Caleb turns eight!

Oh my Caleb,

Eight!  Eight is halfway to sixteen.  Double your life span and you'll be starting to drive!  

Because I see you every day, it's hard to notice the changes sometimes.  But when I look back at photos of you from a year ago, you seem so much older.  Eight.  Eight means you will start third grade in the fall.  Eight is the year you will move from the Primary School to the Intermediate School.  Moving to your next school makes it seems like you are really growing up!  Here are your first and last day of school pics from 2nd grade:

You are still crazy about reading...

and sugar...

and sports.

You are playing baseball again, but in a different league.  This season is definitely more serious than your last two.  They actually keep track of strikes and outs and runs.  And it seems like you were ready for the challenge!  It's cool to see you be stretched a bit and tackle the challenge with apparent ease.

These days it seems you are more daring...challenging yourself in new ways.  Yet there remains a degree of cautiousness in you that will hopefully continue to keep you out of the emergency room!  You did have your first "major" injury this year.  You chipped your front tooth on the playground at school.  You were running forward while looking back at a friend.  When you turned around again...BAM!  You hit your tooth on a pole.  This was the result...

 Arcades are one of your favorite places to be these days.  If you get to choose a special place to go, your first choice is usually a place that has arcade game.  Thanks to a somewhat rainy vacation in NC this summer, you got to go to one with your cousins!

 You are a sweet big brother.  Your sister adores you, and loves having you around.  She is thoroughly enjoying your summer break because it means more time with you.  Of course, you have your share of squabbles, but you really do like having each other.

  You are super sweet to your baby brother, though you also like to annoy him from time to time.

You like to be silly, and especially like having an audience for your silliness, which your siblings are usually happy to provide.

 This year you participated in the Science Fair for the first time.  It was A LOT of work, but you got 1st place in your division!

You also had a piece in the school art show.  Okay, every student had a piece in the show, but I really liked yours!

You did a Wax Museum project, which involved learning all about a famous historical person and then dressing up as that person and reciting a speech about "yourself" at the Night of the Wax Museum.  You were John Glenn, who you had recently learned has some ties to your relatives and was almost distantly related to you!  You did an amazing job.

 We celebrated your 8th birthday with a Ninjago party at a local parkour gym.  It was lots of fun!

This year had its struggles, but through them I have learned more about you and more about myself.  Since before you were born, you have stretched me and challenged me.  I am on a constant journey toward becoming the best mama I can be to you.  This year has led me to understand you better and treasure you more than ever.  It has also helped me to realize that I haven't tried to really know and understand you as much as I want to.  I know that these years will be fleeting, and I know that you feel loved when you get to spend quality time with me.  I need to take advantage of that for as long as I can!

  Caleb, you are sweet, creative, funny, athletic and incredibly smart.  I am so thankful that I get to watch you grow into the awesome young man that you are becoming.  I have a feeling that year nine is going to be a good one!

Love always and forever,

Mama

Lilah turns four!

My sweet girl,

You are FOUR years old today!  You are such a joy.  I am so thankful that God made you a part of our family. 

You are sweet, silly, and so much fun.   You have the cutest giggle.  And you say the cutest things.  You bring countless smiles to our faces.  There is a joy about you.  An enthusiasm that is contagious and so fun to watch.

Recently, someone we don’t know well and see only about once every couple of months or so (a receptionist at our chiropractor’s office) commented about how you were one of her favorite kids that comes in the office.  I was surprised because she’s only gotten a few glimpses of your personality, but I thought it was a good example of how special you are.  There have been countless times when your dad and I have glanced at each other and smiled because you’d just said or done something completely adorable.  We adore you.

You still like to make silly faces.  Your baby brother seems to have picked that up from you and your big brother. 

Speaking of your baby brother, you are crazy about him and like to give him snuggles.  You have been a sweet big sister. 

You and your big brother are buddies and play well together…in between the bouts of sibling rivalry at least.



You also can play by yourself for hours, it seems.  Except, in a sense, you are not by yourself.  You are usually chatting away to your dolls and stuffed animals and other imagined friends.  But you are perfectly content to do just that.

You started preschool a few months ago!  You are doing an at-home preschool co-op with a couple of your friends.  You love it.  You are so excited to go each time. 

You are a budding artist.  You love to color and do other art projects.  

You are also really good at puzzles!  And when Caleb is playing with his Legos, you'll join right in and create with him.

You got your first professional hair cut this year.  I figured since we waited until you were three, we might as well go all out.  So we went to one of those fancy kid places with cars to sit in, and you got your hair styled and sparkled and your nails painted and even a new ring to take home.  You enjoyed it and perhaps I set the bar a little high.  But hey, you won't need haircuts nearly as often as your brothers will, right?

This summer your Tia came to visit from Bolivia.  You have a sweet relationship with her.  Sometimes I tell people that you take after her more than you take after your dad or me.  There is just something about your personality that reminds me of her.  This visit it took you a little bit to warm back up to her since you hadn't seen her in a while.  But just a little bit.

In November, I took you to see the Nutcracker.  It was a condensed version put on by a local group of dancers.  You got a little bored, really.  But you were definitely intrigued by the ballerinas that you saw.  And in the following month, thanks to Nutcracker music played often (mostly on your granddad's phone), you became a little ballerina yourself.  You would dance around the playroom to the music and Gabriel would join in, spinning right alongside you.

For your birthday party this year, you wanted to have a Frozen party.  You’d been talking about it since shortly after your 3^rd birthday party.  I wasn’t sure it would stick for an entire year, but it did!  We got you an Elsa dress as a birthday gift.  You wore it for your party and loved it.  You didn’t want to take it off when we were leaving the house and you wanted to wear it all day the next day.  

You really hadn’t had any dress-up clothes before then.  I guess that can happen when you have a big brother.  We had a couple of superhero costumes in the house, but definitely not any princess dresses.  But you tend to find things to dress up in.

You are a delight, Lilah Jane.  I am so thankful to be your mama and am excited to watch you grow and to figure out more of who you are and who you will become.  

But, no rush.

Love always and forever,

Mama

p.s. Since I couldn't seem to fit enough photos of you into this blog post...

Gabriel turns one!!

Dear Gabriel,

Happy birthday, my sweet little one-year-old!!  I can't believe you've been here for a whole year.  In some ways, your birth day feels like yesterday.  And in other ways, it feels like you've been a part of our family forever.

You are quite the little character.  You are super sweet.  You are a little flirt and have all kinds of funny faces in your repertoire.  You are generally very smiley and friendly even to strangers.  Recently one such stranger commented that you talk with your eyes.  
 

You are very expressive, and you have always been a good communicator.  But you definitely prefer to interact from the safety of your mama's arms.

You started crawling when you were about 10 months old.  

 You aren't walking independently quite yet, but love to walk around holding any available hands (or objects). 

You learned to wave about a month ago and in the early stages you had a cute little wave that just involved you opening and closing your little hand.  Now you have switched to waving your whole arm.  Just this weekend, you started clapping.  You also just started smiling for pictures.  As soon as you see the camera pointed at you, you break out into a cute squinty-eye grin.  

 The other thing you've recently started to do is dance.  When you hear music you'll bop your body up and down and/or bop your head.  It's pretty cute!

You started shaking your head no a few weeks ago or so.  You learned it in the context of me telling you not to do things like sticking your fingers in sockets.  So then you would start to do things that you knew you shouldn't and looking at me and smiling while shaking your head.  More recently you started nodding, which is also super cute.  You wouldn't think it was possible for something as simple as nodding to be so completely adorable.  But the way you've been slowly and deliberately nodding to show off your new skill is precious.  Aside from nonverbal yeses and no's, you have begun to add a few words to your repertoire.  You don't use many of them very consistently, but I would venture to say that you've said the following words: more, mama, dada, lilah (yi-ya), no, yeah, and yay.

You've been really into handing people things lately.  You just hold them out and grunt until the person takes them. 

 You have six teeth that are mostly in, one partway in, and at least one more close behind.  You've been popping those teeth out in quick succession!  

 Meat is still your favorite food of all.  Eggs are up there too.  Outside of those things, you're still sticking mostly to pureed food.  We haven't found a fruit yet that you'll eat just as it comes.

You have sweet relationships with your big brother and sister.  They adore you, and you them.  They do have a habit of being a little more than you can handle sometimes.  But that doesn't seem to change your admiration of them.

You love swings.

 
  You do not love grass.  Every time I have tried to sit you down in the grass, you have not been happy about it.  You will even go so far as to do yoga poses to avoid touching the grass by balancing on your bum with both legs in the air.

That's one of many pictures of you and your tia.  She traveled all the way from Bolivia for your birthday!!  It took a little while for you to warm up to her.  

  But she was determined to win your affections.

We had a small party the weekend before you turned one.  It was fun to celebrate you.

  You were not a fan of your cake.  You took one taste of the frosting and that was it.  You got upset when I tried to get you to try more of it.  The longer we made you sit in front of your cake the more unhappy you got.  I think your dada was inwardly rejoicing at your disdain of sweets.

  I joked that I should have made you a meat cake instead.  A few days later, on your actual birthday, I decided to just stick your candle in a piece of chicken. 

 
You were so desperate to eat it that you made this face when your grandma took it to cut it up for you.

 Of course, she did let you have it once it was cut.  And all was well in your little world again.

You are such a treasure, my little man.  I just adore you.  Part of me wishes I could slow down time and keep you this little longer.  But another part is excited for the countless precious moments still to come.  Happy 1st birthday, sweet Gabriel Jacob!

Love always,

Mama