Nine FINE months!

Caleb has officially been here longer than he was in my belly!  Hard to believe really.

Daily Schedule:
6:10 Wake-up and nurse. Playtime!
8:00 Eat oatmeal for breakfast.
9:00-10:00 Nap.
11:00 Nurse.
12:00 Lunch.  You are loving finger foods! 
(Green peas, Pasta, Puffs, Carrots, Peach Yogurt, Brown rice, just to name a few.)
1:00 Nap.  (1-2 hours)
4:00 Nurse.
6:00 Supper.
7:40 Nurse. Bed.
*And tons of playtime, cuddle time, watching brother, laughing @ brother in between!

Stats: 
18lb. 4oz.  28 1/2 inches long  *You aren't packing on the pounds, just getting longer!

Fun things you are up to:
*You can roar like a lion! 7-9-12
*You have your top left tooth! 7-17-12

Sweetness!

*You make a froggy gulp in your throat just like your cousin Logan did! 7-7-12
*If we ask, "Where is the light?", you look up!
*Your favorite thing to play with is the plastic bin of Dylan's hot wheel cars and figurines!
*When you get excited you stick your arms straight out and open and close your hands like "Gimmee!"

*You have the "GRUNT AND LEAN" which is your way to tell us what you need.  You grunt and lean your whole body sideways.  It can mean: eat, get down, hold me, let me sleep.
*You also like to throw your body backwards and yelp if we aren't giving you what you want. (Yikes!)
*You can grow, grow, grow to the Bible class song!
*You like to throw your toys in Bible class, and at home!
*You get so excited about toys, more than your brother ever did!

*You say: Ba-ba-ba, Da-da-da, Ma-ma-ma (and I think you know what it means!)
*You are getting lots more hair.  It is light brown and gets really curly when you get sweaty!
*You love your papi and blankie so very much!
*You are still army crawling everywhere and man are you fast!

 Army crawl-in-action!

*You love to watch Nelli!

*You absolutely love reading books, just like your big brother.  You love the touch and feel books and you already try to turn the pages.  You like to read FAST!

Caleb, you have a great personality. You are at the age of great discovery.  Everything is new and exciting.  I sometimes think your chubby cheeks might burst from all of your smiling!  You are incredibly laid back.  You sat on our lap at the Traveler's baseball game for almost 2 hours and never made a peep!  You love to cuddle.  You make us smile and sometimes Mommy wants to bottle you up at this age and make time stand still! 

Perspective

Do you ever feel like you need to take a few steps back and gain some perspective on your life? I recently did this in my relationship with my (sniff*sniff*) almost 3 year old.  Over the past few months we have been struggling with a battle of wills, especially in regards to his nap time.  When Jonathan and I went to Chicago, I began reading this book that my sister gave me.  I am about 100 pages in and feel like I have underlined something on 90 pages!  When we got home, I began implementing some of Dr. Leman's suggestions on fit throwing, discipline, etc.  I highly recommend it!  

I am not sure if it was just coincidence, or the Lord intervening, but while we were gone, D-man napped everyday!  I asked my mom how she did it, and she told me that she held him in the rocking chair and told him stories until he fell asleep.  Now a little background info: For the past several months, I was unable to keep him in bed to nap.  He would either sing at the top of his lungs to keep himself awake, or come out of his room 500 times.  I tried many different suggestions from friends, too many to list, and it seemed like we would both end up angry and upset.  I did not like myself as a "mom" between the hours of 1:00-3:00pm daily.  Something had to change, yet I KNEW that he still desperately needed his nap.  So I tried what my mom had done.  Scenario: I lay Caleb down in his crib for his afternoon nap (Praise God he puts his sweet self to sleep) then Dylan and I go to his room and climb in the rocking chair.  He requests a story: pirates, Mickey, endless possibilities.  I make up a story and we rock.  After the story, I sing church praise songs to him and wait for him to drift off to sleep.  It is usually a 30 minute process and he naps anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Here is the perspective that I now have as I looked at the whole picture a little different:

-My almost 3 year old is still a baby.  He still needs comfort, love, and one-on-one attention.  Why do we try to make our little ones grow up so fast? 

-I believe part of his acting out at nap was because he knew I was laying him down to go spend time with his baby brother.  He needs Mommy time, too.

-We all leave happy.  He naps which means the afternoon and evening are pleasant.  And I get to spend some cuddling time with my firstborn son that doesn't stop moving unless he is asleep!

This method may seem crazy to some moms.  But it is working for this one.  I needed a new perspective.  Now that I have it, I feel refreshed.  I feel like I can tackle my days without dreading nap time.  So, thanks Mom for starting something new.  Thanks Dr. Leman for some great tips in your book.  Thanks to God for putting it all together.  Everything happens for a reason.  

I love my Dylan more than life itself.  He is one exciting, energetic, loving little boy.  I plan to hold on to all these memories.  And cherish my time with him while he is young.  Because, yes, in the blink of an eye he WILL be a big boy.  

The 4th and Parents Getaway!

Two posts in one! It's long!

OUR FOURTH OF JULY!

Family time!

We spent the morning at the lake with the Arnold family.  Dylan rode jet skis, went fishing, and ate lots of food sweets!  Caleb was pretty low key!  He ate and took a nap!  Aunt Janell was in town and I can't believe I didn't get a picture with her!  The boys love her to pieces and love that she crashed on our couch and got to hang out with us for  part of the 4th! 

Happy Fourth! 

Ridin' with Daddy!

 That afternoon, we went to the pool.  Dylan enjoyed the inflatables most!  He made new friends that "looked out for him" amongst all the bigger kids.  It is so refreshing to know some (and I do say only some) children still have manners and help a small child instead of mowing them over.  We enjoyed some time with Matt and Lana, and then went home and CRASHED!

So much fun! 

The Big Slide!

Curly Q's!

Our American Baby!

This face melts my heart!

 PARENTS GETAWAY!

Jonathan and I took our first getaway since Caleb was born for the weekend.  We celebrated our 8th anniversary! We flew out of LR very early Friday morning and were in Chicago before 10am!  We took a taxi to our hotel which was the PERFECT  little boutique!  Thanks so much Mrs. Caryn, Lindsey, and Erin for the recommendation!  We love the Talbott Hotel on E. Delaware and WILL be staying there again!  It was quiet, the bellman, and doorman were so friendly!  

Awesome place to stay!

We were a little over 2 blocks from Michigan Ave, but the area was totally perfect!  It is the type scene you see in the movies!  Little eateries with patio seating, fountains surrounded by little tables to relax.  I absolutely love that area!  We ate lunch at the famous Cheesecake Factory!  Our cheesecake was to die for!  On Friday, we headed straight to Michigan Ave. to check out all the shops!  We walked and shopped for a while, then went back and took a nap!  Yes! A NAP! 

Me: Banana cream J: Snickers

 We took a boat ride down the Chicago River and out into Lake Michigan.  It was neat to hear about all of the buildings and why the Chicago River runs the opposite direction!

Amazing scenery!

 We ate supper at Ditka's Chop House!  Jonathan ate "da chop" and I had the filet!  It was a great meal!

Late night supper!

  Saturday we decided to walk down to the old "mansions" of Chicago (recommended by our concierge).  It was so cool!  I picked out my own place, red door and all!  How neat to live on this street that is so full of history!  We found the original Playboy mansion.  I found out that it is now several condominiums that are valued at millions of dollars each!

I picked the house with the red door! 

Enjoying our walk!

Original Playboy Mansion!

 Our concierge recommended Lou Malnati's for deep dish pizza!  It WAS INCREDIBLE!  The buttercrust was out of this world.  We had a free chocolate chip cookie with ice cream that was possibly better than the pizza.  We love going to places that the "locals" love instead of the overly advertised ones!

Saturday night was the big concert!

KENNY CHESNEY AND TIM MCGRAW AT SOLDIER FIELD!  We took the L to Soldier Field along with 50,000 of our closest friends!  Our assigned seats were pretty disappointing so we moved on over to the only lower level section that didn't sell out.  Great move and awesome concert! Everyone knows that Kenny is my favorite.  Seen him several many times!  He played some of his older songs and I was more than thrilled about that! The breeze in the evening actually made me a little chilly!  It was so much fun!  I would recommend Brothers of the Sun Tour to anyone!  Tim and Kenny did not disappoint!  The concert lasted nearly 6 hours.  We didn't get back to our hotel until midnight. 

So fun!

Tim McGraw was great!

Kenny!

Together!

 Sunday we decided to take it easy! We checked out at noon and walked across the street to eat brunch at Cru (formerly The Feast).  It was great!  The weather was perfect!  75-sunny-with a cool breeze!  We decided to just walk around some more.  We shopped, and waited in line for Garrett's popcorn!  Caramel crisp did not disappoint either!  We headed to the airport around 3 and were home in time to put our boys to bed!  Thanks to my mom and dad for keeping the boys and for J's parents helping out too!  It takes a village and we have a great one that allows us to take "US" time to refuel!