we're finally responsible parents...

this morning i went and officially signed all the paperwork needed for life insurance. we've been talking about needing to get life insurance since we were pregnant but finally got on the ball this week. it was totally painless... just answering questions and signing papers. in a while we'll have to answer more questions via the phone and then have a medical check. my favorite part of the appointment today was when the gal asked if i had lost any weight in the last 12 months. yes, i told her, i've lost about 30lbs... it was nice that she never asked how much i had gained! she did say, though, that she's amazed that giving birth is such a good diet!

hold on tight

yesterday caleb did something new when i was getting him calmed down for a nap. part of our routine is to turn on a quiet song and then i hold him and we softly dance to the music. well, this time, he snuggled close to me, grabbed hold of my shirt, and even tried to wrap his little legs around my waist. i never wanted it to end!!

caleb likes wood

... a lot! if i hold him in a wooden chair, he likes to reach for the wood and try to grab it and often taste it. he does this in his room, too. even when surrounded with fun toys, caleb will roll over to his dresser to touch and taste the wood. and this morning, when i went to get him out of his crib, i saw him trying to taste his crib. maybe it's an indication that caleb will be a carpenter like his uncle scroll.

a new favorite

this is caleb's new ball. i bought it for him because at PEPS he would steal a ball like this from other babies. i decided rather than tackling the stealing issue, i would just buy him his own :) he LOVES it! it's so easy for him to grab and it has taught him how to transfer things from one had to the other. he can also hold it with his toes, which opens up all new possibilities!

are taste buds genetic?

because caleb seems to be developing tastes very similar to his daddy... and he's just barely getting started! first of all, we tried rice cereal which went well. caleb likes it and in the last week or so has started wanting more than the initial tablespoon that we had been giving him. next, came bananas. these made him gag even before they made it into his mouth... just like his daddy! today, we tried avacado... a big hit! caleb smiled his way through half of an avocado and would have eaten more but i thought it best to wait seeing as this was his first try. and so far, the solids have not affected the amount of nursing he's doing. is there no end to how much this baby will eat??

PEPS

i think i've mentioned before that i'm part of a PEPS group. this organization, which stands for Program for Early Parental Support, is only in King county, but really should be everywhere. basically, it's a group for moms who have young babies. you join before your baby is 4 months old and they put you in a group with other moms in your same area. so, the 10 of us in my group all live within about 15 minutes of one another and we all have babies within a few months of each other. it's great to see babies younger and older than caleb so that i can see where he's been and where he will be soon. every week we talk about highs and lows of the week and then, after a little snack, we discuss a topic. some of our topics have been sleeping, eating, relationships, toys, birth stories, etc. there's a facilitator that keeps us on track (as much as possible) and chooses the topics.

the bummer is that tomorrow is our last official meeting. but, we're going to keep meeting every week for PEPS Plus, which is the same thing, just with no leader. and, every month we're going to have a mom's night out where the dads babysit and we go out for dinner! what fun! i've really enjoyed having these other ladies in my life to talk babies with and share ideas and research. i'm hoping that some of the relationships will continue for quite a while. plus, it's great for caleb to get a chance to be around other kids his age.

all fours

caleb is really good at going on all fours now. he especially likes to this in bed, during tummy time, after a bath, and, well, all the time. he can also bounce while on all fours, but has not figured out how to coordinate things in order to move on purpose. between bouncing, rolling over both ways, and doing the "superman swim", though, he sure does move... just not always where he wants to go!

tooth, take two

i thought i was feeling a bit of a lump under caleb's gums yesterday and, sure enough, today a second tooth has broken through! it's his right, bottom, front tooth... very cute!!

just wait two weeks...

that's the advice my mom gave me... if something is hard or you think you have something figured out, just wait two weeks. what i thought i was really hard these last two weeks was caleb's sleeping started getting more sporadic. at first i blamed teething and then i thought i was putting him to bed at the wrong time. then his naps started getting a little shorter from time to time and he started hating to go down for his evening nap. well, what troy and i are now thinking, is that he's dropping his evening nap and going down to just two. it's a little earlier than we were expecting it, and we'll probably keep trying to put him down when he's looking really tired, but i think that's the direction we're moving.

1 - 2 - 3

there sure are a lot of these memes floating around... oh well, this one is short and seems kind of fun!

Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
2. Find page 123.
3. Find the first 5 sentences
4. Post the next 3 sentences
5. Tag 5 people

ok, so the nearest book to me (of that length) is... let me see... a book of greek myths that troy was given for his birthday. it's very interesting, actually, to see how many writers borrow from the ideas in myths or that myths borrowed ideas from the bible. anyway...

in disgust she (Athena) threw the flute down to earth and put a curse on it. Marsyas, a satyr who was capering about in the Phrygian woods, found the flute and began to play on it. when he discovered he could play two melodies at the same time, he was wild with joy"

based on this myth, marsyas is considered sort of a "father of flutes" and there are several flute resources that bear his name.

i don't really have 5 people to tag who will actually do this... actually, janell is the only one who ever does and she's the one who tagged me! so, i'll just tag The Lochheads

we made it!

this weekend was our first weekend alone without troy. i know that many moms do this all the time or at least fairly regularly, but i'm blessed to have a wonderful husband who comes home every night. so i was worried about this weekend... but it has been a success! we haven't had any breakdowns (from either of us) or disasters. that's not to say, however, that we're not really excited to have troy back tomorrow! honestly, i think the hardest part for me has been going to sleep alone... i thought i would miss getting my evening break from caleb the most. and, while i do miss that, it's having troy around as husband, rather than father, that i miss the most.

a fun visit

last weekend we had a special visitor at our house. our friend, tim, came to see us. growing up, tim was like another brother to me and so to be able to introduce him to caleb was a great pleasure. he and caleb got along great! in fact, after tim left, troy commented that it was just like having family around... we didn't feel the need to impress him or entertain him and he loved all over caleb without skipping a beat. we had a great time playing games, reading, going to my tea shop, etc. and it was so fun watching him play with and cuddle caleb. tim even got to see the beginning of caleb's tongue-sticking-out phase! now, if he only lived closer...

all done

i've been meaning to blog about this for a while now... caleb does something really cute when i'm feeding him while he's asleep (dream feed and night feeding) and he gets finished. all of a sudden, he'll just stop eating, arch his back, crane his neck away, and close his mouth tight. i've tried several times to get him to change his mind and eat again, but that never happens. it's so funny, though, so i don't mind!

rice cereal

now that caleb is 5 months old, we've started giving him rice cereal once a day. it's only a little bit, but i'm hoping it will get him ready for more solids when he's 6 months. he enjoys the cereal and really likes biting the spoon. the interesting part, though, is when he combines eating with some of his other tricks... like sticking out his tongue or blowing raspberries. now that is fun!

happy valentine's day

i found this meme reading melissa the mouth's blog and thought it would be fun to do this week.
1. Where / how did you meet your spouse?
we actually met our senior year of high school when we were both visiting whitworth to see if that's where we wanted to go for college. we ended up bowling on the same lane and sitting by each other at didier's. i left thinking we would be friends if we both went there... he left thinking he would marry someone like me. we were both right.
2. How long have you known each other?
well, we met in the spring of 1999, so that would be about 8 1/2 years
3. How long after you met did you start dating?
about two years later... spring of sophomore year of college
4. How long did you date before you were engaged?
troy proposed on a date celebrating our 7th month of dating
5. How long was your engagement?
too long... 8 months
6. How long have you been married?
5 1/2 wonderful years
7. What is your anniversary?
august 10th, 2002
8. How many people came to your wedding reception?
don't really remember... maybe about 150 or so
9. What kind of cake did you serve?
amazing cake! chocolate and white cakes with great filling... topped with white frosting and then covered in chocolate... it looked like a chocolate waterfall!
10. Where was your wedding?
we were married at my church, hinson, and then had the reception at the beautiful crowne plaza hotel.
11. What did you serve for the meal?
appetizers
12. How many people were in your bridal party?
five on each side and a flower girl and ring bearer.
13. Are you still friends with them all?
on my side, yes. on troy's side... all but one.
14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?
i think he got teary, but no real crying.
15. Most special moment of your wedding day?
the whole day was wonderful! i especially loved when our friend was doing a dance while we lit the unity candle... it gave us a chance to talk about how we were doing and take it all in. also, i LOVED our rehearsal bbq dinner at a park. but since that wasn't on the wedding day, maybe it didn't count. 16. Any funny moments?
everything about the ring bearer and flower girl was funny! during the ceremony, the flower girl actually laid down on a step and started kicking her feet... sometimes even kicking up the dress of one of the bridesmaids.
17. Any big disasters?
only an almost-disaster. the tux shop didn't give us everything we needed. for example, troy was missing a tux shirt! fortunately, the wife of one of the groomsmen was at near the store and picked up what was missing.
18. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
mammoth lakes, california. we drove there and got to hike in yosemite, play games, ride bikes, etc. it was a wonderful vacation.
19. How long were you gone?
one week
20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change?
i would get a better photographer and dj,
21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
when laying in bed, left
22. What size is your bed?
queen so we can still cuddle
23. Greatest strength as a couple?
we both are committed to loving God and living lives that glorify Him. and we have tons of fun together!
24. Greatest challenge as a couple?
i don't really know... maybe getting stuck in ruts of things to do.
25. Who literally pays the bills?
troy
26. What is your song?
we don't really have one. but if we did, it would probably be wonderful tonight by eric clapton because that's what troy played for me on his guitar as a part of our first date.
27. What did you dance your first dance to?
some random waltz. see, we had songs picked out and then our dj had some family emergency and had to send a replacement who didn't know about what we did and did not want. and he mispronounced our last name. blah.
28. Describe your wedding dress.
bright white... empire waist... white satin covered with embroidered white organza... white organza train... fetuchini straps... i felt like a fairy princess!
29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding?
wedding: white cala lily, blue hydrangea, white roses, greens
reception: blue hydrangea, white roses
30. Are your wedding bands engraved?
troy's has "forever" engraved in it.

i'll tag janell and angel. but really, this is a no pressure meme, so feel free to ignore it.

adventures in teething

since caleb started teething he has found more things to put in his mouth than i thought was possible! here's a list (in progress) of things he's either put in his mouth or tried to put in there...

kleenex box, computer keyboard, cell phone, spoon, jeans, washcloth, kleenex, shoulder blade, book, clothes, bathroom faucet, fingers, blankets, toys, and sometimes even a teething ring!

saying hello

this is caleb's latest "thing"... he loves to open his mouth. it's what he does in place of smiling at people. i think it means, "hi, i like you!" it started with looking at himself in the mirror. he saw his reflection and opened his mouth. now, he does it to anyone he likes. we get a huge kick out of it!

tongue

just this past weekend, caleb discovered that he can stick out his tongue. it's funny, i never realized that he didn't stick his tongue out until now that he does it. i wonder if it has anything to do with him getting a tooth. maybe he started trying to feel the tooth with his tongue or something. no matter how it started, i think it's pretty cute! as soon as i can get a good picture, i'll post it.

hold on tight... it's time for bed!

caleb does the cutest thing when he's falling alseep... he reaches around the crib for something to hold on to. usually he finds his doggy-lamby (long story) for one hand and his blanket from aunt gail for the other hand. i have to be careful not to have my hand in the crib while he's drifting off or else he grabs onto me. what a cutie-pie!

there's something new...

in caleb's mouth! yesterday i was at starbucks with a friend and i wanted to check to see if caleb was getting hungry. so, i stuck my knuckle in his mouth and, all of a sudden, i felt something in there. i thought he had gotten something in his mouth... like some sand or something. but, no... it was a tooth! it's one of the bottom front teeth. it seems to bug him a little, but nothing he can't handle.

hair-do

every night, troy gives caleb a bath as a part of our bedtime routine. both of them love it... especially since caleb learned how to make splashes with his feet! then, after the bath, it's time for the lotion. caleb has trouble with patches of dry skin (it's not just the dimples that he got from me!) so troy lotions him up really well every night. finally, it's time for the hair-do! using the lotion, troy styles caleb's hair so it looks really cool. usually, it's just spiked. but one night i came into the room to find my baby with a peach-fuzz mohawk! is he hip, or what?!

bam bam

that's what i call it when caleb lays on his back and just kicks his legs (usually his right leg) down onto whatever he's laying on. it could be the floor, our bed, the changing table, or his crib. he especially likes it in his crib because then it makes a cool sound AND the whole bed bounces! sometimes i'll lay him down for a nap and i can tell if he's flipped over and isn't going to be able to go to sleep because i'll hear "bam bam bam bam" coming from his room. so, i'll go in, turn him over, and then let him get to sleep.