Playdate with Megan and Madelyn

So, we've had some issues with water getting in our electrical breaker box because of a poorly designed panel.  So, we've arranged to have the power company and an electrician come out to take a look at what can be done to fix the problem.  I was unclear of how long the power would be out but I thought it would be best to plan to be out of the house when it happened so I wouldn't be opening the fridge or doing other things expecting the power to be on.  Megan happened to message me the night before that she wanted to get together.  So it worked out perfectly!

We met at Anita Purves and Madelyn got to meet the owls and turtles!  We went on a short walk and found out the power was on. (It isn't fixed yet so we will have to plan for another day with no power.)  We ended up having a picnic lunch back at our house including fresh sweet corn from my uncle's garden--- YUM!  We got to play and I even snuck in an impromptu photo session of Madelyn!  It was such a fun day!

Celebrating Olivia

This sweet little doll-baby is growing up so fast!

A couple of years ago, I introduced Olivia to the movie "How to Train Your Dragons".  She LOVED it! Every time she came over, she wanted to watch it.  Last winter, when I saw that they were making a second one I knew we had to go together!  We got to have a day date.  Chris watched Caleb and I got to enjoy time doing Olivia's six year old pictures (sheesh), watching a movie and playing bowling on my phone while getting food for lunch from Buffalo Wild Wings!  I had a really great time and I know she did too!

Olivia's movie review: "I think it was a teenager movie.  It was scary.  I'm glad we didn't bring Gideon."

Lets just say that the villain in this movie was much darker and wasn't just dragons that turn out to be good "dog-like" pets.  I was disappointed by how dark and sinister this was compared to the original.  Of course, in the second movie he is 20 so he had to have much more "grown-up" problems I suppose. It wasn't always five year old friendly (evil characters) but still a movie that older kids can enjoy!

And a few photos from our day together...

50th birthday party!

Uncle Glenn turned fifty but I had to remind him that it doesn't have to be a bad thing! lol jk
I made him this sucker display that says "Turning 50 doesn't have to suck".   We went to his party and Caleb got to meet a lot of family-- at least he would have if he would've taken a break from crying, lol.  His poor little tummy hurt but we felt much better the day after when he pooed- 3 TIMES!!

Anyways here are some photos I stole from Facebook and thanks to Uncle Ben for driving us in your new car!!

Play time!

Just if you wondered what afternoon play looks like!

Mommy thinks I'm cute!

I think these cloth diapers are so cute....

Hey diddle diddle! ;-)

Three months (just a week late)

I'm delighted to say that I absolutely love this age!  My little man has developed quite the personality.  He is a talker and a giggler.  (Of course not often on camera bc he wants to just stare and focus on the phone)  I am so thrilled to be Caleb's mother.  The first two months were rough as we had to learn what worked for him.  Now, the little man and I have a great thing going and I just can't stand thinking of dropping him off at daycare soon.  But, at least the good news is that we hired someone last Friday whom I think will be great! Prayers accepted!

Okay so the latest about Caleb...

Caleb weighs 13 lbs, 3 oz is 22.5 inches tall.  He loves bath time, snuggles, looking out windows and at frames.  He enjoys talking and cooing!  (He sometimes lets me get in a word or two.)  He also loves listening to daddy's Salty music.  He likes tummy time but we wait until at least 30 minutes after he has eaten.  He has come a long way in nursing!  I gave up dairy entirely and I'm not going to bother trying it again until he is 4 months old.  He has gotten nursing down to a science. Every 2-3 hours on one side, ten minutes on the dot! Easy peasy!  Caleb sleeps well during the day and night too.  He goes down between 8:45-9:15 and gets up around midnight, 3 and 6.  He usually is pretty bright-eyed for about an hour and then takes another great morning nap for 2-3 hours (daddy is great at getting him to go back to sleep.)

On July 7, we started cloth diapering. I am pleasantly surprised that is is going just fine.  I already ordered 3 more and they are on the way.  (Turns out I am more and more hippie.)  Caleb has had a couple of blow-outs and that didn't happen in regular but I think we got the correct size now.  On that topic, Caleb only poops during the day so usually I can just stick a night time diaper on once and we are good til morning!

We have a bit of a routine, once daddy leaves we play a bit.  We usually go on late afternoon walks.  On days when the temperature is good, it is a pleasant stroll.  On days when the temperature is hot, that kid bakes in his car seat and gets mad about it.  I would too if I was sweating that profusely where my clothes are soaked.  Also we do better with the "visor" up because he gets very congested from the sun.  He sees the sun, sneezes and then he instantly gets a really runny nose.  We usually take a brief evening nap and want all of mommy's attention but settle for being near her in a bouncer or on her lap or on a floor mat.  He usually wants to nurse more at this time too but it is no problem for me as I just love it.

Caleb is really alert when he is awake, he has started reaching for items that I dangle for him. He seems to say words like "hi" and "ma".  "Hi" means I'm content and "Maaaa!!!" means I'm starving, how dare you make me wait so long to eat?!  Caleb thinks everything I do is hysterical and I LOVE his giggle!

I think that is him in a nutshell!

Sleepy eyes

He loves eating those hands.   Also this is what he does to get his paci back in his mouth!

Google Plus Auto Awesome is well... awesome!

Google made this video and it just makes me want to tear up.  Happy tears!

Enjoy!

Reaching out

Caleb had grown a big interest in his toys lately.  Here is a video of him reaching for his lady bug!

Matthew Turns One!

I can't believe how quickly time flies by!  My nephew is already celebrating his first year of life!  He had a fun party!  I just love that guy to pieces and wish he lived a bit closer!!

I miss ice cream!!

This will have to suffice!

Frozen banana, Very Vanilla Soy Milk and Ice blended together.  I should make a large batch because usually when I crave this is when Caleb is snoozing in his swing!

Hair cut

This summer I've been letting my hair air dry and it seems a bit healthier.  I got it cut last Friday and I just hate the way it has been since.  Today, I had to meet a potential daycare provider and I blow dried it.  That was all.  It looked so nice.  I guess I might give that a try more often! ;-)

Picnic in July

It was a nice, cool July night and all 3 of us much prefer the cooler weather!  We had a picnic out back to celebrate the cooler temps!  We sent daddy this video to show what we were up to!

Dilemma

The weeks are going too fast around here.  I am only a few weeks away from returning to work and let me tell you that I am not ready nor will I be ready to go back.  It kind of makes me sick when I think about it.  I doesn't help either that I haven't worked out daycare just yet.

Sunday

So Sunday went really well for me.  Daddy got up early to work children's church. I got to sleep in a tad bit more thanks to Caleb going back to sleep.  I got up with plenty of time to take a leisurely shower and get ready for church. Church was awesome.  Thanks to the high-schoolers leading with worship, Caleb settled right in. (When I first walked in, he was crying.)  He loves the music and lights.  People around me asked to hold him and told me how wonderful he is. (I already know this but love to hear it from perfect strangers.)

We went to Panera as a family where Caleb snoozed.  Then we parted ways because Chris drove separately.  I sent him with little man and I ran to Walmart to get groceries before my client arrived. I got home a good 30 minutes before Chris.  Of course, I was ready to "lay into" him about not communicating. He had stopped into work to do one quick thing and found that he had several emails to tend to.  So, I was stressed that he didn't allow me enough time to nurse Caleb before my clients would arrive.  However, they were late. That was odd for this family as they've always been on time.  Luckily, I had the thought to check Facebook and low-and-behold they cancelled.  Bummer.

So, the day was free to do anything!  I spent the time organizing clothes- Caleb's then mine.  I have so many summer clothes that I'll have to look forward to wearing next year as they don't even get close to fitting now. I expect that by this time next year, I'll be back to my pre-baby weight. Here's to hoping!  Chris and I had a sort of date night- we worked on projects around the house together that were long overdue and that meant more to me than any night out!

Also just a cute video of my babies-

Crazy winds and rain!

The rain came down normal at first and then suddenly there were horrific winds!  I thought we'd have to  make a run for the basement but we didn't.  And, luckily there wasn't any water in our basement! 

Brand new car

For my brother that is.  He bought a brand NEW Ford Focus.  I've never got a new car in my life. I don't really intend to either but it was nice seeing it and smelling that genuine new car smell. Enjoy Ben!

Jealous

This cute pup was overdue for some love so he weaseled his way into my arms, got loving and fell asleep like this...

Sunday- Family Day

Sunday, we all slept a bit longer than normal.  I wasn't up and moving til after 9 am with little man.  We went to church ALL TOGETHER as a family.  Lately, it has been separate cars due to Chris volunteering.  The three of us ate at Longhorn and it was AMAZING! We had two complete strangers tell us that there was no denying Caleb's daddy.  Ha, I think he favors me.  Anyways, we went to Goodwill because I'm tired of not having shorts that fit and I bought five pairs and one shirt and one pair of paints for Chris for $27.... score!  We went to Sam's Club and got a few necessities and then headed home for the day.  It was low-key.  Daddy napped, mommy worked on pictures and cleaned the garage.  We didn't do much in the way of dinner but I still just soaked up all that family together time!  I need more days like that but I'll cherish the ones I do get.

Quincy

We packed our bags and headed for the 3 hour road trip to Quincy.  My prayers were answered with this trip.  Caleb slept the first 1.5 hours and we stopped in Springfield to nurse.  He went back to sleep the rest of the way there!  It was a sweet, peaceful ride!

When we arrived, we got to say hi briefly to everyone before heading back out the door to visit great-grandma Ruth in the hospital.  She recently fell and broke her hip and had hip surgery.  She wasn't doing too great when we got there but I think family visits helped her spirit.  She seemed to do better July 5th.

After our brief visit, we got to see our family and spend time with them.  Cathy and Rich prepared an amazing dinner.  I haven't eaten that well in weeks!!  Ribs, potato salad, beans, fruit, corn on the cob and much more, yum!  We watched people go by on some sort of parasails as the kiddos gave us a live show.

The girls made a fruit flag

The kids parade

Chris went on with the niece and nephew and crew while Aunt Stephanie and cousin Josh came back to the house where we watched the fireworks from Bob & Ruth's amazing view of the river.  We saw probably 3-4 town's fireworks over the river (mosquito-free).  I got Caleb down to sleep and we stayed up late talking with M&S.

Saturday was nice too, Caleb and I got up early with great-grandpa Bob.  We watched as the water started flooding into the road.  We got to take a nap and when we got up the second time, Caleb's cousins were awake and ready to play.

Because it was Josh' second birthday we had another big family meal and chocolate cake too!!  Everyone had a good time and I was amazed that the little ones had the will power not to blow those party favor whistles that they got!!

birthday party fun

Panorama of the trail by their house

Josh you are too cute for words and your aunt loves you more than words can express!!!

The drive back was pretty good but we didn't time it as well. I fed him about an hour before we left so there we weren't close to anything when he got hungry on the way back.  We drove a bit out of the way to Jacksonville where we ordered at Sonic.  We had some fun taking goofy pictures of Caleb and talking in the car.  We made it back with time for mommy to get herself a treat from DQ drive through (certainly not a healthy day) but I loved Star Kisses as a child and still do now.  What a better way to indulge in a non-dairy treat?!

We gave Caleb a bath because he needed to wind down from the day and he was all smiles for his daddy.  It was a good trip and Cooper was beyond happy to have us home!!!