6 Months!

Well, I don't  know how it happened, but THIS:

turned into THIS:

like overnight! Ok, I know thats not really true but it sure feels like it! Little Mister is 6 months old!!!
STATS:
Length (when do you start calling it "height" -- when he's walking? Ok that will be soon...): 27.5in (95th percentile
Weight: 14lbs 13oz (10th percentile) --- soo still long and thin:)
New Skills (alot this month!):

1: Crawling...

...Like crazy! We always knew this little boy loved to move (since before he was actually born, let me tell you!) but now that he can army crawl he is just always on the move! Gone are the days of putting him on a blanket and expecting him to be there the next time you turn around. He is a very determined little boy too -- when he sets off on an adventure (say, to eat the TV remote, or to drool on the computer) he scoots FAST until he reaches his goal...never takes his eyes off the prize either - this kid is FOCUSED! Except if he suddenly realizes he wants some company:



"Want to come, Mom? Off to eat the remote now, should be fun!"

2: Babbling:

Yes, yes, he said "DaDa" first, but we are fairly certain he is just babbling  and doesn't actually know that Garrett is called "DaDa". However, I did buy Garrett a recordable picture frame for Father's day and recorded Caleb saying it for his desk at work:) And also -- he may not know how to SAY my name but how adorable is THIS:

Oh so sweet:)

3: Sitting!

Gettin good at sitting by himself, although he does fall over fairly often. He tries to fool you into thinking he's totally got it -- all steady and balanced...and then lunge forward onto his face. Many tears. Much comforting needed. The problem is that he doesn't WANT to sit -- I mean, why would he when he can move?! I had many friends tell me there is this lovely golden time around 6-7 months when my baby can sit by himself and will sit contentedly for a period of time just sweetly playing with the toys around him. Not so. In fact, Caleb is not super interested in the pretty, bright, fun toys that were bought for him. Actually his favorite toys are currently:
Aunt Megan's old, non-working cell phone, And the top of a spatula from Grandma's house that he just loves on his gums:

Seriously, I think I should market this thing -- he loves it because it is easy to hold and chew at the same time. Although, I would add some kind of wristlet or something because it is also very easy to drop.

4: Solids-- yay!
Actually, we started rice ceareal a few weeks ago:

He has come to love it:
And we started sweet potatoes at 6 months -- wasn't so sure at first:

But now he is in love with the orangey goodness! And I am in love with my 'Magic Baby Bullet'!

This thing was a gift from my wonderful mother in law and makes it OH so easy to make Caleb's baby food:) I plan on making all his food if I can -- even try making the rice cereal (maybe). I am not really a believer in "organic" food or any of that, but I AM a believer in saving about $50 a month which is what baby food jars are estimated to cost. Seriously?! Somone is laughing about that for sure.

Well, we were hoping that starting solids would help our little Bubster sleep better, especially during the day...hasn't happened yet but hopefully...he still wakes once in the night to eat, and he stil naps in these little 30-40 min spurts. Despite that, Caleb is pretty much happy all the time:

See? What a sweet smile! He just can't really stand to miss out on the action -- can you blame him?
Here's hoping the next 6 months don't go quite so fast...but I hear that it just gets faster...

5 Months!

Wow that last month went by fast! I think it must just go by faster and faster (don’t really like the sound of that!)…

My “Stats”:

Weight: 14lbs

Length: TBD…(until we find the misplaced tape measure we are taking bets – my guess is 27in…)

New Skills:

               

·         Rolling…over and over…The dog is getting more and more nervous about "the-thing-that-didnt-use-to-move"...

·          Laughing a lot more -- oh so fun!

·         Starting to think about army crawling – he definitely “scoots” and can turn himself around in a circle on his tummy

·         Getting very very close to sitting on his own – mommy is very excited about this one!

·         New nickname (compliments of Garrett of course): “Capuch” –short for Capuchin monkey

A minute before I took this picture his arms and legs were actually wrapped around the crib slats – just like a little monkey! Needless to say, Caleb now has bumpers on his crib.

We recently got this amazing exersaucer from Caleb's friend Nora Standeford and he is in love with it (and so am I!). This thing is seriously high-tech! It is "Baby Einstein" brand so of course these shapes are not just shapes -- no, they teach my 5 month old Spanish. and French. ("blue"… "azul"… "blu"). And on another setting they play Mozart. I am not concerned with the completely blank look he gives them -- he is 5 months old and I have heard most child prodigies do not master a second language til at least 7 or 8 months. Seriously.

 Really his favorite thing is to bounce in it -- Garrett calls it his "captain's seat". His little feet can't quite reach the floor so we have to put a blanket under the bouncer and...he's off! Bouncing and spinning in his seat -- oh so many things to try to fit in my mouth!

One very significant event in the last month was Caleb’s dedication at church!

 It was on Mother’s Day, which was very special, but also meant that my Dad wasn’t able to come (he had his own dedication to do at UCC!). My mom came though, and was our trusty photographer!

It was the first dedication our church had done (at least in apparently the last 7 years), so there was a lot of “catch up” to do – 12 kids were dedicated! Caleb’s friends Kherington Varvel  and Nora Standeford were two of them, which was very fun.

It was a sweet ceremony – the childrens/youth pastor John gave a short explanation of the purpose of dedication: we as parents were dedicating ourselves, really, to raise our children in the Lord. He made it very clear that this was not Salvific , but that we were just making a statement before the church that we would raise our children in such a way that they would have every opportunity to hear the Gospel, and we would commit to pray for their Salvation in God’s timing. He also made a neat correlation between today’s dedication and our childrens’ future (God-willing) baptisms. He then read a pledge for us as parents to respond to, and then one for the church to respond to, committing to do all they could to help us raise our children to love and serve the Lord. It was a great first Mother’s DayJ

Well, our little Mister is growing up so fast we can barely keep up with him! He is SUCH a joy and a blessing and we really can’t imagine (or remember) life without him!

Digging Day!

Growing up, I can't ever remember my parents tackling a big house project without my Dad's parents there helping. When my Dad opened his practice they were there tearing up carpet and putting in hardwood floors. I remember a weekend where they came to take out every window in the house and repaint the frames. When we got married, my parents made a point of saying that they would always do the same for us...and today we took them up on that offer!

We have been wanting to put up a fence for this poor excercise-deprived, mildly crazy dog for awhile, and finally today was "Digging Day"!

The back part of our yard is a mini swamp, so Garrett and my dad worked out a super technical french drain system that they put in yesterday. Its the first step in the fence process!

The men dug all day, while we women cooked them lunch and dinner...and mostly played with sweet Bubby:

Auntie Megan is making fun of Caleb's favorite face: biting his bottom lip:)

We are going to miss Uncle Justin and Aunt Megan when they move to Korea in the Fall!!

Always love playing with Grandma and Grandpa!

Such a happy boy :)

With the help of my dad and brother, we got the drainage system dug in one day --what an incredible blessing family is! Well we are off to bed -- Garrett is exhausted from digging, I worked last night, and Caleb has a big day at church tomorrow -- he is getting dedicated!

The Sweetest Sound...

I mean, is there any sweeter sound to a mommy?

I submit that there is not!

Growing UP too fast!!

WARNING...heres the thing: Caleb really does get cuter like every day so I'm anticipating that the amount of pictures will increase with each post...you are duly warned...

Yes, I know its only 4 months, but it feels like its been 4 days...on the other  hand, I don't really remember life before Caleb. It seems like he's growing and learning and changing at warp speed -- I know that when I tell him this someday he will roll his eyes and not care but I do. Ok so here are his monthly "stats":
Height: 26 1/4 inches (yep, still way tall)
Weight: 12lbs 13oz (he's still long and lean)



This kiddo just can't stop moving! He became an expert at rolling all the way over at exactly noon on Sunday(after I had worked all night Saturday night, then went to church, and wanted to come home and put him down for a nap). we've been putting him on his tummy to sleep just for naps for the past month or so -- he doesn't like  to play as much on his tummy, so he gets right down to the buisness of crying, then sleeping. But on Sunday, he found that he could roll around in circles in his crib -- much more fun than sleeping! He looked absolutely shocked at first, then decided to practice. He played for about 30 min, then slept for maybe 20. H'm.

Of course at night he goes down just perfectly on his back-- rolls to his side in a sweet crescent shape, thumb in mouth or arms over face, smiles at me, and closes his eyes. H'm.

My mom says he looks like he's going on an adventure in this picture -- I think that pretty much describes his sweet personality:) I Can't (and sort of can) wait til he can crawl. He is really trying. The problem is that he is disproportionatly strong -- his legs are rediculously strong, but he's not very interested in using his hands. So, he spends most of his "tummy time" playing superman -- balancing only on his tummy! He's too impatient to reach out for the toy that he wants to put in his mouth:

Caleb also discovered quite a few new sounds this month! His favorite sounds much like a baby pterodactyle and makes the dog a little nervous.

 When he's sad and wimpering he says "mamama" over and over. Garrett says this does not mean that I won -- he doesn't know that he's saying "mama". We will see.
 

We busted out the bumbo this month too -- Caleb joins us in the kitchen alot in it and loves being a part of dinner prep:) He is noticing us eating more and more and I think he will be ready to start practicing with cereal soon!
 

His favorite accomplishment this month -- his feet! One day he was wearing pants with little bears on the feet and I literally watched him discover his toes! he was kicking his feet up by his face and suddenly noticed the bears. he got this very confused look on his face and then literally in slow motion reached out and grabbed them and (of course) put them in his mouth...yes both at once. And he has never looked back. Diaper changing is a whole different experience to say the least. And Daddy says bottle feeding is slightly more difficult. Now Caleb wants to hold the bottle with his hands...and his feet. The problem is that he also loves to lift his feet as high as he can, then launch them forward...bottle in tow. When the bottle goes flying out of his mouth and to the floor, he looks quite surprised, then gives Garrett the stink eye and gets right back to the business of eating. 

He still loves the standing position most of all, especially in front of the mirror. No matter how hard he is screaming, just put the kid in front of the mirror and he makes the biggest smiles -- that other baby in the mirror must be way cute ;)
 

Ok seriously mom, can we be done with the pictures?!
Yes, ok, I'm done:)

Introducing Caleb James:)

Hello!

Sorry it's been...quite awhile...we had a minor life-changing event about (exactly) 3 months ago -- the birth of the most adorable little boy ever. Yes, we are biased, but seriously -- how cute?!

(Not so) little Caleb James made is debut into the world slightly more dramatically that we (especially I) thought necessary. As my Dad put it in their Christmas letter "He finally convinced the doctors that he was just not proportionally created to enter the world with out a C-Section"

Not what we were expecting but he made his screaming entrance on December 20,2011 at 7:13pm. Exactly 4 days later than my due date. I went into labor about 12 hours after I scheduled an induction -- Mister says that he is just like me and doesn't appreciate change so he needed to be bribed to be born:)

"Little Mister" weighed in at a whopping 8lbs 15oz and was 22in long! As Mister said when he updated our families "he is perfect in every way".

Every time I look at him I think of Psalm 139 -- he is truly "fearfully and wonderfully made". And I wonder how anyone could possibly deny the existance of a Creator when they look at their newborn baby. He is truly a miracle! 

Our sweet son is the happiest, smiley-est, most mellow little man...except when he's supposed to be sleeping.

He does NOT like sleep (this picture is quite decieving -- doesnt he look like a sleeping angel?). I like to think its just because he enjoys being with us so much that he just can't bear the thought of being in his crib away from us. Probably not the reason, but it makes me feel better when I have to go get him after his chronic 45 min catnaps:)

Bubby turned 3 months on March 20th! He is (as of a couple days ago at his 3 month appt) 12lbs 3oz and 25in long...percentile-wise that is over 100th in height and about 30th in weight! Hm, I wonder who he is going to take after? When the nurse measures him she looks over at me with this confused face...pause...

then I say "Oh, his dad is 6'3" "

The light dawns.

 "Ohhh ok that makes more sense". Yes, thank you lady -- make it very clear that my son will probably be taller than me at 5 years old. Awesome. That will make disciplining VERY effective. He is long and lean and (except for making his paranoid mommy break out in hives over whether he is eating enough) the picture of health.

This active little guy is hard to take a picture of because he is always moving!

He rolled over (tummy to back) at 4 weeks and happily practiced his new skill every time mommy tried to institute "tummy time". 

We resorted to the boppy where he lounges contentedly at least for awhile.

He is absolutlely happiest standing, which he seriously (not exagerating) can almost do on his own! If he only knew how to hold onto a table or something he would be "cruising" -- he has the leg strength for it. And he grins every time we stand him up:)

He smiled for the first time at about 5 weeks and we keep noticing more dimples! He just loves to smile -- all you have to do is look at him and his face splits -- I can't imagine anything more fun:)

I went back to work last week, which I was totally dreading. It isnt too bad, mainly because I know Caleb is home with Mister and enjoying Father-son time! And Mister is great with him -- Caleb loves him:) What he does NOT like is drinking from a bottle! He had no problems a month ago and then on my first night back at work he would have nothing to do with it! Of course the knowledge that he wasn't eating did nothing for Mister's sleep, or my concentration on work. Bubs ended up going 14hours without eating...and was perfectly happy oddly enough. And then the next night that I had to go to work Mister found the secret. Our little oddball will drink his bottle if he is stripped to his diaper, laying on his back, kicking.

Yes, you read that right -- strange child that he is. It took Mister 45 min to get 2oz in him, and the whole time Caleb was cooing and literally running in place (probably burned off all the calories as he was eating them). But whatever works right? Maybe eventually he will at least be able to eat with his clothes still on... 

Overall, We are slowly adjusting to the fact that life will never be the same. Both in a "seriously-I-never-knew-I-could-function-on-this-little-sleep-will-I-ever-really-sleep-again" kind of way, and also a "wow-how-did-I-live-without-this-kind-of-incredible-joy-and-cuteness-in-my-life" kind of way:) I dont think either of us could have predicted how tired we would be, or how much work (both mental and physical) such a tiny person could require...or how much we would absolutely love being parents:)