Birthday!!!

I think Caleb really enjoyed his second birthday. His latest Sesame Street episode featured someone having a birthday party and they talked about birthdays. What great timing! Thanks, again, Sesame Street. That show sure has been a blessing to me in so many ways! Nannie and Bebe came Friday and Granny and Granddaddy came today. I really, really needed Caleb to get a good nap and I was just about to get him ready to go down for one when I heard Granny and Granddaddy pull up. I knew he would be a pill if he didn't get his nap in and I really wanted him to enjoy his party, so I had to dash off into his bedroom and not let him see Granny and Granddaddy. I felt really bad about that because I knew they really wanted to see him and they would have to wait a few more hours for him to wake up, but I just couldn't take the chance of him not going down for a nap. I was pretty sure he wouldn't want to sleep if he knew they were here. Thankfully, he took a good nap and we were able to decorate the house while he was sleeping. Jason was out taking care of last minute details....streamer, balloons, etc while I finished cleaning up. The rest of us transferred the living room furniture to our bedroom to make room for the play area. When Jason got home, we added the toys, streamer and balloons. Our living room was transformed into a big playroom with Sesame Street posters hanging everywhere. Nannie made Caleb a very cool Sesame Street cake. I decorated the cupcakes with icing. Bebe watched supervised and told on me when I was doing it wrong (tattletale). I may have accidently dropped some of the icing in my mouth. Oops. I'm so clumsy. We woke Caleb up and got him ready with his cute little outfit. Jason and I both worked to get him completely dressed and ready to go before we presented the "playroom". We got the papparazzi all lined up with cameras and videocameras and sent him to check out his party. He was wide-eyed and exicted. He kind of reminded me of people's reactions when they get a home makeover. They aren't sure where to look and are amazed at each new thing they see. That's how he was. Caleb's friends starting coming and Caleb just got more and more excited. He loved having all his little friends there to play with him. I knew the playroom was a hit when I opened the door and one of the older kids looked in and said "COOL!!" and ran in to play. That didn't last very long as the party migrated outdoors since the weather was so nice. We got some balls and different toys for the kids to play with while some of the kids played on the swingset. We had 2 or 3 toys get stuck in our one skinny tree. We have a huge, flat backyard...plenty of room to run and play...with ONE tree. Yet, still, the rubber snake and pink ball get stuck in it. How does that happen?? Caleb still doesn't understand opening presents and blowing out candles, but his older friends were sure to help him with it. He didn't mind. He LOVED his birthday cake. It was really good and lots of people agreed. Of course, we really don't eat a lot of cake at our house so this was a big treat for him. He has been asking me all day if it's is "birthday, momma?". I'm still saying yes, it's your birthday. He's so stinking cute. Thanks to all our friends and family that made is birthday so wonderful and special.

Caleb turns 2!!!!!!

I can't believe it. He is officially 2. No more "almost 2". He's really 2. Next thing you know he will be 5, then 12, then 18, then....I don't even want to think about it!! I mean I won't go past 30, yet he will continue to get older and I will wonder where the time has gone. I want to enjoy every minute of it...and remember all the funny things he says and does. Even though I loved my job at Lebonheur and I felt so important climbing off that helicopter, I wouldn't change leaving it for nothing. Of course, there are days I'd like to go to work just for a break, but overall, I'm glad I made that decision. If you would have asked me if I would leave my job and work as a floor nurse after I had a baby a few years ago, I would have looked at you like you had two heads. I'm blessed to work in a field where I can work a couple of days a week at night while Caleb sleeps and make enough money to pay for the extra things we want. I get that not every mom shares that desire or for some reason isn't able to stay at home and I completely respect that. I honestly thought I would put my child in daycare and go back to work. That was the plan until I held him for the first time. I even tried putting him in daycare for a while. It didn't last long, though. I couldn't stand dropping him off in the morning. He was usually the last to get to class and the first to be picked up. I couldn't stand for him to be away.

What I find funny is that he is the most sociable little 2 year old I've ever known. He doesn't cry (except a couple of times) when I drop him off at mothers day out, sunday school, or leave him with a babysitter. He will talk to just about anyone. He says Hi to everyone he sees without me prompting. He will talk to anyone, give kisses to anyone, befriend anyone. Yes, there are times when he is clingy (especially when he is sleepy) and there are times when Jason is watching him while I sleep that he won't stop calling for me, but overall he is a very sociable child.

Ok, well, this post is really different from how I had planned it. I guess I just had some random thoughts to share. I'll post about Caleb's birthday party later.

Growing up......some more

I just dropped Caleb off at Mothers Day Out and we were met at the door by a very excited, sweet little blond boy that squealed "that's Caleb!" to the teacher. "Oooh," she said "I wasn't sure which one you were talking about". Apparently he had been asking her where Caleb was and was so excited to see him. It's was so sweet to see another kid excited to see my child (by the way, his name is Aaron). It's fun to see Caleb making friends and playing with them and I'm glad he has a little buddy at MDO.....yet it's one more reminder that he is growing up. Sigh.

Oh, and both last night before bed and this morning Caleb "pee-peed in the potty". He even told us that he needed to use it. I didn't really expect him to do anything when he went to sit on it. In fact, I had reminded myself to act excited and proud of him just for sitting on it. So I mustered up as much excitement as I could (keep in mind I've been up all night because I had to work....zero breaks....and stayed an hour late...boo hoo). So when I saw yellow, I probably overdid the excitement since I had psyched myself up and was really genuinely excited.

Caleb is also getting really good at recognizing letters, he knows most of his colors, and he is continuing to improve on counting. Today he saw a 2 red cars and said "red car....two red cars". Genius. (P.S. Funny....I spelled genius wrong and spellcheck caught it. Glad I used that this morning! Ha ha!)

I'm gonna wrap him in bubble wrap.....

While Caleb was at mother's day out Monday, I made an appointment to get his picture taken next week. It shouldn't surprise me that when I went to pick him up, I was met with "he fell while we were going to the playground and skinned both knees". Ok, note to self, no shorts for the pictures. Who did I think I was kidding thinking this would be his only injury before the photography session next Monday? Nope. Here goes the list..... -He was running through the kitchen, no obstacles what-so-ever in his way, and fell on the tile floor. He caught himself....with his forehead. A big "goose-egg" immediately pops up and eventually evens out to a nice big black and blue bruise. -Same day, different part of the kitchen.....he gets excited because I'm fixing him a plate of oranges. He runs to sit at his table and runs into the wall...sort of. He actually trips just short of the wall and falls into the wall. Bruised nose. -He scrapes his skinned knee with a toy and it hurts him so I put a bandaid on it. Which he immediately removes. So I put another one on and tell him it's to make his boo-boo better. Evidently he thinks it's supposed to work right away so he trys to remove it, too. I stop him and cleverly think to put a pair of pants on him so he can't see it. Only he doesn't want to wear pants and throws a huge fit about putting on pants. Oh boy, didn't I plan on him wearing pants for the pictures? Note to self....have Caleb practice wearing pants. I guess he....oh my goodness, I can't finish a thought without another boo-boo. It's his hand, he just pinched it a little...no biggie. Ok, it's been kissed so he is better. Ok, as I was saying, I guess he is used to wearing shorts and pants feel weird to him. -Today while tickling him and playing "what's under your arms, Caleb?", he bites his lip. Two small red boo-boos on his lower lip. (Oh, and the answer to what is under his arms is "giggles"....because he laughs when I tickle him.) -Today he saw his tractor in his closet, gets excited about it and graps it...drops it on his foot. He told me it was a boo boo but I don't see a bruise or anything. I would reschedule his photo session but I'm afraid of what he might get into the next time. Although it would give me time to find some bubble wrap....

Carnivals rock

Vacation is lots of fun! We went to a small, church carnival in Nashville which was the perfect size for Caleb. We had a blast! Caleb danced, played with bubbles, rode the ponies and played on the playground. We all rode train together and I even climbed the rock wall. It scared Caleb to see me climbing the wall. Check out the end of the video when he asks for "Hugs!!".




On the way home, Caleb fell asleep. Not wanting to disturb nap time, we stopped by HotPotato Kids Consignment Shop and got some good deals on some new books for Caleb. It was nice to see Aunt Tracy, too even though Caleb was asleep for it. We cooled off with some pink lemonade sold by my neice, Rebekah. She is raising money for breast cancer and they are teaming up for the Race for the Cure in Nashville on October 3 if anyone is interested in joining her team. Since Caleb slept through my shopping spree at HotPotatoKids, we travelled on to Clarksville. Halfway there, I remembered they were having Riverfest so we decided to see what it was all about. Caleb woke up as we got there (perfect timing, huh?). We walked around and found a petting zoo (I appreciated the hand sanitizer they squirted on everyone's hands on the way out...but don't think for a minute I didn't have mine ready for a double dose), a moon bounce (which Caleb did NOT like), and a little play area for kids sponsored by Discovery Toys. It was a nice and cool little area with lots of toys. Caleb loved it, but mainly because there was a sweet, little girl playing peek a boo with him. She was about 9-10 years old and he loved her. I loved her, too, for letting us rest a minute.

More video from vacation day #2

Vacation time!!

It’s vacation time! I really wanted to go to the beach this year and then I began to imagine a 7+ hour trip with a two-year old. Does that sound like a vacation or torture?

So we opted for…drum roll please…Nashville. What? Yep. Because we wanted to go somewhere new….. Ok, just kidding. Nashville sounds good because we can visit family, friends, and I found lots of cool places for us to go.

We started with a stop at Grandma and Grandpa Gale’s house in Dickson, TN where my dad met us. We haven’t seen them in about a year so it was time to catch up with them again. Then it was to Nannie and Pawpaw’s house. Caleb really didn’t know where we were going to when we were almost there I told him we were about to be at Nannie and Pawpaw’s house to which he replied “Oh, yeah!!”.

Caleb had so much fun dancing around and playing with Nannie and Pawpaw. Nannie had a surprise waiting for him when we got there. A tent….or as Caleb says a “welwo red tent”. That means a yellow and red tent. He was in heaven!

Bedtime came and Caleb wasn't ready for it. Even though it came close to midnight. Yikes. I ended up having to sleep on the floor with him. He woke up several times in the night but I was able to pat him on the back and he fell back asleep. About 5:30 am, he woke up, layed his head on my tummy and that's how he slept (and I didn't) for another hour and a half. Would I move to get him off? Are you kidding me? I'm not gonna wake him for nothing. I'd rather be tired than have a tired two year old.

Nannie bought Caleb some juice boxes that had Elmo on them, or as Caleb's calls them, Elmo juice. Now when we sing the theme song for "Elmo's world", Caleb sings it like this...."la la la la Elmo's juice". Oh, and every juice is now Elmo juice.

Two momma! Two daddy!

Some of Caleb's new phrases.....

"Aight back, momma" (Be right back)

"What doin', momma?" (What'cha doing momma?")

"Bed!!" (I want to go to bed....yes, I know shocker that he would request to be put in bed. He no longer wants me to rock him :(. He just wants his "beboo" (pillow) and glow worm and he is good to go. He did hold up his blanket for me the other day to cover him, but that's about it. I have mixed emotions about this. I miss holding him while he is sleeping and it was a lot easier to cut his nails during that time, too.)

"Two momma!" (What he said when he saw my reflection in the mirror the other day.)

"Twa momma!" (Three momma....what he said when he saw another momma in the second mirror.)

Jason read Caleb his bedtime stories the other night and Caleb started praying....head bowed, eyes closed, hands folded....prayed for goggers, elmo, cookies, momma, daddy, two momma, two daddy.

Funny conversation

I was talking to a little girl at work the other day and the conversation went like this....

Little Girl: "Do you have any kids?"
Me: "Yes, I have a little boy"
Little Girl: "Is he black or white?"
Me (smiling): "Umm, he's white"
Little Girl: "Oh. I think your next baby will be black."
Me: "You think so?"
Little Girl: "Yeah."

Crack is Whack!

Okay, we're not really sure exactly what happened here. But when Gracie put Caleb down for his nap, he was wearing a t-shirt and diaper. When she went to check on him about an hour later...not so much wearing the diaper.

Suffice it to say, he wears onesies to bed now. That should work, at least until he figures out how to undo the snaps.

Best Buddies

Caleb and Jaden had a big time playing in the tub and taking a "baff" when our friends Heather and Jeremy came to visit.

Caleb loves Cousin Addison

Jason here. I was just telling Gracie we need to put some more pictures on the blog, and she said, "Why don't you do it?" So here goes...

Caleb loves to visit our families. The last time we were in Big Rock (end of July), he was loving on Baby Addison. We told him to give her a kiss, and we didn't have to ask him twice. On the first try, Addison wasn't having it, so here is a pic of kiss #2.