The Growing Caldwell Family

After Pops' birthday dinner we headed to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for the Holiday Lights!  It was awesome!  I heard great things about it and it was definitely worth it!  We couldn't believe that Charlie was so into it!  He knows how to sign for lights and he was smiling and laughing while signing lights the whole evening!   There were multiple trains going with all different themes.  We really liked the Coca-Cola one.

After a fabulous finish to LSU's last season game, we headed out to find our tree.  Sissy is beyond excited this year!

I recently spent some time one on one with this fun guy.  We played around the house and had a great time. I'm a lucky momma!

Yesterday was Pops' birthday and we all gathered at Lovie and Pops' to celebrate!  We had a fun time together and enjoyed a dinner of shrimp and grits followed by chocolate cake and ice cream!   Sarah Graves put the candles on the cake and thoroughly enjoyed giving Pops a lot to blow out! Pops is definitely Charlie's buddy!

I love to hear him giggle!  (Sorry that I am so loud!)

This little boy is so precious.  A friend from our church, Adrienne Wilson, made this blanket for him.  He likes to sleep with a paci to suck and another to rub.  So darling...

In the last couple of weeks Charlie has cut 4 molars.  The poor thing has had a rough go of it.  He has a tough time with teething and definitely feels the discomfort.  He ran some fever, but mostly just seemed to feel irritable and didn't want to eat much except nurse. One thing that seems to have helped a little are Baltic amber teething beads.  He has been wearing them for several weeks now and doesn't seem to notice them.  They generally stay under his clothes, but sometimes they appear.  The way they work is that the amber being next to the skin helps to reduce inflammation and reduces the drooling.  The drooling is the thing I really notice it helps with.  The Baltic amber is useful for adults with inflammation issues too!

Singing one of her favorite songs - notice she doesn't really want to let go of the paci!

These two love to play in and on the coffee table.  When we bought this ottoman/coffee table we thought it would be comfy for putting your feet up while watching TV and serve as extra seating during parties.  As it turns out, this piece is great for toy storage and can serve as a bus, car (when you need to run by Chick a lay on your way to the beach),  boat (when the alligators are after you), or rocket ship - it is really a multifunctional toy! Charlie just opens the top and dives in head first!

Sissy has started enjoying playing dress up and often wants to play princess.  She recently wore her tiara to school and kept it on all day, even for their fall festival activities! At three years old she has such a gentle heart and a wild imagination.  She can be so giggly and fun.   Sometimes we talk about the upcoming holidays or her birthday and she says, "mom, I'm just so excited!"   Yesterday she came up with the idea for us to pretend our car is a bus and I am the driver.  She laughed and laughed at my formal sounding instructions in my nasally bus driver voice as I pretended to address my passengers.  It has had the same effect every time since. The best part about being a mom is having someone else think you're great just as you are.  I sure hope I convey to her how great I think she is.

Sarah Graves is very much aware of fall and all the things that come with it.  She has been asking about raking leaves for a while now and Saturday morning she had her chance.  She and Aaron went out and raked leaves and played in them, too.  She had a ball doing it! They even collected a few leaves and daddy organized a craft with them.   She also saw a lawn and leaf bag and set about making it her "rocket ship"!  I love her imagination!

On a beautiful Sunday we headed out to the zoo!  We had a great time!  The crisp air had the animals showing off for us and our little ones were very cooperative! She had to bring her ipad and I think she is so cute in her sunglasses! This lion is always sleeping, so I was so excited to see him up and about.  Charlie would point and watch so cute!  The lion will be a new dad soon, so he's been doing something! We watched the gorilla family playing with their babies.  So cute! Charlie enjoyed the birds and smaller monkeys moving about. Sissy pet a goat! The playground and merry go round are always a favorite!  It was a fun morning!

We had a great time trick or treating!  Lovie, Pops and Nay came over to join in the fun.  Our neighborhood organized a block party that was a great way to get out and show our neighbors our costumes.   Sarah Graves coordinated our costumes and we had a great time!   Chef Louie and Le poisson in the costume parade. Sarah Graves asked Pops to dress up as King Triton and of course, he found a way to do it!  She was very excited to check out her loot! We did most of our trick or treating at the block party as most brought their candy bowl with them, but Sissy wanted a chance to go to the houses, too.  I thought Charlie might just hang back, but he was right up there with Sissy getting candy and trying to move in with people!  Sissy was very polite and spoke loudly so that everyone could hear her say, "trick or treat" and "thank you."  That's a  difficult thing for a little girl who gets shy.