a new friend

Caleb got to meet our friend Barry for the first time about a week ago. Jason took some great photos of the two of them that I thought I'd share:


And...don't worry...I saved the best for last. This one cracks us up:

caleb's second first christmas

Last weekend, we went down to Parker to celebrate Christmas with Jason's family (a little late). Here are some pictures of the festivities (double-click on the slide show to see bigger pics):

if they only knew...

People often tell me that Caleb is such a happy baby or such a good baby or something along those lines. And I would generally agree with that statement. Sometimes he is an amazingly good baby. Like when we were at Chrissi and Ralph's wedding and he slept so well through the reception that people thought that we must have either drugged him or hidden him somewhere and put a doll in his car seat. Sometimes when people tell me how good or happy he is, they ask if he is always that way. The answer is no (sometimes a rather emphatic no depending on his recent behavior).

Caleb is a rather social little guy, which in part explains why other people often say he is such a good baby. When we're out and about and he gets to interact with new people, he's happy as a clam (wherever that expression came from). But make him stay him with mom the whole day? BORing.

Some days, my patience really wears thin. Other days I definitely feel like I'm losing my mind. Like a couple of days ago when I noticed a pair of my socks in the trash can and realized that I must have thrown them in there instead of the laundry basket. This week has been particularly challenging as he is not sleeping well...neither at night nor during the day. When he doesn't sleep well at night, I'm more tired during the day...and when he doesn't sleep well during the day, I can't get anything done. So by the time Jason gets home from work, I'm completely spent...exhausted from lack of sleep and frustrated from dealing with a rather cranky baby all day.

Whatever the cause (I have some guesses and am working on some potential solutions), I am grateful to have such an amazing, healthy, and usually happy baby. I am definitely aware that it could be much worse and that in general he is a very good baby. And, of course, I must remember that this too shall pass (and probably be closely followed by some entirely new problem). Ah, the joys of motherhood.

solid food

About a week and a half ago, we decided to give Caleb his first taste of solid food! He seems to enjoy eating and is catching on relatively quickly. For his first food, we gave him some egg yolk, which supplies cholesterol, choline, and omega-3 fatty acids for his developing brain as well as some important amino acids. :-) Of course, my camera batteries died 7 seconds into the video, but I did manage to capture his first bite!

The next food he tried was some banana, which he seemed to like quite a lot. Here are a few pictures of his first banana eating experience...

mouth fettish

As I mentioned in my previous post, Caleb has a habit of sticking things in his mouth...whether it be his own hands, other people's hands, his toys, or his dad's nose...


This, of course, is perfectly normal for a baby his age (well, maybe not the nose part). It also can be quite funny. Like when he tries to stick things in his mouth that simply won't fit...


When he decided to start chomping on Jason's nose one day, it was particularly funny. I grabbed the camera and took a short video (I love how he turns and looks at the camera at the end...what a goof!).

yes, he is teething

For a while now, people have been asking me if Caleb is teething. I often wasn't sure how to answer that question. Sure, he'd been sticking things in his mouth for quite some time. And a while back he went through a phase during which he drooled a lot. But how could I know for sure if those were due to teething? I didn't feel like I could...until about a week ago when I noticed a little tooth making its way through his bottom gum! If you look closely at this photo, you can see it!

all grown up (okay maybe not quite yet...)

Caleb definitely seems to be developing like crazy these days. It's amazing how much more he interacts with his environment than he did a month or two ago.

It used to be that he would be happy just looking at his toys. Then he started batting at them. Now he reaches for them, grabs them, lifts them, sticks them in his mouth, bangs them on things, kicks them around, etc.

And it used to be that he knew how to roll over, but didn't care to do it much. Just recently, he's become much more mobile, rolling over as a means of getting from one place to another. He doesn't quite roll from one side of a room to another as I hear some babies do. But he rolls to get closer to toys that he wants to play with and such.

It's pretty amazing to watch him change right before my eyes...to notice all of the new little things he is able to do from day to day. I'm sure he'll be running around before I know it!

Caleb's First Word! -by Jason

While we were on Long Island, something really cool happened... Caleb starting making consonant sounds! I had no idea how exciting this would be and actually didn't think that I would even notice this transition. It was surprisingly obvious when it happened though and Kendra and I were both pretty wowed by it. He started with a "b" sound by saying something like, "babababa." But shortly after he got that down he started saying, "dada!" Sometimes he would string a bunch of them together like, "dadadada," and I'm not sure if he knows what he is saying, but I am definitely counting it as his first word. It happened at only 5 and a half months, too! I'm so proud of him! :-)

east coast travels

After spending about a week in NC, we rented a car and drove up the coast to NY for my friend Chrissi's wedding. It was an 11-hr drive, which would be tough to do in one day with Caleb, so we split it into two days. We stopped the first night just outside of DC, where we got to see two of my good friends from high school. Unfortunately, I failed to get any pictures from that little visit, but it was so fun to have them meet Caleb!

Our time in NY was busy, but wonderful. We got to stay with a couple that I knew from college who I hadn't seen since I graduated. The wedding was lots of fun and Caleb was on his best behavior for it, which was nice. Here are some pics from the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception:


The day after the wedding, we drove to CT to see my grandmother. We also got to see my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Roland, my Aunt Liz, and my cousin Tracey. Here are some pictures of Caleb getting to meet his great-grandmother and other relatives:


Before heading back to NY, we met up with my friend Sayward at a coffee shop near my grandmother's place. She is expecting a little one herself in April! I hadn't seen her since she got pregnant and she hadn't met Caleb yet so it was an extra-special visit.

The next morning, we headed to the airport. Caleb didn't do quite as well flying home as he had flying to NC, but it could have been a lot worse. Overall, he did well traveling, but not as well adjusting to sleeping in new places. We were pretty exhausted when we arrived home and felt like we needed a vacation from our vacation, as they say. But I was really thankful that we'd gotten to do all that we had and see everyone that we did. What a great trip!

Christmas in NC

For Caleb's first Christmas, we went to North Carolina to visit my parents. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew went there as well so we got to see them too. Here are some pictures from our visit (we took a lot):

peek-a-boo

A video of one of Caleb's favorite pastimes. The camera never seems to be able to catch him in action as well as I'd like, but it gives you a taste at least...

goofball

This video is from a while back, but I just came across it and it cracks me up. Caleb likes to bang whatever toy he has in his hand on whatever surface is nearby as is exemplified by this photo (compliments of Derrick):


Or he'll bang on a table with his bare hands if there's isn't a toy in his hand at the time. But when he first started doing it, he'd bang his hand on his body, which is what he's doing in this video...

rolling over

The first time Caleb rolled over was way back on his 4-month birthday. He rolled from back to front first, which apparently is the more difficult thing to do...and he didn't do it a whole lot after the first couple of times, presumably because he didn't like where he ended up (he wasn't a big fan of tummy time). When we were at Jason's parents' house for Thanksgiving, he rolled over from front to back for the first time. It was adorable. He was on his tummy and he just sort of slowly leaned his head to one side...and his head being so heavy, it brought the rest of his body with him and before he knew it, he was on his back! I put him back on his belly and he did the same thing...just slowly and cautiously tipped his head to one side until he found himself on his back. I didn't get it on video at the time, but here's one I later took of him rolling over from front to back in a similar way to the first time he did it...

catch up

So yesterday I realized that if I didn't get on here and blog soon, there would just be way too much to have to catch up on! Caleb is changing quickly. In 3 days, he will be six months old!! He now has a growing list of "accomplishments" I haven't blogged about...he can roll over from back to front and front to back, he makes consonant sounds like ba ba ba and da da da, he can sit up for short periods of time on his own, and yesterday I noticed a little baby tooth starting to push its way through his bottom gum! He's also survived his first flight and his first road trip. :-) I will try to fill you in on some of those details in subsequent posts...