An Exercise in Brevity

We have our first house showing tomorrow afternoon so we are scrambling around, trying to make things picture-perfect. Therefore, this will be short and sweet (something I could work on anyway!)

So here's a quick run-down of the week:

• Caleb cannot get enough of his puzzles. I pulled out a few wooden ones from a box of toys a friend gave us and he LOVES them. So far, we've not lost any pieces (we'll see how long that lasts).
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• There is a renewed interest in the potty. There's not been any "action" in the potty but he is very excited and willing to try and to sit there. Slight concern that he's going to give himself hemorrhoid trouble because he gets a big kick of sitting there and trying to make himself toot :)
  
• Still no baby girl names. If this weren't a public blog, I'd post Aaron's email address so you could sending pressuring notes and words of "encouragement".


• We actually went out on a date, just the two of us on Friday. Riverfield had their monthly sleepover and I turned down the opportunity to make money and let Caleb go for free so that we could go out to dinner and pay for Caleb to go. He had a great time but we did get a call in the middle of dinner telling us to expect a big goose egg on his forehead when we picked him up. Apparently Caleb wasn't using his walking feet as he pushed a stroller around and it got away from him. Here's a picture of it Saturday morning- not great but not too bad.
  


• The goose egg grew considerably Sunday evening as Caleb and a windowsill had an unfortunate meeting on the exact same spot on his forehead. This is a terrible and blurry picture but one that captures the bump the best.
• Congrats to our friends in Dallas that found out they are having a little boy in a few months. Meagan, so excited for you to discover the joys of an ever-expanding waistline followed by motherhood.
• We got Caleb's school pictures back and they are too cute. Unfortunately, it would involve finding and hooking up the scanner to show them to you and that's just not in the cards tonight. Tune in next week, maybe.
• Tomorrow is Caleb's gang-ga's birthday (my mom). Happy 5__th birthday, Gang-ga!
  
  OK, think that's it for now. We'll keep everyone posted on house, baby, new house, etc. stuff. Oh, and sorry about not having any new house pictures. We were going to get some over the weekend but it's getting to the point where it's now locked at the end of the workday and we didn't have a way to get in.

Have a great week!!

We're on the market!!

Not too many pictures this week partly because I wrote such a long one last week and partly because we took very few pictures. It's hard to have your camera out when you're busy painting, cleaning, sorting, dusting, decorating, staging, etc. But on to exciting news:

Our house is on the market!!!

If you want to check it out, go to this link or you can get on any real estate website and look us up by MLS# 831189. Though we would love to not be forced to close and move out of this house before our new house is ready, I am already getting tired of keeping the house 90% ready-to-show at all times. Poor Caleb will get a toy out, walk in the other room, then walk back in and I've already put it away.

Thursday the realtor was coming by to take pictures for marketing purposes. We cleaned up a lot Wednesday night (HUGE shout out to our friends Rob and Heather who came over and helped us tackle our to-do list, from touching up our trim to vacuuming dog hair off our couches!!). But there was still a lot of last minute stuff to do Thursday morning. And, of course, Caleb could probably sense my frantic-ness (is that a word??) so he was trying his very best to get into everything! Here is what I found in my closet after walking into the bedroom to make the bed. I counted after the fact and that would be 18 pairs of shoes on the floor. AHHHHH!!


Aaron and Caleb have been working on several new tricks since he has mastered all the football stuff. Here's a cute video of his "smile".


I intentionally put the cutey pie video in between the shoe disaster photo and the following picture to help remind you all (and us) that Caleb can be very sweet and adorable. However, as we move toward his second birthday, he is becoming more and more of a menace (and I use that word in the most loving and gentle way). One evening, Caleb and Aaron had finished reading a book on the couch and I was starting his bath water. He ran into his room while saying, "book, book". I walked in 10 seconds later to find Caleb had boosted himself onto his toy chest and was standing on it, looking through his bookshelf. WHAT!?!? We explained that if he wanted to get a book off that shelf (evidently the 20 books available on his level throughout the house are no good), he needed to ask mom or dad for help. "OK", he said as we set him down. Then he turned right back around and did it again. Love it! Of course, how do you catch these moments on your camera without encouraging the negative behavior? Hmmmm.

You literally cannot turn your back without him getting into something, generally something that he knows he should not be getting into. We have quite a few new decorative items out and he loves nothing more than picking them up and bringing them to wherever you may be. For the heavier items, he is careful to say "two hands" like that makes it OK. The only consolation is that we did buy the stuff on sale at Hobby Lobby so we've not invested a fortune in it if it does break into a million pieces as he runs through the house with it.

Not a whole lot going on in non-house-related news. We did give Caleb his first try at powdered donuts. Pretty funny because he took awhile to decide he liked them. In this picture, he actually had only taken a bite or two then realized it was making a mess on his black pjs so he was finished. And, for the record, that is not a twinkie in his other hand (we've yet to introduce that tasty treat), it's a Nutri-Grain bar.


Think that's about it. Progress continues on the new house. I'll try to get some pictures to post next week. Tile is going in this week then cabinets next week followed by trim. We need to pick paint colors and decide on a granite and backsplash. Oh, and somewhere in there, figure out WHAT IN THE WORLD WE ARE GOING TO NAME THIS BABY GIRL!!! Do you sense any frustration!?! Naahh! I've had it narrowed down to two names forever but Aaron says he needs one hour of peace and quiet by himself to look through the name book, online, etc. and then we'll discuss. And, in true Aaron and Emily fashion, I am not allowed to encourage/suggest/nag him about finding said hour. Hopefully, now that many of our fix-it projects are done, he will find his precious sixty minutes in the next week and we'll have some exciting name news to share.

PS-Aaron rocked on replacing fence pickets, powerwashing some things, touching up paint, etc., etc., etc. this past week in addition to all the other insane work he's put into this house.

OK, have a great week!

Two Week Review

Sometimes I wonder who in the world actually reads this but it is nice to hear comments from people who wonder where I went whenever I skip a week (shout out to Heather and Jessee!).


Let's see, the high school reunion was really a good time and had a great turnout - more than double the attendance of the last few BA reunions and more than this year's Union HS reunion too. The big disappointment was my friend Kimmmmm was unable to travel in from Arkansas to attend because long car rides could induce premature labor (which is what happened last time she made the trip). I asked her where her priorities were but that didn't convince her or her doctor. Unfortunately, I was busy being a 'committee member' most of the time so I didn't take any pictures. I got on the party pics site but the images were too low resolution to bring in to the blog. So, in a nutshell, I looked cute but quite large and am glad to check that event off my "to do" list.

Part of the reunion weekend was a family picnic. Caleb had a blast in the Jupiter Jump, especially because we had to be there early enough that he and Heather's girls had the jumping all to themselves.

Here are two fun photos from recent school events for Caleb. The first one is with this super-friendly goat named Billy Ray that has the run of the campus. Caleb loves "Ray Ray". The second is of Caleb and his friend Kennedy, who were both very proud of their ability to climb to the top of the mats in the gym.

We've almost finished the fixing up of our current house and hope to have it on the market this week. Caleb has enjoyed the opportunity to climb up and down (and up and down and up and down) the ladders and has greatly expanded his vocabulary by learning about all kinds of tools. His favorites are tape measure and screwdriver, usually preceded by a vehement "mine". Under careful supervision, he was very content to combine playing with Daddy's tools and his own toys.

Once Aaron finished painting, we let Caleb stay up late one night so things could go back on walls without fear of waking Caleb up. He enjoyed watching a movie with me but did slip off the couch and onto the cushion with 20 minutes left in the movie. I thought he was just relaxing but Aaron walked by and noticed the poor little fella had passed out. As much fun as he had with all the tools, he was very relieved to have everything back in its proper place.

Two big boy pictures of Caleb in the car. 1. Enjoying his very own Sonic creamslush (this was taken moments before he accidentally shoved the straw through the styrofoam and made a big sticky cold mess) and 2. "Reading" the paper on the way to school one day last week. He is all about checking out the sports section.

During a recent trip to Walmart, Caleb was fascinated by the small pie-baking pumpkins. I bought one, thinking it was the perfect size for him. Well, it was love at first site for Caleb and "lil-lil pum-pum", as he calls it. He carried that thing around the house for the rest of the day and was only content to take his nap once we put Little Pumpkin up on the dresser by his bed. He did attempt to bounce it once so now it hangs out on the front porch with a mini-hay bale and some fall greenery. (Notice hugging of Little Pumpkin as well as a screwdriver- gotta love it!)


Here are several videos for your viewing pleasure. The first is of Caleb and Lilah playing fetch with an empty water bottle. Caleb thought it was hilarious and it went on for three times as long as the video that Aaron shot. For those that have been asking for "belly pics", you'll notice the big green blob on the couch- that's me. Please remember that it is the end of the day and I'm hunched over :)

This other video is Caleb trying to stay awake in his booster seat on Sunday after ZERO nap. He was such a trooper and was totally wired all afternoon but came crashing down as he was eating. Somehow, this is more amusing to me than the times he fell asleep in the high chair. Though he looks a little loopy, I promise I did not give him any alcohol or mind-altering drugs.


Blame it on pregnancy brain, but I can't remember if I've posted about Caleb's newest instrumental talent: the trumpet. It is supposed to be a bath toy but actually works better when dry so he carts it all over the house and plays until I'm sure he's going to hyperventilate.


We've been loving this gorgeous fall weather. Last week, I was trying to be like my friend Ashley, who always does great creative things with her kids. By the time I got the paper, markers, chalk, and snack outside, I had to make two more trips for heavy items to keep the paper down in the wind. Of course, I grabbed heavy toys, which caused Caleb to promptly drop the markers and pick up the cars instead. Oh well, I tried.


Friday night we traveled to Owasso to watch the Riverfield vs. Rejoice Christian football game. We lost both the Middle School and Varsity games but not by near as much as we lost to this team last year, so that's an improvement. Caleb loved going up and down the bleachers and even ran around on the sidelines between games. He was also surprisingly friendly with the Big Blue Raven mascot that was dancing around and visiting Riverfield fans. (So, maybe its not that surprising to anyone else, but as a grown woman who hates mascots, clowns, or anything else that is costume-based, I was impressed by his bravery).


Finally, here is Caleb enjoying a cookie all to himself over the weekend. Call it a consolation cookie after our Sooners stunk it up against TX. Grrr, don't get me started about that.

Whew! I think that's it as far as the Caleb recap. What else?? Still no baby name but we did receive an adorable car seat/infant carrier cover from my aunts, Debbie and Elyse. Somehow the "neutral" brown plaid pattern we chose when we had Caleb felt much more masculine than neutral and now Baby Girl will have a precious pink, blue, purple, and red floral car seat to enjoy. They got it at bellababycompany.com in case anyone wants to find one for their carseats.

We are trying to transition Caleb to a big boy bed. Last night was his first night. We took one side off his convertible crib but I didn't realize we didn't purchase the guard rails when we bought the crib. So I spent the night waking up at every little stirring, just sure he was going to fall and break an arm. He didn't fall but he did wake up and freak out so we tried to go back to sleep in his room but it just didn't work. Thirty minutes later, Caleb and I both ended up in our bed. Somehow, I am thinking that's not how it was supposed to work. Tonight, we took the mattress off the bed and laid it on the floor, hoping to imitate the cot that he sleeps on so well at school. So far no stirring and no freaking but it's way to early to tell :) If I weren't just sure I'd wake him up, I would take a picture. Maybe I'll have a photo in next week's blog.

In GREAT news, my future brother-in-law (aka Morgan's fiance Brian) is back in OKC after being stationed with the National Guard in Iraq since January. Welcome home and have fun planning the wedding!!

Really quitting now, I think. Have a great week!