What We're Eating

I'm hoping that I can start planning our dinners for a few weeks at a time.  I'm thinking this will make it easier on Chance and I at dinner time, plus we won't want to just go and buy dinner if we already have a plan. 

Here is the plan for the next week and a half:

Today (Wednesday): Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans

Thurs: lazy day - hot dogs and fries

Fri: turkey (we need to eat it up!), mac and cheese, crescent rolls

Sat: New Year's Eve - out to eat??

Sun: Chicken Enchiladas and rice

Mon: Hawaiian Sweet Roll Sandwiches but with turkey instead of ham, side of veggies

Tues: Taco Cornbread Casserole also trying this for the first time :)

Wed: hot dogs and fries (my first day back to work after Christmas Break)

Thurs: Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Fri: JALAPENOS (I'm sure I'll need a margarita)

Alright... that's all I have planned so far. I hope it works out :)

Christmas With Team Darley

We started out Christmas a week early this year! The weekend before Christmas we drove to Macon to my Mom's work because we heard Santa would be there to take some pictures.  Although, we'd already had Caycen's pictures taken with Santa at Bass Pro, we thought we would take advantage of getting more pictures with Santa that were closer up.  After we left my mom's store, we went to her house to do Christmas with my side of the family.  It was a little different this year because we usually drive from house to house seeing both sides of my family.  BUT we changed it up so that Chance and I wouldn’t have to do that with Caycen.  We ONLY went to my Mom’s house this year! It was so nice though because my Dad and Cheryl, my Granny and Papa, my sister, her husband and kids, my mom and stepdad were all there with us.  We had a little dinner then opened presents with everyone.  It was so nice to not have to travel around from house to house this year. 

Our signature kiss that you will see LOTS of :)

I was wondering if

Christmas Eve we went to church with Chance’s parents, which is a tradition for them, and then we went back to dinner at their house.  We had some crab stew and Shrimp Creole. It was delicious. We opened our pajamas and went home for the night.

Christmas morning we got up for Caycen’s very first Christmas! We videoed everything J  We took Caycen downstairs to see all of his gifts from Santa.  We opened his presents first, then Chance and I exchanged gifts.  We then gave the dogs their stockings from Santa.  Santa left them each a toy and a bone.  You would think they were the kids by how excited they both were! Then we opened our stockings too.  Caycen was so exhausted by then that he just passed out right in my arms and we opened the stockings while he slept. 

After we cleaned up a little and piddled around, we got ready and went over the Chance’s parents house… we actually went in our P.J.s and took a change of clothes with us for later! J  We had a big breakfast there, opened gifts, then just hung out.  Chance, Baby C, and I ended up taking a little nap in the back bedroom because we were all worn out.  After we woke up we watched a movie, ate dinner, then headed back home to the dogs. 

 

Overall, it was SUCH a wonderful Christmas! I couldn’t imagine a Christmas without Baby C there.  I know next year will be even more fun for him and us!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

I’m thinking up all of my New Year’s Resolutions that I’m going to make J I’ll post when I have completed my list…

Have a wonderful day!

-Aimes

A look at our Christmas Ornaments since Team Darley started 3 1/2 years ago...

When we got married on June 21, 2008

Our first Christmas 2008

Our first Christmas in our New Home 2009

Christmas 2010 (I was pregnant with Baby C)

This Christmas 2011 - with Baby C

Also from this year 2011 - a gift from our wonderful babysitter Stephanie

Baby's first X mas ornament - Also from Stephanie

Another Baby's first Xmas ornament from my mom... There's one more from his Nona, but I didn't get a picture of it.

a gift from Amanda

I made this also this year... I think I messed up because I don't think I was actually supposed to paint the leaves, just the feet... oh well whatever, it's still cute! :)

 ok... I'm really done now I promise! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

Baby C's 6 Month Stats

Caycen’s 6 Month Stats

Weight: 18 lbs 13 oz, 72^nd percentile

Length: 26 ¾ inches, 48^th percentile

Head Circumference:  42 cm, 11^th percentile

The doctor thinks that the nurse measured Caycen’s length wrong last time because he was about the same length as the 4 month visit.  The doctor said that it’s very unlikely that he didn’t grow at all.  He also says that while his percentile is low for his head circumference, that’s ok because he is developmentally where he should be.  It’s crazy that he’s only in the 11^th percentile for head circumference because everyone is always talking about how big he is and, to me, his head looks very proportionate to his body.  He’s definitely growing in length too because he can barely fit into those 6 months sleeper outfits anymore because he’s getting so tall. 

Love you Baby C!!!

-Mommy

7 Days 'til Christmas

Well, only 7 days until Christmas and we still have tons of Christmas making, shopping, and wrapping to do!

Merry Christmas from our little family of 3!!!

Love,
AIMES

Letter to 6 Month Old Baby C

Dear Baby C,
I can't believe I'm saying this... You turned 6 MONTHS OLD yesterday!!! Wow!!! That's HALF a year! Holy smokes the last 6 months have just gone by so fast.  You continue to be the biggest blessing in mine and your daddy's lives.  You are the happiest baby and are always smiling. You have begun to get a little personality too.  I can't believe it, but at only 6 months old, you seem to have a little shy side.  Sometimes when people talk to you, you smile really big then throw your head into my chest (or Daddy's if he's holding you).  It's the cutest thing to see you do that! 

This month's firsts:

You had your first Thanksgiving this month! A lot of your family actually got to see you for the first time too.  It was your first trip to Cordele with all of Daddy's family.  This was the best Thanksgiving EVER because we were so blessed to have you with us this year!

You started sitting up by yourself this month.  We will sit you up on your mat and you will sit there and play.  We started out sitting you up on your changing table after bath time, which is when we put your lotion on.  We figured out that if we kept you sitting up and let you play with your feet, then you didn't cry when we put your lotion on.  We starting sitting you up to play on the floor and you would reach for all of your toys.  At first you would fall over and sometimes even land on your face... you only cried a few times :)  But now you have really good balance! You fall over backwards sometimes when you reach for things still, but you are definitely sitting up ALL by yourself!

You REALLY hold your bottle by yourself the WHOLE time now! Well, sometimes you decide you don't feel like holding it... but most of the time you want to do it all by yourself.

You had your first ear infection this month... which was actually only a few days before you turned 6 months.


You started pushing with your legs against us so that you can stand.  You have some VERY strong legs! Look here where you are standing all by yourself!!! You can't do that for long, but you sure try :)

Things you're loving...
lots of the same things: bottle, baby food, sleeping, jumping in your bouncer, Baby First TV, Daddy's songs, Mommy's humming at night, naps with Daddy or Mommy, your froggy on your carrier, playing with your feet, the dogs...
some new things too: sitting up, the Christmas Tree, grabbing anything and everything on the floor or table, sipping water out of Mommy or Daddy's cup, playing in the mornings after you wake up.

This month has been such a wonderful month with you.  I am loving EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE. of having your itty bitty self in my life! I know that this next month is going to bring a lot more fun and firsts! Thank you for ALWAYS being the best baby ever!!! I love you so much Baby C!

Love,
Mommy

More pictures from your little 6 months shoot we did in your bedroom:

the frog caught your attention

already know how to open a book! so smart :)

I love you my sweet sweet baby!!!!!

Baby C's First Thanksgiving

This was Caycen's first Thanksgiving, and man was it BUSY!!!!

We planned on going to Warner Robins on Wednesday night, but all of the dog kennels were booked up so we couldn't board Cooper, my mom got sick, and Chance didn't get home til after 5 o'clock, so we would've gotten to Warner Robins after 8 anyways.  So we decided to go Thursday morning.

We planned to leave the house by 8:00 am, but we ended up rolling out of the driveway at 8:45 am.  We went straight to my Granny's house and got there around 11:00.  My family started arriving to my Granny's at around 12:30 and we had a big Thanksgiving meal.  After eating we all hung around and played some cornhole.  It was a lot of fun!

look how cute my boys are in their red plaid shirts! :)

Me and Granny



Grandma with her Grandkids



Caycen with his Aunt Christy

Mom and Aunt Lynn

Aunt Christy was so surprised that Caycen could hold his bottle by himself!

Me and Cassie

We left my Granny's house around 3:00 pm and headed to my Uncle Lee's house to visit with my dad's side of the family.  We hung out and all the boys played a little football.  They got ready to eat again and we decided to head out since we'd already eaten and we were off to Cordele.

Leigh Marie and Laila

the boys playing football

Pop and Caycen

me and Christy (my sister)

My Dad and Cheryl (who have FINALLY decided to get married after about a decade and a half)

We got to Chance's Nanny's house in Cordele around 6:00 pm.  All the little girls were running around playing.  Caycen is the only boy grandbaby on that side of the family so far.  We took some pictures and hung out for a while.  They had already eaten before we got there, but we did take a bag of Golden Corral rolls with us! :)  They were soooo yummy!  I feel so bad, but we didn't get any pictures from Nanny's house... maybe it was because we were exhausted by then and just ready to wind down. I REALLY wish we would have gotten the camera out over there! Here are some that I stole from Aunt Kim though :)

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Chance's mom and all her sisters

Nanny (she's hilarious!!!)

We ended up going to our hotel room around 8:30 pm and we were so exhausted that we got Caycen ready for bed and then we got in the bed ourselves.  Caycen didn't sleep very well and neither did we.  We all woke up with sore throats the next morning.

That morning we ate at Cracker Barrel with Chance's parents and Brooke, went back to Nanny's to visit for a little bit, went to Chance's Aunt Kim's to visit for a few minutes, then headed back to Savannah.

We were SO.SO.TIRED!!!  We finally got home and wound down.

Overall it was a GREAT Thanksgiving with wonderful family and friends!  Hopefully we won't have to do so much driving next year.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love,

Aimes