During our SD Trip...

...We got really cute pics of Caleb:


...James and Caleb met for the first time

...Caleb sang to James playing the guitar
This was so funny, I heard Caleb just singing along and as soon as my camera was out he stopped singing. I would put the camera away and he'd start singing again. This happened 3 times. The last time I caught this:

...We had a fun Labor Day at the Mellor house
Swimming was so fun! This was Caleb's second time in the pool and he enjoyed it. After swimming we had a BBQ for dinner. It was fun time with family.

Stephanie and Charlotte

...We got a 4 generation picture

...Caleb witnessed an alien abduction

...Derrick flew a plane!!!

For a very early Christmas present I gave Derrick 2 flying lessons. Derrick's dream has always been to fly. One day I got one of those value packs in the mail that had a coupon for learning to fly. At first I left it out on the table to show Derrick just for a laugh. But then later that day I thought, "Wait, that would actually be really cool." I talked to my dad, who helped my brothers get flying lessons, and he said the price on the coupon I had wasn't very good. He told me the flying club down there gave 2 lessons for less than the flying club up here gave for 1. So I called The Golden State Flying Club at Gillespie Field and set up two appointments for Derrick.

The day came to go flying and Derrick loved it. When he got back he said I could have gone up with him. I had no idea so the next day I made sure to go with him. The second time Derrick went flying he did a lot of the landing and I couldn't believe how smooth it was. Derrick must be a natural.

One really cool thing was that the San Diego temple is one of the main landmarks in flying. There aren't too many things marked but it is actually marked on the flying map as "Mormon temple." When the instructor told Derrick to make sure to turn between the temple and Mt. Soledad Derrick mentioned that he got married there. The instructor said, "I've heard that's hard to do." Derrick told him it wasn't, you just had to be a member of the LDS faith and be living the standards of the church.
Along with that, I really want to remember this cool incident Derrick's Aunt Mary told us when she was driving us back from the airport after our trip. She told us that in the late 70's everyone had to cut back on electricity. Street lights were turned off and large parking lots could only have half of the lights on. With all the conserving energy the government asked the church to please keep the lights on at the Oakland temple because it was also a flying landmark. Talk about symbolism.

The above video is Derrick turning off the plane his for his first flight. Below is Derrick with his flying instructor, Glenn, up in the air.

Here's me in the back.

...Caleb was patient through the airport and past his bedtime when we headed back home

Grabbing the feet

Caleb has now been grabbing his feet for about a week or two now. He doesn't seem fascinated with them but he definitely likes them enough that when he's on his back he will usually reach for them.


Everyday I just can't believe what a cute baby I have. I love how he just looks at the camera.

About Caleb

I used to think that I never wanted Caleb to grow out of his 8 lb little self because I thought, the smaller the better. But now, I don't agree with what I used to think. I like the 3-5 month stage a lot better than the first 3 months. I get sleep, Caleb is so animated, he doesn't move around yet and he is still relatively small. I love seeing his personality blossoming.
He is now laughing and smiling all the time. He also likes to watch us eat. He especially pays attention when I drink from my water bottle. Something funny he does continuously throughout the day is smack his right hand up and down about 5 or 6 times in a row. Do other babies do that or is that just him? A lot of his waking hours are spent trying to get something in his mouth. Usually it is just his hands, but when a blanket, or sleeve or toy gets in the path of his mouth, in it goes. Whoever is holding him, he doesn't look at that person very often, he always wants to look at someone else. So I really like it when Derrick holds him because then he always looks at me and it takes a lot to get his eyes away from me. He loves to see new faces. Whenever someone at the store or church smiles at him and talks to him, he smiles really big right back at them. I like that he can make other people happy that way.

And how could I forget to mention the drool. We see this all day long:

Yet another frequent sound of Caleb (you'll hear it at the end).

2 Year Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was our 2 year anniversary and it was the first time we had someone, other than family, watch Caleb. My wonderful visiting teacher, Colette, watched him. She told us that her 3, almost 4 year old, was waiting all day for us to bring over Caleb.

It was pretty weird not having Caleb with us but it was nice to not have to worry about him. When we were walking from our car to the restaurant Derrick and I could actually hold hands. I forgot how nice it is to hold hands while walking. Derrick could also open the car door for me instead of getting Caleb in the car seat. This really was a date.
The restaurant was amazing. We started off with a citrus salad:

Then we had cheese fondue with some veggies and breads for dipping. We saw the cheese melt right in front of us.

For the main course, your meat comes out on a hot stone and it literally cooks in front of you. Derrick loved his steak and I loved my chicken.

For the dessert we had a chocolate, peanut butter, caramel fondue. To dip in the fondue there was bananas, strawberries, cream puffs, marshmallows, cake pieces, apples, pineapples. It was so delicious!

For gifts I gave Derrick a new polo t-shirt and a Get Fuzzy comic book. Derrick gave me some Lindt chocolates, The Music Man, and a Bing.com t-shirt. That last one was more for laughs, he's not really that much of a nerd.

4 month check up

Caleb had his 4 month check up appointment yesterday. He is 26" long, in the 92nd percentile and he is 15 lbs 15 oz, the 67th percentile. I've got a long, semi-lean baby. It was so cute when he was laying on the exam table because there is a mirror right up against it on the wall and Caleb was just staring at himself, smiling. He was also drooling everywhere. The doctor said he looked perfectly healthy.

The shots were sad again. I was holding his little hands and I watched as his face went from happy to pain in seconds. That is the saddest thing. He was a little sick when he came home...no fever but he had a whimper-like cry and slept a little longer than usual. I know it is good for him and I'm glad he's better today. I love him!

The many sounds of Caleb

I filmed this one not because of the book I'm reading Caleb but because of the funny noises he is making. However, he does love this book and I read it to him almost everyday.

And this one is so funny. He just picked it up today!

Stroller Rides

I love going on walks with Caleb. He is so cute with his jacket, little hat and socks. I like how much he loves to be outside. He is so cute and very content. I have such a good baby.

Isaacson Family Visiting

Derrick's sister Lisa took some more pictures, so when I get those from her I'll post them too.
Trip to San Fransisco.

See the theme?
Now:.....................and...................... Two years ago:



Muir woods

Fun with the family


Isn't this so cute? Grandma is so good at getting Caleb to laugh.

This is Grandpa playing with Caleb like he is a rocket. Caleb loves it! See those big smiles?

Caleb is Jabbering!

One week ago today Caleb just started jab, jab, jabbing. It is so cute. He mostly does it when he is getting his diaper changed, sitting in his lamb chair or in his car seat. It is so cute. He mostly makes "ahh", "eh" and "mmmm" noises. I love hearing him talk. He can do better than this but here's a little taste.

Some cute pictures:


A video from about 1 1/2 ago of him chewing on his fingers. He is doing this a lot now and can very easily put his hands to his mouth. Oh, and in this video I feel like this is really what he looks like.

Walks Outside

Caleb loves to be outside. If he is every cranky we just walk him outside and he quiets up really fast.

It is so funny how he will just stare up at the trees like this.

A Few things Isaacson

One of Derrick's friends from Stanford got Caleb a Stanford onsie. Now I just need something from Stanford.


Caleb loves to bring his hands to his mouth. It's really cute when he has a blanket in his fists (like this) and sucks on it. Oh, and he is just drooling a ton now. I always feel slobber rolling down my arm while I'm holding him.

Lastly, Derrick and I just joined a gym since we can't go to Stanford's gym anymore. With our membership we each got one free session with a personal trainer. We both loved it and it really got us into working out. Hopefully we'll keep up that enthusiasm.

San Diego Trip

I had to start with this video. I took it when we were in the car. It is so cool when you just happen to get some firsts on video. Here is one instance. I hope Caleb doesn't mind that I posted this :)

4th of July
While in San Diego we celebrated the 4th of July in Coronado with my dad's side of the family. My Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Jim recently moved into the area after living in Minnesota since before I was born (how dare they have 8 girls and live so far away :) It was nice to have 6 of them there. There was also Aunt Jill and Uncle Chris' family, Uncle Richard and his family, our family, and Grandma and Grandpa. We watched the parade, went to the pool, BBQed and everyone but Caleb, my dad and me went to the fireworks. Caleb was pretty cranky and he needed his sleep. It was a fun day and I was glad they all got to meet Caleb.


Grandpa in the parade for the Optimist club with cousin Caitlin driving.



Huntington Beach
We went to Huntington Beach for a day. Luckily my favorite cousin Jodie was able to take off some work so she could see us with her family. She is busy with nursing school and any time we can get with her we'll take. While there, we watched movies, went on a walk, ate yummy food including smores and had fun talking. On the way home from Huntinton Beach we stopped at Aunt Natalie and Uncle Terry's home to see them. I'm so glad Caleb could meet my mom's side of the family too.


Caleb with his great grandparents.