Sunday, July 29, 2012

13 months!

Caleb turned thirteen months on the 25th (Wednesday). I had debated whether or not I was going to keep this up and continue to write about updates each month... but he's still so little and he keeps growing and learning so I decided to go with it. :)

This past month has been a busy one. Our summer has been jam-packed with excitement, new things, trips and fun! :)

Anyway, this month:

-Caleb experienced his first water fountain splash area at Stony Point mall. At first, he couldn't wait to get into it. He loved it at first and walked over to the fountains all by himself. Unfortunately, I was too busy chatting to get any pictures. When I did whip out the camera, he'd already had enough. We actually ended up staying for awhile anyway- I was hoping he'd warm up to it. I found a bucket no one was playing with and I filled it with water for him to splash in. He seemed to enjoy that. I also walked him over to the fountains and he would walk with me over there, but then he wouldn't stay. Alas!

- Caleb has learned to "sit down" upon request. Jeff taught him to sit down using food as a reinforcer/motivator. Now it's to the point that if Caleb sees something he wants to eat (i.e., if you're eating something) he will walk in front of you and sit down. He will also sit down upon request without food being present.

-Caleb has done so much better at prayer times. He's done great with meal time prayers for awhile now, but now he'll usually sit in my lap as we kneel for family prayer and most of the time he'll sit quietly (every once in awhile he'll try to get up or move around).

- He is making more and more sounds with his mouth... putting more syllables together and using a variety of consonant/vowel sounds... however, he still hasn't said anything (that we can make out).

- He LOVES to read. He will sometimes run his little pointer finger across the page as he "reads" books. He's gentle with hardback and paper books. He gets super excited and begins babbling very loudly as soon as you hand him a book. So if you wanna get him talking... give the kid a book.

- He has gone from a part-time walker to a full-time walker and part-time runner. He tries to run, but always stumbles when he does. Whenever Jeff and I both hold his hands if we are on a walk or something, Caleb will "run". I guess he feels confident then.

-He continues to understand more and more and follows simple instructions.

- He's gone to his first two and a half family reunions.

-He went to the beach for the first time for a quick day trip and LOVED the ocean!

- He continues to be OBSESSED with doors.. if there's a door, he's happy.

- Loves music and loves to try and sing along.

- Loves to climb down from furniture, and tries to climb up.

- He's been so happy lately, too... laughing and smiling all the time. And he's incredibly animated and a bit dramatic. :)

- Has been sleeping soooo well lately!! He's been sleeping pretty much all night this past week, which has been awesome. (Sometimes, he will wake up, but he doesn't cry and will go back to sleep on his own.) He has also been going to sleep on his own, also. We go through his night time routine- and then put him in his crib and he talks to himself until he falls asleep.

- He has a huge appetite. I can't believe how much he eats sometimes! We recently gave him some bread and he loves bread/toast/ biscuits/etc. He loves fruit (bananas are his favorite). He loves most veggies (carrots and sweet potatoes are his favorite). He's also tried new things this month and I've been more lax on what we give him to eat- meaning, I give him more sweet things than ever before... like he's had his first popsicle this month and he's had some dairy-free chocolate pudding that Jeff made. (We don't give him sweets too often, but he does have some sometimes).

- He's still nursing, but nursing less and he drinks coconut milk or soy milk as well. He also loves water.

Since I posted so many last blog post... here are some from just the recent weeks. 













He was done at this point.. for a few minutes.


Checking out the fountain.


This little kid, just a couple of months older than Caleb, came up and starting playing with him... it was super cute.


This is just from this last weekend... Caleb was reading to me, and using my pointer to point to things in the book.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Say What?!

Disclaimer... this post is kind of long, but you should read it to the end... afterall, the pictures are the fun part, right?


We've been super busy this month so far, but are having a blast!!
The first week of July felt like a vacation. We got to spend lots of time with family, thanks to the fourth and the hot weather (Jeff had some early days!! :)

Independence Day was fabulous. First, we went to dinner with my dad and his wife, my sister Ashley and her kiddos. We went to Cracker Barrel and they were packed!! But, breakfast (well, more like brunch, by the time we ate) was so yummy! Caleb tried some egg and fried apples and he loved them! The waiter even brought out some more fried apples just for him on his (the waiter's) tab. How cool is that?

After breakfast/brunch, we headed to Jeff's parents' house. There were so many people there, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, brothers... so fun! We stayed there pretty  much for the rest of the day, just talking, laughing, singing, eating (I ate mostly junk), and playing. Caleb had so much fun playing outside. After a lot of family left, Jeff's parents and siblings and the Pences' sang... we loved that. Then they all played volleyball. I opted out of that one. I am no good at that game (well, I haven't played since I was in college).

That evening, we headed over to my mom's house where we had dessert and watched an awesome fireworks show on tv. I really wanted to go see the fireworks in real life, but that just wasn't in the cards this year. Caleb was super tired and burned out from all of the excitement earlier in the day, that we didn't think it would be a good idea to take him to see the fireworks. Next year, though, we are definitely going.

We got home pretty late, but it was so worth it to be around our families! :)

Because Jeff's cousin Heather and sister Tracy were still in town, I spent a lot of the rest of the week over at Jeff's parents' house. We went out for lunch at Panera with Jeff's mom, sisters Lisa and Tracy and future sister-in-law, Crystal. Yum!!

On that Friday, we all headed up to the temple. That was an awesome trip. We took two vans. Jeff, Caleb, Lisa (and her boyfriend), Tracy, Evan, Crystal, Jeff's parents and his grandpa all went. Lisa and her boyfriend watched Caleb for us while we all went inside. It was so good of them! And I was so grateful that they were able and willing to do so. I do feel bad, though, because apparently, he was fussy the entire time. :/

After the temple, we stopped and got some food and then headed to Jeff's oldest sister's house in Fredericksburg. Sandy was having a game night, so we stayed and played games and ate tons of yummy stuff (you know, the usual- peanut M&Ms and Twizzlers... along with some fresh fruit).

We ended up staying the night at Jeff's parents' house because then on Saturday, we all headed to the lake with Jeff's brother-in-law, Jason. He has a boat and he took us out on Lake Anna in his boat. It was a lot of fun. He also has a tube and he pulled some folks on the tube. It was so fun watching them! I didn't go out on the tube, but I did get in the water. Caleb had a pretty good time, too... and even fell asleep on the boat around naptime.

We were exhausted by the end of the day. Whew!

Sunday, we just went to church and relaxed at home.  Then Monday morning came and I took Jeff to his parents' house for work and then Caleb and I, Jeff's mom and sisters Tracy and Lisa and Crystal all headed to the beach. (Well first, we went to Target and then the beach). We only stayed for a couple of hours, but it worked out perfectly because we left late and then it started to drizzle a little as we were leaving.

That night, Grandpa Hall took us all out to dinner at Cracker Barrel (We waited for Heather and her kids to get back to Richmond from North Carolina). Caleb had scrambled eggs and fried apples. Yum!

Tuesday, I went back to Jeff's parents' house and then later that morning, we loaded up the van, dropped Lisa off at work and headed to Fredericksburg to visit with Sandy before Tracy had to head to the airport. Jason ended up taking Tracy to the airport, so we stayed a bit and chatted and let Caleb play with Aaron (until he bit Aaron on the arm- it was a good one, too : / ) Poor Aaron.

Well, the rest of the week was pretty chill. Caleb and I had a play date on Thursday and spent a lot of time out and about. He was an absolute doll. Friday, I had a doctor's appointment and Caleb hung out with his Grandma Calton and then we chilled at home a bit before heading out and about again.

So, we've definitely had an adventurous, fun-filled month already. It's been awesome.

Here are some pictures from the week...



Look at that grin!! Caleb LOVED the ocean!!


Seriously, I could just eat him up!



 Random pictures from Independence Day:



This is probably my favorite.

My little family. :)


I picked him up- right after I took this picture. 







Pictures from the rivah:






Just look at that stud!

Sittin' on the boat with Aunt Tracy!

So glad that he was able to nap (and if you look closely, you'll see the drool running down his cheek).








Oh, and before I forget....



Somebody's really teething and couldn't keep his finger out of his mouth.

Can you tell he's excited for a new addition (or maybe it was the cheerios we were bribing him with)?

"Yeah, that's right..."