10 Year Reunion

In October I had my 10 year High School Reunion.  It is so hard to believe 10 years has come and gone.  I'm not the same person I was back then, I've grown, and matured, and now see the world through a whole new set of eyes.  I graduated with a class of 53 (that is tiny compared to most) and out of 53 students I think about 15 actually showed up.  It was nice to see old friends.  We toured the halls and class rooms and everything seemed so small.  It's funny because when we were in High School we were the ones that felt small.  It's pretty funny how a little time and a little life can make your perceptions change.

THANKSGIVING

Okay, I know what you are thinking... "Thanksgiving? We just celebrated Christmas." What can I say, I'm doing good to be updating the blog at all. I've been recovering from the worst sinus infection I've ever had, and the holidays, working, taking care of Caedmon, yada, yada.

For Thanksgiving our family went to Tyler, TX. We stayed with Derric's sister, Janae, and husband, Jeremy and their new addition, Addison (about 4 months). It was a very relaxing few days and it was nice to catch up with Janae and Jeremy. For Thanksgiving Day we got together at Nana and Grandady's house (Charlotte and Randy) and were able to catch up with the rest of the family. BOY! has the Rankins family grown. We have a total of 3 new babies and 1 toddler, and Derric's brother, Eric just welcomed a new little girl to the world a week or two before Christmas. We have many things to be thankful for.

THANKSGIVING PICs

Laura and Tyler

Janae and Addison

Andie and Caedmon

- All dressed in their First Thanksgiving

outfits.

Erin and Caedmon.

I've already penciled Erin in the calendar

for babysitting in a few years.  She loves

babies.

Jackie, Laura, Janae, Derric, and Eric

Janae, Jeremy and Addison Black

Today, Nov. 22, 2008 I noticed that Caedmon has a tooth!  I was so excited; Derric would say I was probably a little too excited but it is is FIRST tooth!  That means he is growing and moving on to another stage, a stage of growing teeth and learning to eat foods that he can use his teeth to chew...  Each of Caedmon's firsts is always a big deal to me.  If I could get close enough with my camera to take a picture of his first tooth and post it on my blog I would but of course the tooth is really small.  

We will be traveling to Alabama to drop off the dogs at my parents so they can baby sit but the real reason is because they really want to see Caedmon, so we gave in.  And it will be nice not to have to take the dogs all the way to Texas.  We'll stay the night in Alabama and then leave the next day for Tyler, TX to see The Rankins Family.  Caedmon will be seen for the very first time by his Aunt, Uncles, and cousins.  There will be a house full of children on Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to it.

I'll have lots of new pictures to upload to my blog soon!

Caedmon always gets very excited around Maddie.

I think she is his favorite bull dog.

Chillin' out on Daddy's legs.

I sit with my Daddy when he watches sports.

Mommy loves taking my picture.

Sometimes the camera makes me curious.

I look like a Bear in my warm coat.

Daddy loves Bears!

Okay Mommy, you can stop taking pictures of me while I eat. I know I'm cute!

Man, this Sheep sure is tasty!

I'm so cool, hangin' out with my Mommy.

I'm getting better and better at sitting up on my own.

Playtime with Daddy

Me and Daddy watching

the game together!

I'm a big boy because Daddy

let me hold the remote and

only big boys and girls can

hold the remote.

PLAY TIME

I'm not sitting up on my own just yet but I love playing with my toy ball. Sometimes it moves on me and then it lights up and I just love it.

I love playing in my Airplane Exercauser that my daddy bought for me. Mommy puts lots of toys in front of me to play with but I really like this flower. It tastes good.

When I get tired chewing on the flower I like to play with the toys in front of me.

My first bike ride.

Mommy and Daddy took me on

a bike ride for the first time.

I had lots of fun in my bike chariot!

Yeah, I think I can get use to this!

Feeding Caedmon

I started feeding Caedmon at 4 months because I thought it would be fun and something "new" to try. I'd been ready the book, "Super Baby Food," and was really excited about making my own food. I started Caedmon out on Rice Cereal. He did not like it at all, in fact I had to feed it to him for two weeks and he still didn't really like it. The next food I fed him, I made myself; sweet potatoes! He LOVED them, and thank goodness because I made a whole batch of it. Since then we've tried Bananas, Peas, Carrots, Green Beans, Squash, Avacado, and Peaches. He LOVES to eat and will one day eat us out of house and home. So far his least favorite foods are Avacado and Squash.





This was Caedmon's first meal.

You can tell Caedmon is not at all interested in the Avacados.

This was right before he began eating his Sweet Potatoes!

Our son

Our son, Caedmon is now 6 months old. He is the best thing that has ever happened to us. He is the sweetest little boy in the whole world. He looks like his Mama right now and his Daddy wants him to look like him so much! It's funny because every now and then Derric will look at Caedmon and say, "you know, I think he looks like me right now..." I just giggle. I'm sure by the time Caedmon is a teenager he will look like Derric but for now he is a "Smelley" baby. (For those that don't know, my maiden name is Smelley; thus the "Smelley" baby comment).











Who do you think Caedmon looks like? Mom or Dad?