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!