Halloween 2007

This year Caelan was Tigger for Halloween. He was so cute! I ended up working down at the daycare that day so Caelan was able to go party with some of his buddies. They partied hard because he slept for almost 4 hours after we got home! That night we went to Shades Mountain Independent to see me mom and Doug. Then we came home and took Caelan down our street. After that excitement we handed out candy to other kids who came by. Caelan loved every minute of it. His favorite part was when he found suckers! I think he ended up having four by the time he went to bed. He loves them!! He thinks he is "Mr. Big Shot"!!! Too cute!

Lazy Weekend

We decided a couple of weeks ago that we needed to stay home to watch some games instead of going somewhere to watch the games. It was great. During the Alabama game Caelan crawled up on top of me and didn't move. It was so cute. I am always excited when we don't really do anything and hang out at home!

Pumpkin Patch

We had so much fun this year at the pumpkin patch! Last year he was not mobile so it made things easy. This year Caelan was running all around the pumpkins. We let him pick out his own and he carried that thing everywhere we went looking for our family pumpkin. He was so cute! I can't wait to see how he reacts to Christmas!

Movin' On Up!

These posts are a little out of order, but some are better than none,right? In early October we moved Caelan into his toddler bed. This was a big step because he was only 17 months. We thought it might be too soon, until he tried to hike his leg over the side of the crib and get out. I guess Caelan went from being my baby to a grown boy because he tried to help Jared take his crib apart! It was so funny to watch. He is doing fantastic in the race car bed. The first couple of weeks he would actually get out of his bed at night if he woke up and would come stand right beside out bed. We figured out that a gate would fix that problem! He has been fine since. (The last picture is the final product.) My little boy is growing up too fast!!

Alabama Game

Here are some quick pics from the Alabama game we went to. It was so hot that day, but Caelan was a trooper! He didn't fall asleep during this game, but passed out on the way home!

Helping Out

About 6 weeks ago my brother John had his wisdom teeth taken out. It didn't go as well as he had hoped so Caelan and I took him some food that he could eat. Little did I know that Caelan would eat most of what we brought Unc. While we were helping Caelan figured out he was not afraid of John's dog Farley anymore and began to chase him around the house. Later, Caelan thought it would be a fantastic idea if he rode Farley. This has got to be the best dog because he just laid down and let him crawl all over him.

A little bit of fall

So everyone knows our house is a "divided house" with Jared being for Auburn and myself for Alabama. This year we decided that if we got any tickets to go to games we would take Caelan with us. We have been blessed to get tickets for four games this year. It was the Auburn v. Mississippi State, Auburn v. Tenn. Tech, Alabama v. Houston and Jared and I got tickets to go to Alabama v. Auburn. We had so much fun taking him to see who his mom and dad cheer for! As you can tell, Caelan could not make it through one of the games and fell asleep on me for almost the entire second half. Afterwards, we got to see Aunt Amberly. I am a little behind on pics, but I promise to put up more of the other games.

Far Away Visitors

In August my sister Jill and her family loaded up the car and drove from Boston to Birmingham so they could see everyone. We loved having her here! That was the first time I had seen her in almost a year. I also got to meet my nephew for the first time on this trip. Colin is one big baby! He was such a cool little dude. Some of the pics above are of Caelan and my niece Sydney. Sydney was just over 2 when these pics were taken and Caelan was just over 15 months. We could not believe the size was about the same. It was really fun getting to see these two interact with each other. In the last pic we were over at my dads for dinner and Sydney was trying to help Caelan get on the couch. This lasted for about 15 minutes until Sydney just hopped on the couch and Caelan gave up! So cute!!

Beach Trip 2

This is the last part to our beach trip. One of Caelan's favorite things he figured out how to do was to throw anything he could get his hands on in to the pool. I wish he was not so smart sometimes. The other pics are from our visit with jared's great-grandmother, Grammy. We stopped by on the way home to see her. Can you believe she is in her 90's and still lives by herself!! She is one amazing lady. And she makes the best, most amazing chocolate chip cookies!!! She told me her secret tip, so we will have to see if that is true or she might be holding something back.

Beach Trip

Ok, I am a little behind on the blogging so just hang with me. These pictures are from our annual beach trip we take every summer. Before we hit the beach we made a detour to Mobile to see Jared's grandmother and grandfather, Grandmama and Grandpa Mike. We had not seen them in a while and they loved getting to see what all Caelan could get into. These are some wonderful people. The next couple of pics are from the beach. The first one is of Jared's family that met us down in Gulf Shores. Let me tell you that these people are crazy! They get him wound up so tight until he goes crazy. Two others are out on the beach, which he hated and at the pool, which he LOVED. He got very brave as the trip continued and would just walk into the pool with no one around! You had to watch him every second or he would be in the water. The other pic is from the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. I have wanted to take him here since we started planning the trip. I had seen the show on t.v. and wanted Caelan to see the animals up close. As you can tell, one goat wanted to get rather personal with Caelan and he was NOT having it! It was too funny watching him take it all in.

First Haircut

Before we went to the beach in July we decided it was time for a haircut for Caelan. As usual, it was a family affair because we had my dad and brother at the shop to cheer us on. Caelan sat in his boat like a big boy the entire short time it took to cut (i.e. trim!) his hair. He looked like such a little boy instead of my baby! We were so proud of him.

Barkitecture Animal Fundraising Event

Updates

I know I have not sent out an update in a while about how Caelan is doing, so here goes. Caelan is now almost running anywhere he goes. I went back to work for the summer which meant he got to go with me. He loves being at the daycare and having other children to play with! I think this has really helped him develop his language and development skills. He is beginning to talk more and more. He can say juice, Bella, uh-oh, goat, and some of the kids names in his class. It comes out a little funny sometimes, but you know what he is saying. He is so cute! He is also getting bigger physically. He is 32 inches tall and weighs almost 23 pounds. (This was at the 1 year check up.) He also has a huge foot. One question for the mothers- why doesn't anyone tell you that when your child learns how to take off their shoe it means they are probably to small for their feet? I learned this the hard way with Caelan. I thought he needed new shoes for a couple of weeks, but did not think seriously about it. When we finally went to get him some we ended up with a 6 1/2! I had been stuffing the poor child's foot into a 5 for the last couple of months. I must not have caught on the first time because I did it with his Sunday shoes as well. I was putting those shoes on him this past Sunday and thinking they were hard to get on. Guess what- when we took the shoes off of his feet he had blisters from where they were rubbing on the back of his heel! I felt like I was batting a thousand in the mom department! I will always remember this for when he moves up in to a bigger size! I hope everyone is doing great and as always take care!

4th of July

We decided to try something different this year and meet up with our church for the 4th of July. We met on main street in Homewood for dinner and fireworks! We were not sure how this would go, but Caelan did really well. He would pay attention for a minute or two and then want to get up. This continued for the 20 minutes the show ran. During the times he was paying attention he would clap and "ooh" and "ahh." He has become so animated! I hope everyone had a great 4th and remembered what this day truly means!

Outside

Caelan loves the outdoors. He would stay in his swing outside all day if he could. Here are a few recent pics from Caelan playing on his birthday present from Mimi and Pop. He loves it. He is figuring out it has other items to play with besides the swing too. Enjoy!

Lake Party

Every year Jared's work(WBA) has a lake party. We were able to go this year and thought it would be a great way to introduce Caelan to some water other than the pool. (Hoping it would get him ready for the beach.) At first it was ok- he was not thrilled by being in the water. After a few minutes some older children got in and he forgot about the water and watched them. This lasted for a little bit until he remembered he was tired and he wanted OUT! So much for that idea. Honestly, he did great considering we were doing this during his nap time! On the way home was a quite ride- he passed out before we hit the paved road! We really are blessed for Jared to have such a wonderful place to work.

Home on the Range

While we were in Dothan for the reunion we got the pleasure of staying with Jared's Aunt Irene and Uncle Marvin. These are some great people. I especially like them for their fondness of Alabama football!! They have a lot of land that they raise cows and goats on. We could not wait for Caelan to get out and "play" with the animals. He was a little nervous at first, but then did not want to leave them alone. I can't wait until we can go back and Caelan can see the animals again! As you can see, Jared did not let a little influence from Aunt Irene and Uncle Marvin stop him. He thought it would be a great idea for them to match for the trip home. I fought it as long as I could, but when they look that cute how can you say no?!

On our way down...

Jared and I thought it would be a great idea to borrow my moms portable DVD player to take for the trip. Caelan loved it!! He watched two movies on the way down to Dothan- Barnyard and Shrek 2. I have never seen him sit so quietly for so long! As you can tell in the pictures, he made himself "at home" in the car. Not only did he have a good movie to watch, but he had some snacks and a comfy chair with plenty of air conditioning! If we could all ride like this on a 3 hour trip we would be much happier!

I know it has been a while since I last posted, but we have been extremely busy! This is going to be a little long so hang with me. At the beginning of June we went to Dothan for the annual Standifer family reunion. This year was a little different than last because Caelan is almost running now! Last year he was about 6 weeks old. Everyone enjoyed getting to see him and how much he had grown. If you look at the picture, the little boy with curly hair is almost the same size as Caelan. Colton is actually almost a full year older than Caelan. It is amazing to me to see things like this. I can't believe he is growing up so fast!

A Little Late

So I am a little behind on this, but I wanted to wish my best friend from high school and her husband a Happy Anniversary! It was last Monday but it was a crazy week last week with work and Caelan being sick. So better late than never- Happy 2 year Anniversary guys!!

New Addition

We are so excited to announce that Caelan has a new cousin!! My sister Jill had her little boy, Colin Matthew Barton, on Thursday, June 21st. He is such a cutie and we are so glad another boy has joined our family. Sydney is now a big sister and the only girl in this group of cousins! When I can figure out how to transfer pictures to the site I will post one so everyone can see him.