Caleb's Story

A couple weeks ago one of our neighbors moved out. There was a moving truck parked outside the window in Andy and my room. Caleb stood on the bed and watched with fascination while movers moved furniture into the truck. After a while, the truck pulled out and I told him that the truck went bye-bye--it was leaving. Forever after Caleb looks out the window and tells the story: "Truck. Bye." He is very serious and repeats himself many times. For those of you who have had children this age or experience with them, you know how it is. It's pretty cute.

He had another story but I guess it didn't leave as much of an impression because he only told it for the rest of the night and not weeks after wards. Andy's Aunt Janell called and right when I answered the phone I saw a spider crawling on my knee. I was holding Caleb but sitting on the floor. It was a descent sized spider probably just smaller than a quarter. I screamed, much to my embarrassment, right into Janell's ear, and hurriedly set Caleb down and brushed off the spider. I finished the conversation with Janell warily eying the spider across the kitchen. After hanging up I pointed out the spider to Caleb (I'm sure he was aware of it, but I told him it was a spider) and I told him that spiders were good because they ate bugs, but mommy preferred them outside. I didn't want him to be scared of spiders and was afraid my dramatic reaction of surprise would give him ideas. We got a glass and took the spider outside. For the rest of the night Caleb kept pointing at the door and saying: "Spi. 'Side."

I love Caleb's stroller!!

I just want to take a minute and declare my love for one of our material possessions. When buying our baby gear we went for safe but inexpensive on most items and skipped some items altogether (like the changing table--sorry Grandma Evie :)), but we searched a long time for a stroller. For us a stroller was a very important item. Before Caleb came along Andy and I spent a lot of time outside riding bikes, hiking or just walking around and wanted to continue a bit of that lifestyle. Plus both of us like to think we go running more than we actually do so we were definitely looking for a jogging stroller. After much online searching, talking with others, and occasional tests at the store, we settled on the BOB SUS jogging stroller. I must admit, I have not jogged with it as much as I should have, but I still think it was worth every penny for us. First SUS stands for sports utility stroller. Andy has said time and again how the stroller was obviously designed by guys with the input of moms. (BOB started out making bike trailers to haul gear and expanded.) Reasons I love this stroller:

--It has large wheels that can go over all curbs I've ever tried, do stairs, go over rocks, go accross lawns, loose dirt, etc. (SUS was properly named)

--I can unfold it from the car using one hand. I had no idea how handy this would be. I have a hold of Caleb or a bag of something or whatever and the stroller is folded up in the back of our Subaru, and I can grab the handle and with a jerk in a certain direction, the whole thing comes together and snaps in place. It's awesome.

--It folds up. Not terribly small, but I can ride the public transit bus with it and fit it into a car packed with tons of baby gear when visiting relatives.

--Caleb falls asleep in the stroller. I worried about this for a while since it was obviously a habit many parenting books would disapprove of, but have since quit worrying and loved the fact that all I need to have is a stroller and wherever we travel Caleb can fall asleep. Every day I take him on a little walk to fall asleep for his nap. Yes, everyday, unless we run errands and the car does the trick. What will I do when it gets cold? Honestly, probably still use the stroller because it has an awesome weather shield.

--The weather shield. I got the weather shield for our stroller on clearance for ten dollars at a store going out of business in Twin Falls and used it all winter to take Caleb on walks. We walked to the library, walked around town, walked everywhere. I couldn't have done it without the weather shield because TF is very windy and it blocked the cold and uncomfortable wind.

--Our stroller pushes easily, and is nice to walk and run with.

Now, I do not post this to say that everyone should get a stroller like ours, because I don't think they should. Everyone has different needs and tastes and habits in life. This one just happened to be one of those buys that turned out to be just fantastic for us. I simply wanted to record it. :)

An Official Toddler

A few weeks ago Caleb got pretty good at naming body parts. He's known them for months but I think it's been in the past month or so where he can name lots of them and thoroughly enjoys doing so. Nose actually came later than eye, mouth, and toes, at least in his vocabulary, but he did get it fairly down and now says "no" with the "o" sound of nose. There may be a bit of a "se" sound in there too. Anyway, I think that blazed the trail for his little mouth and vocal strings to clearly annunciate "no." Before he would vigorously shake his head and often nod it to indicate yes and no, but in the last week he has reveled in his new word in true toddler fashion. I must admit I think it terribly funny and cute. The first day he answered everything with no, I just watched his little mouth make the "o" and loved it. I still think it is so funny. I'm sure the novelty will wear off for me long before it does for Caleb, but in the meantime it makes me smile. Our little boy is growing up.

Bedtime Prayers

We said family prayer after Caleb's bath and this is him folding his arms on our bed. My pictures don't quite capture how cute he was being. I do put on sunscreen, but he still has quite the farmer's tan.


Showing Daddy his belly button--a favorite body part.

I just think Caleb is the cutest kid. The other day he was looking so cute that I just had to take his picture and try to capture the cuteness. I almost did.


Then he decided to take his socks off for the camera. :)

Boise State Football

Last Saturday Andy's work had a tailgate party for the Boise State Football game. Caleb got a football and ate more than one cookie. :)

We had great seats! At first Caleb was really nervous because it was really noisy. However, he warmed up and started to really enjoy himself. After every touchdown a girl rode a horse around the track (Boise's stadium has a track) and she started right in front of us. They played Bowling Green from Ohio and we sat in front of Bowling Green's cheerleaders who were very good and did plenty of flips and lifts. Caleb seemed to think it looked pretty fun. We left a little into the third quarter since it was very clear Boise State was going to win and it was already a bit past Caleb's bedtime. Not that he has a consistent bedtime...but we try.

Making Pizza

Caleb and I made pizza for Andy to take in his lunches. I let him put on the toppings and spread the sauce (with a little help of course). Don't worry, the stove wasn't hot. He also tasted some of the toppings. :)

First Phrase

Yesterday evening Caleb said his first phrase that I can remember: "Mohr eeez" or "more cheese"

Lucky Peak

After an exciting morning at the zoo and a nap we headed to Lucky Peak State Park
which from what I understand is a lake from water that comes out from under a dam. I really didn't pay that much attention to what it was...but it was fun! :) There is a lake with a sandy beach. August would've been perfect, but early September was fine once your feet got used to the cold water. I told Caleb that when we're at the beach we take off our shoes and socks. Usually when I tell him something like that he seems to understand and accept that that's how it is. This was no different except he didn't like walking around without his shoes (though he wouldn't put them back on because we were at the beach where we take off shoes and socks) until Andy started playing around and Caleb got interested.

First Trip to the Zoo

This past weekend Grandma Evie came to visit. She dropped their last child, Daniel, off at BYUI and decided that even though Boise is a long ways away from Rexburg, it is far closer than TX. Caleb had an incredibly exciting day on Saturday. It started out with a trip to the zoo. (Actually it took us quite a while to get out of the house, but we finally did and Caleb knew something exciting was going to happen.)

Caleb loved the zoo!! I loved watching him. You know I just think he is the greatest kid. I love watching him smile and get excited. I was so excited to show him animals and help him get a good view. Zoo Boise, as they call themselves, is small enough for a toddler to see it all and not get bored or tired, but plenty to see. Favorites included turtles--they had little desert turtles where Caleb could go right up to the glass and look at them, and a really big tortoise that got up and walked around for us, llamas because he could say their name, bobcats because they paced right in front of the glass so they were really close, and birds. "Turtle" is now in the vocabulary and pointed out in all books. My favorites were, of course, the monkeys. I love monkeys--all kinds of apes actually. Are monkeys apes? Oh that is so sad that I don't know what family or class or whatever that all those kind of animals go into, but you get the idea. There were spider monkeys which are so fun to watch!! Little monkey's from South America, bigger monkeys. I love watching the monkeys. Evie's favorites are the big animals, which are in limited number at Zoo Boise, but we did get to see two tigers. We also saw a zebra at fairly close range and walking around, and a Gemsbok. I have decided I love the zoo. I could seriously go every week. It is so fun to see Caleb excited and I love watching the animals myself. I'm going to look into year passes and maybe go next Thursday when it is family rates. (Not that Zoo Boise is that expensive anyway.)


We also went on the Carousel--it's only $1 and I think I was more excited for Caleb to ride it than he was. Most of our pictures are trying to get a good picture at the Carousel. I unfortunately did not take enough pictures of Caleb and the animals.


This little video is of Caleb in the Prairie Dog tunnel. He was being so funny running and making noises. This captures just a little of it.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom's birthday is September 3rd and as I was writing about Andy and Alisa's birthday I thought I should add a happy birthday to the person who has sacrificed the most for me. I have the greatest mom. She is an example of hard work, honesty and integrity, kindness, respect, faithfulness, and maintaining a good balance in life. You're the best, Mom!

Happy Birthday Aunt Alisa!

Yes, Andy and his sister, who is two years older than he is, have birthdays right after one another. Andy has never minded, rather thought it was fun. We hope Aunt Alisa has a very good birthday and we love to read your blog. Thanks for doing it. The dry-clean only entry made me laugh...I steer clear of those as well.

Caleb Has a Molar!

Yep, it's his first one. Bottom left.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We should all take this moment and think of good things about Andy. Feel free to click on the comments and add more since Andy does read this blog.

Andy is
fun to talk to
a wonderful dad
a hard worker
good writer
funny
into mountain biking (which I think is really cool)
free with compliments (which I also love, being the most common recipient)
frugal (some may call it cheap) and good with money
responsible
courteous
willing to listen to others' opinions
pretty open-minded
good with kids (especially really young ones)
diligent in important things in life
a good cook when he decides to cook
totally willing to help around the house

Well the list goes on but I must do the dishes and make a birthday cake. But Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Signs and Symptoms

1. Terrible smells include:
Various plastics, especially the plastic we used to wrap our stuff when we moved
Caleb's sunscreen especially when mixed with sweat--even sweet baby sweat
Fake smells in shampoos, lotions, etc.--stay away right after you've showered and I have all natural shampoo and conditioner now--I can't do smelly lotions and even laundry soap is annoying
Peanut butter sandwiches sometimes smell so repulsive I have to slightly turn as I make them for Caleb
Our BBQ, it's old and smells funny
BBQ sauce--We made some BBQ chicken pizza for Mike and Evie when they visited us in TF and the smell of the stuff in the refrigerator is just dreadful to me
Greasy, especially fried foods

2. What's good
Salty foods
Cottage cheese
Fruit
Chocolate mint
I just ate avocado and tomato (with salt of course) and it was sooooo good!
Sleeping
Looser pants
Longer shirts

3. When Caleb recently finally started sleeping through the night, my bladder keeps me up anyway

4. I teared up during just about all the Olympic events I watched. Today I put on the end of Harry Potter 1 for some reason and cried out right when Dumbledore gave the final points to Gryffendor (sp?)?!?!

5. My expanding waistline

6. Nausea was brief and sporadic for which I'm thankful

7. We heard the heartbeat on Tuesday

8. Yesterday we had an ultrasound to get a more accurate due date and the baby kicks and squirms, looks like a baby already, has a heartbeat of 151, and seems to be due around March 4.

We're excited!

Aunt Ale

I made a photo album, that still needs to be finished, for Caleb on his first birthday. It has mostly pictures of family and a few of Caleb in activities he likes. There are a few pictures of his Aunt Ale--wife of Uncle Dave, Andy's brother. I'm not sure if we'll call them Tio and Tia or Aunt and Uncle. Anyway, Caleb likes the pictures of Ale. He always points her out. I don't know if it's because she has dark hair like me or if he just likes her. I just thought I'd let you know, Ale, that Caleb points you out just as much as he points out Rodrick the dog--his other favorite in the family photos. :)

Dave and Ale


Family photo with Rodrick the dog. :)

Caleb's Movie Watching

Besides the Olympics Caleb really doesn't watch TV. And even the Olympics wasn't continual watching. There have been times when I wished I could put him in front of something and clean, cook, whatever. You know, you read about the ill effects of letting the tube babysit your kid...but man, sometimes it would be nice. However, Caleb LOVES watching videos of himself on the computer. I've been trying to take more videos of him because he just loves it. He'll watch them over and over. Yesterday I was making dinner and I changed the screen saver to be a slide show of our photos and he sat there and watched it like some kids are glued to cartoons. It was so funny. I also was able to finish the mashed potatoes. Also nice. :)

Morning Snack

Well, Alisa (Aunt Alisa), you thought Mary (cousin) did well getting into the Cheerios. Caleb got out the bag of chocolate chips this morning. Nice little breakfast dessert. :)


We buy our chocolate chips at Costco then put them in a ziplock bag for anyone wondering why the bag of chocolate chips looks like that. :)

Caleb's big hike

This morning we headed over to the foothills around Camelback Park. I thought Caleb would like to play in the dirt and go for a little walk. I was so proud of him! He hiked like such a trooper and wouldn't let me hold his hand unless it was really steep. He made it clear to the top of the little foothill which has to be quite the hike for little legs. Of course, it took a very long time because we stopped often to draw in the dirt, throw rocks down the slope, slide feet in the sand, etc. But it was fun. We'll go back. :)

Rather embarrassing encounter with potential friends

A couple weeks ago I found that our ward (church) did not have a playgroup. Since I had enjoyed our Twin Falls playgroup so much and didn't know many people here in Boise I was very interested in starting one up. I talked with the enrichment leader who is usually over that kind of activity and told her I would coordinate it if she wanted. I think she just decided to do it herself, which is fine other than I would have recruited more since I really want to meet people and make friends and she is already established and works part-time. Well, today was supposed to be the first playgroup a local park, but I had forgotten I had a doctor's appt the same time so I was over an hour late.

When I got to the park Caleb was really excited and there were a ton of kids! We've gone before and there haven't been many kids there but today it was packed. I walked up to the park and was obviously looking around and a woman kept looking my way and smiling. I smiled back and came up to her and asked if I should know her--thinking maybe she was from church and I just didn't recognize her since we're so new. She asked if I were there for the Boise Mom's Club and I thought, "Is that what they called it?" and answered yes. She was so friendly and introduced me to a number of other moms there, none of which I recognized either. I didn't catch on as I'm sure you all have that the Boise Mom's Club was NOT the playgroup from church and I made oh so many comments that wouldn't have made any sense to these nice women. I told the first lady that I was very pleased with the turn out and sorry I was late since I had been the one that requested they start a play group. She must have thought I was a bit delusional but decided to be nice anyway. I threw around church lingo like nursery and primary and other things. Finally after I had been there for a while--not all the time spent talking to moms since I was there to play with Caleb--I met the lady that was sortof in charge and made some comment about remembering everyone's names. Then as we were talking I said something about the Mormon church and she looked at me funny. It was at that point that I finally started catching on that this was not my group. I felt embarrassed and took Caleb over to play on the other slides. We played for a while on the slides and the stairs and then I saw some of the ladies were still there and I got up the nerve to go talk to them. I found out there is a Boise Mom's Club and asked how to be a part. I guess they meet every Tuesday and Friday and I'm going to look it up online and hopefully be a part of it. However, it was a bit of an embarrassing start...