My new favorite pictures

 My newest sister-in-law maddie is amazing with a camera. I had no idea. My brother got her a new camera for christmas and these are only a portion of the pictures she took (see here). I love these pictures of the boys! 

Thanks maddie.

I must be the luckiest mother ever to get these two yayhoos in my life.

Conversation with Caleb

Caleb had poured bacon bits in the fridge and some had spilled onto the recently-cleaned- floor.

As i am cleaning up his mess from the fridge...
me: "Caleb, can you please clean up these bacon bits?"
caleb: "ok mom"

i looked down to see him sweeping away the bacon bits with his hands under the cabinets

me: "Caleb, are you sweeping the bacon bits away?"
Caleb: "yes, i am sweeping them away so they can hide from you"

I didn't reply. 

Sneek Peak

 I know these aren't the same fan however the plain white vs the color is exactly what is going on. I am painting calebs bed and the letters that spell his name. I was worried it would turn out clownish but then i realized "hey! this is a 3 yr olds room. It should be colorful and fun." here we go!

Cabellas

 We went and captured my neice and took her to cabellas to check out fish, bears, lions, zeebras and a bunch of other stuff. I am sure i was quite the sight at the store with these two and my baby. They were so good!! We bought fish food and they fed the fish and we explored. Cabellas got some new animals in the big game room and they were cool! Caribou with a wolf chasing them and some african animals i've never seen. Caleb insisted on wearing his hard hat. It made all the passerbys smile.

They were working hard on being careful every time the cart moved. Keeley and Caleb help each other focus in times like these so it was great to have them help each other listen to mom/aunt jill.

The three kiddos. I tell you what, my camera never ceases to make me mad. They were holding still for this picture!! Regardless of my woes, we had fun.

Happy Keeley and the fish tank

This is how i spent part of my afternoon (10 minutes worth). It was nice and calming. I was so ornery yesterday because i spent the day cleaning and i always get ornery when i have to clean. I get so annoyed at the whole world even though nobody has done anything more than live in our home. :)

Basketball Wrap Up

 On the way to basketball, getting his socks. We were at a stoplight when i took this picture. In my head i heard our longstanding inside joke "Safety First!!!"

  Grandma and Grandpa Sota showed up to watch Caleb's moves on the court and bummer, no teacher. We tried to convince Caleb to still show his moves but it didn't happen. (sorry for the crappy pictures. POS camera)

 Grandma and Grandpa Sota waiting for Caleb to show his moves. They discovered Colton isn't quite as interesting as Caleb...yet. Ü

 Grandpa Sota playing with colton's hands. Love my camera....

Caleb was picking his nose and i tried my best to catch it but i got this instead. It was a funny moment: trying to convince Caleb to show his moves and he is diggin for gold. As soon as we left, he threw a big fit about leaving and wanting to show his moves to Grandma and Grandpa Sota.
Go figure.

We learned a few valuable lessons with this pre-school sports program.
As soon as Caleb got the hang of one sport the month was over and he had to move on. One sport at a time is best.
Caleb is decent with his feet coordination (soccer).
Caleb HATES tag
He loved playing sports and the intro showed us he is too young but playing at home will be best--since he needed Rob around to help channel his focus.

Overall we had fun, he had fun and we probably won't do it again. We will wait a bit and then have him pick a sport. In the meantime we will play at home.

Caleb's Birthday (back in may)

I decided to make individual cakes this year instead of one giant cake. Caleb got to decorate his and his dads cake. I did my own. I am looking forward to this. It turned out better than i thought.



I did this over caleb's bedroom door while he was sleeping. when he woke up he got the surprise and had a blast running through his streamers.

More streamers at the end of the hall.
Happy Birthday to my caleb.

2nd Birthday

We celebrated Caleb's
second birthday (woah!) on sunday with our families. Here are a few pics.

We loved having everyone over and the gifts for Caleb. He was asking for his bubble machine all day. Thanks again! We love you all

TV

Caleb has never really shown much interest in tv. sometimes something will catch his eye but his short attention span ends and he is onto the next thing.

Except Barney.

We have netflix and Rob found two episodes of Barney. So every night Rob and Caleb alternate between Lets pretend with barney and On the farm. We are both sick of these episodes so i found Barney on tv and am going to dvr it. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not.
But caleb loves barney! He dances, and stares at the computer screen enraptured. It is so dang cute and today it afforded me time to wash my face and brush my teeth uninterrupted. It was refreshing! So, in the realm of kids shows to watch-even though it is over-the-top cheesy-i guess this isn't that bad.

Overnight Change

Ok, i took these pictures b/c i was so excited that i finally have a nice church shirt for caleb and i thought he was so dang cute!





Then we got his hair cut today by my sister-in-law. I always thought he was cute but now...wow. He really looks like rob's kid! He also grew up. I am glad i delayed this day. I have love my little boy but now, he looks so much older-so much closer to Two than i would like him to be. :)















Ahh little boy, i love you so. Your dad is my sun and you are my moon. I could not exist completely without either of you.

Discovery Zone

Obviously, caleb is in discovery mode. here he is caught 'discovering' the inside of his nose.

i really just want to embarrass my son as much as possible before he can really object. lol
really, he is the reason i get up every morning. i love being his mom. even in the hard times. :)

Pizza for Dinner

The beginning of a love affair





















getting every last bite












all done
:)

Toughy

we had the 12 month checkup today.

weight: 20 lbs
Height:30.5 in
heart: perfect
lungs: perfect
belly : perfect
hips : perfect
ears: double ear infection.

me and dr. cosgrove burst out laughing. Caleb had been wandering around the office, exploring, babbling and being happy and full of energy. you would never have guessed caleb has a double ear infection. he has had a cold lately (he gave it to me-thanks kiddo) but i thought it was almost over. ha!
my brother, jake, is notorious for having a rediculously high pain tolerance (ie. broken arm for a week withough knowing at 10 yrs old). i think caleb will take after uncle jake.

One Year older and wiser too....

Today caleb is one year old. i have been having flashbacks for a couple days of "where i was a year ago". it is pretty incredible to remember. don't worry, i won't bore you . i wanted to share pictures of caleb's 'birthday party'. we had pizza and cupcakes with some friends. enjoy















not sure bout the hat





























reaction to cupcake being put in front of him


video of caleb eating his very first piece of cake.















pulled the hat off















new play toy















documentation of mess made by birthday boy














all done.
happy birthday caleb

Animal Crackers+Dog=mischief

caleb loves to feed gabby, our dog. he thinks it is hilarious. before caleb started solids, gabby really never had human food and she was satisfied that way. Caleb has changed that. every time he is in his high chair, gabby is underfoot waiting for the droppings.

today, i was giving caleb animal crackers while he was playing and he decided to share (awww). he gives gabby a bite then he takes a bite and so on till gabby or caleb gets the whole thing in their mouth. disgusting, i know.

what i don't have is the mischievous grin Caleb gets when i give him a cracker. he knows exactly what he is doing, he knows i am asking him to just eat it. he loves to ignore it all and honestly, i can't help but laughing. i suppose someday it will matter more-for now, it is free comedy.

Walking

This is caleb walking with his truck (thanks uncle jared!). it was 3.14.09 this acutally happened so this post is about a month old. For my birthday, he crossed our family room all on his own. he is all over the place and loving it!

One of those mornings...

It is 8 am and i now am ready to go back to bed. so to generate some semblance of humor and pity i share with you the following:









7:30 am Caleb pulled this lamp over on himself









7:40 am Caleb found the cord for the space heater behind him. thankfully it did not come unplugged from the wall.








7:50am Caleb found the cord for rob's tools and tried to eat them(sorry for the weird angle of the pic).

it is now 8:04 am and we have had two crying episodes and he has tried to get to computer cords twice.

Phew!

Promised Video +bonus feature

as promised, this is a video of caleb crawling


now for the bonus feature



hopefully you enjoyed those.
Happy New year! my celebrations consisted of writing in my journal and going to bed at 10p. on top of this, i slept on the floor in a separate room...rob had food poisoning and i wasn't about to share a bed with a puking man (no matter how wonderful and good looking he is). no worries, he is all better.

Crawling!!

i don't have video yet and i have to be fast but i wanted to let the world know my son is starting to crawl! it is hilarious--he has this thing where he pulls both legs at the same time...i know-- i need video. it is quite the adventure!

anyone have tips for dealing with curious kids and lamp cords?

we are doing more and more with solid foods--wow. oh and caleb started feeding himself the melt-in-your-mouth baby treats. HOLY COW...talk about a time of major transition. i just got my feet under me and now we are starting all over again...sorta :).

if anyone has tips at all...i am ALL ears.

just so to make sure you don't get the wrong idea--i love this stage...his persona is coming to life more and more and i love being there for it. i love being a mom and i love being able to love like this.

WoooooHoooooo!!