Monday, September 29, 2008

Buster Britches

Buster Britches has always been one of Caleb's nicknames. Not sure how he got it but it's always sounded like a "rough and tumble" typical boy nickname. He is really just now starting to fit the Buster Britches mentality, I think. Maybe it's the cooler fall evening air, his age/stage, or the fact that I am pretty stinkin' tired by the end of the day and he's racing around, climbing all over the place, getting into everything with about a ton of sand in his shoes. This video is a good sampling of the pre-2 year old boy inhabiting our home.


Two things to point out about the video clip:

1) The bag is the bedding for Baby Girl Walton's nursery. Super cute, if i do say so. It is two tone pink and sage green paisley. The accent pattern is stripes in the same color. I think it will look quite nice with the black crib and furniture. Of course, she has no room to decorate at this point but thankfully she'll be too young to remember she was "homeless" for awhile :)

2) Yes, I know Caleb is wearing a striped shirt and plaid shorts. Last week was spirit week at school and it was mismatch day. It's pretty funny when they are so young that they don't get why mom's making them dress up weird.

All day that he wore the yellow and blue striped shirt Caleb kept saying, "Dada shirt" over and over, until I realized that Aaron has a polo that looks quite similar. Don't know how he ever put those two together... he must be MENSA material. When Aaron got home, Caleb walked Aaron into the closet and made Aaron take down his Dada shirt off the rack. We let him put on the Dada shirt, but he kept saying "too tight". OK, so maybe I shouldn't call MENSA quite yet :)


I can't remember if I've ever blogged about how Caleb has always said something that sounds like "Sho-shoes" instead of "horses". He added the word to his vocab fairly early on but never refined it...until this week. And he added a much more interesting horse imitation too. The video isn't super clear but you get the idea.


Caleb was a little under the weather this weekend. Most of his pre-school has been fighting a stomach bug and sore throat and he finally succumbed to it. But I felt like he was on the road to recovery Sunday afternoon so I took my semi-ill child to Veggie Tales Live (we had paid for the tickets after all!!). While the other friends that went with us were dancing in the aisles and really having fun, Caleb was quite content to sit in my lap or Grandma's lap and eat goldfish. He did have a good time, though. The second pic is very cloudy but you can see his cute smile and barely make out Bob and Larry in the background.



I can remember vividly when my sister was little she used to "read" Green Eggs and Ham. As her big sister I was very impressed until I realized she wasn't turning the pages in coordination with the words she was reading, that she had memorized the book with no concept of what words were on which page. We are seeing more and more of that from Caleb these days. Here's a video of Caleb and Aaron "reading" one of his bath books.


Good week with unseasonably warm temps. Today were Caleb's school pics and I went ahead and sent him in longsleeves and jeans just because the outfit was too cute. You'll have to wait and see it when it comes in - hopefully his hair cooperated!
Think that's it for now. Have a great week!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Short One This Week

Short post this week as 1) we were minus the camera for a few days and 2) Aaron was out of town so I was on Caleb duty full-time, which doesn't provide tons of picture taking opportunities. Lots of excuses, I know, but here's the week in a nutshell:


Aaron left for DC for a conference and was gone most of the week. I am not sure how much of the conference he went to though, as he kept sending pictures from the various DC sites during normal conference hours. Here's an example


I've never really thought that Aaron had a big head but it's blocking the whole dang White House in this picture :)


Making progress on the new new house. Aaron and his work friends finished up running all the wiring last week and we should be insulated and starting sheet rock this week. Not fast enough progress for me, but oh well. Here's a shot of some of the electrical work. Aaron took this sort of picture when our current house was being built and at the time I thought it was silly. However, he has pulled that disc of pictures out many times when working on A/V projects or even hanging things on the walls and looking for studs.



Caleb is adding lots and lots more words to his vocab. Aaron thought he had really progressed just in the few days he was gone. Most words are pretty clear or at least easily decipherable but the last two days he has said something that sounds a lot like "Babygap" over and over. He started out saying it in the car then his teacher asked me today when I picked up if I knew what he was saying. He doesn't point to anything or do any specific motion with it so we're kinda clueless. This evening he was saying it and smirking just because we were trying to guess what he was saying.


Not to spoil any surprises but we did go ahead and secure a Halloween costume last week when I was placing an online order from Old Navy. Though he wasn't too sure about it at first, Caleb has really been enjoying being a monkey. Don't worry, this picture only looks like he's driving Aaron's car. The camera was in the car and by the time I unlocked the doors and got the camera out of the passenger seat, Caleb was up and ready to drive. The only frustration so far has been that he asks, "Feet go?" when he first puts on the pants because he can't see his own feet over the fleece monkey feet. But he seems to be fine once I point out that his own feet are still under there. More monkey pictures to come in about a month and 1/2 as we do the Halloween thing.



Several have requested pregnant pics of me. I really will show a picture or two sometime soon but look a little worse for the wear right now and don't feel like taking a photo. There are several of us mucho preggos that will be at our HS reunion in two weeks, maybe we'll all get together and take a belly pic.

A big CONGRATS to several pageant friends:
Damaris won Miss Tulsa on Saturday night! She and Jana (another friend) tied for swimsuit and talent and Jana was 1st RU. Both girls better be grateful for my presence there because I wasn't feeling all that great, went anyway, then ended up tossing my cookies in the parking lot (so embarrassing!) and continued to do so for the next several hours. Feeling much better now though.


And a former Miss OK friend, Megan, was named to the OKC Thunder Dance team (that's the new NBA franchise in OKC). She will be a great asset to the team and has done many great things in the pageant and non-pageant realm since we first met.

Think that's about it for now. See, even when I promise a short week, I can't help but ramble on and on.


Have a great week!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Transportation Infatuation

As I was looking through the pictures and videos we took this week there was a very obvious theme: transportation. Perhaps this is a phase that every little boy goes through, but Caleb LOVES anything to do with moving vehicles. See examples below:


Late this week, we heard rumbling outside and what did we see but a semi-truck carrying a fiberglass pool parked across the street. I'm guessing it can't be installed until the rain stops and the grass dries up (it's still here and I'm thinking it's plenty dry). We had to go check it out.




Aaron is in DC until Thursday for a conference and Caleb and I took a leisurely trip to Walmart yesterday afternoon. [Side note: What does that say about my love for the outdoors when every other family was out enjoying the gorgeous weather and I load Caleb up and head to the nearest Super Center?!?] In the past I've given Aaron a hard time about buying things for Caleb when I've been out of town but I confess that I am guilty of it too. But, in all fairness, this toy is really cool and wasn't expensive :) Here's a video of Caleb playing with it. He's not quite as excited about it a day later but has moved into the "how does this work?" and "what happens if I try this?" type of play with it.


Because of all the rain last week, Caleb's school playground is a mess. And, like any almost-two-year-old boy, Caleb heads straight for the puddles. At his teacher's request we picked up some galoshes so he can splash to his hearts content without suffering from soggy socks the rest of the day. Can you guess which ones we had to get?? I am typically very non-commercial. I think cartoons or characters are fine for lunchboxes and sleeping bags and maybe an occasional set of PJs, but that's it. However, this was the only pair in his size and they will be rarely used, only seen on the playground. Plus I really wanted to avoid the meltdown in Target that I knew would come if I didn't put them in the basket so, now we are the proud owners of officially licensed Lightening McQueen galoshes. (Pay no heed to the naked booty. Caleb was suffering from a little sand rash after school so we were airing out. How sand can get under and shirt, down pants, and in such small crevices is beyond me. He must literally be rolling in the sandbox.) [Second side note: no offense to anyone who does dress their children in character-based clothing, seriously. It's just something I don't do, or at least haven't done yet. Maybe I'll get there.]



On a non-car front, here's a cute video I caught of Caleb during one of the recent rainy days. Most times these videos are performances, where we have to ask him to show off his latest tricks. It was fun to catch him unaware.



Another weekend of football. Sooners - successful, Chiefs - miserable. Caleb is really getting into the football spirit of things. We do need to work on the fact that the Sooners play on Saturdays and NFL teams play on Sundays, but we're getting there. I think this is adorable...someone get this to Bob Stoops :)


Aaron's parents came in town for a quick visit toward the end of the week. Caleb was a little wary at first but warmed up to them quickly. Hopefully we'll see them again sometime soon.

The BA 10 year reunion is fast approaching: Oct. 3-4. If you graduated with me and haven't gotten your tickets - get on the ball!! We already have a much better turnout than recent year's reunions and there are still more people buying tickets every day. Click on this link to buy your tickets. Be there or be square (I want my friends to be there after all the effort we've put in to this).

This week's doctor's appointment includes the dreaded glucose test. I didn't have any trouble passing it with Caleb so I'm hoping we're in the clear this time too. However, because I've had to drink that horrible sugar juice before, I am already dreading it. Bottoms up!

Have a great week!

PS- Slightly random but Hershey's has come out with a slew of new autumn-themed Kisses. I tasted the candy corn ones at work (not bad flavor and super cute) but went for the pumpkin spice over the caramel flavored ones at Target. I guess I was thinking it would be a little pumpkin flavor inside a normal chocolate kiss. Not so! I love pumpkin flavor but these are overly sweet, have no chocolate at all, and I kinda get the aftertaste like I just ate some scented candle wax. So if that's something you think you'd like to try out, I have an almost full bag waiting just for you. The wrappers are pretty so maybe I'll take them to work in a dish and let co-workers decide for themselves :)

Monday, September 8, 2008

Football!!!

We had a good week filled with lots of football. I sometimes wonder if Aaron realizes how fortunate he is to have a wife that loves football as much as I do (and a son that is well on his way)!?! Good OU game, Chiefs were nothing great but at least they didn't get killed by the Pats, and Riverfield's 8-man team (only in it's second year) won 58-0 in the first game of the year.

Our friends Heather and Rob shared a huge cookie with Caleb that resembled their dog Petie. Caleb was pretty sleepy when presented with the cookie but muddled through :) Note before and after of the puppy cookie.


Caleb has been very into drawing and coloring lately. And, for the most part, he's done a good job of coloring on appropriate areas (no couches, walls, or tables, as of yet).


There's been no pottying in the new potty but Caleb loves it for step-stool purposes. He can now see himself in the mirror and spit into the sink when we brush teeth. Here's some spit practice:

Another silly video clip of Caleb "playing the vacuum attachment". I don't know hunting, but it sounds a little like a duck call toward the end, right Betsy?

Maybe it's because we are preparing to have a tiny baby around or maybe he's hitting a growth spurt (he has been eating lots and lots lately), but Caleb seems so big these days. When he wears "big boy clothes" like these carpenter jeans and his New Balance, he looks like such a little man. On Friday we stopped by Bopha's house to pick up an embroidered onesie and burp cloth that she created. It was quite humorous to see the size difference between Caleb and Lincoln, who is only three days younger than Caleb - probably 6 inches in height and about 7 pounds.

After getting stuck in Jenks football traffic, then BA/Union football traffic (BA WON!!!!), we were quite tardy to the Riverfield game. In fact, they invoked the mercy rule and called it at half so we saw a whopping 10 minutes of the game. But Caleb's favorite part was definitely running around on the field afterward.



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Saturday I spent the evening in OKC with my friend Mandy, eating at a yummy restaurant and enjoying "Mamma Mia" at the Civic Center. It was much fun and a great evening of catching up with a good friend.

I had waited to put any of these pictures on the blog until after Grandparent's Day as it was part of the grandparents' card, but here's a 3D shot of Baby Girl Walton from a few weeks ago. I think she looks a lot like Caleb did.



Hmmm, what else? Oh, my fantasy football team beat Aaron's this weekend! Yippee! Even if I lose every other game this season, at least I'll have that to hang my hat on.

One more thing...in February I blogged about my friend Heather's dad, who had been diagnosed with colon cancer. He has beaten any expectation that the doctors had for him and is currently undergoing his second series of chemo treatments. However, Heather's family was dealt an unanticipated blow last Friday when her mom was diagnosed with cancer of the breast (different than actual 'breast cancer' but don't know the details). Please pray for Heather's mom, Karen, and for the whole family during this crazy time.

Have a great week and enjoy this weather!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Wanna Be Like Dadda

Caleb has sure been a Mr. Helper all week. Especially as his vocabulary grows, he says "help", "help mama", "help clean", etc. more and more often. He also wants to mimic many of the activities and words that we say, which I think goes hand in hand with the helping us thing. More on this later.

It was a good week at school with Caleb still resting well on his cot. And they must play a lot harder in the Frog class because he pretty much just passes out at bedtime, even if he's had a good nap that day. (No complaints here!)

Allergies were bugging all of us this week so it was pretty funny when Caleb started fake sneezing then asked for a Kleenex. Here's a short and sweet clip for your viewing pleasure:


We tackled several around-the-house projects this weekend and Caleb was very much a part of the action. Here's Caleb helping vacuum:


And here he is helping Aaron clean out the drain in the guest bath:


And here is one of Caleb attempting to walk on Dad's back. He was a pretty good walker/marcher as long as I could help steady him but found safer ground once I let go to get the camera out.


When Aaron blogged a few weeks ago, he wrote about Caleb learning to "beep, beep" if he was backing up in his bulldozer toy. Well, we did not anticipate him transferring that knowledge (I know, he's a genius), so we were quite tickled when Caleb was slowly stepping away from us one day during diaper change time and started "beep, beep, beep"-ing. Ha! I have tried several times to get it on video but no luck yet.

Another big adventure this week was the selection and purchase of a potty for Caleb. Believe it or not but he chose this basic green one over a fancy Elmo one and one that plays music. Who knew!?! Not to say that we're ready to never buy diapers again but he has expressed interest when he sees Aaron or me in the bathroom and is pretty good at telling us when he has gone #2 in his diaper so we thought we'd at least present the opportunity. No luck so far but he does get a kick out of saying "potty, mama" just to have me scurry around so he can sit on the potty for all of five seconds and do nothing. Note that he chooses to take the comfortable blue cushion off and just sit on the narrow hard plastic part. Whatever floats his boat, I guess.


One more video for the week. I don't even remember how it came up but I suggested that Aaron show Caleb how to do a somersault (I definitely am not a size where that would be conceivable must less comfortable!). Caleb was quite proud of himself in his gymnastics attempts.


Good doctor's appointment this week. Hard to imagine that when I go in next time I'll do the required 28 week glucose test then start going every two weeks for awhile then weekly. YIKES! I am still feeling good, though the weight I was so proudly managing has come on with a vengeance since my last visit. My hips have started shifting and grinding just like last time so I've reacquainted myself with our awesome chiropractor, Dr. Gloria Baese. She reminded me that my big body pillow called a Snoogle was very helpful last time. Here is Caleb enjoying the Snoogle as well.


Caleb actually visited the chiropractor too because he had said several times that his neck was hurting. She did a great job adjusting him and keeping him calm and now he says "neck doctor fix" or "neck all better". You long-time readers may remember that she worked wonders on Caleb when he was a newborn and super fussy because of tummy issues. If you're in Tulsa and in the market for a great chiropractor that uses the activator instead of manual adjusting, Dr. Baese rocks! (And she sends you flowers when you refer people to her!)
Yeah for a short work week, especially for a M-W worker like me!! Busy week with lots of new house decisions to make, like where you want your light switches to be. Gotta love it!
Have a great week!