11 Months Old!

The last month has been a busy one! His 11 month pictures started with a tantrum when I wouldn't let him play with the camera, continued by trying to jump off the bed and finished with him tearing off the sticker! After pictures he decided Roomba was more interesting than the camera. He's so much fun, really!

• Caleb has officially transitioned to all table foods. We stopped purees a few weeks ago and haven't looked back! He is doing so well feeding himself and just loves to eat! Some of his favorites are pasta w/ cheese, clementines (really any fruit), raisins, cheese, waffles/pancakes, crackers, yogurt and oatmeal. He doesn't eat many veggies, some corn or cucumbers. It's hit or miss but we just keep trying!
  
• Our family time included spending a few nights at Grandma Nancy's house, visiting with Aunt Bekah and Uncle Hans from Germany and a busy, busy shopping day with Aunt Beth and crew. (We hit up the Kids Exchange Consignment Sale and shopped for FIVE hours!)
• We have lots of new toys! I bought him the Fisher Price Learning Home (for $20 at the Kids Exchange) and a corn popper. He loves loves the learning home - it's such a great toy. He can't quite push the corn popper yet. Grandma Nancy brought Caleb a cozy coupe and lots of cars to play with inside. He is definitely all boy and likes to push the cars around the living room! Aunt Beth bought him a doll, he likes to smile at her and chew on her face but is much more drawn to "boy" toys!
• Caleb nearly has walking down pat! He will walk all the way across the living room (about 8-9 steps) and is standing on his own. I think by his first birthday he will be a full on walker!
• We took a long weekend trip to Richmond for the Assembly. It was fun being away, but Caleb's ear infections made it a loong weekend. We did enjoy going out to dinner with our friends at a Greek Italian restaurant! Caleb loved exploring the hotel room, he kept opening the refrigerator, taking the key out of the safe and he may have torn a page out of the Gideon's Bible, but I'm not admitting anthing. =)
  
• He cut 2 more teeth, he now has 8 - 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom!
• Caleb is much more strong willed and hates hearing no. He quivers his bottom lip, then moves onto crying, tears and all, when you take something away from him. It's so hard not to laugh because he is soo cute!
• And the best, best news - Caleb is sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He started just before the new year and now sleeps about 11 hours straight. His bedtime is around 7:30 and he will usually wake up between 6:30 and 7. It's LOVELY! I have missed sleep these last 11 months!
  

Eight Months

Didn't Caleb just turn 7 months? How can he be 8 months already? Wow October has flown by!

This month:

• Caleb can cruise between 2 pieces of furniture, more often than not his body moves but his feet stay! But once in a while his feet remember what to do. =)
  
• He sometimes does a full crawl with his belly on the floor. Caleb is still a huge fan of army crawling and seems to prefer that. Either way, he moves very quickly! The kitties have learned to run when he gets too close. Occasionally Caleb catches one and ends up with a handful of hair. The cats seem to know not to be mean to him though.
  
• His top 2 teeth cut this week. It was a MISERABLE 2 days for both Caleb and Mommy. We had a hard time nursing, but we made it through and how he's a happy boy with a total of 3 teeth.
  
• Aunt Beth & Grandma gave us some new toys - including a few for the back deck. We've had fun playing and exploring all the new things! (And yes, I mean we. New toys might be more exciting to me than Caleb!) Our new toys include: a polar coaster, a Vtech Walker, shape sorting blocks, and a few more too!
  
• Caleb is starting to show an interest in actually reading books, he likes to flip the pages and look at the pictures. He still likes to eat them too!
• And of course, he is very curious about everything! Like, "Why is this sticker on my shirt? I want to eat it!"
  
  
  
  
  
  

It's a lot of fun having a mobile baby. We have toys all over the house! I never have been one to handle a lot of clutter, but toys don't bother me. It's great knowing Caleb has a fun place to play and a little mess never hurt anybody. =) But, I think I had better get moving on baby proofing....


We have a lot of things happening in the next few weeks.

• Getting the seasonal flu shot and hopefully the H1N1. (We're on a wait list for that)
• A photo shoot with our friend, Melissa
  
• Visiting Grandma Nancy!
• Helping Aunt Beth move into her new house
• Playdates with Andrea & Nathan; Brenda and Elizabeth

And then, before I can blink Caleb will be 9 months old!!!!

Three months already!

I can't believe our baby is three months old already! Caleb is becoming such a social bug! He loves to talk and smile, and hates not being able to see what's going on.


Caleb and Daddy are continuing to get out on their days together. Last Saturday they met Grandma, Grandpa and Alex at the State Fairgrounds for the "Got to be NC Festival." Grandma got to wear Caleb this time! Apparently Caleb is just like Mommy, looking at tractors all day is BORING!


Caleb officially started rolling over! He rolled over a few times on his playgym, plus at night when I get him up to nurse he has usually flipped over. Caleb also can bat at objects and hold things in his hands. Here he is in his new "Hop N Pop" toy - he loves to sit in it and look around. He's not quite big enough to hop and make it play music, but I'm sure he will be very soon! I think this toy is great for smaller babies, the back is really high and supports him very well. Plus it's pretty small, so good for saving space!



He is growing like crazy, I can barely fit most of his 0-3months clothes on him. Plus he's outgrown things like shoes and hats that fit him a few weeks ago. Daddy managed to get a good picture of his sandals!

Caleb's new space

One of the downfalls in living in a small apartment is that there is not much room for Caleb to have his own space. We decided to rearrange some furniture and setup his crib in the dining room. It ended up looking great and I call it his room. =)

First Daddy assembled the crib...



And we decorated it with the "Barnyard" theme set which is the cutest thing ever!


Caleb has been sleeping great in his crib. He transitioned without any trouble. Mama did though! I started using it for naps for almost a week before I would let him sleep in his crib at night. Sometimes Caleb lays in his crib to play. He loves to talk to the farm animals on his mobile. I don't think anyone told him mobiles are supposed to help him sleep....


The last thing I wanted to share are two things that have helped us with the crib transition. First our baby monitor, Fisher Price Sounds & Lights Monitor is one of the cheapest models out there. It works great and allows me to hear Caleb over the fan, air conditioning etc. Second, the Sound Sleeper is a great white noise machine. We usually play the Ocean sounds along with occasional bursts of thunder! It's very relaxing, but what I like is that is provides steady noise for Caleb. That way when I'm doing things in the apartment he doesn't hear it as much. I also think it helps him sleep longer! And on that note, he slept from 11p-6a last night! Yay!!!!