Babble Babble Toil and Trouble

Caleb is keeping us so busy that I haven't had much time to post an update for a while, so here goes -

October has been absolutely crazy and so much fun! The first weekend in October, Rudy took the band to Tulsa for a marching contest. Caleb and I took advantage of him being out of town and flew to Arkansas to be with my grandmother on her 80th birthday. She said it was the best gift I could've ever given her, but it was truly my pleasure. I just love watching my parents and grandparents with Caleb, so it was awesome to get to spend the whole weekend with Memmie and Poppie. Mom and Mr. L. came to pick us up on Sunday and take us to the airport. Not only were they helping us out by giving us a ride to the airport...they couldn't stand having Caleb so close by and not getting to see him. I know the truth! They aren't fooling me!

This past weekend, Jan came to our house and took care of Caleb while I went to Fayetteville for my annual homecoming weekend with Leslie and Cindy. Rudy had a marching contest on Saturday, so Jan agreed to come in and got to spend some time with Caleb as a reward. I missed him so much! Being away from Caleb and Rudy for a whole weekend was rough! Even though I had an amazing weekend in Fayetteville with "my girls", I was happy to get home and get a big smile from "my boys."

October just doesn't stop for us...this weekend is my birthday party. Mom is coming up on Friday night to visit and - again - spend some time with Caleb. She's going to LaLa-sit on Saturday night while we're at my party. I'm very grateful! The following weekend, Caleb will be spending some quality time with Jerry and Rebecca while Rudy has the big Greater St. Louis marching contest at the Dome. Jenny and I are going to Vegas to see Jimmy Buffett as a celebration of our birthdays. It seems like I keep "pawning" my child off every weekend, but that's really not the case at all! This has been a particularly crazy month for us and I miss him so very much every time I'm away from him.

Caleb has really started to babble more this month. He's babbling mostly vowels, but some early consonants too. I'm hearing some /b/, /m/ and /d/ sounds. Nothing in the world gets him "talking" as much as Dewey does. Everytime he catches a glimpse of Dewey, he starts jabbering and won't take his eyes off of him.

On Sunday night, we finally hit a major milestone that I've been waiting for - Caleb rolled over again. He actually rolled from his tummy to his back 4 times. I've been encouraging him to do it for weeks - since he did it the first time and got scared. He's only done it one more time since Sunday, but at least now I know he can. He is sitting up with less and less support and can sit up alone for about 5 seconds on a solid surface - until something to his left or right (usually Dewey) catches his attention.

We've introduced squash and peas into Caleb's ever-growing repertoire of foods. He really likes eating from the spoon now and doesn't try quite as much to grab it when I'm feeding him. He gets so mad when I don't feed him fast enough and also when I wipe his mouth. He still doesn't have any teeth, but there are a couple of bumps on his gums that may become teeth at any time. I was late getting my teeth, so maybe he will be too. Caleb's hair has really started to grow and get thicker this past week. It stands straight up in some places and is as blonde as it can be. He's a total cottontop! When it's dry, there isn't any curl, but when it's wet, you can see a little. It would be bizarre if he ended up with straight hair, but I think it would be a total blessing. Toddler boys with curls are so cute, but I always feel sad for middle school and high school boys with curly hair.

I can't wait to see what amazing feats Caleb surprises us with this week!

Carrots and Raspberries

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in 12 days! Let me try to remember what all has happened...

Caleb and I made our first solo roadtrip on September 22nd. We met Mom in Fayetteville and had a great weekend! On Friday, we hit the road as soon as possible and unknowingly drove through a tornado warning on the way down there. The drive wasn't too bad until we actually got to Arkansas, though. We were less than 20 miles from the hotel and traffic came to a standstill. Come to find out, there were power lines down on the interstate. That added about 45 minutes to our trip, but we made it. By the time we got to the hotel, I was completely worn out. Mom was excited to see Caleb (and me) and we caught up quickly and then hit the bed. On Saturday, Leslie came to pick me up and we went to the football game. It was a crazy game and I was tired again when it was over. I went back to the hotel and we were lazy all night. We ordered in and just laid around. Mom told me all about her day with Caleb. They went shopping and watched the ballgame on TV. On Sunday, we packed up and headed home. The trip home was a lot smoother than the trip down there! Caleb was a good travel buddy!

The Monday after we got home, I decided it was finally time to tackle the cereal experience. We got everything ready and crossed our fingers and offered Caleb a spoonful of rice cereal. He took to it pretty quickly and even tried to "help" get the spoon to his mouth. Oh, boy! That was the 25th and now we're on to carrots! Tonight was the first trial with something that actually had some taste to it. He LOVED them! He ate about half of the bowl. Actually, he hate less than that and wore a whole lot of it. I still haven't figured out how it got behind his ear! He was thrilled when he realized that he could blow raspberries with carrots in his mouth. I was not nearly as thrilled, but got a little tickled by the whole thing anyway. It was just so stinkin' cute! Caleb still tries to help and loves to chew on the spoon. There are pictures of the cereal experience on the Shutterfly site and a video on DropShots. I'll put some carrot pictures on soon. We can see the beginnings of a couple of teeth coming in. Oddly, they are not in the front of his mouth - more to the side. He chews on anything and everything he can get in his mouth, especially our fingers. He hasn't been too fussy, but just doesn't seem to be himself. We've had to give him Tylenol a couple of times and that seems to help. He doesn't really like the cold teething rings, but will chew on them once they warm up a little.

This past Friday night, Jenny and I took Caleb to the Summit football game and then out to eat. On Saturday, Caleb had a Daddy Day! They had a fun day together while I went to an all day scrapbook crop. Rudy took Caleb to a marching contest, but it was a little loud for him, so they left. Saturday night, they went to see Jerry, Sherry and Rebecca and had dinner with them. On Sunday, Rudy played his trumpet at church. I thought Caleb would be okay in the sanctuary, but he decided that the middle of the sermon would be a good time to "talk" to everyone around us. I took him back into the cry room and we finished the service there. Sunday night, I went to the grocery store and Rudy bravely tackled the task of giving Caleb a bath by himself. He did a great job! He's an awesome Daddy!

This weekend, we're going to Sherwood to spend the weekend with my grandparents. Memmie is turning 80 on Saturday and the best gift I can offer her is a visit from Caleb. What could be better?!? Rudy is taking the band to Tulsa for a marching contest, so it'll just be Caleb and me. We're flying down there on Friday night and coming back on Sunday evening. Should be a fun trip. I'm just trying to figure out how to pack everything!