Half a year?

Has half of a year already gone by since my little man was born? It's sufficient to say that time. is. flying.

Today we went in for our 6 month check up!
weight: 16.06oz
height 27.5 inches ( I was off last time, I thought he was longer!)
head: 16.5 inches

He has a nice growth chart and seems to be going along just fine. However... one of his ears was still infected and he still had thrush from the previous antibiotics and when I was on antibiotics. Chase has also been battling sickness this last week as well! I am so ready for my home to be sickness free for a while!

Here are some things Connor loves to do right now:
Connor likes to...
- Feed himself with his spoon (while making a mess ;) and feed himself mum mums and other little finger foods that are soft
- Listen to music from various music playing toys he has
- Sit up and watch what's going on around him
- Jump in his jumper
- Laugh and babble with Mommy and Daddy
- Be in the Moby wrap while Mom does housework
- Go for walks and jogs with Mommy and Daddy
- Pet Bailey and touch and grab at everything around!
- Sit in the shopping cart seat all by himself

These are just a few of the things that he has started or has been doing for a while. It's amazing seeing him learn new things and grow so quickly. Children really are a crazy amazing blessing.

This weekend Chase and I are spending our first nights away from our little man to go spend the weekend in Eureka Springs. My mom is going to spend the weekend at our house with little man! Say a special prayer that he is the sweet boy for her that he is for us! I am afraid his schedule has been a little wonky since he's been sick.

12-29-11 at WalMart

Here's hoping the next 6 months slow down a little! Before we know it, little C will be crawling, walking, talking.. and growing all too quickly. 

Here Comes Santa!

Connor met Santa for the first time- he smiled and flirted with the camera, per usual. He's such a ham.

Yesterday we went to McAlester, OK to see my side of the family, eat yummy Italian food at Giacomo's and celebrate Christmas in a jolly good way. 

Mini-vacation? I think yes...

After this busy season, we are definitely going to need some down time.

Christmas is always busy, but it seems as though this year it is especially so. I wish we could just sit back and really enjoy the real reason for the season and spend less time doing "stuff."

Giving up so much home time doesn't quite seem to be worth it as much as it used to. Isn't it funny how things work like that? We spend our entire lives going to school to get an education so we can have a nice job and nice things, then you have a child and you would give anything (especially all of those nice things) to just spend all of your time with them.

Hubs just finished grilling a delicious dinner (in 20 degree weather... he's awesome) and he's also cleaning the kitchen while I blog (and Baby C sleeps..). I feel so blessed with them.

Anyhoodles, we have booked two fabulous nights at a treehouse in Eureka Springs for New Years Eve!
We'll be staying in the Royal Oak Treehouse! I'll definitely take pictures and share with you next month!!

http://www.thetreehouses.com/index.html

We have yet to spend a night away from our amazing little man, so this will be quite an experience! Even though we have to leave our main scoop, we are looking forward to some relaxation time and alone time and Grandma is looking forward to grandson time!

I think that's what we call a win/win!

Little man is 5+ months old now and is such a blessing to us.

At five months he:
- is rolling over tummy to back
- laughing/giggling and loves to play in his jumper
- has two teeth about to push through on his bottom gums
- loves sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, apples and momma just made some peas tonight!
- has begun grabbing at glasses, lips, cheeks, hair.. just about anything and everything! (beware!)
- turns his head at the sound of his name
- he currently has his first runny/icky nose.. I'm sure it's the first of many!!

Toodles until next time!!

Let's get organized.. organized...

So Hubs and I have been working on getting the Cavalier house organized. We're paying off debt, and taking names.. and along with that comes the desire to be more organized everywhere.

Last weekend he started in the garage after he built us a deck and a platform bed frame for our new mattress. The house is pretty organized. I made sure our junk drawer got an overhaul, and we cleaned out under the bed.

Next on my list to de-clutter is the guest bedroom closet (aka: craft closet that never gets used...) and Hub's closet. My clothes need to be sorted through again, but I'm wary of getting rid of anything because I've OFFICIALLY started Weight Watchers again and don't know what will fit and when... so It may just stay cram packed with clothes for now.

At least the clothes are color coded and sorted by length. (I totally have C sitting in my lap and he totally just drooled down my leg. The joys of motherhood ;)

Anyhoodle, today Hubs built an incredible bill sorter that lets us see our bills due in order from the first of the month to the end of the month. Kinda hard to explain so I'll show you a picture.

Pinterest has become a great source of organization projects, too. Up next is a nail polish storage system (to get them out of my closet and up where I can see them all), a chalkboard menu for the kitchen, and a glass covered calendar with dry erase marker for the kitchen/dining room as well. (Hopefully to help take some of the clutter off of the refrigerator.

By way of little man, we have started playing with toys a lot more, grabbing hold of just about everything (even mom's drinking cup- thankfully we've had no casualties yet) and eating solids. At his last appointment, Little C was 29 1/2 inches long, 14.9 lbs (>95% in height and 35% in weight... I think).

He loves:
- sitting in his bumbo chair with toys
- sitting in his high chair also with toys or talking to me while I make dinner
- playing in his jumperoo
- watching his mobile in his crib
- LOVES bathtime still
- would eat sweet potatoes and butternut squash all day (I make it- super duper easy!)

Anyhoodle, that's all folks!! Off I got o finish laundry, try to file paid bills and empty the dishwasher.... it's never ending! (but at least it's fun)

Freedom!

This is the first free weekend that I have had in.... I can't remember! It felt so refreshing to sleep in (7:30am) and get up with little man, let him play in his pajamas in his own room while I took a shower and got ready.

We then fed little man,gave him a bath (since we missed ours last night- I was with Connor at Kaci's watching Kailyn while she and her hubby went to a Razorback basketball game- after which she gifted us with tickets two two games over the next two weeks!!!!) and then little man went down for a nap around 9:30am (usual). However, it's 12:30pm and he's still asleep (unusual).

Connor never really has been the best napper. He'll take one small nap in the afternoon typically, but he does sleep through the night so I've never complained! (sttn meaning he doesn't wake up except to eat once or twice and always goes back to sleep) I would love to give up those night feedings and sleep solid through the night, but I kind of really look forward to our cuddle time. It's so precious and I know how quickly he's growing and soon won't want to cuddle as much. I'll take what I can, when I can!

Other than that, I've dusted, steam mopped the floors, cleaned the bathrooms/kitchen, finished the laundry, and put dinner in the Crock Pot, and Chase ran the vacuum. This means the rest of the weekend is family time!

There are a few other things I'd like to get done (weed the front flowerbed and clean up the limbs in the backyard), but those things can wait.

Tonight while Hubs plays with the FJC at Crystal Bridges, I'll be taking C to watch the Razorback Football game at a friend's house for a watch party! She has a sweet little boy that's a month younger than Connor, and the Richardson's have a little boy as well who is just a few weeks younger than C! They were my "preggo posse" gals... I pretty much <3 them!

Excuse my extreme chatty-ness. It's been a long few weeks and it feels so refreshing to be HOME!

Pictures of the watch party coming soon!

Toodles. :)

This is Halloween!

It's that time of year again- the smell of pumpkin is filling the kitchen, the chiminea is lit and the candy ready to be given out! (what I haven't eaten yet, anyway...)
I have a secret obsession with Almond Joys, so unfortunately guys, there are none left in our candy bowl!

However, there is an uber cute little alien awaiting our trick-or-treaters, so hopefully that makes up for our lack of chocolate covered coconut.

No, I haven't raided the mother ship... Connor is dressed up as the cutest, and drool-iest little alien I know.

Proof:

 No more pictures, please...

The last one is just thrown in there to show the lovely evening about to be had!

The end!

Pumpkin Patchin'

Is it already Sunday night? These days go by so super fast it's not even fair! However, this weekend I was able to rest (much needed since I have been so sick the last few weeks) and spend much needed time with Little C and Big C. 

Saturday Chase went and played golf with a friend and I slept in all morning (trying to get over this icky stuff). After I bumped around the house for a few hours, I finally cleaned, did laundry and enjoyed the day with Little C. 

Hubs also brought home a sweet gas grill as well! We're already planning next week's menu for lots of grilling...

Today has been busy, but we came home after church and napped.. and napped some more, and then traveled back up to Bentonville for a Chili Cook-Off and Pumpkin Patch. Which leads me to the title of this post! Of course I took the camera and snapped some cute photos of Baby C. 

Some friends who are more camera savvy than I am were there and showed me a few pointers and let me test out their sweet lens. I'm pretty sure I know what's going on my Christmas list for this year.

Anyhoodle, I know the real reason you're reading, so I'll give ya the pictures already!

Pin me!

I am addicted... to Pinterest!

For years, I've had tons of great ideas for crafts, projects, and organization but always "forget" what I had in mind, or never know exactly how to make it happen.

Pinterest, you've solved all of my problems!!

I already have two projects in queue and can't wait to try out some of these delish recipes.

Amazing!

Come and pin along with me!
http://pinterest.com/kalyncavalier/

Toodles!

Toppling Tower..

Some days I just feel like I can't quite catch up... bills need to be paid, house cleaned... thankfully my laundry IS caught up, but lessons need to be planned and all of these things seem to be taking away from my time with the two people I want to spend the most time with! (Hubs and little C if you weren't quite sure!)

Today was one of THOSE days where I wished all day I could just stay home with my sweet boy and watch him as he grows and becomes less of a newborn and more of an infant/baby. He's so much fun and it's terribly hard for me to miss out on so much of his life.

As I write this, he's hanging out next to me on his play gym "talking," grabbing, and chewing- all of which are new this week! He's a hoot in the morning before I have to leave for work and it's hard putting him in that car seat and taking him to the babysitter so she can play all day with my little ball of fun!

Sorry for the down post.. It's just part of the battle of being a working mom- I understand! One one hand I'm helping Chase provide a better future for our family, but on the other, I feel like a failure. Besides the fact I can't do it all by myself anymore (laundry, housework, lessons, yard work,pumping, and our happy little guy...) I feel like all of those extra things I do take away from my time with him at home.

So if you see me at work running like a mad-woman through the halls, it's only because I'm trying as hard as I can to get all of my work done at 'work' and not take anything home to distract from my time with my main squeezes. Or if I am hesitant to commit to something after school or on the weekends... well you understand!!

On a fun note- we're going camping with the Harrimans on Saturday! Super duper fun awaits.

Here are some new photos of the cutest little boy I know...

Hog Heaven

Dear Baby C,

Today you got to experience your first day of college football. So far you've really enjoyed it! Your Uncle Tim, Aunt Jessica, cousins Trinitie, Faith and Barrett and Grandpa Grover all came to visit. They loved you and you adored the- giving them tons of little smiles and coos.

You wore the cutest little Hogs t-shirt (Mom has a matching one, but couldn't find one for Dad yet..) We ate at Mad Pizza and now you're sleeping the afternoon away!

Oh, and last night you slept for 5+ hours straight!! From 11-4 you didn't make a peep. You ate at 4 and then slept again until 6, ate a little more and slept until 9! I think you were making up for yesterday when you didn't take a nap all... day... long... You were pretty tuckered out at the end of the day.

You sleep really well every night, but you do like to be fed every 3-4 hours typically. We're working on that though!

Basically, little dude.. you rock and we love you.

Love,
Mom (and Dad)

Babywearing

Today we embarked on a new journey : babywearing...

Actually, it's more for me than for him. He is more than content to play under his Baby Einstein play gym forever it seems or his super rad Rain Forest mobile by Fisher Price. But sometimes I just want to cuddle and hold him since this time is going by far too quickly.

I'm kinda in love with the idea of babywearing. I had a Pea Pod sling given to me, and then got a free sling from Seven Slings; however, baby boy liked neither of them. I also wasn't comfortable with the way hey laid/sat in slings. They also cut into my shoulder and just did not fit well. The Pea Pod was too small, and in trying to compensate for the smallishness of the pod, I ordered too large of a Seven Sling.

So in effort to find a wrap/sling we liked, I purchased a Moby Wrap and oh-my-heavens, I'm in love.

Besides the fact that Connor is all too happy to be snug and cozy next to his  lunch  mom, the wrap is like heaven on my back. It distributes the weight super evenly and the fabric is very flexible and comfortable. Also.. I can nurse hands free while doing things around the house... although I much prefer snuggling up with my little guy for the later- but sometimes laundry does need to be folded or lessons typed up.
I'm also looking forward to using this for outings instead of carrying around the baby carrier+baby.

You guys know how much I love my Graco Snap-n-Go, but this is super duper easy and takes even less time than getting the stroller out of the trunk... and requires less baggage when you need to get in and out of a busy store/place.

We're all about efficiency here! (and affordability..)

It's basically a win!

Definitely a baby in there.. and he's nursing! (excuse the cheesy IPhone photo..)

Wordless Wednesday

Workin' on a Full House

Yesterday was the epitome of a beautiful, wonderful, relaxing and fulfilling day. We've had lots of these lately. So blessed.

It all started with a little bit of lesson planning (which is always fun to do!) and then I went up to the school to make some visual aids for my sub next week. Speaking of... next week is my last week at home with my baby. I have quite a few mixed feelings about this, but mostly I am trying to prepare myself for being apart from him (I did it during in-service; however, I knew it was only for a few days..).

Anyhoodle, let's stay faaaar away from that topic for now because, well... that just stinks.

The cool part of yesterday was getting to hang out in my pajamas all day with little man and hubs and then end the afternoon watching hubs play with Full House in Orchard Park for the Bentonville Concert in the Park series. I was able to sit next to my sweet friend Mandy (whose husband also plays in Full House) and got a small glimpse at what the Cavalier house might look like in a few years... she has three sweet and energetic boys.

We took our quilt, some cool water, and ourselves, and Connor and I parked it on the quilt. He was such a good baby, and just cooed and looked around the whole time. It was only a little warm at the beginning, after which it cooled down to be a wonderful evening!

Today, Baby C has taken two great naps, and is currently asleep for the night. Hubs was super-hubs, and cleaned the house with baby in tow while I went grocery shopping. Even though I have been in a weird funk today and have been kinda cranky, I realllllllllllly appreciate his awesome-hubbiness.

Anyhoodle, here's photo proof of aforementioned activities.

 "Chillin' with my mom.. you know"

 My boys...

 On the left he was only a week old, and on the right, almost two months! He's growing so much.

Our new mobile. He was mesmerized!

Sweet baby boy practicing great head support!

No routine. but lots of fun!

Greetings friends!

So, since I'm not really in a set routine (right now my tv is set to babylove 24/7) I forget that I haven't blogged in like a bajillion days.

I know when I start back to work, and get into more of a routine, that things will fall into place. The few days that I did teacher in-service was like that!

What an adventure we are having with our little man. He is quite the charmer. He has started smiling and almost giggling quite a bit, and he loves to hold onto my hands and pull up. His head support is quite good and he loves to sit up to watch what is going on around him. Quite the curious little bugger!

We went to visit Chase's family this weekend (his brothers and sister's-in-law had yet to meet Connor!). He and Grammy became best buddies. I did learn that he doesn't nap too well away from home, but when we got home he fell right back into his usual sleeping pattern! (That makes mom a happy camper.) He also rode spectacularly well in the car on the way there. The way home he slept off and on, but had a bit of a tummy ache in-between.

Tonight we're grilling burgers and who-knows-what with our friends! Before that; however, hubs gets to mow the jungle of a lawn out there.All of this rain made the grass spring up anew! ;) Maybe I will be able to weed the front flower bed, too if it's not too hot and if little man takes a good afternoon nap.

Anyhoodle, all is well on our end though!

If I could turn back time... *insert Cher voice here*

I have determined that our mini person is growing entirely too fast.

So fast, that I cannot seem to keep up with his speediness via blog.

Here's me trying harder to keep up with his cuteness!

Things that Connor has done within the last month: (yes folks, he's over a month old now!)
- been incredibly cute
- smile all the time (and sometimes in response- not just for gas!)
- sat in his bumbo
- had his pictures taken by the wonderful Blaire Perry
- cooed and raptor screeched
- been an amazing sleeper at night! (he eats and goes right back to sleep)
- consistent in his sleeping at night (wakes up at 1:30 and 4:00ish).
- worked with mom and dad in mom's classroom
- stayed with aunt kaci and was a really good boy
- went with mom to get a pedicure and haircut

On a non (my) baby note, I just watched this ridiculous documentary called Nursery University about the process that Manhattan families go through just to get their children into pre-schools in NYC. Seriously??
Tuition at some of these places is $20,000 a SEMESTER! It's so serious that they have application mania days where they only take phone calls for two hours for applications (yes, only applications!) after which they have an extensive interview process where they will interview hundreds of families to maybe only choose 20. Some schools bypass that and operate on a strict lottery system. I just find this crazy!

Mind= blown.

Can I just reiterate how thankful I am to be in a place where I love my job, love the town/area I live in, love the people I get to work with and be around everyday, and have a safe and relatively inexpensive place to take my kiddo while I work where the said people I work with also take their children...

Me= thankful.

My classroom at school is also coming along. It would have been near impossible for me to do it alone. Hubs has been there every weekend with me for the last few weeks and I worked my dad to the bone when he was here last.. (sorry dad!). It sure does look great though! I'm really excited to get back to school when the time comes and see those kiddos!

For now.. I am going to go to enjoy the peace and quiet here. Chase has a performance tonight, and Connor is taking his pre- bath nap. That means Bailey and I get some much needed relaxation. ;)


Don't think I forgot your pictures...

 "What choo talkin' bout, Willis?"

 Bumbo time!

 He had a tummy ache this day.. and didn't sleep at all the day before. 

This was the aftermath of the tummy ache.. poor dude.

 Post baby body- not as bad as I thought it would be!

 #stankface

 Eatin' with Aunt Kaci.. yum.

More bumbo! (sorry it's crooked!)

Tomorrow, my mom, grandma and grandpa are coming to visit! It's their first time to see Baby C since he was born.

Toodles!