Recovering from the Birthday Crazies

At the zoo with Aunt Whitney and Nathan, who are, unfortunately, not in the picture.

Loving his new birthday wagon from Daddy and Mama.

Playing with (or on) sweet friends, Ruby and Catalina, at his birthday party.

I think Caleb definitely feels celebrated...I don't know that he understands why, but I think he knew something was up last week. Two birthday parties, two cakes, twenty-four cupcakes, two family visits, an ear infection, and a million toys later...I'm willing to wait another year until his next birthday. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE birthdays, Caleb's in particular. And I love family. But I am pooped. It didn't help that Caleb had his first small ear infection which ruined any progress we had made on him sleeping through the night. 

Now that we're back into a routine, it's fun to sit back and be thankful for all the good times that we had with our families and all the love that was poured out on Caleb. He has been so blessed in his short lifetime to acquire so many great friends (both younger and older ones). I love thinking about the ways that God has already used his little life to bless other people, and I love imagining ways that will happen in his future.

 

Even though I didn't spend as much time around his actual birthday thinking and telling him about these things, I'm enjoying doing it now. I hope he feels this loved throughout his whole life, but even more, I hope that he will be a giver of God's love and blessings to others. 

Happy Birthday Sweet Caleb

more to come soon...

Thanks Katie!

This picture was directly stolen from my friend Katie's blog, but I wanted to show our non-St. Louis family and friends one of the reasons we LOVE living in St. Louis at Gulf Drive: our wonderful community. These are a few of our neighbors and friends and their babies. We love them all so much! By the way, doesn't Jen look AMAZING?! She just had her baby the day before this picture!

The Little Explorer

Caleb has started to roll onto his stomach when I lay him back to wash his hair. At first he freaks out, but within 2 seconds he's loving it. Such a funny boy!

He is now into EVERYTHING and crawling around, through, up, down and into things. Some of his favorites are my purse, the kitchen cabinets, and (only once) the bathtub. 

His new favorite activity is catapulting off of the couch for me to catch him. So far I have caught him every time, but I'm getting nervous that he may figure out how to get up there by himself and jump off onto his head!

Advice Anyone?

Help! Caleb has started waking up at 4:30! I don't "get him up" until 6 so he pretty much screams his head off for an hour and a half. I am wondering if he's hungry?? I stopped feeding him at night several months ago and he did fine for a while....but now this?! 

He goes to bed around 6:30, takes 2 naps (because of my work schedule he has to be done napping by 2:30), eats 3 solid meals, and I still nurse him 4 times a day.

Does anyone have any pointers, encouragement, advice....anything?

25 Things

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 Random Things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type 25 random things, tag 25 people, ( in the right hand corner of the application) then click post).

1. I watch the Bachelor. Every season. And I love it. And I'm not embarrassed. 
2. I kind of like to wash dishes. Weird, I know, but it's therapeutic for me.
3. I played piano and violin. Past tense emphasized.
4. I was homeschooled for all of elementary school and one year of middle school…and I still turned out ok☺ Maybe I’ll try it on my kid.
5. I knitted my first sweater last month.
6. The kitchen is my favorite room of any home...it's the place where people come together.
7. I am the oldest of five children. 
8. Michael and I are high school sweethearts. But we didn't realize it until we were almost through college. 
9. Our first first date was at Waffle House. Our second first date was much better.
10. I sing along with every song I know that plays on the radio in the car. I seriously can’t help it. 
11. I wear socks with my chacos…just for Katie.
12. I love pickled okra. I have actually eaten a whole jar in one sitting.
13. I love making things…dinner, sweaters, paper snowflakes, cookies, babies…haha, just kidding.
14. I didn’t like milk before I got pregnant, but now I drink at least 3 glasses everyday and love it. 
15. I was a bank teller for one year…it’s the only “real job” I’ve ever had.
16. I hope to get my masters in counseling one day.
17. I LOVE being a mom. LOVE it. Every day I wake up and can’t wait to see my baby’s face…even if it’s 4:30 am like it was yesterday.
18. My beverages of choice are chocolate milk, margaritas, and tea (hot or cold).
19. Michael and I have the exact opposite personalities, but for some reason it works wonderfully. 
20. I used to keep a journal every day…I wish I still did because I think those were the years I felt most connected to the Lord. I seem to have a hard time sitting still enough to listen to Him anymore.
21. I have the smartest and most patient husband in the world…God knew just what I needed. 
22. I got grounded from reading once…that’s how much I love reading.
23. I used to hate running until I ran a 10k, now I miss running.
24. I love my family and friends so much it hurts.
25. I have so many things to be grateful for that I should write another list.

I'm not going to tag anyone because pretty much everybody's already done this anyway.

Growing Every Day

I have to say that title in my mom's voice...it's one of those quotes that is just so her. So Mom, that's for you, Caleb's "growing every day!" I feel like so much has happened in the past month that updating this blog feels very daunting. Where to start??

Well, Christmas was fun, but it feels like ages ago. Also, we forgot our camera, so I think I'll just skip it for now. If you're friends with my mom on facebook, you can see some sweet pictures of all the Christmas festivities with that side of the family. Dear families, we love y'all and miss you so much. Thanks for a WONDERFUL Christmas holiday.

Caleb is now standing up in his crib which is so fun except that he doesn't know how to sit down, so he just stands there for like 20 minutes and then starts screaming his head off. When I go in there to lay him back down, his eyes close before his head hits the pillow. It's pretty cute.

He also can go from a crawling position to a sitting position. For some reason this step was a big deal to me. Don't ask why, I don't know.

I guess instead of writing a paragraph on each new change and quality, let me just give you a list of Calebisms:

-he is crazy about animals...his arms and legs start kicking as soon as he sees one

-he is an avid reader...it runs in the family

-he casually tosses his dinner onto the floor when it's not interesting to him anymore

-his favorite book is Lullaby Little One...he will sit and listen to it 3 times in a row!

-he knows how to crawl on his hands and knees, but still prefers the army crawl 

-he hates hats, coats, and carseats...basically anything that he feels restricts his freedom

-he has the cutest squinty eye smile 

-he loves shaking things that make noise...his latest favorite is an empty milk jug with dried beans in it (seriously, this boy has RHYTHM)

-we think he says dada, bye-bye, night-night, and hi...of course this could all be in our imaginations

So now that you know the facts, here are some sweet pictures of my boy. 

Reading some books

 Getting ready for his first sledding experience with Daddy...we had 8 inches of snow this week!

Nothing better than cuddling with mommy, reading books on a snowy day.

Trying out his new sweater and rocking in his rocking chair.

As far as me and Michael go, Michael is training for a marathon in April, I just finished my first knitting project (the blue and green sweater in the pictures above), and thanks to our friends Kat and Penny, we're addicted to watching The West Wing. 

Love to you all!