August...to the best of my memory

The last post I have saved from the old blog (boooo!) is from July 20th. So, for the sake of posterity, I'm going to try to remember what's happened since then and post it here. Here we go...
July 25th ~ Mom and Mr. L. came to St. Louis. With the help of about 8 of Rudy's former students, we loaded 2 of the biggest U-Hauls we could get. Jenny came over to keep an eye on Caleb. She ended up taking him to her house, just to get him out of the melee of moving. Michael came over after work and was a big help! Jerry and Sherry came by to say "bye" and to play with Caleb for a little while. Fortunately, Jenny had brought him back by that point. While they were at the house, Sherry was holding Caleb's hand while he walked around and I walked in the room. Caleb let go of her hand and took about 3 steps to get to me! It was his first time to ever walk by himself. We were all so excited about that big advancement. After we got the trucks loaded, my parents, Rudy, Jenny, Caleb and I went to TJ Wings for some dinner. We were all completely exhausted! When we got back to the house, Jenny and I said a tearful "see you later" and I went back to getting things ready for the big drive the next day. Caleb slept in his pack & play, Mom and Mr. L. slept on a mattress on the floor in the guest room and Rudy and I slept on our mattress on the floor in our room.

July 26th ~ We were up bright and early to leave St. Louis. Mr. L. and Rudy drove the big trucks, Mom drove Mr. L.'s truck and Caleb and I were in my car. We were quite the gypsy caravan! We made it here by 2:00 and started unloading right away. We had lots of help: Chris (Rudy's brother), Nick and Jan showed up to help. Once things settled down a little, Leslie brought Jackson and Grace over and the Schmidts came over too. Stacy had been kind enough to keep Caleb during the day so that we could unload the truck without his "help." We ordered a few pizzas and started unpacking.

July 27th ~ I had to meet with the HR director at Bentonville in the morning, so I left the crew here and went to do that. It was a challenge getting really dressed when most of my stuff was still in boxes, but I managed. Mom and Jan were very kind to take care of Caleb, start unpacking household necessities and make the first Wal-Mart run while I was gone. Mr. L. and Rudy spent the day taking the U-Hauls back and doing "man stuff." Mr. L. grilled for us that night and it was a great first dinner in our temporary home.

July 28th ~ Mom and Mr. L. left for Hot Springs pretty early Saturday morning. Rudy, Caleb and I spent the day unpacking some boxes and just spending time together after the whirlwind of activity that comes with moving.

August 1st ~ Rudy started back to work. His main job is with the middle school bands, but part of his responsibility is that he has to help out with summer band camp and Tuesday night rehearsals at the high school. That's not so bad, considering how much he was gone the past few years.

August 3rd ~ We all went to the band party at a park in Springdale. The staff, kids and band parents made us feel very welcome. Caleb loved going over to the pond and feeding bread to the ducks and geese. They came right up to him and he, of course, laughed and said "quack!"

August 6th ~ I started my new job in Bentonville. We had a week of new teacher orientation and a week of staff in-service before the kids ever darkened the doors of the schools. It was a long two weeks!

Since I started back to work, Caleb started his new daycare. He really seems to like it there and has adjusted well. The staff likes him and they always tell me how sweet he is for them. I had a hard time with the idea of Caleb going to a daycare facility. Ms. Carrie was so completely wonderful last year. When we had him there, I felt like he was with a family member. Now, he goes to daycare in a room with about 10 other kids. He sits in a little chair at a little table for lunch and he plays on a playground for recess. The hardest part for me, though, was the idea of him taking his nap on a cot. Until he started daycare, he had never slept anywhere other than his crib, his pack & play, the carseat or someone's arms. Now, he's sleeping on a cot. The visual image of that was what made me cry the night before Caleb started daycare. I'm okay with it now. He's been there almost a month and he lights up in the mornings when I tell him it's time to go to school. That makes me happy.

August 10th ~ Mom and Mr. L. came up for the weekend of August 10th. Mr. L. and Rudy were beside themselves with excitement about going to the PGA Championship in Tulsa. They went over there on Saturday and Sunday and loved every single minute of it! While they were gone, Mom, Caleb and I spent Saturday goofing around here and taking a tour of the area. We had a good time, even though Caleb wasn't quite feeling 100%. He was pretty cranky. We even got up and left PF Chang's before we could order our food because he was so out of sorts. It's too stressful for me and everyone around me when he's like that in a restaurant. I think it's just best to get up and leave.

August 12th ~ The morning of August 12th was huge at our house! Caleb decided he'd just take off walking all by himself. He had been taking a step or two here and there, but that morning, he walked for real! We had just finished breakfast and he was getting fussy, so Rudy got him out of the highchair and took him in the living room to play. All of a sudden, Rudy started yelling at us to come look, because Caleb was walking. Mom, Mr. L. and I went into the living room and Caleb walked from Rudy to Mom, then from Mom to Mr. L. I grabbed the camera and took a couple of pictures and a little bit of wobbly video. I was so glad that Mom and Mr. L. were here to share that fun with us!

August 16th ~ Caleb's daycare called and said he was covered in a rash! I went to get him and took him to the pediatric clinic. The doctor looked him over and said that it was a post-viral rash and that he could go back to daycare. It wasn't roseola this time, but something similar. I guess that explains why he was so grumpy the previous weekend!

August 17th ~ We had dinner and visited with the Voises at their house. Jan and Chris were in town, so it was good to have everyone together.

August 18th ~ Jan took care of Caleb while Rudy, Chris and I rearranged our garage. When we moved in, we just stacked the boxes and extra furniture in the garage however we could. We really wanted to park at least one of our vehicles (preferably mine) in the garage, so we spent the day of the 18th taking everything out of the garage and putting it all back in! Now, half of the garage is storage and the other half is perfect for my car!

August 20th ~ School started for Rudy and me. Actually...school started for Rudy, since I don't start seeing kids until tomorrow. :)

August 22nd ~ Rudy and I visited a different daycare center that we are going to move Caleb to. Leslie & Nick take Jackson there and they love it. We are perfectly content with where he is now, but we REALLY like new place. Plus...it's cheaper, newer and closer to our house. We're actually going to save $500 a year by moving him. I don't think there's much debate there!

August 23rd ~ Mr. L. has started a new job and needed a laptop. Rudy's new job supplied him with one, so we loaned Mr. L. Rudy's old one. So...we met them in Ft. Smith for dinner and to give him the computer. Caleb was funny when he turned the corner in the restaurant and saw them sitting there, waving at him. His eyes got huge and he grinned from ear to ear! It was so funny! During our meal, Mr. L. and Caleb fed each other french fries until I thought Caleb was going to turn into a big french fry. Those two are just enamored with each other! Isn't that why we moved home in the first place???

August 30th ~ For the whole last week of August, Caleb had a terrible cough that just kept getting worse and worse! Finally, I called the doctor's office to make an appointment. I took him in on the 30th. We saw Dr. Byrum and he said that Caleb has bronchitis. He prescribed Albuterol and wished us luck. I went to get the prescription at Walgreen's and it was $75! I about had a heart attack! Come to find out, the actual medicine was only $10, but the plastic mask that we have to use to give it to him was $65! So, we've been giving him this medicine all weekend and he's not doing any better. We've had a couple of rough nights of him coughing and crying for over an hour in the middle of the night. I'm taking him back to the doctor this afternoon (9/3/07). Hopefully, they will be able to give us something better.

August 31st ~ We went out to dinner at Fish City Grill at the Promenade. It was wonderful!!!! It was a beautiful, cool evening, so after dinner, we walked over to the fountain to let Caleb play. He loves to look at the fountain. He walked around and around it for quite a while, then he took off walking to see some flowers in a big terracotta planter. He tripped somewhere along the way and hit his chin on the planter. He has a scrape on his chin that looks pretty yucky. It doesn't seen to bother him, though. I guess it's one of the first of many of those! Since he's been walking, he seems to have lots of mysterious boo-boos. Last week he had a bruise on his right cheek that I couldn't explain and he's had some red marks on his forehead that I could only assume came from a topple at daycare.

September 1st ~ WOOOO PIG SOOIE! Finally - football season has arrived. Jan came up to keep Caleb for the first Razorback game of the season. Rudy and I had lunch with the Fellers at Jose's. After that, we went to the Alumni house to meet up with the Lyons crew. The Hogs won the game against Troy (46-26). At halftime, we were invited up to a luxury box by Rudy's work partner and that was quite a treat! After the game, we met Cindy and Kendra at Willy D's (piano bar) for about an hour or so and then came on home. It was a great day that we've been waiting for for a long time!

September 2nd ~ We met the Lyons family at Monte Ne Inn for dinner last night. It was fabulous as always, but Caleb was quite a handful! He kept wanting to get out of his highchair and walk around. Rudy and I worked our rear ends off trying to keep him occupied!

September 3rd ~ Finally - I'm caught up to today! All that, and there's not much to report for today. After having a rough night with Caleb last night, I slept in and Rudy played with Caleb this morning. They even went to the park for a while. Now, Caleb is taking his nap and I'm about to get a shower so that I can take him to the doctor this afternoon. Rudy is playing golf with some band directors. I start seeing kids for therapy tomorrow morning! Yikes - I never thought I'd be doing therapy again. I have kids back-to-back from 8:00-3:30 tomorrow. I will be completely exhausted tomorrow night!

A New Blog

Once again, I've had to change my blog address. I was using a company called Eponym as my blog host. It was great all last year. Now, all of a sudden, my blog has disappeared! I've tried to e-mail them several times (they don't have a phone number posted!) but haven't heard anything back. Needless to say, I am pretty mad about it. I try to remember to download my blog entries about once a month so that I can print them out easily and use them for scrapbooking purposes, etc. Now - I don't have anything saved since July 20th. That wouldn't be such a big deal if August hadn't been such a big month for us: Caleb started walking, we moved, we started new jobs, etc. I'm going to do my best to remember the big stuff and post it here. That's not so bad. I'm just really upset about losing the details - that's where the good stuff is. Lesson learned.

New Words! (No, Cardboard Box is not one of them!)

First things first from the SLP mom: A NEW WORD! All of a sudden today, Caleb started saying, "cracker." Of course, he actually says, "kaka," but I'll take it! He loves Goldfish crackers and will do whatever he can to get them, so he learned to say "kaka."

Now for the big news: Caleb has learned to call the Hogs! Until recently, he would just raise his hands up and then smack them down on his knees while we said, "woo pig!" Now, he raises his hands and says, "woo", then smacks them down and says, "da!" It's pretty funny! I've tried to get him to do it on video, but he gets distracted by the camera and won't do it. I'll keep trying because it's something we definitely need to have recorded. Sometimes, he'll even stand up and let go of whatever he's holding onto to do it. That's our way of tricking him into standing alone.
Our little man loves to walk holding onto our fingers. His favorite thing to do is to walk around the circle on the main floor of our house. He really loves it if one of us helps him walk and "chase" the other parent. That brings lots of laughs! He also is warming up those legs for solo walking by pushing around his wagon full of blocks and occasionally, his actual push-walker. This is a big change from the first time I tried to get him to use the walker and he screamed like I was asking him to dance en pointe! Pretty much anything that will move when he pushes it has become a walker, including one of our end tables sometimes.

The last time I wrote was July 9th and I'm really trying to use this blog as a record of what we do from day-to-day, so I'll do a little catching up:

July 10th - Daddy's Day Out. Caleb and I went to see a kids' musician at the library. His name was Babaloo. Caleb loved the whole experience. There were probably 100 kids there and he was fascinated by all of the dancing and the music. He squealed with delight at the bubble machine and banged on a bucket with drumsticks just like the big kids did.

July 11th & 12th were normal days for us. We played with the neighbor-kids and enjoyed summer.

July 13th - Rudy took Caleb to the last day for kiddie gym at church. That afternoon, I took Caleb to the zoo for a couple of hours. It was a nice day weather-wise, so we had a good time. Caleb actually seemed to notice the animals more this time than in the past. That was as much fun for me as it was for him.

July 14th was a normal Saturday of play and fun. We really got a lot of packing done and I started to feel less nervous about the move. I've packed a little bit most days since then and we're almost finished!

On July 15th, Rudy went to visit with Mike and Kelly Crawford with Jerry and Sherry. Caleb and I stayed here so that his routine wouldn't be completely messed up for the week. It always takes a few days to get him back on schedule when we goof it up and I just didn't want to worry with a cranky kid this week.

The 16th was my regularly scheduled Mom's Day Out, so I did my regularly-scheduled scrapbooking at Archiver's and it was great as always. I got 25 pages done!

Rudy's Dad's Day Out on the 17th was split into two parts. First, he played a great golf course until a storm came up and they had to quit. He was mad because he said it was one of the best rounds of golf he'd ever played and he didn't get to finish it. When he left there, he came back home and packed up his truck to go to Tennessee. He spent the night with Doug and Lisa in Nashville.

On Wednesday, the 18th, he met with a guy about buying his dad's Civil War collection so that we wouldn't have to move it again. The guy was great and bought the vast majority of the stuff on the spot. We're glad to have that out from under our roof...and our insurance policy. He drove back here Wednesday night and then went to play basketball.

While he was gone, Caleb and I had a few bumpy moments and some fun too. On Tuesday, for the first time in a while, all 5 of the neighborhood one-year-olds were together. It just so happened that they were together in our driveway to play in the kiddie pool and with the outside toys. It was so great to watch all of them together. It made me wish that we were going to be here for a while so that Caleb could grow up with those boys. I've become such good friends with their moms and we've really formed a little community and support system for each other this summer. We will miss them all very much! Later that night, Jenny came over for dinner with Caleb and I and stayed to hang out with me after Caleb went to bed. I just knew that Caleb would be worn out from all of the fun that he had in the afternoon and that he would sleep great on Tuesday night. I was oh so very wrong. I got to bed at about 12:30 after Jenny left at 11:45. The little stinker woke up at 1:00, screaming. I went in to check on him and he was just beside himself. I did everything I knew to do to get him back to sleep and nothing worked. I put him in bed with me and after an hour of him tossing and turning and wanting to play, I looked at him and said, "Caleb, please go night-night." He sat straight up in the bed and grinned at me and said, "night-night." I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe it was out of delirium, but it was funny nonetheless. So...that's our second new word: night-night. Once I got myself back together, I took him in his room and laid him down. As much as I hated to do it, I decided to just let him cry. And he did. He cried and cried until 3:30 AM! That's the last I heard from him. I finally got to sleep, convincing myself that he would sleep a little later than normal because he had been up so long. Wrong again. 7:00 AM on the dot, he started yelling for me. I rolled out of bed and grumbled the whole way into his room. I forced myself to do the whole morning routine of breakfast, Sesame Street (while I showered) and then got him dressed. We had a lunch date with my friend Tanya and her son, John at 11:30. At about 9:00, I knew that I was going to have to get out of the house or I was going to either fall asleep and leave Caleb unattended OR completely lose my mind. So - we went to Target and a couple of other stores to kill some time until lunch. I went ahead and went to lunch early so I could feed Caleb. I enjoyed my visit with Tanya and then Caleb and I came home. I just knew I was going to get a good nap while he slept. Yeah, right. He slept for a total of one hour. When I heard him calling for me, I thought I was going to scream! After just a little bit, I called my friend Zoe down the street because she had invited us over to play in the afternoon. I told her we were up and ready when she was. She's been having trouble getting her little guy to sleep too, so she was ready for some company. We went on down to her house and the boys played for about an hour and a half until dinner time. Needless to say, by the time Rudy got home from Nashville on Wednesday, I was worn out! Caleb went to bed as usual and I wasn't far behind him. On

Thursday (the 19th), I planned to do absolutely nothing! Rudy had his usual morning with Caleb. After lunch, I put Caleb down for his nap and Rudy went to get some stuff from the storage building. While he was gone, the real estate office called and said that someone wanted to see the house at 5:00. So much for doing nothing! Rudy and I kicked it in high gear and got things sparkling clean around here and I even packed about 6 boxes of stuff. We went to dinner at 5:00 and got home around 5:45. At 6:00, we went next door for a farewell dessert hosted by some of our friends. We had 5 adults and 5 kids. The oldest of the kids was 3. It was a very sweet thing for our friends to do for us and just made it that much harder for us to leave. When we got home last night, Rudy wasn't feeling too great, and ended up being really sick all night. He stayed in bed all day today and still doesn't feel too hot tonight either. I've tried to keep Caleb away from him so that he could rest and to keep Caleb from getting sick. After being up late with Rudy and not being able to sleep because my mind was racing over about a thousand things, I got up with Caleb bright and early this morning. We hung out for about an hour and then I looked out the window and saw Zoe and Colin playing in their driveway. I took Caleb over there to play for a little bit and then we came back home for a late breakfast. It was a beautiful day, so after breakfast, we played outside in our driveway. While Caleb explored the garage and played with dry oatmeal in a bucket, I taped up the bottoms of some boxes in preparation for a major packing expedition this weekend. We came inside for a very necessary bath and lunch and then he went down early for his nap. Shortly after I put him down, Jen called and said that they were about to leave for vacation and that she wanted to see me to say goodbye since we'll be gone when they get back. I went over to their house since both of my boys were sleeping. After talking for a while and saying a sad goodbye, I came back over to take a short nap. Caleb woke up and we went to the grocery store, then came home for dinner. After dinner, we played outside for a long time (it really was a beautiful day) with Zach, Charlie and Jess and then came in for bedtime. Caleb was in a particularly talkative mood, so we called my mom and Mr. L. and then Jan so that he could say "night-night" to them and then we headed up to bed. After all of that outside play, he was exhausted. I never heard a peep out of him after I left his room.

So...that's our crazy life for the past week and a half. I know it's not terribly interesting to read, but I also know that when Caleb is 6 (or 16) and I look back at what we did when he was just one, and smile with a little nostalgia. I already do that when I look back at last summer's entries.

Jerry and Sherry are coming to get some of our furniture for Rebecca tomorrow. They are also graciously taking Caleb for an overnight stay so that Rudy and I can really get a lot of packing done. It is just so hard to get much done with him underfoot and I worry about him getting into things that he's not supposed to - like the tape dispenser or the open cabinets. It should be a productive weekend for us and a fun one for him.

The moving trucks will roll out of our driveway in 6 days!

Lucky Me

I just have to put this out there: I am a seriously lucky woman. Okay - so I only believe in luck at the craps table. Let me rephrase: I am an extremely blessed woman. That's more like it. I don't know what I did to deserve Rudy, but I thank God every day for him. Of course, this is not to say that we don't have our moments/days where we don't exactly LIKE each other...but love is never a question. Let me explain -

Last summer was wonderful. We had a beautiful new baby boy and we were learning to be a family instead of a couple. We worked out a great system for feedings and early mornings and our summer went pretty smooth. Caleb was such an easy baby and since he wasn't mobile yet, we spent a lot of time holding him and moving him from the swing to the bouncy seat, etc. When Rudy went back to work in July, things changed, but it still wasn't bad. I learned to compensate for him being gone and we managed quite well. Rudy's job was undeniably stressful for him and he was gone a lot during the fall. Caleb and I were pretty independent, but we all three soaked up every minute we had together as a family. I absolutely don't deny that Rudy has ALWAYS been an extremely hands-on Dad, he just simply had a lot of other responsibilities on his mind as well. He took responsibility for the time-consuming and tedious task of washing bottles (now sippy cups) and doing everything he could to spend time with Caleb as much as possible. But...very few of his precious nights at home went by without a phone call from a staff member, parent or student with some sort of band emergency or without a very necessary block of time spent tending to the things that couldn't be dealt with during the day. Now that Rudy doesn't have the responsibilities of being "Mr. V" 24/7, he has become even more comfortable in the role of "Da-Da" and has amazed me tremendously.
This summer has been more of a challenge for us in some ways than I expected and easier for us in others. I was really worried going into the summer that it would be hard for me to make the switch from professional/mom to full-time mom. In some ways, I was right. On one hand, I thrive on routine. On the other hand, I love summer breaks. I have enjoyed having the extra time to do things with Rudy and Caleb during the day and, of course, I love not being exhausted in the evenings from being at work all day. Once I realized that we needed a little routine in our summer and I worked that out for myself, I started to handle the summer a little better. I just couldn't go day-by-day like some people can. I need a plan. (I know that shocks everyone who knows me!) The additional stress of being in real estate limbo has made things just that much more complicated, but there's no reason to complain about that.

Now, how does this all tie into me being a lucky/blessed/smiled upon woman? Quite simply - Rudy, Caleb and I have learned to dance the dance of family. Rudy and I take care of each other when we need to be taken care of and we step up to take care of Caleb when the other simply doesn't have the "oomph" to do it. We recognize each others' moods and respect them. We know and accept and understand when the other person needs some time alone to do the things that make us who we are and to be a real person - not just a parental robot. There are times, for instance, when I realize that it is quite silly for both of us to be standing at the foot of the stairs "spotting" Caleb in case of a fall and I can say, "You got him?", then go off to take care of something else...or to do something I enjoy. Other times, I find us in the same position, and my immediate response is, "I got him" and encourage Rudy to go do something he wants or needs to do. We've learned the dance and we're getting pretty good at it. Sometimes I feel guilty because I feel like I put too much responsibility on Rudy - as if I'm copping out of what has to be done. I'm sure he feels like he does the same to me from time to time. I think guilt is a part of parenthood that is difficult for all of us to handle. I know it is for me at least.

This weekend was a great example of how we dance the dance. Because Chris was in town on Tuesday, Rudy didn't have the chance to take his usual "Dad's Day Out," so he took it on Friday. I took Caleb to play at church, fed him lunch, put him down for his nap and invited some neighbors over to play in the pool in the late afternoon.

On Saturday, Rudy did his usual early morning with Caleb (a walk, breakfast, Sesame Street and some playtime). He swears he loves this private time with Caleb - but (again) I feel guilty about sleeping in every day when he's getting up. We've talked a lot about how I don't sleep well at night, but sleep very soundly in the mornings when I know that Caleb is being taken care of. Rudy seems to understand this and knows how much I need my sleep, so he is the morning caregiver. Okay - back to Saturday - I joined them mid-morning and we had a lazy day at home. We procrastinated packing all day long and it was great! Once Caleb was in bed, Rudy and I did our own things for the evening (he played poker and I scrapbooked). Saturday night/Sunday morning was tough with Caleb. He woke up a couple of times during the night and it was really hard to get him back to sleep. Finally, I put him down for good at about 3 AM. I was one very tired Mama.

Rudy woke me up for church on Sunday morning and I told him about the night I had just made it through. We agreed that sleep would be best, so I rolled back over and dozed off again. I literally slept until 1:00 in the afternoon! Caleb was napping when I woke up. After I ate lunch and got the sleep out of my system, I was ready to pack. Rudy and I have an agreement that he'll be super-dad if I'll do the majority of the packing. He hates to pack and I don't mind it all that much. When Caleb woke up, Rudy took him to the municipal pool and I packed and packed and packed. When the boys got home, I fed Caleb his dinner and played with him a little. We went for our Sunday night Fritz's (frozen custard) run. When we got home, I gave Caleb a bath and put him to bed. I headed back downstairs to pack some more and (after going to the store to get some more box tape), Rudy relaxed and watched some TV.

Today was my Mom's Day Out! I met Monica and Colleen for lunch at Qdoba. We sat there for 2 1/2 hours! After that, I went to Archiver's for the rest of the day. Rudy and Caleb came up to the mall to play and stopped to say hi to me. Rudy promised me that they were fine and having a great time, so I stayed until 8:00. When I got home, Rudy went to hit some golf balls in preparation for his golf game tomorrow. He just got home a few minutes ago and now we're winding down for the night.

Tomorrow is Dad's Day Out and Caleb and I are going to have fun together! I'm looking forward to it. I missed him today. That's what Mom's Day Out is all about - now I'm recharged and ready to be Mama again. I am so blessed.

4th of July, A Visit from Chris and Packing Procrastination

It's Saturday afternoon at 2:30. Caleb has been asleep since noon. We are moving in less than 3 weeks. Shouldn't I be packing? The answer is most definitely YES, but I'm just not in the mood to mess with it. It has truly been a lazy day around here and that has been wonderful! Maybe I'll start tonight...or tomorrow.

Caleb's roseola is gone. He is completely back to his old self now. He's really been a lot of fun the past week.

Monday (7/2) was my Mom's Day Out. I went to Archiver's at about noon and scrapbooked until 5:30. I got 25 pages done! I keep thinking how great it would be to be caught up to date when we move, but I know that's not realistic. I am, however, going to be at least through Christmas, so that's an accomplishment in itself. I'll only be 7 months behind. I never thought I'd be glad to say that. Chris came in to visit on Monday too. The guys came to meet me at the mall for dinner and then I took Caleb home. Chris and Rudy went out on the town, but they were home by 10:00.

On Tuesday (7/3), they went to 6 Flags and Caleb and I had a fun day together. The one-year-old twins from next door and their mom came over to splash in the pool with us. When the guys got home from 6 Flags, we all got cleaned up and went across the street to the Browns' for a cookout and to watch the Twin Oaks fireworks from their deck. It was a wonderful evening. We sure are going to miss the Browns when we move.

On Wednesday, we celebrated the 4th in style with Jerry, Sherry and Rebecca Villines, Virginia Clay, and Mike, Kelly and Sarah Crawford. We went over to the Villines' house for a fabulous lunch and then went downtown to the Arch for the fireworks. Caleb had a great time crawling around in the wet grass and loved the fireworks too. He sat in my lap for the show, so I didn't get to see his face, but Rudy said that he watched Caleb more than he watched the fireworks. He said that he was absolutely mesmerized by the lights and the sound. It was a great night and a tradition that we hope to continue for a long time.

On Thursday (7/5), we had an appointment with our financial planner and then the house was shown in the afternoon. Rudy drove me around to run some errands while Caleb took his nap in the car.

Yesterday (7/6), I took Caleb to church for Kiddie Gym in the morning and Rudy took his Dad's Day Out to play golf. Caleb took a good nap and then the Browns came over and splashed in the pool with us for a little while. So - it's been a fun week full of summertime activities. We're getting really spoiled by all of this relaxation. I start my new job a month from yesterday. That is exciting and sad all at the same time!

Some wonderful news to report: My friend Leslie had her beautiful baby girl on Monday. Grace Ann Lyons made her debut at 8:13 AM in Fayetteville. The pictures that Leslie has on her blog are beautiful and I can't wait to get there to see Grace in person. Leslie called this afternoon and seems to be doing great. I'm so happy for her, Nick and Jackson!

Roseola

Caleb is not teething. He has roseola. (http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T083600.asp)

When he woke up from his almost 4 hour nap this afternoon, I noticed a strange red rash on his right leg. It was really big and felt warm to the touch. He didn't seem to have any fever and was acting normal. Rather than panic and rush to the ER, which I knew was not necessary, I tried to talk to my next door neighbor who is a pediatrician. Of course she wasn't home. I kept an eye on the rash for a little while and it started to fade away. By the time I took Caleb up for his bath at 8:00, it was gone. However, when I took his shirt off, there was a splotchy rash on his chest and belly. This one wasn't warm, but I was definitely concerned. I went ahead and gave him his bath and put him in his PJ's and tried to wait for the neighbor to get home. I finally gave up and put him to bed. About 5 minutes later, I saw her pull into her driveway. I ran upstairs and pulled Caleb out of bed to go next door. She was very sweet about it and took one look at him and said, "He has roseola." When I told her about the fever that we thought was a result of teething, she said that it was a viral infection and that's what had caused the fever. Roseola is caused by a virus. Kids have fever for a couple of days, then get a rash. Once the fever is gone, they aren't contagious anymore. That's good news, but I feel so very bad for taking Caleb out to all of the public places that we went to this past week while he was contagious. I'm sure he passed this on to several other kids.

Just when I thought I was in the running for "mom of the year" I had to go and goof up like this. Okay, maybe I wasn't in the running, but I sure missed this one completely.

A Busy Week in Which I Hate Teething

We had a nice weekend and we're now looking forward to another one. The week in between has been pretty busy and we've had to deal with the woes of teething...at least I hope that's the root of our problems. Caleb started running a fever on Tuesday night. He kept an unmedicated temperature of about 101.4 for almost 48 hours. He responded well to Tylenol and Motrin and the fever stopped quickly when we gave him those. He's been pretty lethargic - as most of us are with a fever - but when we gave him medicine, he perked back up almost immediately. I've also noticed increased drooling and he's been playing with his tongue a lot. He's very resistant to the toothbrush all of a sudden. Also - he's had some pretty funky diapers. All of that put together is a pretty good indication that teething is the problem, but you can never be sure. I've tried to get a good look in his mouth, but he won't let me see and the one time I tried to feel around in there I got a pretty hard bite. That was my sign to lay off and just let nature take its course! No fever at all today and he seems to be feeling a lot better, so I'm hoping the worst is over...for now.

Despite the mild setback, we've managed to entertain ourselves pretty well this week. On Monday, I had some errands to run and took my weekly "Mom's Day Off." Rudy and Caleb not only went to play in the play area at West County mall in the morning, but they also went to the Ballwin pool in the afternoon. Rudy took his well-deserved "Dad's Day Off" on Tuesday and went to do his errands and play golf. It was too hot to do much outside and I can't stand just sitting around the house all day with Caleb ("no, don't touch the outlets," "no, don't eat the dog food," "no, don't press every button the satellite receiver..."). No matter how many toys we play with - they get boring! So, after a very short nap, we packed up and went to Chesterfield mall for a stroll, lots of time in the bookstore and playtime in the play area. We both enjoyed it! On Wednesday, we tried to go to the Magic House for our morning out, but it was raining and it seemed like everyone else in town had the same idea. We didn't even go in. Rudy ended up taking him back to the mall to play again. (The mall play area is so great because it's free and Caleb loves it!) We had an open house on Wednesday night, so we did some pretty heavy-duty cleaning and then went out to dinner while the house was open. On Thursday, we thought we might try the Magic House again, but Caleb just wasn't acting like himself, so we decided against it. We had a pretty low-key day at home. Caleb was feeling better after his nap, so I took him to the park to swing and watch the "big kids" play while Rudy took a nap. After the park, we stopped at Sonic and split a milkshake to cool ourselves down and just because it was fun. We came home and played for a while, then Rudy and I had a date night. We actually got a babysitter and went out to dinner at Roberto's and then downtown to the Broadway Oyster Bar to hear the Rebirth Brass Band - one of our favorite bands from New Orleans. It was a wonderful night - so relaxing and something very different from the usual activities. Unfortunately, Caleb woke up when we got home at midnight and cried so hard that I had to sit and rock him back to sleep. Everything was fine until he woke up again at 4:00 sobbing uncontrollably. Normally, I would've tried to wait it out to encourage him to get back to sleep on his own, but with the way he's been feeling lately - I just couldn't do it. I picked him up and tried to rock him back to sleep. No dice. So, I laid down in the guest bed with him. Again...no dice. We ended up going down to the living room and watching a recorded episode of Sesame Street, drinking a whole cup of milk and then he was ready to play! I stayed up with him until 7:00 so that Rudy could get some sleep. By 7, I had been up for 3 hours and was working on just about 3 hours sleep. I woke Rudy up and handed parenting responsibilities over to him. He gladly got up and took over. I was asleep within minutes and slept most of the morning away. Rudy took Caleb to playtime at church. After Caleb's nap, I decided that he was feeling much more like himself and that we were finally going to go to the Magic House. Rudy was running errands, so we were on our own. We had a wonderful time in the "Little Bit of Magic" area at the Magic House. Caleb played with balls and pots & pans, mirrors, other kids and all sorts of fun stuff. He really enjoyed crawling up and down the ramps too. It was a fun afternoon for us.

Only 3 1/2 weeks until we move! Still no bites on the house, but we're less worried now that we have a temporary place to live in Rogers. We have fun stuff planned for every week until we move. I decided that we needed some sort of plan so that the days don't just slip by and we wonder why we didn't do anything. I researched some fun activities in the area and wrote them all down on a calendar. I feel much more "in control" of things that way. I guess it's just my nature.

I guess I should go to bed now. There's no telling what time the little monster will wake up!

Another Trip to Arkansas...

Since my last post, we've spent our time enjoying summer and our days off. We have been to the zoo, played with neighbors outside and splashed in the kiddy pool on the back patio. We also had dinner with Michael and Rich last week. Rudy and I have been trying to fit in our last doctor appointments here in St. Louis and we've been trying to keep our house clean for any showings that might happen. We've only had 2 showings in the month of June. Our agent says that things are just slow all over the place. Because of that, we've had to resort to plan B in our move.

Plan B = renting! That means moving twice. It's not exactly what we wanted, but I think it's going to be okay. We just got back from our 3rd trip to Arkansas since Memorial Day. We went down there to see a rental condo that our agent there set up for us, to check out our daycare situation and for Rudy to take care of some paperwork for his new job. We left on Wednesday morning and went straight to Rogers to meet with the agent. She found us a condo (actually a duplex) for a great price and we wanted to see it before we agreed to it. Having that taken care of, we went to see the Lyonses in Bella Vista. Leslie is due to have her baby girl any day now, so we were excited to see them and have the possibility of an exciting visit. Grace is still holding out for another day, but we had a fun time visiting with them! Wednesday night, we had a wonderful dinner at Copeland's and then spent the evening visiting and catching up with them. Jackson was absolutely wonderful with Caleb. He's going to be a great big brother! Caleb loved watching all of his big-boy antics. Nick and Leslie convinced us to stay an extra night, so after we took care of our business on Thursday morning (paperwork and daycare visits), we went back to their house. The guys played golf Thursday afternoon and Les and I enjoyed the afternoon visiting and playing with the kids. We had burgers Thursday night at their house once the guys got home. This morning, we got up and hit the road mid-morning and made it home safe and sound at 3:00 this afternoon. It was a great and relaxing trip. Now, we just have to finish up the details of registering for daycare and take care of some details for the move and we're ready to start packing. We really don't have any plans for the weekend. That's a great feeling!

Ahhh...June

June is my favorite month of the year. School is out and we're not bored yet. It's warm, but not deathly hot, so you can actually go outside without melting. It's a great time to be a public school employee...and a mom.

I just realized that I haven't updated my blog since Caleb went through his major funk a couple of weeks ago. As always, when I haven't posted in a while - lots of things have happened. This is possibly the reason I haven't posted. As Leslie says, "Life has exploded all over me."
Never fear ~ Caleb is back to his old self. He's fun again!!!! As I suspected all along (was that believable?), it was all a matter of teeth. How can two little teeth upset our apple cart so much?!? Well, the two bottom teeth on either side of the ones in the middle came in at the same time and lo and behold, they are crooked as a con-man in Vegas. Anyone know a good orthodontist? We're going to need one in about 9 years.

Anyway - he's back to sleeping, but he wakes up sometimes at night as though he is starving. One quick cup of milk and he's back to snoozeville, but it does disturb some serious parental sleep. It's not happening every night, so I'm not too concerned about it being a habit. I think maybe it's a growth spurt. That's what I'm telling myself right now anyway. We'll see.
He's also playing well again and seems to be noticing other kids more. He really likes to play with Gabe across the street and loves watching Kynan too. Our new neighbors have twin one-year-old boys and there is one other one-year-old boy a couple of houses down. We have plenty of friends on our street.

We spent Memorial Day in Arkansas. I helped host a baby shower for Leslie on Saturday and Rudy played golf with Nick. Grandpa Voise was admitted to the hospital on Saturday for some tests and didn't come home until Monday, so we were anxious about that and sad that we didn't get to see much of him. Fortunately, he's doing much better as far as we know. Saturday night, we had dinner with Donald and Stacy. It was so great to see them and their kiddos. Unfortunately, our evening was cut short so that Rudy could go visit Grandpa. We definitely owe the Schmidts a dinner when we get moved! Sunday, we met with a Realtor in Rogers to look at some houses. We found a couple that we really like and we're hopeful that the timing will all work out that we'll be able to get one of those. Our house has now been on the market for almost 2 months and we're getting very anxious!

I finished work on June 1st with a bittersweet goodbye to Rockwood ECSE. I'll miss a lot of the people that I worked with, but I know that coming "home" is what our family needs.

I'm writing this now in my parents' house in Hot Springs. Caleb is asleep - completely passed out! We flew in this morning to LR and Mr. L picked us up at the airport. Rudy is driving down tomorrow to meet us. We have some fun plans for the rest of the week and the weekend. I went to Wal Mart and bought a kiddie pool for Caleb this afternoon. He played in and around it for about 30 minutes this afternoon. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of it as the week goes on. We were both so tired from the trip and a goofed-up limited napping day that he went to bed 30 minutes early and I'm headed that way soon. Tomorrow's adventures await!

Ups and Downs

When I picked Caleb up from Carrie's yesterday, she said that she was worried about him. She said that (once again), he just wasn't himself today. He woke up from his nap crying like he was in pain. The only word I can think of to describe what I'm seeing in him is deflated. He's just not the happy-go-lucky, cheerful, laughing little boy that I'm used to. He was very blah all the way home. When we got to the house, I took him upstairs to change his clothes for our evening plans and he started crying hysterically. He cried for at least 30 minutes (maybe even more). This was the sort of crying that scares me. He was sobbing when I was holding him and screaming when I put him down. I finally calmed him by turning on his favorite video long enough for me to pack his diaper bag and his dinner. As soon as I got it all packed, I went out to put him in the car. When we got outside, I saw that Jen and her boys were playing in the driveway, so we went over there to say hi. Shortly after we showed up, two other neighbors came over with their one-year-old boys. I was very concerned about Caleb. In the past, he has loved being with other kids. Yesterday, it was like he didn't even know they were there. He never acknowledged them with a point or a stare or anything. He just kept crawling away. I would bring him back to the group and he would crawl off into the grass. It broke my heart.

When everyone went in for dinner, I put Caleb in the car and we went to the Teddy Bear Picnic at the Parkway Early Childhood Center. Our house was being shown, so we couldn't go home and I had already registered for the event, so we went. When we got there, I thought Caleb would love seeing all of the other kids, but he didn't really seem to care. He brightened my mood by "dancing" to the music while he ate his dinner, but that was the only spark that I saw in him the whole time. He didn't want anything to do with all of those other kids.

We went home at about 6:30 and met Rudy there. Caleb played some and then it was time for him to go to bed. He went down to bed without a fight and didn't wake up until almost 7:00 this morning. Hopefully, I'll get a good report this afternoon when I pick him up.

An Update (AKA: The Sun Is Shining Again and the Roses are in Bloom)

Thanks to everyone who has e-mailed asking how Caleb is doing today. He seems to be feeling much better. Carrie said that he had a very normal day at her house and took a good nap. This afternoon/evening were great. He played and ate and had a grand old time. Rudy was home before Caleb and I were. That really helped, because we could share the parenting responsibilities. I honestly don't know how single parents do it. I have a whole new respect these days! We had a nice family dinner, gave Caleb a bath and then played for a while until bedtime. He went down to bed easily and hasn't made a peep since then (knock on wood).
Rudy and I both commented tonight on how lucky we are that Caleb is the sort of kid who can entertain himself for a while. We were both just sitting back watching him play and we were amazed at how he played with his toys and moved around the room to find something new when he got bored. He was even "driving" one of his toy trucks across the floor tonight. He has grown up so much in just the past couple of weeks. It's truly amazing.

Not All Sunshine and Roses

I know most of the time, I post all of the good things that come along with having a sweet, loving one-year-old in my life. The past couple of days have been a reality check and today's post reflects that.

Sunday night/Monday morning - Caleb woke up at 1:09 SCREAMING like someone was torturing him. I bolted out of bed and went to check on him. I found him in his bed, curled up on his stomach (like usual), but crying to beat the band. I did what any freaked-out mother would do - I picked him up! As soon as I picked him up, he started to calm down, but continued to cry. Usually when he wakes up upset, I rock him for a few minutes and he goes right back to bed. So - I tried that. As soon as I put him back in his bed, the screaming started again. I really thought he'd go to sleep, so I climbed back in bed. 10 minutes later, he was still screaming. I went back in his room and picked him up, took him downstairs, tried to give him some water, gave him some medicine and then collapsed in the recliner. Rudy had gotten up, but there was no point in both of us being up and miserable the next day, so I sent him back to bed. I got Caleb back to sleep and tried to put him back in his bed. Nope - screaming. So - we went back to the recliner and I tried to sleep with him on my chest. He slept like a rock and I dozed off and on until 4:45. That was the point when I was so tired, I started to feel sick. I crept back up the stairs and held my breath as I put him in his bed. He rolled right over and slept. Praise the Lord! I went to bed and slept until the alarm went off at 6:00.

Monday afternoon - When I picked Caleb up at Carrie's house, she said that he had had a good day. He was still fussy and clingy, but he had napped and had eaten normally. I was hoping beyond hope for a good night. We got home and went about our normal routine. I put him in his PJ's and put mine on too. When Rudy got home at 5:00, I was planning to turn over primary responsibility to him and try to get some sleep. That's when the phone rang and the real estate office said someone wanted to come look at the house. Dang. I got dressed and Rudy dressed Caleb. We went to Red Robin for dinner and - surprisingly - Caleb was in a great mood. He had an absolute blast playing with a balloon and eating mac & cheese. After that, we went to Sam's for diapers and then headed home. I slept fitfully Monday night - probably a result of the 3 glasses of iced tea I guzzled at dinner to try to keep my eyes open.

Tuesday afternoon - I picked Caleb up from Carrie's and she had a weary look on her face. She said that he had only slept for 20 minutes and just wasn't his normal self at all. He wanted to be held, then wanted down - but cried when you put him down. That was pretty much what I had seen for a couple of days too. In addition to that, his legs, arms and face had several big red spots on them. I called the pediatician's advice line and left a message for the nurse. I was dreading the night ahead, because Rudy had the middle school end-of-the-year concert and wouldn't be home until after Caleb's bedtime. It was looking like a long, stressful night. When we got home, I put Caleb's PJ's on him for comfort, changed into some comfy clothes for myself, gave Caleb some finger foods to appease him (I know...bad mom) and popped myself some popcorn. Just as I sat down to eat my popcorn at 4:00, the phone rang. I explained all of the situation to her and she wasn't worried until I told her that he wasn't sleeping well. She asked me to bring him in - if I could get him there by 4:30. In the meantime, my cell phone rang and the real estate office number showed up on caller ID. I kicked it in high gear, straightened up the house, threw away the popcorn and got Caleb (and me) dressed and hit the road with sweat dripping from my forehead. We pulled into the parking lot at exactly 4:30. The nurse took a look at Caleb and said that he had bug bites - bad bug bites. She recommended cortizone cream and bug spray. She actually suggested long sleeves, but that's just not possible. It's already at least 80 degrees every day. The poor kid would sweat all the time! So, I wrote a copay check and we left the doctor's office in the pouring down rain. Traffic crawled all the way home and I found myself in the drive-through at McDonald's. Stress-eating is my downfall! When we got home, he was asleep in the carseat. I got him out and he laid his head down on my shoulder. I thought I might be able to put him in his bed for a short nap. As soon as I laid him down, he started crying. As soon as he started crying, the phone rang. I was afraid it might be the real estate office, so I ran to answer it. It was my mom, who completely understood that I just couldn't talk right then. We hung up and the phone rang again. I - again - answered it and it was Jerry. He immediately asked me what was wrong. I spewed off the whole story and told him I'd call him back. I went back into Caleb's room and changed his clothes/diaper, feed him dinner and play for about 5 minutes before our parent educator showed up for his 12 month visit. I know I must have looked like I had been through the wringer. That's because I had.

On a happier note, Amy (our PE) assured me that Caleb is meeting all of his developmental milestones just fine. He's doing some things that aren't expected at his age (mostly fine motor skills) and is struggling with some gross motor development, but he's not "behind" - just coming along a little slower than some kids do. I'm not worried about that at all!

After Amy left, Caleb and I played for a little while, then I took him upstairs for bed. He did not want to go to bed and made that abundantly clear. We read 5 stories instead of our usual 3 and sang about 10 songs instead of our usual 3 before he finally got sleepy. He laid his head down on my shoulder and I knew I could breathe a little easier. I laid him down and he cried for a few minutes before finally going to sleep at 7:45.

I was completely exhausted. I switched the laundry, called my mom back, left Jerry a message, washed all of the sippy cups, checked my e-mail and fell in the bed. When Rudy left the concert at 9:30, he called to see what it was we needed from Walgreen's. I asked him to bring home the cortizone cream and some bug repellent.

This morning, Caleb woke up at 6:00 jabbering. Rudy went in and got him and he was in his usual jovial mood. I'm hoping this means that this phase is almost over. I guess we'll see what happens tonight. I'm tired.

My 2nd Mother's Day

Today is my 2nd Mother's Day. It's hard to believe that! As I write this, Caleb is napping peacefully in his crib and I'm sitting on the back patio enjoying the sunshine and quiet. It has been a fun weekend at our house and we're soaking up every last minute of it.

Caleb and I went to a baby shower after I got off work on Friday. When we got home, it was playtime and bedtime for the little one. Rudy and I enjoyed the rest of the evening by just relaxing and watching TV.

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous and we just knew we needed to get out! After Caleb's nap, we packed up and went to the botanical gardens. We were just looking for a place to enjoy the nice weather that might have some things for Caleb to do too. He liked playing with the blocks in the children's garden and watching the other kids, but we decided that none of us are really the garden-visiting type. We left there and went to the playground in Tower Grove Park. That was a lot more fun. Caleb enjoyed the swing and the play structure there. After playing for a little while, we went to dinner at our favorite St. Louis restaurant - Cunetto's. It was wonderful as usual and we even had leftovers for lunch today!

This morning, Rudy took care of Caleb while I slept in (the greatest Mother's Day treat I could ask for). They came and woke me up in time to open my cards (one from Caleb, one from Rudy and even one from Dewey), my gifts (a spa gift certificate, a pack of M&M's, a basket of daisies and a balloon) and eat my breakfast that they had gone to get. Then it was time to get ready for church. We made it just in time and had a very nice Mother's Day service. After church, we came home to our leftovers and Caleb went down for his nap. Rudy says he plans to mow the yard and maybe watch some golf today. I plan to do a whole lot of nothing! I love Mother's Day!

On a slightly different note - Caleb has finally learned to sign "more." He suddenly does it all the time now and gets the biggest kick out of it. We're trying to teach him "all done," "milk" and "drink" too, but those are coming a little slower. Right now, he just wants "more."

Bye-Bye, Bottles!

We went cold turkey on bottles this week. That approach worked so well with the pacifiers that we decided it must be the way to go with Caleb. So - over the past couple of months, we've been giving Caleb a sippy cup every once in a while. On Saturday, we went full-fledged sippy!

We had a night out with some friends on Friday, so Caleb spent the night with Jerry, Sherry and Rebecca. Saturday night, when it was time for bed, I loaded up a sippy with some milk and we headed for the rocking chair. He looked at me like I was a little crazy, but took the cup anyway. It was when I tried to put him down to bed that he fell apart. He cried and struggled to go to bed for almost an hour. He finally wore himself out and went on to sleep. I felt so bad for him, but I know this is the best thing. He needs to move on from his bottles and now is the time to do it. Besides - it's easier on everyone if we do it before he can say, "I want my bottle!" with tears in his eyes. Since then, he's done okay. He takes the sippy cups well and we've found that he does best with the Gerber cups, rather than the Playtex ones. I would love to be able to give him the Avent cups, since they vent out air, but they are about $4.00 each and that's just ridiculous! The ones he has now make him burp like a grown man, but he gets a big smile on his face when he does it, so I guess that's not so bad.

Last night, our real estate agent had a "rush hour open house" from 5-7, so we had to get out of the house. We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner and Caleb loved it! That restaurant has stuff all over the walls and hanging from the ceiling, so he had plenty to look at. There was a huge shark hanging from the ceiling right above our table and Caleb was very amused by that. He kept pointing at things all over the restaurant and yelling, "Dah!" Plus...he has officially started dancing! He's been imitating me when I sing and dance by bouncing a little bit, but last night, he did it all by himself. He heard Elvis' "Hunk of Burnin' Love" and I laughed out loud when I noticed that he was bouncing in his chair dancing. He was the hit of the restaurant!

Growling

My child has started growling. It is his favorite form of protest. He growls and kicks his feet. Oh, boy! I really think that he is frustrated about not being able to do things or communicate, but it is not cute - not at all. It bought him a few minutes alone in his crib yesterday. Not cute.

One Year Old!

Caleb's first birthday wasn't quite what I had envisioned, but it was wonderful all the same!

Caleb's party was supposed to be at 4:30 on Tuesday at Vlasis Park. I watched The Weather Channel website all day hoping that the rain would hold off until after the party. I left work at 3:00 and went to ice down drinks. As I was pulling out of the gas station, I heard the first clap of thunder. With thunder and gray clouds, comes lightning and I just knew our plans were going to have to change. I got busy calling all of the party guests and told them to come to our house instead. By the time I got home, I was in a frenzy. Rudy wasn't feeling well (ear infection and allergies) so he was struggling to keep up. I got the floor swept, the cupcakes on plates and the drinks in the fridge with about 10 minutes to spare! We had a great turn-out: Jenny, Michael, Colleen, Carrie, Drew, Jen, Broc, Kynan, Gabe and Jerry all came to share in Caleb's big celebration! We had a great time and Caleb got some wonderful gifts. He got some new Little People toys, some books, bubbles, blocks and a ride-on firetruck. The kids had a great time playing with all of the new stuff and Caleb was too young to care that everyone was playing with his new toys. It was wonderful.

As the party started, I realized that this was an unknown world for me. I've never been the mother of the birthday boy before and I really didn't know how to run a toddler party. Jen assured me that whatever I did would be fine, so I went with it! We put a vinyl tablecloth in the middle of the living room and gave the kids cupcakes. WHAT A MESS! Then all of the kids helped Caleb open his presents while the grown-ups laughed and watched them. It was really fun once I relaxed and let it all unfold.
After the party, Rudy and I decided to have dinner at the same place where we had dinner last year on May 1st: Bandana's BBQ. The only difference was that we needed a highchair this year! Jenny joined us for dinner and we reminisced about last May. What a difference a year makes!

When we got home from dinner, Caleb and I played with some of his new toys and then he went to bed. Rudy cleaned up the kitchen and I cleaned up the rest of the party remainders.
I greeted Caleb on Wednesday morning with a big, "Happy Birthday!" He was in a great mood, standing in his crib and smiling at me. It was almost like he knew that it was a special day for him. We went about our morning like normal and I spent the whole day thinking about "where was I this time last year?" At 2:04 PM, I was sitting in an IEP meeting at Uthoff Valley Elementary. I looked at my watch and smiled a warm smile. My baby had officially turned one. Amazing.

When I left the meeting, I went to the grocery store to get a cake for Caleb and then picked him up at Carrie's. We went home and played and enjoyed our afternoon together. Rudy got home about 6:00 and helped me get Caleb ready for his big photo shoot! Since before Caleb was born, I had planned to take pictures of him with his first birthday cake and the time had come. I hung a plastic tablecloth as a backdrop/floor covering. We stripped Caleb down to his diaper and then put the cake in front of him. He was delighted! He slowly but surely demolished that cake. Those pictures will be forever treasured. Once the cake party was over, we took him upstairs to the tub (with his legs in a plastic bag so he wouldn't drip cake everywhere) and sprayed him off. We played some more in the evening and both Grandma Jan and LaLa called to wish him a very happy birthday. Rudy gave him a bath and then we got him ready for bed. In the end, it was a wonderful day. I love my one-year-old boy and all of the ups and downs that come along with him. Most people say that when you have a baby, your life gets turned upside down. I prefer to say that when I had Caleb, he turned my life rightside up.

Almost One and Some Really Big News!

Yes, I realize it's been a loooong time since I posted. I'm a little sad about it, actually, because now I know I'll forget something! There's just so much to tell!

I'll start with the biggest news of all: we're moving to Arkansas!!!!! Rudy and I had interviews in Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday, April 17th. I interviewed with 3 different districts and Rudy interviewed with one. We were offered all 4 jobs! So, Rudy will be one of the middle school band directors for Fayetteville School District (yes, Fayetteville!) and I'll be a speech path for Bentonville School District. I don't know what school yet, or even what grade-level, but I do know that I have a job!

So, our house went on the market on Wednesday. We've had 5 individual showings and an open house. It is so hard living in a house that is on the market. We have to keep it super-clean and we have to be ready to leave whenever we get a call. Actually, we asked for at least an hour's notice because of what we refer to as "The Caleb Factor." It's just too hard to be ready to run when you have an (almost) one-year-old in the mix. We haven't officially started looking for houses in Arkansas yet. We're waiting until we get an offer on ours so that we don't get into the contingency mess that we had last time when we lost a house that we really liked because ours didn't sell in time. The move continues to be very bittersweet, but we're excited overall about getting back to our roots. Half of our hearts are sad to leave our friends and family here and the other halves are just calling the Hogs!

I guess most people read this blog to hear about Caleb and not Rudy and I, so here's the latest on him:

We went to the ENT for a follow-up appointment on April 19th. I can't stand the ENT that we go to and I'm looking forward to finding someone else when we get to NWA. His first comment was "Well, Caleb, it looks like you haven't missed any meals." I smirked and said, "He's doing great. Let's see how his ears are." The jerk (nicest word I can think of) looked in and said that all is well after his surgery. Everything has healed nicely and his tubes look great. Caleb did a good job, even though he hates having his ears messed with. When the doctor told us to come back in a year, I happily told him that we would be moving this summer and would be transferring to an ENT in Arkansas. He asked me how far we'd be from Little Rock, because that's probably where we'll have to go to find an ENT. I assured him that there would be plenty of doctors in the Fayetteville area and we'll do just fine. Goodbye.

Caleb has been cruising the furniture like crazy. He loves to pull up on the couch and look at Dewey. He also loves to put his toys from the floor on top of the couch. Last week, he also started crawling on his hands and knees. No more wounded soldier! Thank goodness, because that was wearing on his clothes pretty badly. Now, it's just his knees that are in trouble. He even wants to crawl on concrete. I took him outside to enjoy the warm weather one afternoon this week and he took off on the concrete. I had to lather on the lotion afterward, because he had dried out his knees so badly. He didn't seem to mind. On concrete, he puts his right foot down and sort of tripod-crawls wherever he wants to go. He's speedy! His other gross motor development has been going up the stairs. He loves to climb the stairs to his room. He just can't get back down them. When he takes off for the stairs, we stay right behind him, because he hasn't quite figured out that he can't just sit down wherever he is. His method of sitting is to just fall directly backward onto his bottom. That doesn't work so well on the stairs.

Caleb's menu has changed a lot in the past couple of weeks, too. He has started eating more finger foods and less baby food. He loves to eat grilled cheese sandwiches (torn into bite size pieces) and (heaven help us) the child loves french fries. We don't give them to him very often, but when we do he just can't get enough.

Little Man hasn't really learned any new words lately, but he "talks" all the time. Sometimes it sounds like he's really having a conversation with us. He babbles with great inflection and variegation. It's pretty cute. Sometimes it's even hard not to think he's using real words. A couple of days ago, I went into his room to get him out of his crib and he smiled and said something that sounded just like "hello!" He seems to be calling me "nah-nah" instead of "mama." The only time I ever hear a real "mama" is when he's really upset or crying. Otherwise, it's always "nah-nah" or "dada." Honestly, though - as long as he's smiling at me and loving on me, I don't care if he calls me anything at all. He's so affectionate these days. We get lots and lots of kisses and hugs. Those big, open-mouth kisses are so funny and when I pick him up, he just hugs and pats me like it's the greatest thing ever. He has even gotten snuggly at bedtime lately. When I sit down in the rocker to "read 3 books and sing 3 songs" he snuggles up to me like he used to do when he was little-bitty. He even pulls his knees up under him and holds on tight. He doesn't play with my shirt collar anymore, but that's okay - I just love the snuggles. Sometimes, when we're playing, he'll stop what he's doing and take off toward me and crawl up for a big hug. Then, he goes right back to playing. It's so cute!

Caleb has developed a love for books that I hope continues throughout his life. He brings me books to read to him and tries to read them to himself. He'll sit with a book (usually upside down) in his hands and babble on and on like he's really reading it. He gets the biggest grin on his face when he turns the pages and sees a new picture. His love for music has really started to shine too. He "sings along" when we sing to him - mostly humming. He also starts bouncing a little when he hears upbeat music.

Carrie called and said that Drew had developed croup and we needed to come get Caleb. My boss was very understanding and said that it would be okay for Caleb to come to my office for a little while until Rudy could come get him. So, I ran to Carrie's and picked up Caleb. He played in his pack & play by my desk while I worked. Everyone came in to see him and he had a grand old time. Rudy had to take the color guard to a contest in Ohio on Wednesday and wouldn't be home until Sunday. I stayed home with Caleb on Wednesday (oh, darn!) and then my mom and Mr. L. came up on Wednesday night to stay with him on Thursday and Friday. They ALL had a great time! Mom and Mr. L. went home on Saturday. Drew was doing much better by Monday, so Caleb went back to Carrie's and we've been back to normal since then.

Our unexpected whirlwind trip to Arkansas on the 16th and 17th was a little tough for Caleb. It meant 5 hours in the car on Monday night when he's used to being in the living room floor with his toys. He was a trooper until about the last hour, then he let us know he was tired of being in the car. When we got to Rogers, we let him play for a little while, even though it was WAAAY past his bedtime. Jan and the Voises were very glad to see him and had a great time playing while Rudy and I went to take our interviews. We were grateful that Jan took a day off work to come up and play with Caleb!

This has been a fun weekend for us, even though it's been a little out of the ordinary. The house was shown 2 times on Friday evening, so we were banned from our own home until 7:30 Friday night. Jenny, Caleb and I ended up going to Eureka to Monica's. Monica wanted to go get Caleb's birthday present, so we went to Toys R Us and then to Hobby Lobby (another errand). After that, we went to El Nopal for dinner and then took Monica home. Caleb and I were both tired after all of that running! On Saturday, we had showings spread out starting at 1:00 and ending at 5:00. Jenny, Caleb and I went to the mall and had lunch with Monica. We took care of some to-do items and then came home to pick up Rudy. Jenny joined our family on a trip to Grant's Farm and then we went to dinner. We all enjoyed Grant's Farm. Caleb's face was priceless as he looked at all of those animals (roosters, cows, zebras, deer, goats, kangaroos, etc). More than that, though, we all enjoyed the people-watching. That's always an adventure at Grant's Farm!

Today was the Alumni Association picnic. Rudy had a West County Brass gig, so Caleb and I went by ourselves while the house was being held open. We had a good time, but it was hard to contain Caleb for that long. He wanted so badly to get down and crawl around. I let him for a few minutes, but then I got really grossed out and decided that wasn't going to work. I put him back in the stroller and disinfected his hands, then tried to entertain him for a while that way. Nope. We were done. We left a little early and came right home. By that time, the open house was over and we were able to chill out on our own for a while.

Caleb's birthday party is Tuesday and his first birthday is Wednesday. That's so hard to believe! We're looking so forward to what the next few months will bring us. I'll post more after Caleb's birthday and - as always - there will be tons of pictures on Shutterfly.

Caleb's First Easter

Caleb thoroughly enjoyed his first Easter, and so did we. We got up this morning and went to church at 9:00. Because it was Easter, we kept Caleb in "big church" with us. We sat close enough to the cry room to make a break for it if we needed to. Fortunately, he was a big boy through the whole service. He was enthralled by the music and all of the people. The only time he got a a little noisy was when the pastor started talking. I guess he thought he needed to talk back. I gave him a teether and we gave him some puffs and he settled down pretty quickly.

We made it through the main service and then went into the chapel for the communion service. Everything was fine until we went up to the rail to receive our communion. The associate pastor touched Caleb's head and offered him God's blessings. I got so emotional and almost lost it right there in front of everyone.

After the communion service, we went back into the vestibule and took some pictures by the flower cross (everyone brings flowers from their homes and puts them in a big cross made of floral foam). Then we headed home and had an early lunch. We gave Caleb his Easter basket after lunch. He loved his Easter toys and really enjoyed playing with the plastic eggs - even though they were empty! I was really sleepy, so Rudy took care of Caleb and I went to take a nap. When I woke up, Caleb was down for his afternoon nap and Rudy was waking up from his. It was a sleepy Easter for us! Rudy finished the painting job (the whole front porch) that he had started on Saturday while I took care of Caleb inside. After that, we had a nice dinner (Rudy grilled tuna steaks) and then played with Caleb while we made our family Easter phone calls.

It was a good weekend overall. We had dinner with Jerry and Sherry on Friday night. It was so good to see them! We had a lot of fun with Caleb - who has become a real busybody these days. He started crusing the furniture this weekend and is starting to spend more and more time standing up while holding onto the furniture than he does sitting down. He has also started imitating our speech more. Tonight, he imitated "moo" when I said it while we were playing with his Little People farm set. After that, he just kept saying, "ooo oooo."

A Day at the Zoo

After Palm Sunday services this morning, we went to lunch and to Lowe's to buy some flowers for our flower bed. It was such a beautiful, warm spring day! We decided to take Caleb to the zoo for the first time. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea. It was packed! I took a ton of pictures of Caleb with the beautiful spring flowers and we had a wonderful day. Of course, Caleb was too young to understand what was going on, but he enjoyed watching all of the people. He was a little freaked out by the penguins because you get so close to them in the exhibit. He liked watching them swim though.

I can't believe my little boy will be 11 months old tomorrow!

Good Morning!

We had another first this morning...
Rudy went into Caleb's room to get him ready for the day. He found Caleb standing in his crib, holding onto the rail and grinning at him. Good thing we lowered his crib mattress last weekend. Otherwise, he might've been over the top and on the floor.

Tonight, we went to the mall to have Caleb's picture taken with the Easter Bunny. He did great. As usual, he thought it was so funny and was the star of the show.

Spring is Here!

I have lots to write about. I hope I can remember it all.

On Thursday, 3/15, we all went to the Baby Fair at the Parkway Early Childhood Center. Caleb enjoyed watching all of the other babies, but I can't say that we learned very much. We did make a fun toy and Caleb got to crawl all over the tumble mats to get some great exercise.

On Friday, 3/16, Caleb and I (once again) headed for the airport. We flew to LR to see Memmie and Poppie. Hannah was visiting them, too, so Caleb got to meet one of his 2nd cousins. We had a relaxing visit with Memmie and Poppie. Rudy made the drive down to meet us on Sunday.

Caleb had a couple of big developments on Sunday, 3/18! He learned to go from laying down to sitting up all by himself! We were pretty excited about that advancement, but he shocked us even more right before bedtime when he decided to pull himself up to standing by holding onto a stool. He was so proud of himself and we were so excited for him. The best part was that Memmie, Poppie and Pat got to share the excitement with us.

Monday was a busy day for us. I had 3 job interviews in Little Rock and Rudy had one. I haven't been writing about our possible move to Arkansas, because I didn't want to count our chickens too early, but now that things are looking more like we're going to be moving, I'm a little more comfortable with it. It actually all started last summer when Caleb was only 6 weeks old and we made our first trip to Arkansas with him. When we saw how much our families loved him, we realized that it meant everything in the world for Caleb to grow up close to the majority of his family. We talked a lot about it on our way home to St. Louis and decided that we would do what we could to make it happen. The rest would have to be up to God. That was June 2006 and now it's March 2007. God is beginning to show us glimmers of hope that it might actually happen. We have had some promising job interviews and the housing market is starting to turn around. We are excited about this possibility, but very sad about leaving the people that we have come to love here in St. Louis. That is the only hard part about the whole situation. It will be wonderful to be closer to our parents and grandparents, but we will be leaving behind some loving people and two fantastic jobs here. We know, however, that we have to do what is best for our family.

Back to Monday - I had my interviews and Rudy had his. After that, we were on our way to Ft. Smith to spend some time with Jan and Chris. We were about halfway there when my phone rang. It was the school district that I had interviewed a couple of weeks ago when I was in Arkansas. The secretary told me that the superintendent and asst. superintendent wanted to interview me on Wednesday morning at 7:30. Yikes! I told her that would not be a problem.

When we got to Ft. Smith, we enjoyed visiting with Jan and Chris. We ordered pizza and relaxed at the house for the evening. On Tuesday morning, I grudgingly said goodbye to Caleb and Rudy and headed out to shop for an interview suit. I finally found what I needed and then headed to Hot Springs to spend the night before my interview. I enjoyed the night "at home" with Mom and Mr. L. I got up early on Wednesday morning and drove over to Bryant for my interview. It went very well and I was finished by 8:15. I left the superintendent's office and drove around the area for a while, just to get my bearings in case the job were to be offered. I then drove back to Ft. Smith and met back up with my boys. Wednesday night we went out to eat and packed up to leave the next morning.

On Thursday, 3/22, we went to Rogers to see Grandma and Grandpa Voise. We had a nice lunch with them and they enjoyed seeing Caleb. After lunch, we headed back home.

On Friday, 3/23, Rudy and our neighbor, Broc, went to the Sweet 16 basketball games here in St. Louis. Jerry offered Rudy the tickets for free, so they couldn't pass up the opportunity. I had already planned to go over to Jen's to crop, so Rudy and I bit the bullet and got a babysitter for Caleb. Katie is in the band at RSHS, so Rudy knew her and felt comfortable with her keeping him. She said that he was good the whole time and only cried for a few minutes at bedtime.

Saturday, 3/24, was a little stressful for us. We had a real estate agent come over to look at the house and get the process started for listing it for sale. As we walked around, she showed us things that needed to be repaired and changed in order to make the house more marketable. That completely stressed me out! The wierd thing is that I already knew all of the things that she said, but just hearing them made me freak out! After she left and Caleb went down for his nap, we got started on the list. I did some touch-up painting and Rudy worked in the yard. We also rented a storage building to get some things out of our way so that we will have more room to work and to declutter the house.

Today was a little more of the same. I didn't feel too hot today, so while Rudy worked outside, I rested a lot and gathered my strength to go back to work tomorrow. Rudy has tomorrow off, but I have to go back to work. Yuck.

2 notables from today: Caleb cruised a few steps on the couch for the first time and he is now consistently giving us kisses. He just opens his mouth and leans right in. We always have to wipe our faces after a Caleb-kiss, but they are worth a little drool.

An Update

Paci rehab is officially over and separation anxiety has returned. Caleb is back to crying every time we leave the room and at least whimpering a little every time we put him down. He hasn't slept the past two days at Carrie's and I told her today that I was okay with some tough love...AKA - let him cry it out. That being said, we always stay close by and we always make sure he's okay, but he's NOT getting out of bed without a nap or at least a quiet rest. I think she was glad to hear that.

Our parent educator, Amy, came last night and was apparently pleased with Caleb's development. He is doing some things that she was surprised to see: putting toys inside of containers, playing reciprocal games, etc. She suggested that we continue what we're doing and not worry about him at all. She gave us some good ideas for making the battle of wills at mealtimes a little better.

On that note - Caleb LOVES to feed himself these days. He likes to eat graham crackers, cheerios, Gerber puffs, cheese crumbles, deli meat, and diced vegetables, especially green beans. He gets very frustrated when we try to feed him with a spoon and tries to grab it out of our hands at least twice per meal. We gently tell him, "nice hands" and then continue feeding him. If the grabbing continues, we just take the food away and walk away from him for a minute. We come back and try again after a minute or so. If the grabbing starts again, we say, "Uh-oh, all done." and take it away completely. He is not happy when that happens!

Tonight, after eating an entire jar of sweet potatoes, Caleb had some diced green beans on his highchair tray. Rudy and I were talking about the day's events and I turned my head for a minute. When I looked back at Caleb, he was rubbing green beans all over the side of his head above his right ear. There were green beans everywhere! I dumped them out of the hood of his shirt and then cleaned him and the highchair. He kept rubbing his head and shaking it like it hurt. I determined that this must be a sign of a headache or some other ailment, so I gave him some Tylenol. He seemed to be doing better a short while later and went to bed tonight with less than 10 minutes of crying.

On a happier note, Caleb has started saying "kak-kak" when he sees one of his stuffed animal ducks. He loves that thing!

Caleb's First Haircut

We took Caleb to Snip Its last night for his very first haircut! He did awesome - no tears and very little wiggling - and came out looking very much like a little boy instead of a baby. Of course, there are lots of pictures on Shutterfly. I'll admit that I got very teary-eyed and had a hard time with the whole event, even though I knew that he desperately needed a haircut!
We went to dinner at Mimi's Cafe after the haircut and Caleb had his first grilled cheese sandwich. He loved it! After dinner we came home and played and then prepared for paci rehab - night five. I was amazed when Caleb fussed very briefly (less than a minute, I would guess) and then got completely quiet.

Today has been a slightly different story. Despite being in a great, playful mood, he has cried quite a bit for both of his naps. He cried for about 15 minutes this morning and has been crying for more than 20 minutes as I write this. Carrie said that he's done great at her house for naps. I don't know what the problem is today - maybe it's just because he's at home.

Rudy and I have decided that it's time to lower Caleb's crib to the bottom setting. He is really starting to try to pull up on things and we're afraid he's going to pull himself up and over the top of his crib if we don't get his mattress lowered soon. The past couple of days, he's been fascinated with pulling himself up to standing by holding onto the bottom step of our stairs. He also loves to pull himself up by holding onto our pants or our hands. Last night, I helped him pull up to stand by holding onto the couch and then the little monkey wanted to climb up on the couch. Today, he pulled up on the bottom step and then actually climbed up to the next one. We are in so much trouble! The good thing is that he's still combat crawling, so we know he can't reach things that are up too high...yet.

Paci Rehab: Night Four

Caleb rocks!!!!!
Night 1 - Monday - cried for almost 2 hours
Night 2 - Tuesday - cried for 15 minutes
Night 3 - Wednesday - cried for 10 minutes
Night 4 - Thursday - cried for 4 minutes

Paci Rehab: Night Two

I have apparently had more trouble giving up the paci than Caleb has. I have beaten myself up all day about how hard that sweet little baby cried last night. I called Carrie at about 9:00 this morning and apologized profusely for rocking her world too. She was not upset in the least and was just great about it. I worried all day about it and really dreaded the story I would hear when I picked him up. I walked in to Carrie's house and was greeted with nothing but smiles. Carrie said that Caleb cried for just a few minutes this morning before he went to sleep and didn't cry at all before his afternoon nap. He apparently laid down in his bed and played with his hands for about 5 minutes and then rolled over and fell asleep. Praise the Lord! Well, that's all great and everything, but it's a whole different story at home when he's going into his big bed and Mama or Daddy are walking out of the room and turning off the light. Rudy and I decided that it might go better if he did it, since Caleb has separation issues with me. We said night-night, gave kisses, waved and all that jazz in the living room. Rudy took him upstairs and did the bedtime routine then put Caleb down for bed. He started screaming as soon as the light went off. We braced ourselves for another long night. Nope. He stopped crying after about 10 or 15 minutes and we haven't heard a peep since. That was 45 minutes ago. All that being said - Rudy and I realize that we are just so very very blessed. Caleb never ceases to amaze us with how he transitions so easily and just keeps smiling through it all.

Paci Rehab: Night Two

I have apparently had more trouble giving up the paci than Caleb has. I have beaten myself up all day about how hard that sweet little baby cried last night. I called Carrie at about 9:00 this morning and apologized profusely for rocking her world too. She was not upset in the least and was just great about it. I worried all day about it and really dreaded the story I would hear when I picked him up. I walked in to Carrie's house and was greeted with nothing but smiles. Carrie said that Caleb cried for just a few minutes this morning before he went to sleep and didn't cry at all before his afternoon nap. He apparently laid down in his bed and played with his hands for about 5 minutes and then rolled over and fell asleep. Praise the Lord! Well, that's all great and everything, but it's a whole different story at home when he's going into his big bed and Mama or Daddy are walking out of the room and turning off the light. Rudy and I decided that it might go better if he did it, since Caleb has separation issues with me. We said night-night, gave kisses, waved and all that jazz in the living room. Rudy took him upstairs and did the bedtime routine then put Caleb down for bed. He started screaming as soon as the light went off. We braced ourselves for another long night. Nope. He stopped crying after about 10 or 15 minutes and we haven't heard a peep since. That was 45 minutes ago. All that being said - Rudy and I realize that we are just so very very blessed. Caleb never ceases to amaze us with how he transitions so easily and just keeps smiling through it all.

Big Changes

Caleb has done great with his tubes. We haven't had any problems at all! Yeah!!!! The day after the tubes went in, he started to babble more. We even heard "Mamamama" for the first time! He's now doing a lot of consonants and a lot of vowels too. He still prefers "dadadadada" and that's his response any time you try to get him to talk to you.

As far as mobility - Caleb is still doing his ever-popular wounded soldier routine. He has started to prop up on his left side pretty often, though. We're thinking this may be the precursor to learning to sit up on his own. He can now readily go from sitting to crawling. We've started to see more rocking on his knees too. I don't think it'll be long before he's crawling up on his hands and knees, but I've been saying that for weeks now, so we're just waiting. Caleb's newest love is pulling up from sitting to standing by holding onto my arms. He loves to grab on and then stand right up! He can't stand alone, so I support his hips or under his arms, but he has quite a bit of strength in those little legs.

This past weekend, we went to Hot Springs for a visit. On Friday night, we flew in to Little Rock. Mom picked us up at the airport and we made a b-line for Hot Springs. We were exhausted! Saturday was a relaxing day of napping and visiting with family. We went to see Aunt Harolyn and Uncle Poppie's new house they are building. It's going to be so pretty! We went to dinner with Mom, Pepapa and Anna Joyce at KJ's Grill. Ms. Kelly (one of the owners) came and got Caleb and took him back in the kitchen for a look around. She said he loved it and was most impressed by the ice machine and the noise that it made. Mr. L. came home from deer camp on Sunday and had a blast playing with Caleb. We went to Pepapa and Anna Joyce's to celebrate Uncle Jimmy's 40th birthday. Jimmy and Kim came over from Sheridan and we enjoyed visiting with everyone. Caleb even got to have a little cake and ice cream since it was a special occasion.

Sunday was a day of firsts too. All of a sudden, Caleb decided that he would start waving to everyone and everything. He waved at us all day and all night! He also discovered that he can make interesting sounds with his tongue. For 2 days now, he has been clucking and clicking his tongue like crazy. It's pretty amusing - especially to him. He's also getting better at clapping. He tries so hard to get his little hands together, but sometimes he misses.

Tonight was a dark night in Caleb's very young life. When we got home from Arkansas, it was time to say goodbye to our beloved pacifiers. To keep us from giving in and giving them back to him, I actually threw them in the trash - all of them - gone. I allowed him to have them through today, because we were flying and I needed to be able to give Caleb a pacifier in case his ears hurt, but once we got home - POOF - they were gone! I paid the price, too. I put Caleb down to bed like normal at 8:45. He screamed and screamed and SCREAMED for an hour and 45 minutes! I tried everything: I put him in bed and walked out. I rocked him. I read a story. I turned the lights low. I turned the lights off. I turned on music, then turned it back off again. I sat in the rocking chair next to his bed, I folded clothes in his room, I walked the floor with him and I rubbed his back. Finally, I gave up. I decided to fight one battle at a time. I scooped him up and brought him to bed with me. This is the one thing that always works, right? He started screaming all over again. Finally, it actually got a little funny. The sad little sounds he was making were just plain pitiful and I had to laugh to keep from crying myself. Eventually, the poor little guy had all he could take and he went from crying/screaming/moaning/wailing to snoring in a matter of seconds. I let him get into a good, deep sleep and I carried him to his room. That was over an hour ago and he's still sleeping...
I know the next few days/nights are going to be rough, but I really want to stop the pacifier usage now. I actually wanted to stop it at 6 months, but that's when the ear problems were starting to get really bad and I just couldn't take it away from him. Now, he's reached a point where he doesn't have a developmental need to suck anymore. He is old enough to self-soothe when he's upset and he's old enough to get himself to sleep. I want to get rid of the pacifier now - before it becomes something that he is so hooked on that it will take an all-out war to remove. We're at the point now where we're going to start phasing out the baby stuff (pacifiers, bottles, baby food, etc) and phasing in the big-boy stuff (sippy cups, table food, bowls, etc). I hate to admit that my sweet little baby is growing up so fast, but I have to do what I have to do. This feels right and it's what I'm going to do. So...bye-bye paci. We'll miss you - but only for a few days.