Our Life

This video also demonstrates two other things:

1. Caleb likes to make sure everyone is involved. If he does something (like ring a doorbell) we have to do it too.
2. When asked a question where the answer is “yes”, Caleb will chuckle if he’s especially happy about his response.

Every now and then Caleb gets into a reading-to-himself frenzy. He had been doing this for about twenty minutes before I started recording it.

We know it looks like we have a totally crazy demanding child, but it’s not what it looks like. You need to hear the story.

The story: Caleb has been asking for pancakes for about five minutes. He knows there are none left and so he’s creating some false drama. He can’t seem to stay in character though, so he keeps laughing when he’s trying to be serious.

Sorry, I was on such a wonderful blogging roll. I am stuck just moments before Caleb turns 1. I think it’s so bittersweet to re-acknowledge that my baby has been out here for a whole year (and 5 months… I know, I know). He used to need my help holding his little head up and turning him over for tummy time, and now he’s crawling around and laughing at our jokes! My how time flies.

We had the privilege of heading up to visit my family for Christmas and Caleb’s first birthday celebration last December – with SNOW! This was a very special thing for me. As much as I love still checking the mail barefoot in the dead of winter down here, I do horribly miss the dramatic changing of seasons that I took for granted my whole non-adult life.

Brandon got to help shovel the sidewalks and ride a snowmobile for the first time ever! Caleb was absolutely enamored by the peaceful, fluffy white snowflakes. He wasn’t a fan of bundling up, but boy was he cuddly!

We ended our 16-hour drive up with a 2-night stay at my little brother, Luke’s, new house with his wonderful wife and dog. We had an amazing time with them from the gorgeous Christmas decorations to the delicious chili and wood-stove cooked pizza (and late night Catan!)

From there we got to visit my Dad and stepmom and celebrate with most of my siblings and nephews! Caleb loved his birthday muffins and all his new puzzles :)

We spent the rest of the time nestled in the gorgeous snowy hills at my Mom and Papa’s house. The time flew, as it always does, but we got to relax together and just enjoy being family and celebrating our Savior’s birth (and Caleb’s too!). So here are lots of photos from each of those places! I want steaming mug of hot chocolate just looking at them again :)

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There’s a long story attached to us being in Texas last October, but the most important part the story is that my sister, Auntie Girlf, got to stay with us from July till October, and it was awesome.. because she is awesome. Well, her hubby was due to return from his deployment to Iraq a few months earlier than we’d expected, and after a series of SUPER last-minute decision the whole family loaded up and drove with her to meet him in Texas where they were also going to live for the next 3 months. Brandon stayed with his brother in Dallas for the week and Caleb and I stayed with Auntie a few hours away. This was supposed to be just a 2-3 night visit, we’d greet Uncle Jared with our flags and hugs and be on our way. It didn’t go that smoothly, so we ended up waiting and waiting for him to come home and finally decided to head back after the week was up. Auntie’s studio apartment was getting crowded with Caleb and me there, and frankly Daddy missed us :) So we stayed the last night at Brandon’s Aunt and Uncle’s house where we celebrated Caleb’s first Halloween! Our little zebra was very tired, but humored us and even helped hand out a little bit of candy.

Here’s one of those little phases that I didn’t realize I’d miss! After every meal, when I’d remove Caleb’s high chair tray, he’d grab it and want to play peek-a-boo underneath it for about 2 minutes before he’d be ready to get down. So precious! Also, this is around the time he started getting to feed himself little snacks. He mastered his pincer grasp really quickly and clearly delights in his accomplishment.

We finally decided to brighten up our dark brown living room! Over the course of 2 late nights, our painting team (Auntie, Daddy, and I) transformed the room into a sunny yellow play place for Caleb. I must say that 7 months later we are still very pleased with our color choice.. that’s always a good thing right? ;)

On October 3rd, 2009 we were a part of a walk for midwives downtown! What a privilege it was to be able to share a common passion for natural childbirth, and to voice that in hopes to legalize it in the state. There was a great turnout, beautiful weather, and Caleb got to sport his new tee-shirt, handcrafted with love by his Mommy late the night before :) (We really do LOVE our midwife!)

Is it Jump Up? Jumpup.. Jump-up.. hm. Whatever the case, Caleb thoroughly enjoyed this new activity. Since it’s the future, I can tell you that it really only lasted a few weeks, but those were a great few weeks of bouncing and relief for Mommy’s back! I really wish they made these for adults. It’d be a terrific leg workout, but you can totally lounge in between bouts of motivation.

This was made to happen. We had the laundry basket (already dumped, thank you darling Caleb), the belt was nearby, a blanket for comfort, add the “Jingle Bells” song and a Mommy to power your ride and we get one happy 8 1/2 month old! We did this for days.. around and around our loop… we even threw in a steering wheel to tech up the whole deal!