September 18

I would just like to point out that this is post #340, which means I only have 25 more posts to go before I complete my "One Caleb a Day" challenge. But don't worry - I have plans for the blog once the challenge is over. I think you'll still like it.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any great Balloon Glow photos yesterday. Traffic + crowds meant that we didn't get to the balloons until it was too dark for a decent photo. But here is one I stole from our friends, the Del Gaisos:

And here are some photos of Caleb at the Balloon Glow last year. (Please note - that is the same light post behind me below and behind Chris D. above. Wild!)

Caleb practiced his walking today. He's getting so close to walking independently! It's fun for us to watch, and it's fun for him, too. He gets pretty excited when he walks.

He started out the morning by walking around in his jammies and Daddy's Cards hat.

Caleb was pretty proud of himself, but I think Chris helped quite a bit.

Later, we visited Grandma, and Caleb discovered that he didn't need Daddy's help, after all!

Grandma's post-knee-replacement walker was a big hit!

You would think all of this walking would wear him out. It wore us out - we ended up going to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner instead of making dinner. As we settled our weary bones into the well-worn booths, Caleb got more and more excited, until this:

That would be our child, smeared with chicken and rice, cheering excitedly. We still have no idea what got into him, but that kid was a raging ball of energy most of our meal. It was slightly terrifying, but mostly entertaining.



September 17

It's an early-post day; we're going to the Forest Park Balloon Glow tonight with some friends, and I'm not sure how late we'll get back or how worn out I'll be after the excursion.

Caleb was feeling much more cheerful today, which is interesting, considering the fact that when I put him down for his nap 20 minutes ago, he had a 100.4 fever. Huh. No fever = fussy, yes fever = happy. What gives?

I'm hoping a good nap and some ibuprofren will be just what he needs to be ready for the Balloon Glow. Hopefully I'll get some great hot-air balloon photos to share with you tomorrow! For today, I have some great lawn-mowing photos.

He's so much steadier on his feet now, but he still gets so excited when he stands up!

And he's finally walking well enough to use this toy that Chris' parents gave him for his birthday.

It's supposed to blow bubbles as you "mow", but we can't quite make that work. Caleb doesn't mind, though; he loves his mower! He even says, "Mow". It kind of reminds me of that one Simpsons episode, where Homer wants to kill Moe and he keeps saying over and over, "Moe. Moe. Moe. Moe."

This is his "Danny R." face. He makes it a lot, and it looks just like a face Chris' Dad makes when he's being silly.

And this one I just love.



September 16

It's an early-to-bed night for Caleb. He's attempting to drop his morning nap, but hasn't quite figured out that he should nap longer in the afternoon to compensate for the missed sleep. This week he's been eating lunch at 11:30, then going down around noon. One would think he would then sleep until 3, thus getting the 3 hours of napping he used to get. Instead, he's been waking up around 1:30 or 2. I keep hoping he'll figure it out, but it's not looking promising. Maybe if I put him down around 11, he'll still sleep until 1:30 or 2?

In the meantime, this is Caleb doing two of his favorite things: standing and eating.

Incidentally, the blue thing behind him is my beloved Snuggie. Caleb loves when I put the Snuggie over both of our heads and call it the "blue tent". He even tries to say "boo ten", and giggles crazily.

Also, (Have I already complained too much? Feel free to skip this.) today was my first MOPS meeting of the school year. It was fantastic, except for one little person who shall remain nameless. When I dropped this mystery person off in the kids area, he immediately started sobbing. When I picked him up 2 and a half hours later, his little eyes were still red. He had obviously fussed the whole time.

This is not my baby! My baby plays happily in the play area. My baby is the one the workers always call "the perfect baby" because he always plays by himself without fussing. My baby is an easy baby. But now I can't leave him in the Kids Korner at the gym because he fusses, and he's fussing at MOPS! Isn't he a bit late for separation anxiety? I think this is more than just a teething/napping issue, friends. I could use some reassurance.... anything along the lines of "It's just a phase" would be great.

Thanks.

September 15

Today felt reeeeaaaallllly long.

Maybe it had something to do with Caleb's general fussiness, or the fact that he only took one nap today. But good things did happen today. Caleb *might* have taken one un-assisted step today. And my mom made it through her knee replacement surgery just fine; she'll be recouperating at the hospital for the next few days.

We braved the fury of FussyBaby to visit Grandma at the hospital. Luckily, she was too drugged up to realize that Caleb was being slightly unpleasant.

Grandpa, however, was not drugged up. (I hope.)

He and Caleb had a serious conversation.

The result of the conversation was this:

And once they were done conversing, both men sat around a little bit.

This photo made me connect the dots... general fussiness, finger chewing...

Perhaps Caleb has more teeth coming in? Let's hope!

September 14

Does this look familiar?

Yep. He dumped the Cheerios again. Only today, he did it before he even got out of his jammies. And today, he dumped the whole box.

But this time I got wise. No more box for you, mister!

Am I a bad mom for scooping the Cheerios right up off the floor and putting them in a plastic container? Wouldn't you try to salvage what you could? Or should I have thrown them away?

Then, we visited my Mom to help out before she has knee replacement surgery tomorrow. Jenny even came over to do baby duty so I could be more helpful. This is a big deal, because Jenny DOESN'T do mornings.

Caleb loves Aunt Jenny!

Later, Caleb showed off his mad standing skills.

He's clearly so proud of himself when he does it!

He'll be walking in no time - I just know it!



September 13

Our little bear was alternately fussy and snuggly today. I'm not really sure why, but the snuggles made it a lot easier to deal with the fusses! He gave lots of hugs, and delighted in pulling up and standing all by himself. Over. and Over. and Over.

He also did this while I was in the restroom for 30 seconds:

(Opened the cabinet.

 Got out the box of Cheerios.

Opened the box of Cheerios.

Dumped the box of Cheerios.

Alternately ate and scattered the Cheerios.)

Also...

How big is Caleb?

SOOOOO BIIIIIG!!!

Does any baby ever tire of this game?

Caleb definitely doesn't.

September 12

We are so glad to be home.

It was really fun seeing our Iowa family, but there is nothing like a 2-hour nap in your own bed. (Not that I did that today...)

While I napped, my boys played. It really wasn't a fair trade-off for Chris, since he did all of the driving yesterday, but if he was willing to play with Caleb so that I could nap, I wasn't going to ask twice.

Here's some of the fun they had:

Chris was blowing kisses on Caleb's belly, while Caleb held onto an empty mouthwash bottle.

(I know. We should buy the kid some real toys. But if Baby wants trash, Baby gets trash.)

Caleb is really into nose-honking right now.

After the wedding in Iowa, Caleb was passed from relative to relative. Each time he got passed, he promptly reached up, grabbed the new nose, and waited patiently. Each time, we had to explain that he was waiting for that person to make a honking noise.

He did this at least 5 times in a row.

He must be a pretty winning baby, because every person willingly made a nice honking sound.

September 11

This post is late because we drove 8 hours yesterday, and arrived home around 1 am.

For some reason, I didn't feel like staying up to go through photos and write a  blog post. I know - I'm such a slacker!

Let me back up to before the drive home, though.

This is the blessed, blessed crib that gave us the best night of sleep we've ever had in a hotel.

I woke up the next morning and wanted to marry the Hilton Garden Inn. Caleb slept all night in this lovely crib, which meant I slept all night in my lovely bed. It was altogether lovely.

Then we played with family and Caleb skipped his morning nap and fell asleep in Chris' lap while we were eating a late lunch. It was actually really sweet.

Then we drove home. Caleb rocked the drive, which we split in half with a stop for dinner at IHOP.

Did you know that kids eat free at IHOP?  Because they do, and Caleb loves it.

Caleb was impressed with all of his options,

but eventually he decided on the mac and cheese with fresh fruit.

He was pretty happy with his choice.

And I'm happy to be home. Now I'm going back to sleep.

September 10

Oh my goodness.

Last night?

Hell.

And I'm not a cursing woman. But the only way to appropriately describe last night, in our cheap hotel room, involves a long string of profanities. I'll spare you the swear words, and sum it up like this:

Caleb + Carrie + Chris in 1 double bed.

Add 1 air conditioner that sounds like a freight train passing through.

Add a child who won't sleep in the pack n play, crawls over the wall we built around him in the extra bed, and is confused by why he's in a bed with Mommy and Daddy.

The sum of this equation? Not quite 7 hours of sleep for Caleb, and a crabby set of parents.

Tonight will be much better, though. Our hotel is delightful, and they have *gasp* REAL cribs for the rooms! If you've travelled with a baby lately, you know what a rare treat this is.

Also, I am seriously in love with the photos I took today. So in love that I've spent the past hour on the (?) marble floor of our bathroom, laptop singeing my lap, back cracking against the tub to edit these photos.  

Now, see why I'm in love.

My boys, splashing in the hotel pool.

Caleb got to read his favorite book with his great-grandma (my Mom's Mom).

Caleb and my Dad at the wedding. He loved the bubbles!

OH! This is me melting. My sweet, sweet boys in their matching ties. (The ties were my gift to Chris for his birthday - I made Caleb's. Chris was so happy to match his son!)

Caleb and Great-Grandpa Leo (my Mom's Dad), looking out over the Missouri River. They're in Iowa, but the other shore is Nebraska.

Caleb and Great-Grandpa.

Me with my little man. I know - you never get to see me! Chris was really sweet to take this photo of us. My only regret was that I didn't get a shot of our whole family when we were all spiffed up!

And now I'm going to hoist my achy bones off this hard (but clean) bathroom floor and crawl into that big, comfy bed. Let's hope Caleb doesn't wake up... this Mommy is tired!

September 9

I had plans for a great 14-month birthday post, but I won't be writing it tonight.

We're staying in a cheap hotel room outside of Kansas City. The room smells vaguely of animal, and the carpet feels slightly moist beneath my feet. It's THAT kind of a hotel room.

But it has free Wi-Fi, free breakfast in the morning, and it's ranked #9 in the KC area by Trip Advisor. So it's fine by us.

But in the meantime, this will have to be a short and sweet post, because if we're hoping for Caleb to sleep, we had better plan on sleeping, too.

This is Caleb getting caught digging through my camera bag.

And this is his modified bath in the sink. (This hotel has only showers, no bathtubs.)

Caleb was a rockstar the whole way to KC; let's hope he does an equally great job tomorrow, as we drive to Sioux City, IA.

Hoping for a good night's sleep...