Happy 8 Months Cash!

Oh, my dear sweet Cash!  Daddy and I look at you every day and wonder how you got so big!  Your smile has lit up our lives and we cannot believe that you are almost a year old.  You definitely use it to your advantage...and we have no doubt that you will continue to use it to make us smile when we want to reprimand you!

 Your newest trick the last few weeks have been pulling yourself up and standing at the couch, and anything else that you can grab onto!  You are getting stronger and stronger and are so busy that you sometimes don't pay enough attention to what you are doing...

 But you take all of your tumbles in stride and we know that you will be off and running soon...but PLEASE...take your time...mommy and daddy can barely keep up with you now!

 You are such a busy little boy.  From the moment you wake up with that sweet smile on your face, you are ready to GO!  Once you get down on the floor, you aren't staying still for long...you are off and crawling...throwing and chasing your toys and keeping yourself busy busy!

 Your giggles and belly laughs make daddy and I laugh and smile til we cry!  You are the light of our lives and we cannot remember a time that you weren't in it.  Funny how that happens...one day you will understand when you are a daddy to a sweet little boy.  Hopefully he will use all of his charms on you like you do on us!

 You are growing and learning and we have no doubt that the next few months you will be showing off new moves and will keep us very very busy! Thank you for every single smile, giggle, slobbery open mouth kiss, snuggle and amazing moment that you give us every day.  We are so lucky that you are our baby Cashew...we love you buddy!

Cash's First Christmas!

Better late than never...I really do apologize for being so late with this Christmas post!  Things have been so busy since the New Year has started and Jeff has gone back to school!  So I will stop apologizing and finally get to the post! 


This year, we spent Christmas Eve with our friends, the Laurine's.  Dawn and Moke had some family in town and were kind enough to invite us over for dinner and to hang out.  We had a great time as usual with them and Cash was excited to roam another house that had a Christmas tree.  He was especially nosy with all the presents under the tree...but Dawn and Moke made sure to have a little something special for Cash!  We had a wonderful evening and were so thankful that we were able to share our Christmas Eve with some Florida family!

Here is Cash giving some Christmas kisses to Dawn!

Cash with two of his favorite ladies, Taylor and Dawn

Taylor is SO good with Cash!  Here she is playing with Cash and his new toy, a musical penguin!  Taylor is such a good helper and wants to just love on Cash all the time!

 This year, Jeff and I were especially excited about Christmas morning with Cash.  We knew that he wouldn't remember anything about the day, but we knew that we always will!  We were sure not to go overboard with the gifts...as you can see, he was spoiled quite a bit by his grandmas, papas, aunts, uncles and cousins!  Here are all of Cash's gifts loaded up in his "chariot" that Jeff and I bought him!

 It was so much fun bringing Cash out to see all his gifts Christmas morning!  We only had a few out under the tree that were hidden since we knew that Cash would get into them so we were wondering how he would react to all of them.  Here is Cash getting a look at all his presents!

 As you can see, he was into looking at everything and he really did like ripping off the paper!  It took us quite a while to get through all of the presents since we had to stop for Cash's breakfast and a nap in between opening everything. It was a really nice day since we all staying in our PJ's and had no where else that we had to be!  We hope that all our Christmas mornings can be so nice and relaxing, although we have a feeling they will only get crazier as the years pass!

Here is Cash checking out all his presents!  He is such a BLESSED little boy!

Daddy helped Cash open his first gift Christmas morning...we think Cash was a little bummed when he realized it was pajamas from Papa David and Grandma Sandy!

Cash LOVES his Scout Leap Frog Dog from Aunt MeLynda, Uncle Dave and cousin Emily!  You plug it into the computer and program it with your child's name and favorite food, color and animal!  Right now, Cash's favorite food is bacon...can you guess who took care of entering the information?????  DADDY!

Jeff and I got the best present ever this year...our sweet Cashew!

Playing with some of his new toys from Grandma Sue and Rich and Grandma Sue's friend, Sandy.

Stinker was sleeping and as soon as we snapped his picture, he smiled!

You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Cry...

Ahhh...children's first visits to Santa!  Will they cry? Will they scream?  Will they smile?  We weren't sure how Cash would react to Santa at all!  Earlier in the month, we started with the "Ho Ho Ho" to see how he would react...and he cried!  We kept saying it to see if his reaction would change, and in the last couple weeks, he has smiled and laughed when we did it, so we figured now would be a good time to go see Santa!  We decided to take Cash to Fisherman's Village in downtown Punta Gorda for a number of reasons, the biggest being that you bring your own camera to take pictures.  Awesome, since you don't know what kind of reaction and pictures you will get.  So we took Cash down there on Saturday after a nice long nap and some lunch in the hopes that we wouldn't have the screaming baby!  What a pleasant surprise when Cash just checked Santa out and didn't make a peep!  He of course decided to take a handful of hair and beard...thank goodness it was all real!  Looks like we will have to go back next year...I have a feeling it will be a different reaction! 

Here is Cash already checking out Santa...he doesn't look too sure!

I am talking to him and saying that Santa is a nice guy...and that he will bring him presents if he goes and sits on his lap!

Santa was great with Cash!  As you can see, Cash is not 100% on what is going on.  But he does have a handful of Santa's beard just in case something shady goes down!

I LOVE this pic because it looks like Cash is saying, "I got you figured out old man!"

No smiles from Cash, but at least he wasn't screaming!

Happy 7 Months Cash!

Again, I am a little late on posting Cash's monthly pictures...I blame it on the craziness of the holidays!  I know that I say it every month, but we cannot believe just how fast Cash is growing!  It just seems like yesterday that we were eagerly awaiting Cash's arrival and now he is 7 months old!  Earlier this month we had Cash's 6 month appointment.  He weighed in at 18 pounds, 5 ounces and is 28 inches long!  He is definitely our little precocious little boy! He has to examine everything and is becoming quite the little "explorer" now that he is mobile.  It's amazing just how fast he has gotten crawling and he sure does wear us out!  Here are Cash's 7 month pictures...he is such a handsome little boy!

Big boy sitting up!

Man, MORE pictures????

These pictures are getting harder to take since Cash doesn't like to stay in one place for too long!

He is getting stronger!  Only a matter of time before he is pulling himself up and trying to walk!  God help us then!

Bath Time Fun!

Jeff and I had to share this video with you all...Cash absolutely LOVES his bath time!  Cash gets excited when we take him into the bathroom and he sees the tub ready for him.  He goes crazy in the water and we have a feeling that we will have a little fish next summer!  Here is Cash enjoying his bath!

And We Have a Crawler!!!

Cash's sixth month has been filled with many new things and he has mastered yet another one...crawling!  Jeff and I were both here to witness his big crawling debut and it was so exciting!  We had been working with Cash on his "scooting" for a couple weeks now.  We knew that it was only a matter of time before he really figured it out and at the end of November, he did!  Jeff and I set Cash down on his blanket to play and all of a sudden, he was on the move!  We both watched him make his way across the living room and were so excited!  Here is a video right after Cash's first crawl across the room...we are so thankful for technology and the fact that we are able to share these firsts with all of you!

Now the REAL fun has begun...in the two weeks since Cash showed off his new moves, he can now move across the room in a flash!  His belly is still on the ground, so we know once he lifts it up, we are REALLY in trouble!!!

So Much To Be Thankful For...

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  I know that I am a day late with this post, but after all the delicious food consumed yesterday, I was in a food coma last night and decided to wait a day to post!  We hope that everyone had a wonderful day yesterday and that you were all able to celebrate it with those that you love, whether it was with family or friends.  Jeff and I had a pretty low key day.  We had dinner here at home and invited our friends, Barb and Top over to celebrate.  I cooked the turkey (grandma Millie would have been proud) and some sides, and Barb and Top brought some sides and we had a fantastic meal together.  We have really been blessed to have Barb and Top in our life as they have become a big part of our Florida family.  We don't know what we are going to do when they retire and start on the next part of their life and start traveling around the country.  We do know that we will miss them dearly and I am so thankful that we were able to share this Thanksgiving with them.  This year, Jeff and I have so much to be thankful for.  At this time last year, Cash was just a little turkey "cooking" in my belly...this year, he is here eating the turkey!!!  Yes, I put some turkey in the baby food maker and blended it up so Cash could join us at dinner!  Here he is taking his first taste of turkey!

 As you can see, he wasn't too sure about it all, but he had a few more bites and seemed to like it!  As I was saying, I couldn't be more thankful this year.  After a somewhat eventful pregnancy, Cash was born a healthy little boy.  I am so thankful that we are all healthy this year, as many family and friends have been dealing with health issues.  It really makes you step back and realize just how lucky you are if you don't have to worry about health issues daily.  I continue to be thankful for that every single day.  Jeff and I are thankful that we have a roof over our head, food in our bellies, friends and family that love us and that we love.  We really are blessed beyond measure.  Our biggest blessing this year would of course be Cash.  He has made us smile every single day!  Here is our little turkey celebrating his first Thanksgiving!

 How can we not all be thankful for this sweet little boy????

I am also thankful that I get to spend every day with Cash.  Being a stay at home mom is the best job there is...I get paid with sweet smiles, slobbery kisses and giggles...and that is priceless!   I get to watch Cash grow and learn and explore...I am blessed that I have been able to watch all of this as you can never get this time back and it goes by far too quickly.  Here I am with my sweet baby boy!

Of course, I am thankful for the first love of my life, Jeff.  From the moment Cash was born, the title of "dad" fit him perfectly.  He has taken on this role with ease and I fall more in love with him when I see him with our son.  I am thankful that my husband is so hardworking and supportive...he has provided so much for our family and I know that he will continue to do so.  Cash is lucky to have such a wonderful role model in his life and I hope that his parents are extremely proud of the man that he has become.  Here are my boys...Cash just lights up whenever his daddy comes home and it makes me smile every single time!

Finally, here is a video of our little Indian...this is Cash's new favorite thing to do and it just cracks us up when he starts to do it!  We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season, as it is just beginning.  We love and miss you all!