Mother's Day Out Report

Caleb has officially been to his first day of Mother's Day Out, and he had a great time! When I told him that it was time to go he was super excited! He pretty much gets this way anytime I put his shoes on his feet. He knows that means we are going somewhere, and he loves to be on the go. I tried to snap a first day photo, but as you can tell, Caleb didn't want anything of the sort. He was ready to go! While he was at church, I enjoyed a childless breakfast at Cafe Cappuccino with some friends. It was a great thing, but not something I will be making a habit of doing. I don't think we are paying for MDO, so I can go out to eat with friends! Then I went home and cleaned house in record speed. It is amazing how much easier things are without a 1 1/2 year old "helping"! When I picked Caleb up, both of his teachers said that he did great. They told me that at naptime, he laid right down on his mat and went to sleep! One of the teachers said she was going to try to pat him to sleep, but he pushed her hand away instantly. When I picked Caleb up, I stood outside the door and said his name. He looked up at me, smiled, and kept on playing. He seemed to have a great time, and I definitely enjoyed myself!

Mother's Day Out Nap Mat

Caleb will start Mother's Day Out this week at our church. He is going one day a week for five hours. I am definitely looking forward to having this time to run errands and to get things done at home. My list of things that I am scheduling in for that time slot is getting longer and longer. We found out on Friday that Caleb will need a nap mat at MDO. This is a funny thought to me as I just can't imagine him laying down on the floor and napping, but his teacher assured me it would be okay. I really was just trying to tell her I was worried about her having to deal with him, but she seemed to think I was really nervous about it. Anyways, after that conversation, I started my search for a nap mat. These things are ridiculously expensive! I found some super cute boutique type mats online, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend $75 or more on a nap mat! So the solution came in the form of buying a kinder mat and then sewing a cover for it. Here are the pictures. It turned out great, and didn't cost anywhere near $75! When I brought the mat home, I tried to get Caleb to lay on it and rest. Ha! He sees it as a gym map not a nap mat. He had a grand time jumping on it, spinning in a circle, and falling on it until I decided to take it away. I can just picture the other kids laying down to sleep and Caleb doing his dive bombs and dancing on his mat! Really I am sure all of the kids will have an adjustment to napping away from the norm. I will give an update on how it goes. I kind of wish I could just stay and observe it all.

Clumsiness Count: 2

Being pregnant really does make me more clumsy. So far I have dropped and broken 2 of our Fiestaware dishes. They seem to just jump right out of my hands unto the floor and then shatter everywhere. Of course they have both been the cobalt blue color, which is my favorite of the colors we have... Can I put new dishes on a baby registry? JK!

Kelly's Belly Round 2 Week 13

Well we enjoyed posting weekly belly pics when I was pregnant with Caleb, and several friends have requested we do the same this time around. So, here I am at 13 weeks. I am definitely getting bigger quicker this time as is to be expected! However, I am currently in the looking sort of fat rather than looking pregnant stage. I feel like I want to announce to everyone that I am pregnant, so that they aren't thinking it is just leftover fatness from the last pregnancy (although I will admit part of it is :). In one week, I will be in the second trimester! I have had quite a lot of morning sickness so far, but I've been feeling SO MUCH BETTER lately. I feel like a new person all of a sudden- like I have my life back. I know that sounds dramatic, but I really had a bad few months there. Jon is equally happy that I have been feeling better as I know he has gotten sick of me complaining about feeling bad all of the time. For awhile there, he couldn't mention any type of food or I would start gagging. I know this was frustrating for him! It seems irrational and like it is sort of all in my head, but I remember thinking when I found out that I was pregnant that I would try really hard to not feel sick this time. That all went out the window in a hurry around week 6. The dumbest things would make me sick- especially seeing and thinking about certain foods, but even music on the radio would make me feel like vomiting. So, I am very relived to be feeling good again! I am now embracing the fact that I am pregnant, and I have a nice appetite back! This afternoon I embraced it with some Ben & Jerry's ice cream! Yah, for pregnancy!

Two Little Cutie Pies!

These two little cutie pies sure do have fun together!

Rain Day!

Our son definitely likes the rain! This video is after Caleb and Jon had already been playing in the rain for more than 10 minutes. Caleb absolutely did not want to come back inside. Eventually Jon had to pick him up and bring him in because the lightening was getting closer. Jon is currently working on redressing our sopping wet boy!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Katie!

We hope you have a very happy birthday! We love you!

17 Months Old

Caleb is 17 months old today. He has definitely entered the "Mr. Independent" phase of being a toddler. He wants to do everything by himself. Over the last several weeks, he has starting using forks and spoons to feed himself. He absolutely refuses to be fed by me or anyone else. This means that he has been making quite a mess feeding himself stuff like yogurt, spaghetti, soup, and oatmeal. He continues to be a good eater and usually eats whatever Jon and I are having for dinner.
Caleb and Jon have a game that they love to play with a pair of Jon's old sunglasses. We turn on the music and whoever is wearing the sunglasses has to dance. First Jon wears them and does a dance. Then he puts them on Caleb, and he dances. This boy absolutely loves to dance! He dances anytime that he hears any type of music or beat. At bedtime, we will ask him to pick out another book to read, and he will start dancing around the room instead. I think he gets this trait from his father!
Another one of Caleb's latest obsessions is shoes. He is constantly bringing me a pair of his shoes and asking me to put them on him. He has spent quite a few nights walking around the house in his diaper and crocs only. His clothes usually come off in layers throughout the day because of all of his self-feeding.
Many fun personality traits have become apparent as Caleb is becoming more and more independent. However, Jon and I are learning how to deal with tantrums. Caleb is currently in a phase in which he just starts screaming when he doesn't get what he wants. He has quite a loud scream, and I am trying to make a careful effort to not just let him have his way and reinforce this bad behavior. But, it is a really loud scream! We are working on it! Each day brings both delightful and frustrating moments!

Our Big Boy

Caleb wants to do everything that we do. Last night, he decided that he would sit in his rocking chair and "read". He looked through one of his books and pointed at different things. Then he kept saying "bauwoo" and pointing at a certain picture. Any guesses as to what this new word is? BALLOON! As a mom, these simple little accomplishments each day are so exciting! I'm definitely embracing and loving the whole mom thing!

I really get into books

Mark Twain is my favorite, Thanks G-Pa!

Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies..

YUM! YUM!

Fun with Grandma and Aunt Katie

As I mentioned earlier, my mom and sister came last week to visit. We had a great time. On Sunday, we all headed up to Dallas to go to the Dallas World Aquarium. It was a really fun place for Caleb to walk around and see lots of animals. Also it is indoors, so we had air conditioner! (We haven't been to the zoo lately b/c of the heat, so Caleb enjoyed some animal time.) Here are some pictures from the Aquarium, which was the only place that I took any pictures.

Next we headed to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. This is a hotel that has an indoor water park. It was a pretty incredible place, and I think that everyone else in Texas agrees with me. It was super busy. The owners of the "Lodge" have Texans and kids figured out. In addition to the water park, they had an arcade, lots of restaurants, an ice cream spa for little girls, several gift shops, and a store that sold magic wands, which the kids could take all over the hotel to different screens to see different pictures appear. I am glad that Caleb isn't any older, as it seemed every kid in the whole place had a wand. Many of them were sword fighting with them, and Caleb almost got hit by one. Anyways, all that description to say, the magic wands are making a good deal of money for the Great Wolf Lodge. We enjoyed playing in the water park, which is quite impressive, and then spent the night at the hotel. The next morning, we headed to Grapevine Mills to go shopping. Four hours later, we were tired and ready to head home to Waco. The rest of the trip, we relaxed in and around Waco. Caleb loved having his own fan club here to entertain him constantly. He particularly loved playing on the bed with my sister. He was constantly grabbing her hand and trying to pull her back into the back bedroom to play. He definitely adores Aunt Katie! Other than that, with two pregnant ladies, we spent the rest of our time eating. It went like this: first breakfast, playtime, second breakfast, playtime, snack, first lunch, naps, snack, playtime, second lunch, dinner, snack, bedtime. One of the days Jon told his boss that he was going home from work to a one year old, two pregnant ladies, and his mother-in-law, and he asked if there was anymore work to do! I have been ravenously hungry/sick every day at about 4:30, and when Jon walks in at 5ish, I am ready to eat immediately, which a sort of a problem since he has been doing most of the cooking. Anyways, my mom and Katie helped out with the eating situation and were a wonderful help with Caleb. We all had a very nice time- Jon included! We look forward to the fun we will have when there are 2 more babies added to the mix!

Climbing!

I just punished Caleb for climbing up on the kitchen table!

Our Family of FOUR!

We are happy to make the announcement, that we will become a family of FOUR next year! The baby is due on March 3. Here is a picture of our 6 week ultrasound. The baby was very small then and hanging out in the "corner", so it doesn't show much. However, we went back to the doctor this week for our 10 week appointment and got to have a second ultrasound! This one showed a lot more detail. The baby was bouncing around, and we got to see lots of its parts (not the ones that tell if it is a boy or girl though- 10 more weeks for that!) It has a cute face that I thought looked a bit like a raccoon. Jon said it looked kind of like an alien. Either way, it was very exciting to see that new life on the screen- made all of my morning sickness more bearable!
We are excited to say that my sister, Katie, is also pregnant. She is just a little ahead of me at 12 weeks. Here is a picture of the two of us that we took yesterday while my mom and Katie were in town visiting.

Luau and a Few More Beach Pics

Waipio Valley

Here are some pictures of Waipio Valley. We went to a lot of the same places on this trip as Jon and I did on our honeymoon, but our experience was very different with three toddlers. To get to the beach, you have to hike down a very steep several miles. Last time Jon and I did this, enjoyed about 5 minutes of bodysurfing before Jon was plummeted into the ground by a wave. He had a very hurt back, and then we had to walk back up that VERY STEEP hill. So this time, we had a picnic and took in the views from the top lookout point. The boys got to run around and play, and you can see Caleb's fascination with Andrew in some of these pictures.

More Hawaii Pics

We spent one of our days in Hawaii at Pu'uhonau o Honaunau, which is a state park. We walked through the park and then went to a nearby beach for some "A" rated snorkeling. Each couple took turns snorkeling while the others watched the kids play on the beach. It was really good snorkeling. I saw a sea turtle and some amazing fish. The place where Jon and I got in was very rocky and full of sea anemones. Jumping in from the lava rock was one thing. Getting out with the water pushing you against the rock was another, and Jon suggested I swim to the beach to get out. It sounded simple enough, and I started my swim. I kept swimming in the general direction of the beach, but I couldn't exactly tell where it had gone since all of the rocky shoreline was blocking my view. After swimming, stopping to look, swimming, and stopping to look, Jon (who had climbed out on the rock) came to find me. From the lava rock, he told me which way to swim, and I continued. Then I started realizing the coral and fish and sea anemones were getting closer and closer to me as the water was getting more and more shallow. Suddenly I was trying to swim over a bunch of prickly possibly stinging sea anemones and other fish in only calf deep water. I had no to way to swim to the beach, no shoes to wear to walk across the coral, and I was feeling very stressed out. I stopped, and Jon threw me my flipflops. I was able to carefully walk to some lava rock and get out. I never made it to the sandy beach. I should have just braved the lava rock way out from the start before a thirty minute swim to the beach, which ended up being unreachable. However, I did see the best sea life during my attempts to get out! Somehow everyone else in the family did better getting in and out, but all of us had some cuts and scrapes from this snorkeling experience. Unfortunatetly, we didn't see any dolphins here like Jon and I did 6 years ago on our honeymoon, but it was definitely a good place to snorkel.
Here are some pictures of the kids swimming at the beach.