Taylor Jordan

Taylor Jordan was born on December 4, 1995 in Odessa, Tx. She weighed 6 lbs and 12 oz and was 20 inches long. She came out crying and to this day when she cries I can still see that sweet, newborn face.

Taylor has been a blessing to me from the moment I knew of her existence. She is growing up so fast and I'm not sure I'm ready for all the changes and challenges that face her.

Here are a few things I love about Taylor:

1) She is kind hearted! She has so much compassion for others (people and animals). I hope she never loses this attribute.

2) She is dependable! I can put her in charge and know that she will get the job done. She pays close attention to detail and if she's not sure what I meant, she will call me at work...many times if necessary :)

3) She is funny! She can make us all laugh with her grown up sense of humor. Her timing with her humor has improved and she can really bowl us over! She can always cheer Andrew up and she was first person he asked for after his surgery.

4) She is such a beauty! She has great hair, beautiful eyes and a great smile! Best of all she doesn't care much about what kind of clothes or shoes she wears and has been able to realize that clothes don't make a person better than others.

5) She is a great big sister! She was almost 7 yrs old when Andrew was born. That's a long time to have the spotlight all to yourself. She has loved him from day one and continues to play with him, care for him and tolerate him when he gets into her things or he ninja fights her without warning. A short story, Taylor couldn't wait to be able to feed Andrew a bottle. When I stopped nursing she got that opportunity. One day on the way to Lovington she told me, "I wish you were still nursing him because my arm gets tired holding this bottle!"

We love Taylor so much! I can't believe the time is drawing near when she'll be out from under my wing and facing the world head on while we stand behind her instead of in front of her.

Happy birthday, baby girl!

This week's headlines....

Here is a picture of Andrew taken today which is 10 days after his surgery! I think he's looking pretty good. The stitches are absorbing and the bruising is going away nicely. We had a bit of a scare on Monday. Marc picked AJ up from pre-k and a "stitch" was hanging down about 2 inches below his eye. This is completely normal we found out after a trip to the ER. It was part of the running stitch that normally will fall out or will dissolve. After a call to the surgeon and consultation with the ER doctor the thread was snipped and we were on our way. It was good to know that his incision is completely healed. Side note: He's not as sad as this picture makes him appear!

Taylor had a birthday on Tuesday! I will do a special post for her later. We celebrated with Chinese food and cake and presents. She was not feeling well and missed school the next day due to a bad cold.

Andrew also missed school on Wednesday because he started vomiting at 4:45am and did so at least once an hour until 5:30pm.

Both kids had visit to the doctor. We got high powered cough syrup for Taylor and phenergan suppositories for Andrew. Let me tell you, he was not impressed with the route this medication needed to take! It did help and he only vomited once after that.

Everyone is much better today! We are hoping (and praying) for a few days without any drama or illness!

Surgery

Andrew's surgery went very well! The doctor said things went exactly as he'd hoped and we should get a good result. Andrew's eye is still swollen and bruised, but that improves every day. When we took the bandage off about 8 hours after the surgery, it looked really good and even Andrew noticed that his eyes "matched."

I'll describe as best I can what the doctor did. It's called a Levator Resection. The muscle that lifts your eyelid is called the levator. Andrew's levator barely has any function and will not get any better. The doctor went in and took out a small portion of the levator to make it shorter therefore raising the eyelid (like taking up the hem). He also took out a sliver of the eyelid itself so that excess lid tissue wouldn't prevent the eye from opening to its maximum ability. The stitches are absorbable and the scar will be in the crease of his lid.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts for Andrew and us. We were turning onto our street Tuesday afternoon and I said I was so thankful to God for a safe trip and a successful surgery. Andrew said "Yeah, God and Jesus were right there with me! I'm so proud of them!"

More soon!

Noah

Tonight at dinner Andrew told us there is a new boy in his class and his name is Noah. He said "Yeah, like "Noah and the Ark", but not him." I said, "Not the first Noah?" He said "No." I'm glad he cleared that up for us!

Misc.

Just a few things....

Taylor made all A's this 6 weeks! Congratulations to her! She has worked really hard in school this year! Tonight she was a ball girl at the Frenship High School JV game. She is super glad to not have school the rest of the week!

Andrew is learning that letters spell words so now we are constantly spelling words for him. I had just dropped Taylor at the game and we were driving home. He asks me to spell school, football and then he says "How do you spell torture?"

Marc and the kids are leaving for Lovington tomorrow (Wed) but I won't be getting there until very late (I have to work until 11pm) or until Thursday morning :( Marc will be driving back to Lubbock on Thanksgiving evening so he can open Walgreens on Black Friday morning! eeekkk I asked him who buys things at Walgreens at 7am the day after Thanksgiving? He assured me there would be lots of little old ladies with coupons grabbin' up stuff and asking for cheap candy.

Our running joke is "Is this 75% off yet?" The very minute a holiday is over, little ladies come in wanting valentine/halloween/easter/Christmas (you name it) candy for pennies on the dollar. They look at Marc like he's rude little whippersnapper when he says no, it's only 50% today. Then they want to know when it will be 75% off. I didn't realize how serious the elderly were about candy. Sometimes I'll call the store and ask for him then disguise my voice and ask about candy on sale or returning suppositories. Wow...do I need a life! ha, ha Whatever it takes to get ya' through the day.

On a serious note, we wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving with safe travel for you and your families. Enjoy yourselves, enjoy your children and your families!

Love and warm thoughts from our home to yours!

Boring

Andrew and I had just finished a trip to Walmart and were loading the bags in the car. I started talking about upcoming events...going to Lovington, Thanksgiving and then eye surgery. I started off the surgery reminder with "we'll be flying back to Dallas on Sunday" He said, "And then surgery on Monday?" I said "yes" He let his shoulders slump, looked up and said "Booor-ing." I'm thinking "are you 5 yrs old or 15 yrs old with that tone in your voice?"

I didn't realize he had so much experience with surgery that it was already BORING!

Extra, Extra!! Caudles Eat at Home!

This week marked an unusual occurrence at our house. In fact, it may not have happened since Marc and I have been married...

We didn't order take-out or go to a restaurant to eat for any meals this week! Thanks to Taylor, Marie Callendar, and Stouffer's we were able to cook and eat at home every evening!

Taylor cooked Marie Callendar pot pies on Monday (I was at work), we had meatloaf on Tuesday, Marc cooked Stouffer's Grandma's Chicken Bake on Wednesday (I was at work), I made Joyce's homemade Chicken Soup on Thursday and Friday was Chinese night!

Sam's Club has chicken fried rice, general tso's chicken and egg rolls that are pretty tasty! The Grandma's Chicken Bake is almost as good as homemade chicken n rice casserole.

We gave ourselves a pat on the back for eating at home and not spending any money! Once in seven years....maybe we can do again before 2014!

Taylor-isms

I remember a few funny things Taylor said when she was a preschooler and thought I'd post them quickly before I forget....again!

She would sing...
"Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world,
Red, brown, yellow, black and white,
They are precious outta sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world!"

It was so funny that I didn't correct her for awhile.

One night we were playing high card/low card. Marc threw down an ace and Taylor said "Get your ace outta here!" Say that out loud and you'll understand the humor. Remember she was only about 4 1/2. We laughed alot and she didn't know why it was so funny!

We were going to the mall and she wanted to take two toys with her. Marc said, "Here's the deal...you can only take one thing so decided on one thing." She was crying and lamenting about the situation and cried "Why can't we change the deal? I don't like the deal!" We found that phrase can apply to many situations in life. Sometimes I don't like the deal either.

To this day she will say princel instead of pretzel if she's not careful.

When she was really small she would say "Hold you me!" with her arms up-stretched! Oh, were did that baby girl go???

First Chair...First Flight

Wednesday was a big day for our family! Taylor is in 6th grade and is playing the flute. Well, on Wednesday she won first chair! We are so proud of her! She has been very dedicated to practicing her flute and it paid off. I also played the flute but only achieved first chair after my now cousin-in-law, Cathe, graduated and I got first chair by default! ha, ha Taylor really enjoys band and it looks like she will be setting the pace!

Sixth grade has been a shock for us all! It has been a difficult adjustment with the block scheduling, honors math and the homework. With practicing piano and flute and required reading, Taylor is already down an hour and a half before she gets to her "regular" homework. We also have to get up at 6:40am during the week to be at school by 7:40am. Crazy! I've been really proud of Taylor for her determination and perseverance during the last 3 months. She has really stepped up the pace and is doing great! All A's the first 6 weeks and we are expecting the same this 6 weeks.

Also on Wednesday, Andrew had his first airplane ride! We flew to Dallas to see his eye surgeon. It was great fun watching AJ's excitement and delight with the plane and flying. He especially enjoyed the take-off and landing. He was able to get the feeling of going really fast and those of you who know him know he likes to go at full speed! It's always fun to experience things thru the eyes of children. They help us remember and enjoy the simple things that we take for granted.

Andrew will be having surgery on his left eyelid on November 26th at Children's Hospital of Dallas. Any and all prayers for him and his doctors are welcome! We have great faith that God has provided us with the best doctors for this surgery and are expecting a great outcome. Does that mean that we are not nervous? No, we are a bit anxious. But we do have peace that all will go well. I'll keep you posted!

Other than Wednesday our week was uneventful....just the way I like it! :)

Scrappin' Good Time

Last weekend was the fall scrap booking retreat sponsored by the local scrap booking store, DML (Down Memory Lane). It was held at the Wooden Spoke Guest Ranch outside of Snyder, Tx. Kind of in the middle of no where, but it was a great location. The sleeping quarters were a little tight, but the crop room was big and the country setting was nice.

I love going to the retreats because it's a good chance to get lots of scraping done. At home I don't get much done because I have to get everything out and then put it up in the same session. That gets old after a while so being able to leave my stuff out for 48 hours is great! This retreat was extra special because my mom went with us! It was her first time to scrap and her first retreat. My very, very good friends Becky and Raegina were there as well. Becky is the one who got me back into scrapping and introduced me to Raegina. Mom fit right in and got 4 pages done as well as a recipe booklet.

For those of you who don't scrap, success at a retreat isn't measured in pages because there are other things that represent time well spent....like eating (lots of snacks and home baked goodies), visiting, organizing pictures and looking at the work of fellow scrappers. Everyone wears comfy clothing and by Saturday morning all bets are off with hair and make-up. No one cares about how they look or how they're dressed. That's pretty refreshing in a world where women are sometimes pretty hard on one another! Everyone is in a good mood and happy to have the opportunity to get some work done and visit. There is also shopping!!! DML brings lots of cool stuff, some things that aren't on the shelf at their store!!!

I had a great time and am grateful to Marc for arranging his days off in order to take care of the kids so I could go play! Such a good hubby! I'm so glad that Mom went and was able to spend time with me and my friends. She's catching the fever and it's fun to see someone going thru what I did a couple of years ago. Buying new tools, paper and embellishments.....it's a lot of fun!

There may be another retreat in Lubbock in January.....:)

P.S. For those of you who looked at the burrito recipe...I sub'ed chicken broth for the beer.

Quick Spicy Supper

Shelley posted a great chowder recipe, so I thought I'd recommend a new recipe I tried just yesterday.

It's called "Spicy Bean and Cheese Burritos" It is from Rachael Ray and if you go her magazine website http://www.rachaelraymag.com/ you can find it. Click on "recipes" and in the search type in "spicy bean and cheese" and it will pop up. It's kind of long to post, so I thought it would just be easier to go to the website. It says it makes 4 servings, but if you follow the recipe and put 1/4 cup of the mixture in the tortilla you can get 8 burritos. They are maybe a little too spicy for kids (depending on the kids), but you could put in fewer jalapenos.

I used a low carb, low fat wheat tortilla but you can use any kind. This is a nice recipe because it's meat-free and contains fiber. I would think the fat content isn't too bad depending on the tortilla you choose. Marc said I should add some chicken and I told him that defeated the purpose. We are supposed to try and have a few meals a week without meat according to the experts.

All in all, it was pretty tasty and only took about 30 minutes......ha, ha

Andrew Jace Caudle

Andrew Jace Caudle was born on Thursday October 10, 2002 at 11:47am. He weighed 6lbs and 15 ounces and was 20 inches long. He is now five year old and weighs 38 lbs and is 41 inches tall. I don't know where the time has gone, but it has been fun and busy with my little boy.

Here are some things I love most about Andrew:

1) He is full of enthusiasm! He wakes up going full speed ahead and always in a good mood (when he wakes on his own... not so much on school days) He has lots of energy. He hasn't napped in years and could probably stay up long after the rest of us have crashed. No caffeine for this kid please!

2) He is smart and very clever! He keeps me on my toes. He is quick to point out any inconsistencies and is ready with a valid argument (for any issue) should the need arise.

3) He is extremely coordinated! It is always a blast to watch him ride his bike, skateboard or scooter. In the Spring, he taught himself how to roller skate in just a few laps around the rink and was trying and accomplishing tricks that the bigger kids were doing. He also learned how to jump rope when he was only 4 by watching Taylor.

4) He is very persistent! Once he gets started with something or gets an idea it is very hard to get him untracked. This is good and bad from a parent's perspective, but will serve him as he grows and matures.

5) He is fun to hang out with! He is always ready for an adventure. Going to Sam's Club in search of samples, watching movies, going for rides or to the mall. He is a good little friend and I will miss him when he goes to Kindergarten next fall.

Andrew says lots of funny things. Here are just a few:

"Whoa, you smell great!" said to Taylor after her bath

"It's freakin' cold!" said just yesterday morning (this required a little reprimand from Marc)

"I don't ever want to be baptized! I don't want to die!" said several times...we are still working on convincing him that he won't die if he's baptized and that "they" don't have to revive you after being dunked.

"You can name them this" said to Taylor during a discussion of the names of her future children. He was pointing at his bottom.

He is fascinated with guns right now. He told me all the places on his body he could get shot and not die.

He is such a blessing and we love him so very much! God has been good to us! I can't wait to see what the next five years hold!

The gym

Marc decided it was time to get another gym membership. Our other one ended last year sometime. I don't know when it ended because I never used it. But Marc did and I was really proud of him for staying in shape and making good use of the money we were spending.

The "new" gym is not new. You can smell the sweaty air in the parking lot. This doesn't appeal to me, but for men it's like perfume (I guess). Marc was quite the sport and did a treadmill class with me. All women...poor guy?! We were on a treadmill for an hour changing speeds and elevations at our instructor's command. Needless to say, Marc held up much better than I did. It was a good workout and I really appreciated Marc for going with me. He's very supportive of me whether I'm at the gym or loafing on the couch.

We are both committed to being in better shape for our next trip to Mexico. For two reasons....first is to simply look/feel better, second...it's hard work having fun at the beach! Walking in the sand, swimming in the surf and playing in the waves, snorkeling....it's not for sissies! ha

Part of why Marc picked this gym was because it has a kids area. He was planning on taking Andrew on the evenings I work and then he (Marc) could work out. Andrew took one look at the place during our tour, turned around and walked out. He said very matter-of-fact "I'm never going in there....it does not look like fun." He's a hard sell, so he probably won't be back. So much for Marc's plan.

Andrew celebrated his 5th birthday on Wednesday Oct 10th. I'll write about that in another special b-day post just for him! :)

First time for everything....

Well, I did it. I "created" a blog. Actually, the website did it for me. I'm not sure what I'll write about, but with two kids and a dog I bet something will come up!

Marc and I are still trying to get over our vacation to Cancun! It was great. I am in LOVE with the ocean... and the husband ain't bad either! I told Marc when I die I want my ashes to be scattered in the Caribbean Sea. He looked at me and just shook his head. He thinks I've gone crazy. We stayed at the Sun Palace which is an adults only resort. There were people from all over the world, all shapes and sizes and clothing was apparently optional. And I thought all inclusive only referred to the food!

We are hoping to take the kids in June and will enjoy watching them play in one of God's most beautiful and fun creations. Andrew is convinced that a shark will eat him if he goes in the ocean. He already has a plan of attack should he encounter a shark. He is nothing if not prepared! Taylor is still a little mad that she couldn't go with us in September, but maybe she'll forgive us once she has experienced it for herself.

I will close for now. I thank Shelley Hale and Vanessa Davis (Marc's cousins) for inspiring me with their own blogs. This will be a place to document my family's happenings since my memory is already forgetting the little things that happen each day. Maybe it will help me with my scrapbooking. Ahhhh, scrapbooking......a topic for another time! :)