a birthday, a wedding, a virus and Christmas

That pretty much sums up the last month and is my excuse for not posting in so long. Caleb turned 1 on the 8th (I can't believe it). We had a wonderful party at Nana and Pop Pop's house and had so many guests we could barley all fit! We are so lucky to have some many close friends and family that love him as much as we do.

The next weekend we were off to Lubbock for Aunt Joni's wedding, which was beautiful ( as was she). It was a very busy trip with the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and wedding. Caleb took it all in stride until the reception where he had just had too much. He and I stayed about 30 mins and had to leave because he was soooo tired and fussy.

Poor guy, turns out he was more than just worn out. He had a virus that whole next week. I'll spare you all the details but basically he felt like crap and we ended up making 2 trips to the Dr. in one week. He was also scheduled to have tubes put in his ears that week but it had to be rescheduled since he was sick. He seems to be doing better now, although we are starting to suspect that he may have some allergies as well.

And finally, Christmas! This was technically Caleb's 2nd Christmas but he was pretty unaware last year. Santa came and loaded him up on new toys, guess he was a good boy. Although he had more fun with the boxes in general we are enjoying all the new "big boy" stuff that Santa brought.

Since there is no way I can catch up on pictures of all that has been going on, let me just offer up a few cake pics from the birthday party. He was a little unsure about it at first, but well you can see for yourself that didn't last. That's our boy!

My baby

I'm noticing more and more moments lately when my baby is acting much more like a little boy and much less like my baby. This morning for example, he poured out the dog's food and kicked the pieces all around the kitchen, dropped the TV remote in the dog's water bowl, ran away when I tried to catch him, left dirty hand prints all over the back door, and refused to eat his breakfast. In short, just generally acted like a little boy. But then when he was done wreaking havoc, all he wanted to do was cuddle up on the couch with mom. And my baby is back, and all is forgiven.

And on an unrelated note (because what's a blog post with out a picture or two) here are some of our recently taken family pictures that will NOT be featured on the family Christmas card this year! Enjoy!

1 more month

and our "baby" will be 1 year old and much more a toddler than a baby. Already he is toddling all over the place and hard to keep up with!

wake up hank, come play with me!

thanks for the lift dad... hanging out in his "secret spot" (under the crib) can't even sit still in the bath tub

somebody has to help dad supervise the cul-de-sac

you can't catch me daddy...

got to play with all these toys...
Finally ready for a nap...

Is there anything as sweet as a laughing baby?

I didn't think so...

Walking Machine

When Caleb puts his mind to something he is committed and lately he has been seriously committed to walking. SERIOUSLY. And he's gotten pretty good. He walks everywhere now, it's almost all he does, in fact he rarely crawls anymore. Crawling is for babies and he is apparently all grown up, just look...(by the way, please disregard the fact that his onsie is undone. We had just finished a diaper change, which can be a battle and sometimes it's just not worth taking that final step. Also note that although he is carrying around a diaper, it is not the one we just changed. He is very into carrying around diapers lately, we're hoping it's just a phase!).

Pumpkin Patch

Grandma Easter came to visit for a few days last week, she and Caleb had lots of fun hanging out and Caleb even got to skip school for two days! While she was here we decided to visit a pumpkin patch, most of the pictures turned out kinda crappy (it's time for a new camera) but you get the idea. At first he was a little unsure about the whole thing...

But then he realized that pumpkins really aren't so bad...

In other Caleb news, he is all grown up! At least that's the way it suddenly feels. He is walking (hopefully video to follow soon), waving hi and bye, drinking out of a sippy cup, and saying mama, dada, and dog (daw). Where did my little baby go?

Nine months and counting...

Here are the recent nine months pics. It's been crazy busy lately but I promise I'll write more soon!

Expressions

Caleb can be a pretty expressive guy when he wants to. Here are just a few of the ones we see on a regular basis.

Hank!!

Caleb loves him some Hank. I wish I got this type of reaction when I walked into the room.

Escape

We've taken to changing Caleb's diapers on the floor now that he is mobile and constantly trying to dive off the changing table. The other night while he was being changed he managed to escape and crawl around the room naked before I could catch him and wrangle him back into a diaper.

Lesson Learned

Caleb loves cell phones. They light up, they make noise, what's not to love really? Because he loves them so much, my cell phone has become our go to toy in an emergency. I recently got a new phone. Even more recently my new phone stopped working. When you push buttons it does crazy things, and finally last night the screen just went black. The phone worked I just couldn't see who was calling, who I was calling, when I had a text or voicemail. Pretty much everything you use a phone for.
So today I took it to AT&T, they checked it and discovered it had water damage. What water damage? I haven't dropped it in the pool or spilt anything on it. As I'm arguing with the AT&T lady I realize that the "water damage" is actually "slobber damage" from Caleb using it as a teether. I had to buy a new phone...

Slacker

I admit it I have been a total blog slacker. I just realized I hadn't posted anything in over a month (shameful). In my defense, it has been a busy month. We've had lots of visitors like...

our sweet friend Ella who came and read us books for hours on end...

and Grandma...

and Grandpa...

and Aunt Lexi! Caleb is now 7 months old (8 next week). 7 months has been such a fun age. He eats just about everything-

exhibit A, but his faves are yogurt and bananas. He has been busy launching a protest against crawling (at first he SCREAMED if you put him on his tummy, now he has mastered the art of scooting backwards until he is sitting up and off his tummy. His ingenuity is impressive, now if he would only use it for good). However, he loves standing.

Maybe he prefers to stand because of the catchy little tune we sing when he pulls up. The lyrics are as follows "you're standing, you're awesome, you're cool, oh yeah!" Like I said catchy, feel free to incorporate it in your daily life if you wish. Caleb is also obsessed with Hank. If Hank walks in the room, we stop and watch his every move. If he does something really cool like scratch, or drink from his bowl or eat we are absolutely beside ourselves with excitement. If Hank is in reach we are going for it.

Luckily, Hank is the sweetest dog on the planet and tolerates Caleb's constant harassment with incredible gentleness and patience. In return Caleb provides him with soggy, half eaten, teething biscuits dropped on the floor.

Last but not least I an including this picture just because I think Caleb looks exactly like Brad. This is the face that Brad makes anytime he thinks he has said something particularly funny or clever.

I don't remember what we were doing when I took this picture, so I can only assume Caleb was being particularly funny and clever.

SIDE NOTE: Do not be alarmed, he does actually own clothes even though that may not be apparent by these pictures. As I've said before, he'd just rather be naked!

6 month pictures

I know I'm not exactly impartial, but what a cute baby!