Welcome Spring!

Bare feet

Crawling in the grass

Babies playing in just a diaper

Wagon rides

Zoo trips

Planting tomatoes

Hearing about finals and students being sick of school

Eating strawberries

Making the back porch a "room" of the home

Late evenings playing and talking with neighbors

The change of seasons brings such a welcome shift in the feel of daily life. Everything feels fresher and happier and more exciting. Isn't God so kind to give us seasons? I can never decide which I like better, fall or spring. To me they both give the same feeling. It's like a giddy excitement about what's to come. 

One of the best parts of spring at Gulf Drive is that people seem to come out of hibernation. Everyone wants to be outside all the time, and so bedtimes get pushed back, meals get brought outside, toys get shared, and conversations drift in and out of open windows. 

A spring photo gallery

Still a little chilly on this day...we're never without friends in the red birthday wagon! 

This one was tonight. Thanks for the purple dinosaur, Camilla and Catalina!

Fun times at the zoo...penguins will always be the favorite because of how close we can get to them. We literally have to hold back Caleb's hands to keep him from petting them!

Thanks for asking us along this week, Emily and Hudson!

Double-fisting the drinks. Gotta stay hydrated in all this 80 degree weather!

Peek-a-boo! Diaper boxes make excellent toys.

Caleb just hates getting dressed after his bath. He would prefer to live naked.

Bye-Bye!

Busy Boy

The last few weeks around here have been so much fun. Caleb has been picking up new words all the time and coming up with the funniest things to entertain us. Lately his favorite word is "bye-bye." The best thing about this word for him is that, combined with a wave, it can mean almost anything. It means "I'm done eating" or "nap time's over, bye-bye paci" or it means "this book is getting boring" or it actually does mean "see you later." If fact in the picture below he was probably saying "bye-bye, I'm going over here now." 

Some of his other new words are slide, ride, daddy, mimi (mama), milk, please, paci, night-night, hi, Daisy and bath. Every time he says something new we freak out and say it back to him all the time...he thinks we're pretty crazy. 

He's also become fascinated with balancing things on his head: sippy cups, books, hats. It's pretty hilarious. He thinks so too. 

That's all the brand new stuff I can think of for now...I'll try to be better about regular updates!

He LOVES riding in the back of his dump truck...as soon as he sees it, he climbs in the back and shouts, "Ride! Ride! Ride!" As you can see, he can't wait for me to push him around the house.

How sweet is this sleeping picture?! I love how he keeps his bunny right up by his face. What a sweet boy. He's been sleeping MUCH better recently. Praise the Lord!!

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?