when he comes near. Everytime he cries she comes running to help out.

Here are some pics from our new adventures

(Click on Pic to enlarge it)

I think this picture is hilarious, he was a little upset when the nurse checked his temp...not pleasant!

His first carseat ride.

You can't tell she's proud can you?

We thought this outfit was appropriate after the "FUN" we had last night.

His first pediatrician vist went well. Here you can really see how tiny he is. Dont worry, he's feeding well and gaining weight.

Macy...his personal body guard. She thinks he is one of her own puppies.

This is one of the magazine covers we made for his Rock and Roll themed room.

You guys didnt know he already had a Hollywood Boulevard Star did ya. This is also hanging in his Rock and Roll room.

I made this to put on my desktop. We're so proud!!

Ladies and Gentlemen Please Welcome....

2007-05-18T23:19:00.000-04:00

......Maddox Caeden Hogue and the Weary Traveler Band!

(This report via satellite from Abilene, TX as computer access was limited at the hospital. Updates from Tiff and Caisson soon, after they get some rest!)

Maddox was born just after noon today, May 18, 2007, at 12:32 pm. He weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 7 oz and measured out at a ruler and a half or 18 inches. Everyone seems to be doing great from the early reports back to Texas.

Here are his first photographs with Mom, Dad, Gradma and Grandpa Hogue, Uncle Shayde Hogue, and Mama C Sublette. The last photo was taken during a special backstage pass!

Mom

Dad

Hogue Family

Uncle Shayde

Maddox Chillin'

Mama C

Krazy GRANDPA Karl!

Music break with his (ehhhumm) iPOD

Hanging with Mom

Grandma Landis

Just what the Doc ordered!

His favorite Uncle Bud!

More pictures

2007-05-03T20:41:00.000-04:00

It cut me off before I got all the nursery pictures posted...

Maddox's platinum records

Hard rock onsies from all of the places Caisson and I have lived since we started dating

The "Rock and Roll Hogue Hall of Fame"

His sign on the door to his room

Rock on!

2007-05-03T20:23:00.000-04:00

Well, these past few weeks have gone so quickly, I didn't realize how long it had been since I had posted. So, I have included a new belly picture at 35 weeks and some pictures of Maddox's room, which is almost complete. Mom, Kimberly and Presley came up to help me put together the nursery and go to my shower at church. We worked hard all weekend! All that is left is to finish the other magazine covers, get a few more family pictures printed, and figure out how to anchor the curtains and shelf into our pathetically thin walls. I hope everyone is doing well! I will try to remember to post more often. Love you all!

Yes, that is Presley dressed as Elvis in the small picture on the Rolling Stone cover.

Uh oh, the big 3-0! (Weeks that is...)

2007-03-27T20:15:00.000-04:00

I can't believe there are only 10 weeks left until Maddox's debut! (That is if he doesn't hold out on me!) We are so excited for him to get here. Our last appointment we were supposed to have a sonogram, but the tech was sick so it got rescheduled. I know I promised pics of the baby, but we will have to wait until next time. Hopefully when we go on April 10th we will get to see him. He never quits moving! I asked Caisson if it was any indication of what he will be like when he gets here....if so, we will never sleep! I thought I would give you an updated picture of the belly. It seems like it gets bigger every day now. Sleeping has become a thing of the past, but I just make up funny songs about it when Caisson and I are getting ready in the morning. I try not to let it get me too frustrated. We have named my nights "pillow circus" because I have 2 body pillows, one wedge pillow, my regular pillow, another standard size pillow, and then the bed chair pillow for when I need to sleep sitting up. It is a circus because these all change positions with me all night trying to find a position that will suffice for at least 30 minutes. I have thought it might be quite comical to video tape the whole charade one night. Oh well, the joys of pregnancy...right? Some of you have asked about cravings. I really haven't had any too strong - at least I haven't made Caisson go anywhere in the middle of the night. I LOVE Claussen pickles (which is so cliche, but it is so true) and I am always up for a good steak (which was rare for me to want pre-pregnancy). We are also going through 3 gallons of milk a week now (Caisson does some damage to the milk too so it is not just me). Other than those, I just get excited about random things every now and then - like black cherry kool aid this weekend. I do remember Kimberly getting very excited about a certain bucket of blueberries, so I guess this random amazement at the greatness of certain foods is pretty normal. Ok, I am sure you didn't want a novel, so I will hold off on my stories until next time. We miss everyone and can't wait to see you all! We are hoping to come home with our new addition sometime in July if everything goes well. Talk to you soon!

and still growing....

2007-02-26T19:32:00.000-05:00

We thought we would post a new belly picture. He has really started to pop out now. This picture was taken at 25 weeks. My last appointment was good. The doctor said all looked great. Maddox's heartbeat was between 130 and 150. At 28 weeks we will do another sonogram so we will have more Maddox pictures to post. He has really become a mover and a kicker! You can see him moving now. Sometimes my belly is just going crazy. It is really neat. I love it. It is pretty funny to look down and see my belly all the sudden poke out in one spot. My belly button is pretty much gone and Caisson thinks that is hilarious! A lot of the regular members at the credit union have noticed in the last 2 weeks and it has been funny to see thier reaction. I have had some creative ways of people asking me....like....are you holding your breath....did you eat a watermelon seed.....and one guy who just insisted that something was different about me. He wasn't sure what it was, but something was just different. I made him hold out and sweat it for a while before I admitted I was pregnant. It was pretty funny to watch him get more and more nervous. He didn't think it was so funny. We will update you again after my next appointment. Thanks again for your prayers. We love you all! 14 weeks until Maddox is here! (hopefully he won't hold out on me! I can't wait for him to get here!)

Half Baked!

2007-01-18T17:48:00.000-05:00

Well, I hit 20 weeks on Tuesday! I can't believe it! We took another picture so you can see the halfway bump. We have pretty much decided on the name Maddox. Caisson wants to spell it Maddex so we are still working on that. No middle names yet. I have felt him move a couple more times lately. I am sure he is kicking more than that, but it is so soft right now that I have to be paying attention to notice it. I did really feel him a couple of nights ago when he was kicking then I guess decided to do a flip because my belly just went into this tight little ball, then back out again. It was a weird feeling. Caisson hasn't really been able to feel it yet, except for when he was in that tight ball. I am sure in the next few weeks his kicks will get a lot stronger. We have also inlcuded a couple of pictures from our picnic at the park by the ocean this past weekend. While all you Texans were trapped in ice, we were having the most perfect day. Sorry about that! We think by some glitch we have been moved ahead and are living in April instead of January. It has been so nice. It is a bit colder and rainy today, but still doesn't feel like January. (If I have just convinced any of you to move to South Carolina, come on up!) Thanks for all the comments, we love reading them. Thank you too for all your prayers. We really appreciate them and Maddox (ex) does too! I have an appointment next week so I will post the results of that later. We love you all!

It's a BOY!

2007-01-01T10:49:00.000-05:00

We had a sonogram on Friday and got to see our little baby boy. At first he was really still, but then he started moving around and showing off! They said everything looks really good. We even got to see the lens on his eyeball. As of Friday, his legs are 2 days ahead of the rest of his body, and they said he has big feet. I guess he thinks since he might be sharing a birthday with his Uncle Garrett, he might as well share the height too. I felt him move for the first time on Dec. 21st. It was so neat. We have also included a picture of my belly. I am starting to get a little bit of a bump now, but it looks more like I have just eaten too much over the holidays! We love you all and can't wait to see everyone. We will keep you updated on our little boy's growth. Please keep praying for him. We appreciate your prayers!

Baby Hogue's Heart Beat

2006-11-28T22:03:00.000-05:00

Today, November 28 2006, we heard our baby's heart beat for the first time. Tiffany is now 13 weeks and we are so excited. We recorded it so everyone could share the moment with us. If you click on the play button below you can see a short video we made with our baby's heart beat.

We love you guys, continue to pray for us and our sweet baby.

Blue Bell Mania!

2006-03-13T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well, once again I have the greatest family on earth. Let me tell you about them...
First I have to tell you that two of the worst things about Charleston is that they don't have Blue Bell ice cream or Mrs. Baird's bread. So this excitement all started from one night when I went to Ruby Tuesday's and found out they serve vanilla blue bell with their desserts. I called my mom and dad to tell them about the great find I had just made, and I guess I was a little overly excited because my whole family still thinks I had some margarita's to go with the ice cream!
So it was the week before Valentines day and my friend Cortney and I had decided to go get manicures and pedicures after work. Right after I get out, my Mom calls to see what I am doing. She is acting very strange and wants full details on why I am not home yet, where I have been and how long until I get home. She stays on the phone with me until I get home, then tells me I have to go to the mailbox. There was nothing there so she tells me to try the front door. Nothing there either, but Caisson was already home, so I go inside and waiting there for me was a large box. I look at the return address and much to my pleasure it said Brenham, TX. So as quickly as I can I tear into the box and I find a styrofoam cooler with the words "Blue Bell Creameries" in big blue letters across the side. Of course they used super industrial packing tape to keep it shut (and cold inside) so it seemed like an eternity before I could get to my treasure. Once I finally got in, I found 4 half-gallons of the best ice cream in the world waiting for me to enjoy! They had overnighted it to me, packed in dry ice! It was so hard we had to take an ice pick to it just to get half a bowl out! "Prison portions" as we called it at the Sublette house. I have shared some of it with my friends at work (not too much) and have gained a few pounds, but it has been by far one of the greatest Valentine's presents ever!

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T21:48:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Caisson and I wish we lived closer so we could spend this time with you, but we will see you all soon! Charleston is beautiful right now. They have the park in the middle of downtown all lit up, and we went last night to a Festival of Lights on James island. Once we got there we found out there was so much more to do besides look at the lights, so we are going back in a few days. I am going to try to take some pictures and I will post them. They had some great displays!!

I got to see a firework show before I left the house tonight. It was awesome, but was driving poor Macy and Runty insane!! We don't have the codes up here preventing you from popping fireworks in the city, so we had at least 4 houses in our neighborhood popping fireworks in their front yard. All the kids in the neighborhood were outside watching. My neighbors, Cole and Nathan had on their Christmas PJ's and were so excited about Santa. They are so cute!

We are leaving for Texas on the 28th - we can't wait. That will feel a lot more like Christmas to us. It is a long drive, so we would appreciate your prayers for a safe trip.

We hope you have a great holiday and a happy new year. We miss everyone so much!

P.S. - Meredith and Hollie - will you send me your e-mail address? You can put it in a comment, or send me an e-mail at tiffany_hogue@hotmail.com. I have been wanting to write both of you, but I don't have your addresses. Thanks for leaving me messages! I miss you!

I'm so lucky!

2005-12-09T12:54:00.000-05:00

I know...it has been a long time since I have posted anything. But, there hasn't been too much to talk about up here. We did go to Texas for a week. That was great to see our family!

It is still in the upper 50's up here so it doesn't feel to much like Christmas outside, but we have had the Christmas music going non-stop and we have all the decorations up. It was fun to have our first house to put lights on.

I am really posting today to say how lucky I am. I have always known it, but this week I was reminded again that I have the best and most supportive family in the world. Caisson and I have moved so many times, started so many new jobs, moved half way around the world, and they are always there for us. On Tuesday I had a job interview. On Monday, while I was frantically cleaning my house to keep myself from getting nervous, the doorbell rings. There stood the lady from the Blossom Shop with a vase of flowers. My whole family had sent me flowers with a note saying "Knock em dead tomorrow". I know that may not sound like much, but to be 5 states away and they still find a way to be at my house...I can't imagine a better family. I hope when Caisson and I start a family we can be as successful at making it a happy and close knit home like my parents did.

Thanks Dad, Mom, Kimberly, Michael, Garrett and Presley! I love you all so much!

Halloween Madness

2005-11-02T20:18:00.000-05:00

You can rank who has the best costume: We will start with the star of the show - Presley. Of course we had a lot of fun putting her in a few different outfits.

The little ghost

The Texas Cowgirl

We also had her in this great dress Mom made for her, but I didn't get home with a picture of it somehow...I will have to add it later.

These next pictures are the few that I got before my camera died at Caisson's resident Halloween party

Elvira and Dr. Phil Good

The Witchdoctor, Moses, and Jeannie

Abbu and Mr. Cardinal

We had a great time! I wish I could have gotten pictures of Joe Dirt. He was hilarious!

Presley at the Pediatrician

2005-11-02T20:05:00.000-05:00

Presley's first doctor visit...

"Wait...Shhhhh...I think I can hear it...."

"Yes!! I gained an ounce!!!"

"I could have told you I was tall for my age. I mean just look at my legs!"

Presley is finally home!

2005-10-26T22:31:00.000-04:00

I know some of you are questioning whether this is my niece or my own child with as much as I have been talking about her lately, but I could not be more proud of her. She really is the sweetest baby I have ever known. And that is not just because I am the aunt. She is content whether you are holding her, changing her diaper, even cleaning her nose is no big deal. I think this experience has been a bit dilusional for me because I know a baby this sweet can only come around once in a blue moon and I am sure it would be impossible to get two in the same family. Here are some pictures of what I lovingly call the best baby in the world!!! Presley is excited about leaving the hospital and getting to her own room!
Mama C gave Presley her first bath at home this morning. She wasn't so sure she liked it.

Presley is ready for trick-or-treating! (a little early!)

She is so excited about finally being in her own bed!! It is so much better than the hospital buckets!!

Is she not the cutest baby ever?

I will have a really hard time leaving!!

Presley's photo shoot

2005-10-24T14:10:00.000-04:00

I am officially an Aunt!!

2005-10-21T14:04:00.000-04:00

Presley Shea Holmes is finally here and she is soooooo beautiful! She has the longest legs - just like her mother! She was born around 8:30 Friday October 21. She weighs 7 lbs, 1 oz. and is 20 1/2 inches long. Kimberly and Presley are both doing well. I will post more pictures later - I have to go run some Aunt errands for now!

VICTORY

2005-10-18T20:25:00.000-04:00

By the way, I have meant to post this for a while - but I have to say HOOK 'EM HORNS! Victory is ours at last! For all of you OU fans who were too scared to return my call - shame on you! I took the beating for the 2 years we lived in Oklahoma. I also have to say it is no fun living in SC sometimes. On Gameday I was searching for some way, internet, tv, that I could watch or even listen to the game. I have never been through such a run-around for a football game. I finally found a broadcast map of the games and what would be showing on ABC in what regions. I was supposed to watch Virgina and Boston college with only 13% of the rest of the nation. SERIOUSLY??? I could have gone to Hawaii or Alaska and still been able to see the Texas Ou game, but not in Charleston. But don't you worry, I finally found a sports bar that gave me one TV to watch it on and boy was it worth it!

T - 3 Days...or less

2005-10-18T20:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I am back in Texas, anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new niece! As soon as I landed in this great state, we went to eat Mexican food (great for me because it doesn't exist in South Carolina, great for Kimberly because we are trying to hurry up Presley's arrival), later we walked the dogs, then went and walked some more on the treadmill. Kimberly got quite a few looks from those hoping they would not have to help deliver the baby right there on the workout floor! Kimberly also has a blog now that she will be updating with stories of Presley for those who want to keep up with the latest...http://kimberlyholmes.blogspot.com.
I will post pictures as soon as she gets here. Please pray for Kimberly and Presley, that the delivery goes well, and pray for Michael, Kimberly and Presley as they start their new life as a family!
Next time I post you can all start calling me AUNT TIFF!

Ok, Ok, Texas Fight is back

2005-09-28T15:36:00.000-04:00

I have this cool feature on my verizon phone called ringback tones. It means I get to choose the music you hear while you are waiting for me to answer the phone. It is fun becuase the first time anyone calls they are a little confused, and it really messes up telemarketers. I had originally just put the Texas fight song as my default ring. Then one day I thought it would be nice of me to give my callers a little variety. So, I got 3 more ringback tones, each from a different genre. I put them all into a jukebox setting so you would never know which one you would get. I enjoy a little spontaneity in my day, but I have found that is not the case with those who frequently call me. I have never had so many upset Texans over not being able to hear a marcing band! So, I have changed it back to Texas fight for all you fanatics! For anyone else who may want to hear anything different, here are the songs I have: Texas Fight Song, Chariot (Gavin DeGraw), So Far Away (Staind), and Shout (The Isley Brothers). If you have a preference, leave me a comment and I will make sure I change yours. (by the way - OU fans don't have a choice. It is Texas fight for you all day long! I know that is really what you want anyway. Ha ha!)
Have a great day!

T - 44 Days and counting!

2005-09-13T16:09:00.000-04:00

Most of you know my sister is having a baby in October. Most of you also probably know that my mom and I have gone what some would call "overboard" in our excitement about being a grandmother and aunt. Well, I guess I can't argue with that, but can you blame me?

I was able to come home from Charleston to surprise Kimberly at a shower at the Hunter Douglas office. She about had Presely right then she was so shocked. It was great to be able to surprise the queen of surprises! The next morning she had a shower in Tyler. I am posting this blog to show you that I have partially proven my worth as an aunt. Kimberly, Mom and I had to race against each other in the essential duties of a mom. We also got a little taste of what it was like to be an infant again. First we had to empty the apple juice from a bottle, then change the dirty diaper on a teddy bear, then guess what flavor of baby food and puffs we were eating. I finished my bottle first, got the diaper changed first, (and the only one to get it put on correctly - mom and Kimberly put them on backwards) but I didn't do so well in the taste test department. I have a new respect for the poor babies who we force to eat what someone has labeled "food". Our three bottles were 1. peach, 2. apricot, and 3. squash. My answers for the three bottles were 1. peach, 2. bad, and 3. worse and I am convinced that is a much more accurate description. They were terrible! Mom and Kimberly did much better at guessing the food, although Mom cheated with the help of 3 of her friends. So I guess my Aunt duties will be restricted to changing diapers and bottles since I would feel too sorry for Presley to make her eat such mush! We had a great time though. Thank you to everyone at Hunter Douglas and all the ladies who gave the Tyler shower. I am so thankful I was able to be here for both of them. Kimberly is so lucky to have all of you!

In the Doghouse

2005-09-04T17:31:00.000-04:00

Many of you have already heard about the doghouse. If you haven't, well, I built a doghouse. The man who built our fence left tons of wood behind, so I put it to good use. We only have one pine tree in the back yard and it doesn't offer much shade. It gets really hot out here when the humidity is high so I thought I would give the dogs somewhere to hang out outside without suffering a heat stroke. It is not quite finished yet. I still need to put shingles on the roof and paint it. They actually do use it (thank goodness!) and Macy loves the porch. The plans I got for the house were for a medium sized dog, (Macy and Runty supposedly fit into the small catagory), so I thought the med. would be big enough for both of them. But, once I started building the frame I could tell it would be too small and they would never go in. So I started "winging" it and it turned out a little bigger than I expeced. My Dad got a real kick out of the fact that it is big enough for me to crawl in so I have included that picture in case you need a good laugh today too.
I hope everyone has a good day. Talk to you tomorrow.
Tiff

September 3, 2005

2005-09-04T04:18:00.000-04:00

Hello from Charleston! I know I have been terrible about writing since we moved, but I will be better from now on. I decided doing a blog would be the best way to get pictures and info out to everyone since there are so many of you that I miss so much.
Caisson is on his internal medicine rotation right now which translates into he lives at the hospital. I would give anything to be able to help him somehow, they work him to death. He is doing very well though. He has had several people comment to his attending physician on what a great doctor he is. Everytime I go to the hospital someone is telling me how great he is. You would all be very proud of him. I AM!! He also has a 50 year old nurse that is in love with him. ha ha!
We have joined the Summerville Church of Christ. It is only about 5 miles from our house. It is a very friendly congregation and we have really enjoyed it so far. I am working on starting my own business doing video editing. I met a girl at Church that is a photographer and we have been working together to get our businesses going.
We are really enjoying it here. It is a neat place to live. The downtown areas make you feel like you are in a movie setting, the beaches are great, and there are all kinds of great shops with local artists and craftsmen. I love to go down to the markets on the weekends and just see what people have come up with. There are also farmers markets every Tues. and Sat. and several fresh fruit/veg. stands open all week. I have loved those! I would love for all of you to be able to come see Charleston while we are here.
Well, I don't want to write too much of a novel on the first post or you will never come back to read more so I will stop here. I will leave you with a picture of the sunset in my neighborhood this evening. It was beautiful. The picture doesn't do it justice. Please write me or post on this blog site when you get a chance. I would love to hear from all of you.
Talk to you soon,
Tiff