new car seat

we finally got caleb's new car seat! we found out at his 4 month doctor's appointment that he was too long for his little infant seat, but we hadn't done any research on what other kind to buy. so, i started looking and asking around and we finally decided on a britax roundabout which is a convertable seat so can be rear- or forward-facing. when i asked people who had other brands they would say "it's been fine for us" or "it's worked well". but, when i asked someone who had a britax, they would say "we LOVE the car seat" and "we have been SO happy with it". they are more expensive, but i was able to find a website (http://www.tinyride.com/) that offered them with no shipping OR tax. so that helped. one thing i already love about it is that it has velcro patches to stick the buckles to when we set caleb in it so he doesn't sit on them. that's worth the extra money right there! we'll get it installed this weekend but the problem troy pointed out, is how i'm going to go shopping with caleb now. he's too young to sit up in a cart, but i won't have the infant carrier to set in the cart anymore. any suggestions??

they're back...

ever since caleb learned to shriek and squeal, he had forgotten all about blowing raspberries. well, don't worry, he remembered again. now he will alternate blowing raspberries with squealing. it's pretty adorable! this last time i put him down for a nap, i was holding him, getting him to settle down. he laid his head down on my shoulder and blew raspberries for 2 minutes and 43 seconds straight. i timed it. then, he got tired of them and stopped. i put him in his crib and 4 1/2 minutes later he was asleep... too bad my sweater doesn't dry as quickly as he falls asleep!

caleb's birthday

yesterday was caleb's 5 month birthday! we did a lot of fun stuff... we took a trip to fred meyer, i gave caleb extra exersaucer time, he got to watch one segment of dog whisperer with me, he sat in his new car seat, and he ate some rice cereal. i'm setting the birthday bar pretty high!

revving his engine

when caleb is on his tummy, he now likes to put his forehead down on the blanket, get up on to his toes and bounce back and forth. we call it revving his engine and it's really funny, especially when he does it in his crib and falls asleep mid-rev! i think he's trying to crawl, but what usually happens is that his feet slip and he ends up scooting backwards.

did you see that?

today i hosted our PEPS meeting. this is an easy thing to do... you basically just put out chairs, throw a couple of blankets on the floor, and provide some snacks. during our break, i went to the kitchen to make sure all the snacks were ready to go. i'm pretty sure i left caleb on his back, but when i looked back at him, he was on his tummy. now, he's never rolled from his back to tummy before, but he's looked like he wants to and has been getting closer and closer. i asked one of the other moms sitting nearby if she had seen him roll over. apparently, she is not as obsessed with caleb's every developmental milestone like i am and so hadn't noticed. hmm... i'll have to keep an eye on him!

6 Non-Important things/habits/quirks about myself

i was tagged by janell to answer the above question... so here i go...

1. every night before i get into bed, i put lotion on my feet... troy calls it my "slimey" and i can't go to sleep without it.

2. i love to brush my teeth... not for any dental-hygiene reasons but just because i love the taste of Colgate.

3. i have calluses from carrying my heavy baby around in his infant carrier.

4. i shed so much in the shower that in order to keep from clogging the drain, i make hairballs and throw them against the side of the shower to throw away once i'm done. gross, i know.

5. i hate when people drop toothpaste in the sink. but it's too disgusting for me to clean up, so i just leave it and seethe...

6. i love watching The Dog Whisperer. i check out the dvd's from the library so i can watch them cuddled up on the couch.

i tag angel and elizabeth

who's that cute baby in the mirror?

pretty much every day i take caleb to the guest bathroom where we spend some time sitting on the counter and looking in the mirror. today, for the first time, caleb noticed his own reflection. usually, he's too busy looking and me or the shiny faucet. today, however, he saw himself and gave a huge smile. he reached out his hand and tried to touch the reflection. it probably could have kept him occupied for hours... but then he noticed the box of kleenex...

decapi-bunny

this is caleb's current favorite toy. freaky, i know. when i was given it as a shower gift, i didn't really know what to think. but the gal who gave it to me assured me caleb would love it. she was right! i guess it can also serve as a conversation started for adults!

smells

i have a bad sense of smell... REALLY bad. i can't tell if milk has gone bad, if we pass by a skunk on the side of the road, if someone has had garlic for lunch, or if something is burning. this can be a bad thing, for sure, but sometimes it can be good. like not being able to smell dirty diapers or morning breath. anyway, while i was pregnant, my sense of smell became much more acute. i learned that chocolate chips have a smell... and i don't like it. and cinnamon smells amazing!! i was hopeful that after being pregnant maybe my sense of smell wouldn't go all the way back to how it was before. but today, while getting dinner in the crock pot, i realized that i couldn't really smell the difference between cumin and chili powder. i've officially lost any gains i made. sigh...

what a great sight!

it does a mom's (and teacher's) heart good to see a sight like this! just recently has caleb been able to stay still long enough to read a whole book. his favorite is this color book from the woods family. i can't wait to introduce him to all the wonderful stories out there!

books...

on a blog i read, i saw this post about various books. i liked it and thought i would answer the questions myself:

1. One book that changed your life: i don't know that it's changed my life, but reading Confessions of a Reformissional Rev by Driscoll certainly stirred life up a bit. reading that book made me take a look at what i think church should be and what sort of vision we want to be a part of as members of a church. it also led to troy listening to Driscoll podcasts and now we're attending Mars Hill. so... i guess you could say it changed my life.

2. One book you’ve read more than once: i read lots of books more than once. but i think the book i've read most of all is A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter. i read it first in elementary school and have read it at least once a year since then. it's sort of along the vein of Anne of Green Gables.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: i'd definitely have to go with the Bible on this one... not only would it keep me occupied a lot of the time, but i could learn a whole bunch and, if i ever got off the island, hopefully my life would be changed because of the reading.

4. Two books that made you laugh: hmmm... i must not read a lot of funny books. the first that comes to mind is Marley and Me by John Grogan. also, books by Andrew Clement, especially Frindle.

5. One book that made you cry: i cry pretty easily in books, especially if anything happens to a pet (especially a dog) or a child. The first one i thought of when i read this question was A Child Called "It" by David Pelzer.

6. One book you wish had been written: i can think of a couple that would be helpful right about now. but most of all i wish there was a book called Setting and Living a Family Vision.

7. One book you wish had never been written: there are several books i've read that i wish i hadn't or books that i started and had a heck of a time finishing. but one book that really bothered me was Created to be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl. please, don't read that book.

8. One book you’re currently reading: i'm currently reading Better Late than Early by Moore about some alternate ideas about education.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: i've been meaning to read Prayer by Philip Yancey. i received it as a gift a while ago and troy read it, but i haven't picked it up yet. it's continually on my "to read" list.

anyone else want to jump in on these questions?

squeals & shrieks

i remember talking to troy's sister, heather, on christmas. her son, nathan, is about a month older than caleb. she asked troy if caleb was "shrieking" yet. troy said something about him not actually crying much. she explained that it was not upset shrieking, just shrieking. i sort of shrugged and troy said he wasn't sure if caleb was or not yet. what she could have said was, "oh, you'll know when he starts!!" caleb is going nuts with it! it's like the blowing raspberries (which he hardly does at all anymore)... he wakes up squealing and falls asleep mid-shriek. so crazy!

even on hard days...

i really have an amazingly good baby. he doesn't cry... unless i'm trying to put him to sleep and he doesn't want to sleep. yesterday was a hard day. caleb and i weren't feeling very good and i had PEPS so we missed his first nap, etc. etc. i didn't want to be patient, i just wanted him to go to bed so i could take a nap. so, obviously, that didn't happen. both of us were getting frustrated and cranky. but then i decided to just let it go. i got caleb up and we cuddled on the couch watching The Dog Whisperer. we played games and sang songs and, even though he was tired, he was wonderful. we had a great afternoon together and finally, at about 3:30, he went to bed. even on hard days, caleb teaches me to relax, have fun, and be patient!

a special visit

friday we saw our friends eric, janell, and jackson. i was blessed to be pregnant at the same time as janell and our boys are 12 days apart. i thought it would be fun to take tummy time pictures of them. two problems. first, jackson doesn't like to be on his tummy. and second, caleb rolls over and won't stay on his tummy. this was as close as i could get!

new year's resolutions

i'm of the camp that says "if there's something about your life you want to change, don't wait until january 1st, change it now!" sometimes, however, just the fact of it being a new year encourages me to think about what changes i may want to make. i'm not very good at making resolutions... i used to be better. when i was growing up we would often make them. everyone in our family would make one resolution in each of several categories: social, emotional, physical, academic, and spiritual. then they would get posted on our refrigerator to encourage us to stick with it.
as an adult, i've made much fewer resolutions but there have been two that stick out... probably because i kept them. one year, troy and i decided we needed to make friends with other couples so we resolved to have one couple over every month. we did that and, to this day, several of our "monthly couples" remain good friends of ours. the second was a goal i made two years ago to keep a reading log. the purpose of this was two-fold. first, i wanted to keep track of what i had read. additionally, i wanted to make sure i was reading a wider range of book types/genres. in my log i write the title, author, genre, and a rating of each book. i love to look back and think about what i've read and what they have taught me. now i can also keep track of them online at goodreads, but i still like to have them in my purple notebook!

one more favorite thing...

wearing purple clothes! especially sweaters... and socks and hats and mittens and gloves!

guess what?

caleb has now found his right foot, too! he still has to work hard to grab it... and he's never just grabbed his right, only in addition to the left. he is learning so much about his world these days!

raspberries

in an earlier post, i mentioned how fun it would be when caleb learned to blow raspberries on his own. and it is fun... and wet! for a couple of days, that's all he would do night and day. he would fall asleep blowing raspberries and wake up blowing raspberries. he's toned it down now, but don't get your face too close to his unless you're willing to risk needing a towel!

be careful what you wish for...

last night, when i put caleb into bed after his nighttime feeding, he rolled over! way to go, baby! but then i turned him back over onto his tummy (that's how he sleeps) and again rolled over and grabbed his left foot. hmmm, i thought, this could prove problematic! how am i going to get him to go to sleep when he's so excited about his new found trick? fortunately, he was tired and after about 5 or 6 turns, he settled in and went to sleep. this morning's first nap he went down ok, so i'm hoping that he saves rolling over for tummy time!

my days

i'm trying to find the best way to spend my time during the days. i love having caleb on a routine, but i need one, too. the problem is that i do great when i have things to do, but with all this free time, i can get lazy. so i've got a few ideas. one is to make a list of all the things i want to get done during the week and slowly work my way through it. another is to alternate doing something fun (like blogging or reading) with some sort of work (like ironing or cleaning). i've also thought of making each day of the week a different focus day. like monday-meals (menu and grocery shopping), friday-floors (swiffer and vacuum) etc. we'll see what i finally end up with... these last few days i've been doing the alternating play-work idea and it's going well.

found his foot

caleb has found his foot! his left foot, to be specific. i thought that when babies found their feet, they found them both, but caleb is teaching me that i still have a lot to learn! for a long time, he just held his knees, but now he likes his left foot and his right knee. it's super cute... but makes diaper changes a bit more difficult :)

these are a few of my favorite things

i loved that my friend, Janell, posted a few of her favorite things on her blog. so, i decided to do the same. she did 13 things, and her husband, Eric, did 14. so i think i'm entitled to 15 :)

~ playing games with family and friends

~ caleb's laughter

~ finishing a hard sudoku

~ tiger mountain tea company

~ weekends

~ watching troy give caleb a bath

~ curling up on the couch with a good book

~ walking to starbucks with troy (and getting chai!)

~ the olympics

~ watching caleb learn something new

~ my friend Janell

~ waterfalls

~ a crispy chicken tender salad at red robin

~ cuddling caleb when first wakes up

~ phone calls from family

imcomplete pass

for the last couple of weeks, caleb has been able to reach out and grab things. he likes feeling them in his fingers and putting them in his mouth. his latests attempt is to switch hands... he will grab something in one hand and then try to pass it over to the other hand. sometimes it works. more often, though, he forgets to let go with the first hand and ends up playing tug-of-war with himself. great fun!

new toys

recently, caleb has become interested in toys. and he's found a couple new ones that really likes. the first are his toes... actually, only the toes on his left foot, he has yet to find his other ones. i can see him looking at them, like he knows they're there, but he can't quite figure out how to get his hands on them. the other toy is mommy's face. while he's eating, caleb likes to reach up with his hand and touch my nose and mouth. he loves when i kiss his little fingers. it's funny... people spend all this money on infant toys (and caleb has some wonderful ones that he's starting to like, too), but what kids really want most are things that God provides.

so starts a long day...

yesterday caleb had his shots. the last time he got shots, he got a high fever and had a hard next day. but, the doctor said some kids react a lot better the second time, so i was hopeful. after we got home yesterday, i gave caleb some tylenol and when took his temperature last evening and during the night, it was normal. this morning, though, it was up to 100.3, which is quite high for a little man who is usually in the 97's. poor baby, doesn't know what to do... he's tired but has a hard time going to sleep and he doesn't understand why nursing doesn't fix it. i'll keep giving him the tylenol every 4 hours and, if it's like last time, he should be ok by tomorrow morning.

how big is caleb?

SO BIG! i took caleb to the doctor today for his 4-month check up and vaccines. i was so curious to find out just how big my little man has gotten. i was guessing between 16 and 17 pounds but troy thought he would be over 17. and the verdict is... 17lbs, 4oz. and he's 26.5in long. that's 90% in both categories. the doctor said he looked great and now he's trying to rest after all the shots.

hugs

sometimes it's crazy to think how big caleb is getting. and sometimes i just want him to stay little. but him getting bigger has its advantages. hugs, for example. caleb is now big enough to put one little arm on either side of my neck while i'm holding him. this feels a great deal like a hug and i love every second of it.

cloth wipes

i need to learn that people know what they're talking about. so many people have said to me, "if you're doing cloth diapers you should do cloth wipes, too. it's really easy." why didn't i believe them? cloth diapers weren't gross but for some reason cloth wipes would be? that doesn't make sense! so, this week i've started using cloth wipes. and, sure enough, it's easy. and i love just throwing them in with the diapers. it's cutting down on garbage even more and they wipe caleb way better.

laughter

today, caleb and i were playing peek-a-boo while folding laundry. he got laughing so hard that he got the hiccups! what a great day.

CUTEST. PICTURE. EVER.

caleb's time with his dad

one of the highlights of this christmas season for me was to watch troy and caleb get to know each other better. troy had about 10 days off of work so he got to be in caleb's life all day every day for that whole time. it was wonderful! i loved seeing how troy grew in his ability to talk and play with caleb more naturally as well as read his signs about what he needed. and caleb's whole face started lighting up every time his daddy walked into the room. it is especially hard for me to have troy go back to work today after such a long and wonderful time as a family.

plane flights

not a good thing. actually, caleb does well for about 1.5 hours of fly time. unfortunately, the way to kentucky had a 4 hour flight followed by a 1.5 hour flight. the way back had a 2 hour flight followed by a 3.5 hour flight. and that's all not counting layovers... oy! we've worked hard to get caleb sleeping in his crib and that's going well... but the flip side is that he basically didn't sleep the entire time we were traveling. on one flight, though, a wonderful older woman in the row ahead of us held caleb for about a 1/2 hour so we could rest. what a blessing! needless to say, we were glad every time we were done with those days!