She did it!!!

Well, Miss OK won Miss America last night!! I can't remember if I've posted it before but Lauren was our Miss Teen OK 2 years ago so we have a special connection with her since I am on the Miss Teen Board. She did an outstanding job last night and will be a wonderful Miss America. It was especially neat because Oklahoma had back to back wins so Jennifer Berry (last year's winner) got to crown her.

Here's a picture of Caleb watching her crowning. Hopefully we'll be able to get a shot of him with her in person when she comes back to Tulsa.

Aaron wonders if his car will sell faster when we tell people that Miss America has ridden in it- ha! For anyone that missed it but would like to watch it, CMT will be re-airing it several times over the next week or so. Lauren will be on Regis and Kelly tomorrow morning and several other shows as well. We are just too thrilled for her. WAY TO GO LAUREN!!

Eight Weeks of Fun

Well, temperatures finally warmed up a bit this week so that our ground is not covered in ice anymore. This meant Caleb and I got out and about a bit more; it was nice for it not to be sooo bitterly cold and yucky outside. (By the way, check out how big his feet are in the second picture!)

The big news of the week is that Caleb is now fitting into his 3-6 month clothes! One of our errands this week was to Target. We had noticed for the last few weeks that things were fitting a bit smaller. His pj's with feet were getting too short- he couldn't extend his legs all the way and when I had to use the "emergency outfit" in his diaper bag, they looked more like knickers than pants. So I was looking through Target's selection and found that based on his weight and length, he is now ready for 3-6 month sizes. YIKES! They just looked huge but fit him really nicely. My little boy is growing up. Caleb's Great Aunt Karen and Great Uncle Ron (bet that makes you guys feel old!!) gave him a really cute outfit for Christmas that he can wear now. It is too cute and has a little train on it, in case you can't tell from the picture since Caleb's arms are in the way.



On Tuesday, Caleb got to meet our friend Laura at Cheddar's for lunch. This was a fun time because Laura is one of my favorite friends and I could finally eat my favorite thing on their menu, the chicken caesar pasta salad (since caesar dressing is off limits when you're pregnant). I decided it is a great restaurant for us to take Caleb to because it is loud enough that you don't notice a crying baby :)

Grandpa and Grandma Walton came to visit this weekend. Although they had been keeping up with us via the blog, email, and phone calls, this was the first time they had seen him since he had been home from the hospital. They were very excited to see him and Aaron and I were very excited to have two extra set of hands to hold him for the weekend.

Also good news- we sold the Escape. It was kinda sad to see it go. I had driven it for over 5 years and it was my first new car. However, each time I walk out to the garage and see my new car, I am over losing the Escape- ha! Here's a pic of it being driven away:




On Friday, my mom, Caleb and I ventured on our first road trip (assuming you don't call driving from our house in Jenks to my parents' house in Broken Arrow a road trip). We headed to Bartlesville to see our friend Betsy, her mom, and her son Sam. We had a yummy lunch (something even my picky husband would like so of course I had to get the recipe). Betsy took a few pictures in her "studio" that turned out great, though we could not get Caleb to do a full-out grin. Then we headed to the Gap Outlet at the Bartlesville mall. Who knew B'ville had a Gap Outlet? I didn't find anything for Caleb but found quite a few "in between" clothes for me to wear to work until I get back to my pre-Caleb weight.


Friday was the nicest day of the week, so when we got back to Jenks, mom and I loaded Caleb up in the stroller, put the leashes on the dogs, and went for a quick walk. It was quite the adventure- mainly because the dogs hadn't been on a walk in who knows how long. Caleb slept through the whole thing but looked too cute in his little hat.


Tonight is Miss America on CMT at 7pm CST. Everyone should tune in. Miss OK, Lauren Nelson, has been doing wonderfully (I know this from the text messages I get at all hours from the pageant in Las Vegas). She won swimsuit competition on her prelim night. It was Oklahoma's first ever swimsuit winner at Miss America. She really does stand a great chance to win the whole thing (which would be two years in a row for Miss OK). If not, then we are fortunate to have her back in our state for the rest of her reign. Here's a great picture of her:



This Friday morning are Caleb's first round of immunizations. Look for an interesting post after that! And...I go back to work part time next Monday. I am dreading it but also looking forward to having adult interaction. Caleb had a trial run at Miss Amy's house last week while I took an afternoon to run errands. It went great and her three girls will be big helpers. Have a great week everyone!

Week 7 and there's still white stuff on the ground

Well, the ice and snow were fun at first but cabin fever has set in. The good news is that the 4-6 inches of snow that were predicted for last night did not come. This means that Caleb and I may actually be able to leave the house this week!! Because we were stuck inside this week, not too many exciting things to report but lots of cute pictures to post. He just continues to grow and learn every day. He loves to look up at the ceiling fan in the living room when I hold him. The smiling is happening more and more often, which just warms your heart. He's kinda starting to laugh too. In the penguin outfit, he's doing his He-Man impression.

This one is not the most flattering picture of our son but I really like the shirt, especially appropriate with all the precipitation outside. Notice the double chin (taking after his mom, what can I say!).

Caleb met another friend this week as our former neighbor, Kristin, came back to Tulsa for work. She came over for dinner (thanks for the Ted's!!) and brought Caleb a fun new hat and scarf. The hat is for 3-6 months but it fits perfectly. Too cute in his hat and diaper.

A few weeks ago I complained about close up pictures not being clear on our camera. Well, Aaron investigated and found a "close up" setting that works wonderfully. It holds the shutter open longer to get a clear, tight shot. However, it means the subject has to remain completely still- a bit of a challenge for our seven week old. After several tries, we were successful with this one today:

Six Weeks

We spent Caleb's six week birthday today the same way we spent Friday evening and all day Saturday- by staying in because it was sleeting. Seriously, we opened our front door and had a drift of sleet (who knew sleet could drift?!?) about 2 feet high. Literally, Caleb and I have not left the house since Thursday afternoon. Aaron got out this evening to go retrieve pizza for dinner. Before you think I am a bad wife for having Aaron risk life and limb for food, I will say that I have cooked every meal this weekend, including breakfasts so there! It was actually a nice weekend because it was stacking up to be pretty hectic before the storm came in. We just enjoyed getting some things done around the house and watching football and movies. Even church was canceled, which never happens. It was a bummer though because my Aunt Debbie was supposed to fly in from Kansas City to see us and meet Caleb but the weather canceled those plans. She is going to reschedule for sometime in February so we'll just have to be patient.

Caleb had a much better week this week with only a few really angry/fussy periods. One of those was in the Walmart parking lot because it was windy and I was trying to load the groceries and keep one foot on the cart so my son didn't roll away. My friend Brooke and I decided I must have given anyone watching the security footage a good laugh. There was no free hand or foot to help keep the blanket over him so he was getting the brunt of 30 mile an hour winds and rapidly dropping temperatures. It brings up an interesting point- do you put the baby in the car then return your cart or vice versa? I am too concerned about leaving him in the car even just for a second while I run the cart back so he has to sit outside with me while I load the car and return the cart.

Over the course of the week Caleb has begun to smile. Well, I should say he's begun to smile in response to things. He's always grinned at random times or in his sleep but this week I was talking to him in a sing-song voice and he just smiled right back at me. So of course we had to practice so that he could do it when Dad got home. At first, we would have to talk all silly to him for over a minute for him to respond but now he will respond right away. The challenge then became getting it on film. Here's the best one we could get (one out of around 40 pictures, seriously). He even sometimes does a laugh along with it. He's getting so grown up!


When I was pregnant, my mom picked up a really cute one piece snowsuit for the baby. I was trying to figure out when he would use it and then came this weekend's ice storm. And of course we had to document Caleb's first snow storm (or sleet storm, whatever). Although there was still snow on the ground when he was born last month, this was the first time it actually fell since he's been here. The trick was how to get a picture without him or us freezing or busting our booties. It took a little work and ingenuity but I think it is an adorable picture.


Friday was our 5 year anniversary. It is crazy to me to think that it's been that long. As my mom pointed out, we were very fortunate to have the unseasonably warm weather from that weekend (mid 50s) and not this weekend's weather. We still don't have an edited wedding video to watch (Aaron wants to do it himself and has never had the time) but I did look through our wedding album. We were planning to go out on Saturday night while my parents watched Caleb but obviously the sleet interrupted those plans. I know Aaron reads this after I post, so I want to let him know (and anyone else who reads this) how thankful I am to have him as a hubby. What wonderful, Godly leader of our family - and what a hunk!

Tomorrow is the send-off party for Miss Oklahoma, Lauren Nelson. She will model her wardrobe and hopefully perform the song that she'll sing later this month at Miss America. I am so excited to see her and wish her well. She was our Miss Teen OK two years ago so we have a special connection with her. I know it's really rare for a state to have back-to-back Miss Americas but if anyone can do it, Lauren can. By the way , make sure to tune into CMT on Monday, January 29th to watch Miss America. And if you want to try to win $1,000,000 you can go to cmt.com and pick who you think will make Top 10, Top 5, Top 3 and who will win. Can't hurt to take a guess!

Happy 5th Birthday, Samson!

Today is Samson's fifth birthday. I guess in dog years he's 35. And, bless his heart, I think he's aged several years since Caleb has been around. Sometimes he and Lilah give me this "Can't things go back to the way they were?" look. It makes me sad. Other times they drive me crazy because Caleb will have just gone to sleep and they decide it's time to bark and chase each other around the house. Aaron reminds me that I cried as we told them goodbye on our way out the door to the hospital to have Caleb. I was sad for them because it wasn't ever going to be like it had been the last 5 years. I could be totally wrong but maybe once Caleb gets a little older, he can interact with the dogs and they won't be such the ignored "step-children" anymore. This picture is of Sam's birthday present (yes, we get our dogs presents)- a new pillow to relax on in the office. He really likes it and spent most of the evening curled up on it. He is not wanting to share with Lilah but she just makes room for herself whether he likes it or not.


And, because I just can't not post a picture of my adorable son, here's one of him in a great little outfit. It is fun because his pants are starting to fit so now we can dress him up like a little man (even though it is much more of a pain to change diapers).


Today we went up to Riverfield to have lunch with some of my friends then went to my doctor for one last follow-up visit. It was weird to leave and not make another appointment since I've been there so frequently for the last 9 or so months.

On a sad note, I found out tonight that a friend of mine from high school went into early labor with twins (about 24 weeks along) and that neither one of the babies made it. Please keep this family in your prayers.

It looks like it is going to get mighty chilly this weekend- get your mittens out!!

5 Weeks

At 5 weeks, I feel like we are beginning to get a bit of a schedule down with Mr. Caleb. Schedule means something a little different than it did in the pre-Caleb days though. Things are not really associated with a time of day (as in "he eats at 5:00) but more like "he usually takes awhile to get to sleep but sleeps for a long stretch after that" means he could go down at 7:30 or 11:00 and sleep anywhere from 3 to 6 hours. Maybe pattern is a better word! (Notice Lilah's nose in the picture- the dogs now vacillate between pouting and staying in bed or being totally underfoot and in the way. Yesterday's photo op was during an "underfoot" time and we could not get them to stay out of the pictures).

On Friday, Caleb and I met some friends from when I worked at ONB for lunch. The picture is of Caleb with my friend Amber's little boy, Jett. He is about 3 weeks older than Caleb but I am guessing Caleb weighs more (something we'll probably see a lot with our big ol' boy!). Both boys were very well behaved as their mommies and friends got to chat.

I also did some reading this week that said for fussy (the book's term was "high need" babies), it helps for them to be held or worn throughout the day. So Aaron and I took turns with Caleb in the Baby Bjorn or in his sling throughout the weekend. Caleb really liked being close to Daddy and passed out pretty much every time we put him in the Baby Bjorn. It provided a good excuse for Daddy to take a nap too :)

On Sunday, we went to Sunday School though Aaron and I had to take turns entertaining a rather vocal Caleb out in the hallway. We also stopped by my parents' class to show Caleb off to all of their friends. He was sleeping the whole time so he didn't really get to meet these lovely ladies who have been a big part of my life for a long time. That afternoon, I had a chance to meet up with some good friends from Riverfield and again Caleb slept through the entire meal. Maybe he likes the noise of crowds, who knows. While Caleb and I were out, Sam and Lilah found a new perch on the couch. Good to know that Boppy has multiple uses and users.

We designed our birth announcement this weekend and I don't want to ruin the surprise of the pictures we selected for that, but did want to showcase some of Betsy's great pictures. Of course, it's not hard when her subject matter is so adorable!! Once we get the announcements in the mail, I'll post a copy of it on here too but for now, you'll have to be satisfied with these.

Incidentally, I don't think you all cheered loud enough this last week for the Sooners or Chiefs- both of my teams lost :( Aaron said it was because I didn't put on my Trent Green jersey that the Chiefs went almost 3 quarters without a first down. I think it was because I forgot to get out Caleb's Chiefs pacifier. You know it's bad when the announcers say "At this point the Colts have 29 first downs and the Chiefs have 29 total offensive yards". OUCH! I think now I will cheer on the Patriots. Not too bad to watch cutie Tom Brady play football for a few more weekends!

One Month Already

It is hard to believe that one month ago yesterday, Caleb joined our family. Maybe it's because of the hectic holidays, but it truly has flown by. In other ways, it is hard to imagine life before him. It is so fun to watch him learn and grow each day.

We took a few pictures actually on his one month day (1-3-07) but they all were blurry for some reason. Don't know why our camera is being cranky with up close shots. Need to have it looked at.

The black and white one below is one from Tuesday's photo shoot with Besty (who did a PHENOMENAL job, by the way). Please ignore the somewhat goofy face on mom- I wasn't sure where to look. There are some other really really good ones but I don't want to spoil the surprise for the ones we'll use in his birth announcement. The funny thing about our photo shoot with Betsy was that we had to postpone it until his umbilical cord fell off. Well, it finally did but now his hair is starting to fall out and his scalp is peeling. Oh well- that's what Photoshop is for, right? :)

In this picture from today, he's doing his Larry Johnson shout-out - his hands are in the pose that LJ always does in the end zone after a touchdown. He's already cheering for the Chiefs- yipee!!

Happy New Year! (Week 4)

Happy 2007 to everyone! Hope that you enjoyed your holiday weekend. It was nice to have Aaron home for 3 days in a row. Caleb has been super fussy the last few days (though Sunday and Monday were better than Saturday), so it was nice to have someone to be able to pass him off to. Because it was a fussy week, we chose the picture posted above. It pretty much sums things up- ha! On the bright side, he is still sleeping well at night (KNOCK ON WOOD!). It may take awhile to get him down (we usually start the process by 8:00 and are lucky if he's in the crib asleep by 10:00), but once he's out he stays that way for 4 or so hours.

We rung in the new year rather quietly with some neighborhood friends last night. It was a nice evening with a great steak dinner :) Caleb fell asleep around 9:30 and stayed that way until we got home shortly after midnight.

Here's a picture of Caleb in Aaron's favorite outfit. Now that he's getting a little bigger, it is fun to dress him in the more "outfit" type clothes but those onesies sure are easier when it's time to change diapers.

Today we spent time watching football with several friends so Caleb got to show off his Adrian Peterson jersey. He looked so adorable in it! He is asleep now but I'm sure he's cheering our team on in his dreams, especially since they are losing as I post this.

Oh, I said I'd post pictures of my tree (it's still up- so much for getting that taken care of this weekend) so here it is. So fun!

Have a great first week of 2007!