Proof

 

Too many milestones for one weekend...

Caleb is testing my ability to keep up with him! Just this past weekend, he has learned to work himself from his stomach to sitting on his knees (he pulls his knees under him and then works his arms back until he's sitting upright on his knees). Then, yesterday, he started pulling up on the furniture. IT'S TOO SOON!!! I'M NOT READY FOR THIS!!!

Ah, but once again, I am reminded that it is not under my control.

Thank you, Lord, that my son is growing and developing before my very eyes. We praise you that he is healthy and happy and makes his mama and dada smile and laugh A LOT! Give us the strength and wisdom needed to effectively parent him the way You see fit. Our baby boy is no longer a baby. Let us hold him tight and savor each moment; they are fleeting.

Guess What Just Arrived...

My doorbell just rang and the UPS man dropped off a package from Amazon.com. Do you know what is inside?

This book: This book:

And...

This book:


Well, I'm off to do some reading...enjoy your long weekend!

(P.S.--Did you know you can get that first book at Walmart? Who knew?)

Recent Pictures

 

What He's Doing Now

I forgot to mention that Caleb is now saying "Dada" and "Mama." He said dada first a couple of weeks ago, and then started saying mama last week. He only says mama when he's really frustrated and/or angry. Aren’t I lucky?!?

Caleb is also getting up on his hands and knees now. He doesn’t stay long, but he does rock back and forth. It won’t be long before he’ll be crawling for real.

Update: Surviving Motherhood

Ok, I wanted to give an update on the TLC show Surviving Motherhood. I am not impressed. I haven't been able to make myself watch a whole episode yet. Today a mom was trying to get some advice from the other moms on balancing working full time outside the home and family life. She was, obviously, exhausted by the time she got home from work. On the show they have "Expert Moments," where an expert gives their opinion on the matter (not actually to the moms, but just for the sake of us viewers...go figure. I guess the moms have to watch the show to get the advice). The "expert" said this mom shouldn't buy into the "supermom" persona, but that she should do things for herself like 1) take a bubble bath to relax, 2) take a nap, and/or 3) exercise. Ok, these are all great things, but if she's exhausted when she gets home and wants to spend time with her children (naturally!), how in the world is she going to find time to do these things??? And, futhermore, is she going to stop the kids at the door and tell them that mommy needs to take nap? I don't think so. Personally I don't want to watch a show about a group of moms who've never met going to a coffee shop and talking about their problems. I can do that with people I actually know!

Ok, off my soap box.

Letter to my Neighbor and other Caleb news...

Dear Neighbor,
Could you please stop allowing your dogs to run crazy around the neighborhood? They run straight to my gate, right under my son's window, and make my dogs go insane. I would especially appreciate it if you would attend to this matter during naptime, so as not to wake my son up from his already very short naps. Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated by all the neighbors.

Sincerely,
me (the neighbor whose dogs bark from behind the fence)

In other news...
This past weekend we took Caleb on a walk to our neighborhood "lake." Lots of baby ducks have recently hatched. We stood still for a second and they swarmed us! I think they thought we had something to feed them, but we didn't. There was some food on the ground that someone had put out, so they went to town on that. :-)





















Our Life Group at church went to the park on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the last semester of fellowship together and the start of summer. The kids played in the splashpad; it was a great time! Caleb wasn't exactly sure what to do with all the excitement the other kids were experiencing (and the water was quite a bit colder than his bath water!).

Wanted: Your Thoughts

On my other blog, I have asked people to read an article and give me their thoughts. It's about women's roles. I would love it if you would head over there and check it out...

We NEED Some Sleep!!!

Ok, I'm asking for your advice. Caleb has been waking up twice during the night the last 3 nights wanting to eat. He goes to bed around 7pm, wakes up around 2am and 5am, and then won't go back to sleep and takes his morning nap SUPER early. What is going on??? Any ideas? I don't see any evidence that he is teething, but that doesn't mean he isn't. What should/can we do? We're desperate for a good night's sleep over here.

Testing out some new photo software...

Can You See Me?

Can You See Me?



I see you...




If you can see me, why don't you get me out of here?

The Beach

This weekend hubby's family was in from New Mexico and Michigan. We had a very busy and FUN weekend! Friday we went to see hubby's brother #2 graduate from college (very exciting!). Caleb did really well at the ceremony; luckily there were thousands of people, so his fussing wasn't too disturbing. Saturday, we went to the beach. It was our first experience with a baby and sand. Interesting, to say the least. Sand was everywhere! When we were ready to leave, we had to take Caleb to the car, strip off his clothes and pour bottles of water over him to get him clean enough to put in his carseat. I did remember to put sunscreen on Caleb, but not myself. Judging by my sunburn, it's a very good thing he had sunscreen on his tender baby skin.



Here is Caleb with his Mimi (hubby's mom):





Caleb "relaxing" at my mom's house a couple of weeks ago:



Hubby got me a small digital camera for Mother's Day so I can take it along wherever we go and snap pictures. Thanks, honey! :-)

Surviving Motherhood

I just saw that TLC is going to have a show called "Surviving Motherhood" starting next week, I think. That should be interesting! Some days, like yesterday, that's all I feel I'm doing. Surviving.

What's Going On Around Here...

Well, our family has been reunited and we have been super busy since then. Now that Caleb is "crawling" (looks like the G.I Joe men in Toy Story when they are crawling across the floor), I can hardly keep up with him. I turn my head for an instant and he's halfway across the living room floor. He is really enjoying discovering the house from this perspective. He's also very proud of himself when he gets someplace! It is nice that he can go get a toy that is out of his reach, but the way our house is set up makes him very hard to contain--too many doorways, not enough walls! I put him in a laundry basket earlier with a few of his toys and it occupied him for a few minutes while I worked on the Easter page for his scrapbook...until he decided he wanted the toys on the outside and pulled himself up on the side of the laundry basket and almost dumped himself out. WHERE DID MY BABY GO?????

Hubby's family gets in tomorrow! We are SO excited!! They haven't seen Caleb since Christmas, so there's A LOT of catching up to do. This weekend we are going to celebrate hubby's brother #2 graduating from college. Question, are we insane to take an almost-8-month-old to a college graduation lasting 3 hours in the middle of naptime? That's what I thought. *sigh* At least there will be LOTS of hands to take turns holding him and walking around with him! Do you think they would frown upon us bringing a pack-n-play and setting it up in the concourse area outside? Hey, they can either deal with that or a screaming child. Maybe some of those usher people could babysit? Just a thought.

In other baby developments, Caleb is "talking" up a storm with lots of new sounds. He really jibbers to himself all the time. He's close to saying "mama" and "dada," but can't quite put the thing together yet. It won't be long.

He's Crawling

Caleb has learned to crawl. He's not on hands and knees quite yet, but is pulling with his arms and pushing with his feet (and sometimes his knees) to get himself where he wants to go. Occasionally his stomach lifts off the ground. Just in the last two days he has really started moving. Two days ago he was just rolling around, then yesterday he started pulling himself with his arms. Now he goes wherever he wants, but not as fast as he wants. Our lives are seriously about to change! When we get home tomorrow, there are lots of things I need to move so he cannot get into them. Here we go!!!

Hubby returns tomorrow!! Caleb has been extremely clingy the last few days...I think he is missing his daddy. We are so excited that Daddy is coming home! :-)