Monday, April 30, 2007

Happy Birthday to my Hubby de Lubby!


Today was Aaron's 29th birthday. He took the day off work and Caleb went to the babysitter so he really did get to "take the day off". He got lots done around the house and did some shopping with birthday money. We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse shortly after I got off work (you have to go soooo early to not wait forever) then my parents joined us for cake, ice cream, and presents.

When I asked Aaron what sort of cake he wanted, I really meant like chocolate or carrot or maybe even funfetti :) But he came up with a crazy made-up cake with two layers so I went for it. I must say the most challenging part was trying to level the cake layers- not so great with spatial reasoning so I kept trimming a bit off on one side then trying to even it out on the other. Here's a picture of it: chocolate peanut butter double layer cake with chocolate peanut butter icing. Not too shabby for my first attempt at anything like this.


(You may be wondering why the 9 is so much bigger than the 2. I don't know. We've used the 2 for several years now and when I went to the Walmart I always go to, this was the kind of candle they had. Didn't realize until I put it on the cake tonight that it was so much bigger. Oh well.)

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Teeth + High Chairs = Week 21


I usually try to put the pictures and stories in chronological order but I am leading with the most important first this week....CALEB HAS HIS FIRST TOOTH!!! (finally!)

For most of the week, you could feel the sharpness of it under the gum but it just wouldn't come through. I know I've blogged for like a month now about how drooly he has been but that was nothing compared to the waterworks this week. He's always let us dig around his mouth but as soon as it came in, he keeps sticking out his tongue and won't let us get a great peek at it. So, we had to resort to desperate measures involving four hands, a camera, and several squeeky toys. It's his bottom right, a little hard to see but it's there and the left one is not far behind.


OK, back to chronological: Earlier this week I was putting Caleb to bed on his side as usual and walked away from the crib to put a few things away in his closet. I could hear him stirring, trying to get comfortable, I assumed. A short while later he started grunting and getting fussy so I looked over the edge of the crib and he had rolled himself over. He is getting so good and very fast at rolling over to his tummy but still hates it when he gets there. Of course, in the name of sharing the experience with Aaron and the blogging community, I let Caleb fuss a bit more while I grabbed the camera.


My evenings this week were pretty busy so Aaron got to feed Caleb several times. On Friday, he became concerned at Caleb's strength and mobility in the Bebe Pod while on the kitchen table eating. It really wouldn't take much for Caleb to dump himself over. So, out came the highchair. When we were registering, we debated about whether or not to get a rolling highchair. So glad we went with the rolling one. If I want to set Caleb in it with some toys while I fix dinner, I just roll him over to the center of the kitchen so he can see what's going on. If I want to push it out of the way while it's not in use, no problem. Here's a photo of Caleb the first time we put him in it. Nonplussed, as you can tell. Somehow these big milestones don't phase him like they phase us!


I wrote last week about our Covenant girls retreat on Friday and Saturday. We had a great turnout and Friday night was awesome. Shirley Staires was our facilitator; I hadn't seen her since I was a camper at Shepherd's Fold. With his teeth and stuffy nose from allergies, Caleb hadn't been sleeping well so I left after the Friday night session. Good thing too, because Caleb was up 3 different times after I got home. Makes a mommy feel needed :) Thanks to Alissa and Nicole for organizing this for us. What a great experience!

Saturday we accomplished quite a bit around the house and, as you might expect, watched the NFL draft (go A.D., even if you are a Viking now!). There are rumors swirling that Trent Green will go to Miami, which will make me very very sad. I thought for awhile we might get Brady Quinn but the Browns worked a trade to jump in front of us. I am going to stop now before I fill this whole blog up with my opinions on the draft and how the Chiefs didn't do such a fab job. Caleb has no choice but to be a football fan. Here's a picture of him with his first football. He uses his feet as a second set of hands a lot.


Saturday night wet met our friends Todd and Kimberly out for dinner at Arizona. Their son Owen is about 10 months old and it was funny to watch him and Caleb check each other out and try to communicate. Kimberly and I both meant to bring our cameras but didn't. We'll try to get a photo of the two of them together soon.

Part of a shower gift in Boise City was a package of tube socks. I've never worn tube socks but apparently they are literally just that...a tube. There is no heel and not much elastic. Hmmm. Caleb's little tootsies were cold one morning so I stuck a pair of tube socks on him. They looked hilarious for the .5 seconds they stayed on.


I thought it was going to be a short blog this week and I've already rambled on too much so I am calling it quits. Crazy busy week with lots of end-of-year activities through Riverfield and, of course, pageant stuff is ramping up. If you want to check out this year's Miss Oklahoma's Outstanding Teen contestants, you can go to www.missteenoklahoma.org/07_pageant/contestants. Our handsome and intelligent webmaster does a great job putting out site together (it's Aaron, FYI).

Oh, and next Saturday afternoon I am hosting a CABi clothing party at my house. If you want to come, let me know. You can look at this season's clothes at http://www.cabionline.com/

OK, really going now...have a great week!

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Cereal Cereal Everywhere!



We have really gotten into the cereal thing this week. Caleb wasn't really enjoying or understanding the whole concept of eating. But as my mom said, he comes from a long line of eaters so he'd get it soon enough. I decided to thicken it up a bit to see if the texture was more to his liking, even though the box of cereal and our pediatrician's notes said to try it runny for the first few times. Well, that did the trick. Now, it takes him a spoonful or two to get the hang of eating but then you can't get it in his mouth fast enough, as seen in the video below.

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Here's some still shots of how he ends up looking after a nice big bowl of cereal. It's amazing how you think he's all cleaned up and you still end up with cereal on your shirt or his clothes or other interesting places. Note: that is cereal in his nose in the second picture, not a booger. I am that mom that tries her best to keep all boogers out of his eyes and nose at all times, even if it makes him fussy.




This week has been rather interesting as Caleb has not adjusted fabulously to being home. Our babysitter mentioned that she was having a hard time getting him to sleep anywhere but in her lap. When I stopped to think about it, naps were taken in the carseat or in someone's arms the whole time we were on our trip last week. This again proves Aaron's theory that Caleb is a PTP- primetime player. His teeth continue to be a nuisance to him and to us but they don't really look any closer to coming in than they did a week ago.

I think I mentioned that Caleb received lots of fun clothes at the Boise City shower last week. He had a chance to wear several new outfits this week, including this one. As I have said before, I am not a big supporter of the cutesy logo clothes but this Pooh outfit is not too bad. The visor only stayed on briefly- it was cutting off his circulation within a matter of minutes :)

We read to Caleb every day. He really likes it and has recently taken an interest in "helping" turn the pages. And, as with everything else he gets his hands on, if he can grasp it, it's going in his mouth. I read an article about encouraging literacy that said to let babies chew, throw, etc. books so that they become familiar with them and associate positive feelings with them (as opposed to negative feelings if they are reprimanded for treating books badly or not listening). This is especially fun with the bathtime books we have; Caleb will chew and chew on them. Here's a picture of Caleb and Aaron reading. Aaron is obviously doing a great job with voice and inflection- notice that Caleb is way more interested in watching Aaron than the pages.


Tummy time is becoming more and more productive. He still doesn't care to be on his tummy all that long but he is spending more time upright and almost gets himself in a position to flip over to his back if he realized he could.

We have started leaving out the blanket and toys for tummy time so that we'd be more likely to set him down for awhile and try it. The purpose of the blanket is to keep Caleb from inhaling quite so much dog hair and therefore the dogs are not supposed to get on the blanket. You can see how well they obey:


Congrats to our friends, the Stauffers, on the arrival of their second daughter, Preslee Raye, on Thursday. Her hubby is a wonderful photographer and caught some great pics.

This week is fairly busy and Friday is the ladies' retreat for our Sunday School class. It will be my first night away from Caleb (if I can go through with it) but it is in town so if Aaron needed me...or I needed them...I could get home quickly. Maybe this is an easier step, for just one of us to be away for a night, rather than jumping right in to both of us being gone. We shall see :)
Have a great week!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Week 19 and a Big Ol' Road Trip


Well, we made it back! We had a wonderful time in each of the places we stayed. Caleb was a great traveler- quite the trooper considering we traveled over 1300 miles in the last five days. Not sure if it was the extended (boring??) time in his car seat on the trip or the foot rattles that he's been using during playtime, but Caleb has found his feet. You will notice it in several pictures, including the one above.

The first part of the week was spent preparing to head out of town. We had never taken Caleb further than Broken Arrow (ha!) so it took awhile to wrap our brains around how to pack, what to take, etc. I consulted with my cousin Tiffany, whose Julia is a month older than Caleb, then we made a list and went for it. You really do feel like you are packing for a month! Here's a picture of us backing out of the driveway. Check out how full the car is.


Wednesday night we stayed in Amarillo with Aaron's best friend from high school and his wife. This was the longest leg of the trip (about 6 hours from start to finish) but we only had to stop once. Our babysitter did us a big favor and kept Caleb awake all morning so he slept about 1/2 the trip. We ate dinner, went through the nightly put-to-bed routine, then got to catch up with Crystal and Myron for an hour or so before hitting the hay.

We got up and around Thursday morning but it still took us three hours to get ourselves and Caleb ready and re-load the car. This day we were headed to Brownfield, TX outside of Lubbock to visit Aaron's great aunts. We had a wonderful time with them and Caleb put on quite a show- talking and grinning like crazy. We stayed at Aunt Grace's house and Loretta (Auntie) and Ruth joined us for dinner and dessert. These ladies are in their 80s and 90s but still live independently and have lots of spunk and great stories to share. Little known fact about Brownfield - it is the town where the card game Skip-Bo was invented. The woman who created it was a friend of Aaron's aunts, so they played the game before it was really a game and still play it almost every afternoon.


Friday we traveled to Farwell, TX which is just across the border from Clovis, NM. Aaron's sister Lori and her family live there. In the two hours it took to get to their house, the temperature dropped about 25 degrees. So began the lovely weather that day :) Lori and Gary had built a new house since we had been there last so it was fun to see it. Caleb also enjoyed meeting his cousin Stacey, though, at six years old, she wasn't sure what to think of him. Again, he was very social until he just couldn't keep his eyes open anymore and passed out on Dad's shoulder.


Later that afternoon we headed to Boise City, Aaron's home town. Regularly a three hour drive, we were somewhat delayed by bad weather and a fussy son. Shortly after leaving Lori's, it began to snow. Aaron took a great picture from the driver's point of view.


The ironic thing is that we scheduled Saturday's baby shower in mid-April to avoid the weather that plagues the panhandle this time of year- oh well! We arrived in time for dinner, put Caleb to bed, and followed shortly after ourselves as the trip was beginning to fatigue us a bit.

Saturday was the baby shower, hosted by several of Aaron's mom's friends and held at the Methodist church. It was a good time and Caleb received lots of nice gifts including diapers, lots of fun summer clothes, and good books. I was a little concerned because Caleb hadn't taken a nap before the shower like I had hoped and I just knew he would be fussy during the event. However, he came in just smiling up a storm then fell asleep as Aaron and I started opening gifts. Aaron said Caleb was a "gamer": he might not always practice well but shows up great under pressure- ha!! Here's a picture of Caleb with the hostesses.


We left Boise City Saturday evening so we could make it halfway home, which is Woodward. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. It had great cinnamon rolls and new linens with a duvet cover instead of a grody bedspread but somehow the bathroom was built incorrectly. The toilet paper holder was way out of reach once you were actually using the facilities. And, of course, I kept forgetting this so Aaron had to rescue me several times (isn't marriage wonderful!!). We had a king-sized bed and Caleb loved playing on it while Aaron made several trips to unload the car. It was a picture perfect photo op and made me wish I could take better pictures. He is getting so big, I barely propped him up against the pillows and he stayed there chatting and playing with his toes.


We made it home this afternoon about 3:00. I started some laundry then drug Aaron, Caleb, and the dogs on a walk because I felt very sedentary from spending so much time in the car. Even though he slept a lot on the way home, Caleb was conked out for most of the walk too. Here's a video of Aaron attempting to wake him up. (Equally amusing are the songs Aaron makes up as part of the effort).

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I know every mom thinks her children are outstanding but mine really is. He hasn't really rolled over anymore (he gets on his side then catches a glimpse of his feet and gets distracted) but he is getting stronger and stronger during his tummy time. Until this week, he didn't use his arms at all but he's figuring out that he can push up on them and get a lot further off the ground. It makes tummy time a lot more bearable when he's not face-planted into the floor. What a novel idea!


Well, that is the recap of our week. I have some more laundry to do and need to get geared up to head to work in the morning. Have a great one!

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Easter and Big News!




The big news is that...CALEB ROLLED OVER!! If you've followed my blog lately, you know I've been worried that he was going to be behind for the rest of his life if he didn't roll over by 4 months (an exaggeration, I know). Well, he didn't make it by 4 months but did by 4 months and 2 days! Caleb was on a blanket playing with some toys and I was sitting on the floor sorting through the clothes he has outgrown. He had been pulling his legs up and rolling over to the side, but that's nothing new. Then out of nowhere, I look over and he's on his tummy. So I flipped him back over to his back and made a huge deal, with lots of hugs and kisses. He had a huge grin on his face like, "Look what I did!". Then I run to get the camera so I can video the 2nd time he rolls over. Of course, I shoot like 30 minutes of footage of him not rolling over, only to turn off the camera and have him roll over again. Typical! He's rolled over several times since then but we never did get it on camera so here's some video of some of his noble attempts to roll over. And, yes, you do just want to grunt and groan on his behalf to get him just a little further.

We went up to the church this week to take some pictures in Caleb's Easter outfit in this giant basket made of balloons. It was too cute because he was little enough to sit in his chair actually in the basket whereas the older kids had to just stand outside it. Mom was a big help in keeping Caleb's attention with all the balloon "grass" squeaking around him.



Another first this week was trying cereal. Who knew that it was such work to teach babies how to eat?!? Caleb wasn't really interested in it; he didn't really spit it back out but just keep his mouth open so it drained right back out. We tried a few times this week and he was improving. The pediatrician said it's not really for nutritional purposes at this point and that anywhere between 4 and 6 months is fine to get into a regular habit of eating. We did video it but the way the sun was coming in the blinds made it really hard to see. Maybe we'll get some better footage this week.

Aaron was able to get a photo op of Caleb and me at the piano this weekend. Now that he is reaching for things, he likes to hold onto my hand as we learn about "high sounds, middle sounds, and low sounds". He's still not sure about playing the keys himself, though I am sure that day will come and we'll never have peace and quiet!


It is fun to watch Caleb getting stronger each week. Now you can prop him up against something and he'll pretty much stay up on his own. We put this waterfall 'soother' thing (I use soother in quotes because it really serves to wake him up and make him squeal more than sooth him, so we only use it as an attention grabber while we load up the diaper bag or run to the restroom) in his crib about a month ago. I was letting Caleb watch it and he was totally entranced. Here's the video:

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Other firsts: first trip (albeit around the house) in the big boy green stroller. He really wasn't sure about it until it started moving. You can see by the look on his face that apparently it is no big deal to him that he can now fit in this stroller.


We had a great Easter weekend. My Aunt Debbie, Aunt Elyse, and Uncle John all came in town. We had dinner at our house on Friday night, then breakfast at First Watch Saturday morning, and church then Easter dinner at my parents' house today. Actually, Aaron and I just made it to Sunday School because, as we were heading out the door for early church and changing Caleb's diaper one last time, he had a blowout all up his back. Aaron got a hand full of poop- lucky him :) I was glad that I had purchased a backup Easter outfit at Walmart the other day as we quickly changed Caleb into it then realized we would be at least 35 minutes late to church and it just wasn't worth it. So we made it to our class at 9:15 then headed to Mom and Dad's for lunch. I was sad to miss the Hallelujah chorus but can watch it online at this link. Here are some pics of Caleb and his Easter basket at home and his bag of goodies at my parents' house. The last one is of Caleb and Aunt Mo taking a nap on the couch. They slept there for quite awhile.






It was great to see our extended family, and of course they just ate Caleb up. We'll be getting to see quite a bit of Aaron's extended family this week as we leave Wednesday for a trip through West Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. We've kinda broken up the trip so that no day has more than 5 or so hours of traveling but it will still be interesting I'm sure. I bet my blog will be full of funny car stories next week.

OK, I know you are tired of looking at this forever-long post but here's one more video clip. Caleb is becoming more and more verbal. It's as if he really is saying something to you and he gets more and more insistent that you listen and respond. It's hilarious. Have a good week!




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Tuesday, April 3, 2007

4 Month Birthday and Dr. Appt


Today is Caleb's 4 month birthday. It truly is flying by. And maybe it's because he is ginormous, but he doesn't really seem like an infant anymore, which makes me a little sad. I had been waiting for it to get warm enough for him to wear this little outfit. He looks like a little man in it to me. (Aaron pointed out the weird "firey crown" on his head; that's just the sunshine from his activity gym and all the pics I took had him positioned like this- sorry).

Yesterday was his 4 month checkup, complete with another round of immunizations. Once again, he handled them like a champ- one long angry cry then just a few whimpers after that. I think the idea of starting him on Tylenol before we get to the appointment must help a lot. He was kinda fussy and sleepy yesterday but was all smiles and no napping today :)
So here are the latest stats on our incredible hulk of a son:
Height: 27 1/4 inches (97th percentile)
Weight: 18 pounds 1 ounce (96th percentile)
Head Circumference: 45 cm (97th percentile).

It is almost comical that he is so big- people that we meet around town guess that he is 6-9 months old. Kim posted that Adalie is almost 7 months old and weighs about 2 pounds less than Caleb. It's funny to me because when they visited at Christmas and we put them side by side in the pack and play, she looked huge in comparison. He has more than caught up now!! (By the way, Kim is in trouble for putting a HORRIBLE picture of me on her blog. I guess she's excused because it was part of a happy birthday wish but it is really bad. I don't think I realized how swollen I looked right before Caleb came along- YIKES! )

Off to bed I go. Busy next few days as we prepare to have company over the Easter weekend. My dad's sisters are coming in from Kansas City and Asheville. It should be a great time. We are also going to try to go up to the church and take some Easter pics as evidently they have some great decorations outside the children's area. Will post if we are successful in that venture.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Week 17



So Caleb's latest entertainment is to watch the ceiling fans. He's always been interested in the lights on them but now that the weather is warmer and the fans are on a lot more, he is totally transfixed by them, as shown in the picture below. It might take awhile for him to look up and realize he's in a room with a fan, but once he finds it you better not block his view of it!


We bought several new wardrobe pieces this week, including footless PJs. (By the way, is it just Caleb or do babies sweat like crazy?!?) My favorite new addition are his cool sunglasses. He actually wears them without fussing, probably because he is yet to realize he could reach up and grab them off his face. Here's a shot from us after we had come back in from a walk. He was passed out and looked too cute in his new shades.


He is also beginning to exercise his vocal range and volume. He frequently makes noises that, if you weren't watching him smile, sound like he is getting fussy. Sometimes it's out of nowhere but it is often in response to something he enjoys like his play gym. I couldn't help but get out the video camera for this one.

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The drooling and mouthing continues but no teeth yet. He has, however, transitioned from sucking on things to actually gumming at them. It doesn't matter if it's a burp cloth, toy, pacifier, finger (his or ours), or bottle, it is going in his mouth. I found a couple of biting toys we received as gifts so I washed them up this weekend and let him go to town.


Now that baths are part of his nightly routine, we were running out of clean towels between loads of laundry. I had been holding a few of the bigger ones back, waiting for them to be 'new' when he got to be that size, but I went ahead and broke them out this week. There are three from Pottery Barn Kids that are too cute. Below is Caleb in his new froggy towel. (I really did try to get a picture without his hands in his mouth but if you pull one out, he brings the other one right in- pretty funny but hard to get a non-hand-in-mouth photo).


Because we've started the teething process, he is fussier than usual as of late. One way I have found to combat this is to put my hands or fingers up against his mouth as he's crying, causing him to make the "Indian" noise (no ethic stereotyping intended). Aaron took it a step further last night as Caleb learned to make the noise when hands are put to is mouth but stop when the hands stop. It's pretty darn funny.

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Let's see...what else?? Caleb got to meet his Aunt Carol (actually his Great Aunt- it's Aaron's aunt) on Saturday. She brought him a really beautiful cross necklace. She also brought over a copy of the Tulsa People magazine's BabyGuide, with Caleb's 3rd cousin, Savannah, on the front cover. She is almost a year old and is a doll. We also went to eat breakfast with our Sunday School class at First Watch on Saturday morning. Not only is our class growing as we add new couples but it seems almost everyone has had a baby recently or is pregnant. We had 8 highchairs and one sling (for Caleb). For quite awhile, our class wasn't really growing but we are now adding members almost weekly. Go Covenant Community!!
That's it for now- have a great week!