Sunday, January 13, 2013

Happy 8 months Caleb!

Caleb is 8 months (a week ago...)!  
Our family so enjoyed being with him and seeing his many sweet faces and new sounds and skills that he does.
He was the star of the show at each place we went.  


At 8 months, Caleb is...


Size: Caleb is around 20 pounds now and definitely feels as heavy as 20 pounds.  
He's wearing 6 month, 9 month, 6-12 month, and 12 months clothes, all depending on the brand and type of clothing.  
He's got some crazy chuncky thighs and chubby cheeks.
We get a lot of comments on his size.  
Sometimes he looks and feels so big to me and other times he still seems so small.  


Likes: This boy is so busy right now.  
He loves to crawl around and is in constant exploration of his environment.  
He can pick out the tiniest little piece of food, lint, fuzz, paper, dirt, or whatever it is on the floor!
  Sometimes I look over and see him chewing and I know he's put something he shouldn't have in his mouth.  
I hate to admit it, but he had his first (lets be honest, it probably won't be his last) piece of cat food today.  I got it before he swallowed it though!



Dislikes: As mentioned, Caleb gets into everything now and often finds something he shouldn't have.
He does not like to have a toy he's playing with taken away. 




Working on/Milestones: Caleb has long mastered crawling, sitting, and going from one to the other.
  The main skills he's working on now is pulling up.  
He goes to his knees often by balancing against a wall or piece of furniture.  
He pulled up onto the coffee table for the first time today.  No surface is safe now!

Also, this week, Caleb is getting his first tooth.  I can see it just peeking through.  Teething has not been too bad.  He definitely isn't sleeping as well as normal but he hasn't been too cranky and has still been taking his naps pretty well.  Thank goodness.  Maybe I just expected the worst so this isn't so bad.  



Oh those legs.


We finally are getting some hair too!

Sleeping: Caleb is sleeping through the night (when we're not out of town!) about 12-13 hours.  
He takes a good morning nap as long as we're at home from about 9:30 and then will take a later afternoon nap around 1:30 or 2:00 that lasts around an hour.  
If he had a short morning nap, he might take 3 naps.  
He's still going to bed around 7:00 and waking between 7 and 8.  
Also, we are now to the point of losing the nap if he gets a small power nap in the car.  
Bummer!  It never used to really matter but now it definitely does.  


Eating: Caleb is nursing 4-5 times a day still, and occasionally once at night.  
He also eats solids three times a day in the morning, mid-day and early evening.  
He's loving solids and we're going to start adding a lot since at 8 months, he can have a whole host of new things!  



I get most of my information and recipes/techniques from Wholesome Baby Food.  
He usually has whole milk plain yogurt mixed with fruit in the morning and different combinations of fruits and veggies for lunch and dinner.
This month, we'll be starting some meats, egg yolks, oatmeal, and many new fruits and vegetables.
So far, he's not allergic to anything and only doesn't like avocado (I know, its sad!) nor the sweet potato/apple mixture.



Arms are gettin stronger



We love you sweet boy!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Christmas part 3: Mississippi

On the Saturday after Christmas, we flew to Mississippi to visit Ben's extended family.  Ben's parents picked us up and we drove 3 hours to Cleveland, MS to see Ben's grandparents on his dad's side.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures from that trip because, well, I had the stomach flu.  Not fun!  
We stayed about 2 hours and then drove 3 more hours to Tupelo where we would stay for a few days.  Not the most fun drive ever I have to say.  
But we made it and I felt better by the next day thankfully.  


Pa is so great with Caleb.  He loves to bounce him and sit with him and Caleb enjoyed every minute of it!


Hello sweet heart!


We spent the time in MS just hanging out, a little bit of shopping, a good amount of eating, and of course card games!  


Caleb does this little two-fingered wave-ish thing.  I'm not sure why but I think it has something to do with trying to wave.  


Four generations!  Ben, Caleb, Pa, and Mark (Ben's dad)


Our family with Mimi and Pa on their 60th wedding anniversary.



We spent new year's eve with Ben's family and enjoyed just playing games, talking, and hanging out.  New year's day, we flew home and it was so so nice to be in our own home in our own bed.  
Over the next few days, I did about 6 loads of laundry, put all the clothes, stuff, and toys away that we had taken with us and got some order finally!  
It was a great holiday and we have some great memories of Caleb's first Christmas.
I have to admit though that Monday morning when everyone went bak to work was pretty nice just being in regular life and trying to remember what my normal routines are!  
I really do like just normal life.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Christmas part 2: Christmas Day

We continued our Christmas adventure in Fairview with my parents.  We spent Christmas eve celebrating with my mom's side of the family and then went to a Christmas eve service.  Caleb just listened to the music and was mesmorized by the candle-lit ending.  That's my favorite part of the evening and it was special to get to experience it with my sweet little man.  


Christmas morning, as tradition goes, we went to my sister's house in Fairview for breakfast.  


Our tradition is that the guys of the family make the "pinch-me coffee cake" that goes with our breakfast.  Ben has the honor of participating in this tradition as well :).  


It was actually a rainy Christmas morning that called for freezing temps and snow by the afternoon.



Uncle Keith, Tia Marisela, and C


Grammy


My sweet little family


Daddy!


I love this picture!  This is my parents, Grammy and Grandaddy, with their 5 grandsons.  Maybe someday we will add a granddaughter but for now, its just grandsons.  So sweet!




Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Christmas part 1: Cooper Christmas

This Christmas was an exciting traveling adventure!  We left December 21st and Caleb and I didn't come back until January 1st.  

We started our Christmas adventure in Arlington.
We came in Friday night and spent Saturday shopping, napping, and eating!  



Sunday, I got to unexpectedly go to the Cowboy game with my Dad, nephews, brother, and brother-in-law.  They did lose but it was a fun time with the guys.  It was actually the longest time during the day that I've been away from Caleb.  He did so well but I was so glad to see him when I got back!  


Sunday night, we did Cooper Christmas.  Caleb played while we opened gifts, probably ate some paper, and played some more while Mark read the Christmas story.  



Mark and Pat reading the Christmas story.


Presents!  Caleb got some cute clothes, a really sweet book, and an activity table from his Cooper fam.  


And who can forget the annual daughter-in-law Christmas purses.  Cherish and I went small this year and got identical cross-body brown purses.