Weekly Post Delayed :(

We had a fun and eventful week (no power for 36ish hours). However,you'll have to check back tomorrow for an update. Sorry...tons to do before heading back to work and school in the morning.~ em

First Week of Being 1

This was a pretty low-key and normal week for us, which was nice after a busy and fun-filled weekend. At school, Caleb did have some trouble readjusting after having lots of people and excitement (and an irregular bedtime schedule) that was compounded by the fact that one of his teachers was out sick last week. With multiple subs in and out, Caleb was having some "issues". As his main teacher, who was in the classroom last week, said, " Well, he knows what he likes and at least I'm one of them." Wednesday was much better for Caleb and his classmates as the substitutes' faces were at least somewhat familiar by then.

Thursday was our trip to the pediatrician for his one year checkup. We received good news that his ear infection has cleared up so no tubes for now. He weighed in at 25 pounds 12 ounces (86th%), measured 32 1/2 inches long (topped out the charts), and 49 cm in head circumference (right at 100%). The doctor did encourage us to let Caleb learn how to fall asleep on his own and to put himself back to sleep if he wakes up in the middle of the night. With so many Christmas events in the next few weeks, I don't think this is the time to start a new sleep regimen. Maybe we'll make that our New Year's resolution.


We were supposed to meet our playgroup friends at Utica Square to take pictures with Santa on Thursday but it was too cold. Hopefully we'll get there before the 25th. That's one thing I didn't even think about doing last year so we need to step it up this year.

Friday Mom, Caleb, and I traveled to Bartlesville for Caleb's 1 year photo shoot at our friend/photographer Betsy's house. We got some cute ones for sure. I'll post the link to her site when the previews are up.

That night Aaron and I went to a birthday party for our friend Lauren. It's not everyday that you get to celebrate Miss America's 21st birthday. We had a fun time and it was great to see Lauren.


Caleb was pretty silly this weekend. I wrote a few weeks ago about my dad teaching him the "close your eyes" trick. Well now every time you ask Caleb where his nose, ears, and EYES are, you get this face:


Saturday night was our annual Sunday School Progressive Dinner. When I first started organizing it, we had 20 people max. This year, we had 54 people! It was a great time and definitely worth the headache of figuring out who goes where when and what do they bring.

In BIG news... Mr. Caleb took some steps!!! He still prefers to crawl and you definitely have to give him some motivation but what started as a step or two (a glorified stumble, really) at the beginning of the week is now a 10+ step walk to me, Aaron, the coffee table, etc. Check it out:

I know some people have been worried that I won't post weekly since Caleb has reached the 1 year mark. However, I fully intend to keep blogging each Sunday night. My guess is there are quite a few people out there that enjoy reading my weekly ramblings so feel free to show some love by leaving a comment :)

Have a great week and stay safe and warm! (Riverfield hardly ever closes but I am pulling for a snow day tomorrow so I can get caught up on my present wrapping and cleaning.)

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!!

Caleb's birthday began at precisely 2:19 when we snuck into his room and whispered the Happy Birthday song to him as he slept.



When he woke up, he had his usual morning graham cracker, but with a #1 in green icing on it. YUM!! I think he knew it was going to be a good day :)


We brought special treats to Caleb's Butterfly class friends as well as a book and some stacking cups for the class in honor of his birthday. Caleb got to finger paint a bib as part of the birthday celebration. It was fun to see him in the middle of the day, though his teacher did tell me he wasn't near as chipper after I left. Guess he couldn't figure out why he didn't get to leave with me right then.








When we got home, Caleb was excited all over again about many of his presents as well as the balloons that were still placed around the house. We met Aaron's parents, sister and her family for dinner the came back to give the cake-eating another try. A co-worker recommended just putting him on the floor and letting him go at it instead of being stuck in the high chair. Apparently, that was the ticket because he had way too much fun with the remainder of his turtle cake tonight. Of course, I am not sure why I thought Caleb would stay on the plastic tarp we laid down. I spent about 30 minutes scrubbing icing and cake out of the grout while Aaron scrubbed icing and cake out of Caleb's various nooks and crannies.






Despite a huge sugar high, Caleb went down pretty easily and is now sound asleep. What a wonderful birthday!!

Week 51 and a Birthday Bash

Like most of the last 52 weeks, this one revolved around Mr. Caleb. As we prepared for our "laid back, no big deal" party (really, those were my intentions), I realized I can't just do a "laid back, no big deal" party for my first child's first birthday. It still was reasonably low-key but I had to plan and coordinate the smallest details...shocking I know.

We started out the birthday celebrations on Wednesday, when we met some friends at Ted's Cafe Escondido (love it!!) where Caleb opened his first ever birthday presents.

But before Sunday's shin-dig, I enjoyed a pampering party/girls night out with my Sunday School friends. We had a blast, just chatting, exfoliating, and eating, even if some less-than-glamorous pictures were taken (see below).

OK, I know you want to see the birthday party pics so here they are:

Caleb in awe of the balloons (why do we even spend money on toys and other gifts?!?)


Our friend Brooke did an awesome job on the cakes, don't you think? Especially considering she tackled them in one evening with three kiddos running around and only one batch of margaritas. She did the sheet cake with turtle then Caleb's own special turtle. Thanks, Brooke, you're the best!!

The decorations courtesy of Aaron. The banner was painted by my former student aide from school. How cute is it!!


Where's Caleb??

"Who put this bag on my head?"


"I hate hats and you're trying to pass it off as a birthday present!"


The turtle cake before...

...and after. Actually, he didn't last long with the whole cake-destroying thing. I don't know if it was the weird fringe around the outside of his tray table, the trash bags he was sitting on to protect the highchair fabric, or the texture of the cake between his fingers, but he was pretty much done about 5 minutes into it :)

Two presents I love: my new walking cart and the ball pit. If you look really closely in the ball pit picture, you can see his molar. Yep, after two months of under the surface blood blisters, all 4 molars have finally pushed their way through!

And we received a family membership to the zoo, so you better believe we'll be making some trips there when the weather warms up a bit. Yeah!

After a fun party, we went to Cheddar's with our friends that drove in from OKC. Caleb was amazingly well-behaved for as little sleep as he had gotten. In fact, he might have been delirious by the time bathtime rolled around. Here's where he crawled to after his bath (usually he makes a beeline for Aaron in the office):

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to the family and friends that have been part of Caleb's 1st year. Stick with us...it's only going to get better :) And thanks to those that drove from out of town (do Broken Arrow and Sapulpa count??) to be part of today's celebration.

PS- Boomer Sooner, huh? I thought they might be pulling for the BSC Championship after laying such a whooping on Mizzou. Oh well, guess we'll settle for the Fiesta Bowl. Caleb received several fun OU items today, including a great football. Yippee!

PPS- This week includes Caleb's actual birthday on Monday, which he will celebrate with his friends at school, 1 year check up and immunizations, 1 year photo shoot with our friend Betsy, and our Sunday School class Christmas Progressive Dinner. Should be a fun and busy one.

PPPS- Caleb still is fighting the same darn ear infection. Our pediatrician put him on another antibiotic and if it's not cleared up by his appointment this week, we'll probably need to go see an ENT. All I said was if we have to get tubes, I want it done by December 31st since we've already paid our deductible this year :)

Have a great week!

Week 51- Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe that Thursday was Caleb's last "first holiday". This time last year, we were patiently (OK, impatiently) waiting Caleb's arrival. Here he is in his handsome Thanksgiving dinner outfit.

We left early Thursday morning for Kansas City. Caleb had a great time with our relatives, especially his cousin Ada that's 2 months younger than he is and Quinn who is 3 1/2.


Perhaps Caleb's favorite thing about Thanksgiving was the lime he found in Aunt Debbie's fruit basket. He was very rarely without it. My mom jokingly said she was going to take back the birthday presents she bought him to get him a bag of limes. She was kidding...I think.


Friday morning the girls went shopping (some purchases for Christmas presents, some for ourselves!). That night the whole gang (15 of us) went to the Plaza to see the lights and eat at an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo. It was loud and hectic but good food. Plus I got to stop in at the MAC store, which is always a bonus for me. The Plaza was cold but Caleb and Quinn were bundled up against the wind and frigid temps.

My dad has been working on teaching Caleb "close your eyes, open your eyes" for several months now. He finally got it this weekend. It is hilarious as you can see in the video below.

Saturday morning we woke up to light snow fall. Caleb and his cousins thought it was pretty fun.


We stayed in KC through Saturday watching a wonderfully victorious Bedlam game and then stayed to watch the MU/KU game. I didn't really have a preference on who won that one but our family in MO are huge Mizzou fans. Of course now we will play them in the Big 12

Championship next weekend. Should be an intense and interesting showdown. Makes me nervous to hear the sports commentators say that it's difficult to beat a team twice in a season. We shall see.

Busy week as we prepare for Caleb's birthday party next Sunday and his birthday on Monday. YIPPEE!! I can't believe it's almost here.

One Year Blogging Anniversary

As Caleb's birthday draws closer, I am reminiscing about a lot of things. And tonight it dawned on me that I started to blog about this time last year. I've enjoyed the last 20 minutes reading through the very entertaining posts I wrote in Nov. 2006. It's funny how you speculate on how life as a parent will be but (as you moms know) YOU HAVE NO CLUE how life will change. Anywho, if you want to, look back at my archives and see what a difference a year makes.

PS- How come no one told me my face was sooooo bloated? YIKES!

Week 50- Under the Weather (Again)

Poor little fella woke up with a low-grade fever Wednesday morning, which I attributed to teething since his one-year molars are getting thisclose to coming in. If it hadn't been a totally necessary day for me to be at work, I would have just stayed home but we had several big projects I had to finish up. So off to school we went, then around lunchtime Caleb's teacher found me and told me his temperature was around 103. Yuck! I picked him up from class and he hung out with me for awhile until Aaron could come get him. I knew he was feeling badly because he just sat in my lap while I worked. If he was up to par, he would have been all over the place, exploring every nook and cranny.

Aaron picked him up and hung out at home with him while I wrapped things up then I took him to the doctor. Caleb was diagnosed with ear infections and a respiratory 'bug'. Instead of 10 days' worth of oral antibiotics, they were able to give him one shot. He wasn't very happy with that shot but it's much better than trying to get him to take medicine multiple times a day for over a week. He was still feeling badly Wednesday night but was much improved Thursday morning. His only continuing issue is runny diapers, which might be a result of the high-powered antibiotic?? Here's a shot of him passed out in his high chair. He never snuggles with a blanket- another sign that he wasn't feeling 100%.


The big projects I was conquering at work were part of Visiting Day that happened on Friday. It's an annual event where family members come to campus with the students to tour, watch a school program, eat lunch, etc. I had several marketing pieces that had to be complete in time for the event. Even though Caleb was a little under the weather, we had a fun time seeing his friends from class and their families.


Here are some cute pics from throughout the week, including one of Caleb toddling around the house like a dork with his onesie and dark socks on (reminds me of a neighbor we had growing up that would mow his yard in dark dress socks and shorts), posing with a new hat and mitten set (he loved it; can't you tell), and passed out at our friends' house during the OU game (I wanted to cover my eyes too!!).






Friday night I headed to OKC for my friend Mandy's birthday party. It was a blast!! It was at an aerobics studio that teaches lots of different classes. The class we took was for pole dancing :) Don't worry, it wasn't "skanky", it was a lot of fun and a great workout. I am seriously bruised and sore. I think I am going to try to put together a group of girls from here to go after the holidays, so let me know if you're interested. Below are a few pictures, including one of the birthday girl inverted on the pole. (I had no skills so didn't even attempt it!).

For my weekly football recap, I really thought my Chiefs might pull out a miracle today against the Colts and, you gotta hand it to them, they did much better than expected. And I don't even want to talk about those Sooners. Yikes! We had a fun party with some friends but did decide we can't watch any other games at their house as it might be bad luck.

And, my friend Nicole's brother passed away last night. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, especially with the holidays coming up.

We are heading to Kansas City on Thursday for our annual Thanksgiving holiday with Dad's side of the family. Plaza lights here we come. Gobble gobble, everyone!!