Caleb's first time at the Temple!

Last week I went to the temple on our ward bus trip while Derrick watched Caleb. Today Caleb and I drove up to Oakland with Derrick and waited for him. We went to the visitor's center where we watched a short movie, looked at the displays for black history month and talked to some of the sister missionaries there. We also picked up a Subway sandwich for Derrick and I to split after he got out. Don't worry, I got Caleb something too: 2 pieces of turkey that he gobble, gobbled right up :)

Clapping, Learning and Laughing

Caleb is picking things up so fast! Just today he clapped for the first time and he had a great time doing it:

On Sunday we realized Caleb really knew what the words "Mommy" and "Daddy" meant. I was holding him and asked where is Daddy. Caleb looked immediately at Derrick. Then we asked where Mommy was and he looked at me. Then we asked where Daddy was (again) and he looked at Derrick!

Yesterday I was at the library and picked up this book called Baby Faces. The second Caleb saw the cover he gave out a little laugh. I opened the first page and he laughed again. When we got home and read it some more he was laughing so hard throughout the whole book. Here's when I took a video of me reading it after we had read it a few times and Caleb's laughing had worn down just a bit. I always heard about babies just absolutely cracking up at something. Well, I finally found Caleb's something.

I found our Camera!

If I'm trying to play the piano or go on the computer or eat lunch while Caleb is awake he always comes up to the chair I'm in and wants me to stop what I'm doing. He will usually smile first and if I don't give him attention right away he will start to fuss then cry. But if I play with him on the floor he's fine. He just needs to know I'm there for him and not in my own world :)


In my last post I mentioned how Caleb carries things around like a dog. Well, here's him doing just that:

Caleb time!

I can't find my camera at the moment so, sorry, no pictures for now. I know that's the best part. There are some notable things about Caleb though.
1. His fine motor skills are developing really fast. He can pick up a tiny piece of food and get it into his mouth in no time.
2. He is happier even when he is tired. Derrick has especially loved this. Normally when Derrick gets home from work Caleb is a little fussy since it's so close to his bed time. But now, Caleb will be happy even if it's past his bed time. The only problem with this is that it is a little bit harder to tell when he needs to go down for a nap.
3. Caleb is standing all the time while holding onto objects. He can walk while holding on. He makes some pretty risky moves but he is learning his limits.
4. I have yet to get a video of this but one quirk he has is that he will find a toy he really likes and then crawl around with it in his mouth like a dog. It's pretty funny to see.
I'm sure there's more I can write here but that's all I can think of now. Peace out!

Sick...but not too bad

I have been so lucky with Caleb's health. He got sick once when he was 2 weeks old but since then, nothing. Yesderday Caleb woke up a little early, cried a lot, wasn't crawling, never stood up in his crib like he always does when he waits for me. Why didn't I put 2 and 2 together? It wasn't until about 3:30 in the afternoon that I felt his forehead. It was hot. So I took his temperature and it read 100.2 degrees. Not too bad but I gave him some Tylenol. After about an hour he started to feel a little better. We gave him one more dose of medicine before he went to bed.

This morning he was up at 5am. He was very hot and weak. I took his temperature again, 100.7. Still not too bad but I gave him medicine again. After an hour he was ok again, just tired. I put him down to sleep at 7am and he slept well. Ever since then he's been fine. Except he started crawling funny. Do other babies do this?

Here's a cute video from Wednesday.

Eating, Loving, Learning

Here's Caleb crawling onto my lap the other day. He had lots to talk about. Caleb is such a fun person to have around!

Caleb had a disgusted look on his face the first 3-4 times he bit into my apple but he kept coming back for more. Oh, and the other day I made some no bake cookies, which have peanut butter in them. Babies + PB = No no. I walked to where he was playing and sat down on the floor eating one. He crawled over very quickly and wanted some. I felt so bad I couldn't give him any.

Father and son time is great. Derrick and I love the weekends when they have more time together. They love each other a lot.

Ok so this is more of a bounce than a jump but look at that cute little body move.

We are so amazed how quickly Caleb learns.

Examples:

1. I was trying to get Caleb to bite on a rubbery toy because I thought he would like it. I bit on it first and so he took the toy and what does he do? He keeps bringing it in and out near my mouth! I guess that is what I showed him.

2. Derrick was tapping pens together like drumsticks in front of Caleb. He then handed the pens to Caleb and Caleb started trying to tap them together. That was a bit of a task but he was able to do it after some practice.

3. Today at church there were about 5 steps up to the stage. I put Caleb down at the bottom, showed him how to move his legs up on one step and he was able to do the rest with very little help.
4. Caleb is now pretty steady on his feet and there are a lot less injuries than there were a week ago.

3 Quarters of a Year

Oh Caleb, how much I love you. Today Caleb is 9 months old. He weighs 18 lbs 6 oz and is 29 inches long. Caleb is still on the thin side which is attributed a lot to his now active little body. I don't worry though because he is quite the eater. I haven't seen him refuse any food in months. He is a jabbery boy. It seems like he has gone through phases of sounds. Starting with "mama" then "baba" then tongue clucking then"gaga" and now "nanan." My favorite thing about him is that he is a friend to everyone. He will smile for people and let them hold him. His huge eyes are always the icebreaker. People will always tell us how big and beautiful his eyes are.
Time for stories:
1. A few mornings ago Derrick and I were about to say our morning prayers together before Derrick left for work. We set Caleb down in the middle of the living room floor and we knelt over the couch holding hands. After about half a minute we feel this little hand reach between our arms and put his hand on ours. I started laughing out loud (I know, not very reverent) and Derrick, who was the one praying, ended the prayer pretty quickly because we were both laughing. How was he able to come between us and stand up by the couch without us noticing?
2. On Sunday night we went to our "adopted parent's" house to have dinner and chat. Before we left I was holding Caleb and he just started putting his forehead on my face. It was like he was cuddling into me. He kept brushing his face on mine. So cute and oh so lovable!

Caleb is very good at taking things out of their place whether it be the clothes in his drawers or hamper, or the remotes from the entertainment center, or the newspapers from the recycling bag:

I feel so blessed to have him and I feel like I love him more everyday.

So much, so fast

Crawling!!!
Caleb is crawling from place to place in our house here are two of his favorite spots:
The door stopper on the front door. It is fun for him to spring it.

The heater

With moving comes injury. Saturday night Caleb pulled himself to his feet on the entertainment center. He slipped and hit his mouth on the edge of the unit. He split his gums from his front tooth up until I couldn't even see it anymore. He bled for over 5 minutes. I was holding him and Derrick was putting pressure on Caleb's gums. He was fine the next day.
While crawling he has slipped a few times on the kitchen floor and face planted. He has also pinched his finger on a kitchen drawer. Discovering the world is not such an easy thing to do! But Caleb loves moving around. I have never seen him smile so much as he does now. It is so cute when he comes around a corner and sees me...his face lights up!
Haircut!!!
We gave Caleb his first haircut last night. At first he heard the buzzing noise and was turning to see the buzzer but then once Derrick started cutting Caleb held really still. I wasn't expecting that but I'll take it! His hair doesn't look baby like anymore :( He is growing up so fast!

Peek a boo!!!
Caleb has learned how to pull the towel off his face himself.

Another type of peek a boo we play is Derrick will hold Caleb and I will go around a corner and pop out in different places. Derrick says that as soon as I disappear Caleb starts shaking with excitement. When I come out he smiles and laughs.
Talking!!!
Caleb's favorite thing to say now is, "gagagaga." He is also an expert in tongue clucking.

Yay it's Christmas!

Before we left for Utah, Caleb opened his gift from us. We got him a tool set. We figured he can suck on it now and play with it later. He has been loving it!

We arrived in Utah and went straight to Target to get food for Caleb. Derrick and I ran in the store while everyone else stayed in the car. When we came back Lynne was gone and they told us she had to run in to get books for Caleb. My mom and Derrick's mom both spoil and love Caleb so much!

Here we are playing games. We played A LOT of games over the break: 500, 5 Crowns, Rich Man Poor Man, Ticket to Ride (my present from Derrick), Rummikub, Quiddler and probably some more that I can't even remember. Games are the best!

Ahh, the cat. Caleb petted her so nicely. Well, nicely the first few times then he grabbed her fur and she took off running pretty quickly.

Caleb has a new favorite song! Derrick is opposed to this but I'm sorry Derrick, it's my favorite video!

This one goes out to everyone who has ever worked on a puzzle at Grandma and Pop-pop's house in Huntington Beach. We worked on a puzzle in Utah too. That made me feel right a home.

This has got to be the most exciting news. Caleb started crawling on Christmas morning! And I got it on video. So here it is, the very fist time Caleb crawled:

Scott gave Julie a scooter for Christmas. He gave it to her the night before Christmas because she was bound to walk into the garage sometime before Christmas morning. Pretty sweet!

Alright present time:

Opening Caleb's first present on Christmas morning:

Skip the present, leave the ribbon.

I made sure not to leave anyone out. This video gets at least a second of everyone:

Other happenings on the trip that we didn't get pictures of:

-Derrick skied with his cousins

-I saw New Moon in the theaters

-Watched BYU vs. Oregon State bowl game at Julie's house. BYU wins!!!!!!!!!

-Christmas Eve morning we fed breakfast to a homeless shelter

-Visit to Grandma and Grandpa Isaacson's house

-Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story from the Bible and then shared our feelings and experiences about how we have felt the Savior in our lives the past year. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. The spirit was definitely present

-Lynne's side of the family came over for Christmas dinner

-I got a cold for 3 days

-Delivering gifts and food to people for Utah Food Bank

-Family pictures. These were taken out in the snow the day after Christmas. We were all pretty cold and Caleb cried a bit for the first two poses but on the third pose he was smiling and happy. After the pictures we went to Cafe Rio.

-Visited with some of Derrick's high school friends.

-Watched movies

-Last day there we had lunch at Olive Garden in downtown Salt Lake.

-How could I forget...we ATE, ATE, ATE, ATE and ATE some more! I literally ate enough calories to last me throughout all of January.

Overall it was a wonderful trip packed with things to do. Caleb did great. The night we traveled home was rough because he fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport, fell asleep again on the plane and again in the car on the way back home. Every time he had to fall back asleep he sounded so sad. It was like he was saying, "I'm supposed to be in bed asleep right now. Why am I being tortured like this?" Poor boy. He is fine now though, caught up on his sleep and crawling around our home. I hear him now waking up from his nap...time to go running and burn some calories!

Moving Up

Caleb has moved out of his first baby bath tub into his second.

Biggest rubber ducky I've ever seen.

He loved it!

Thanks for the nice Christmas present Gram!

Christmas time is here

This is Caleb's cute little Christmas outfit from my mom. He wore it to church on Sunday. If you click on the picture on the left you can barely see Caleb's 3rd tooth! He looks a little funny with just one tooth on the top.

Here is more of Caleb's jibber jabber.

Also, a friend from church invited us to a little get together with a few people to sing Christmas songs. So last night we went to a lady's house, who we never met before, and we had a fun filled hour of Christmas music. I actually played the piano, which was a treat for me because it was a really nice piano. The people there had amazing voices. Caleb sat on the floor for a good half hour just looking and listening to everything in awe. He never sits for that long! I told our friend to invite us again next year because it really made it feel like Christmas.

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Derrick's car is prone to anything bad. About 2 weeks ago Derrick got rear ended. We had a whole bunch of trouble with the other person's insurance and after making many trips to the mechanic we finally got our car fixed and back together again on Friday. So why wouldn't this happen two days after we got the car back?

Yesterday morning Caleb and I walked out to the car with Derrick, who was on his way to work, and that is what we found. I started balling. Do you remember a post I had a little over a year ago? Where this same thing happened? Of all the cars in the parking lot, ours was the one for this to happen to.

Well, on the bright side we knew exactly where to take the car to get it fixed and exactly how to file another police report. By 2pm that day the window was all fixed. We don't think we want to get another sound system because we are afraid this will just happen again. *sigh

On the other bright side we still have this beautiful little boy who is healthy and happy:

We have fun!!!

Caleb loves to play on the floor with toys.

Caleb loves to be spun up in the air by Daddy. I can't believe he can stick his legs straight out like this...he does it the whole time. I wish I had abs that strong!

After I got home from work today. Caleb lay in my arms while I just made him laugh. This went on for about 15 minutes. So cute!

Caleb's favorite words now are "mamama" and "bababa." He jabbs all the time like this. We love listening to him.

Thanksgiving

It was Caleb's first!

Here's his first taste of turkey. He loved it!

For dinner we went to the Lewis family Thanksgiving. There was so much yummy food. I really thought these cookies that Mary made were so adorable. It's a sugar cookie, reece's pieces and a fruit roll up. Sweetest corn I've ever had!

The three of us at the Lewis house

I love Caleb's little Thanksgiving outfit!

Thanksgiving morning:

"Ok Mom that is enough pictures. I am done for today."

New Hair

Long and frumpy to short and cute. I love it!

Lights, Camera, Action

This is my 100th post! And it's a good one. We've taught Caleb how to turn off light switches. It's hard for him to do because his fingers are so small but he can usually get it after a few tries.

So much

I realized I haven't updated a few things that need updating about Caleb.
Caleb can hold himself up on all fours

Derrick is very proud to have a picture with Caleb and tools

Bedtime fun

Picture of Caleb's 2 teeth

Caleb will always laugh when you tickle his feet with your fingernails.

Yesterday while feeding Caleb...

Right as I was putting a spoonful of oatmeal cereal in Caleb's mouth....aaachoo. Specks of oatmeal compleatly covered the black hoodie I was wearing, not to mention the little bit that somehow got in my nose. Gross! I looked pretty funny.

2nd Tooth!

On Monday I noticed Caleb's second little tooth. So both his bottom 2 are in. Also, here just an average meal time for Caleb. He likes these carrots he's eating.

Doesn't he just look like a little man?

A Tooth!!! (and videos)

Yes, Caleb officially has his first tooth! I noticed it yesterday at the park when he wanted to bite on my finger. I let him do it and to my surprise I felt a tooth. When I felt it I was actually kind of sad because it made me feel like he wasn't a baby anymore. Luckily though, Caleb doesn't seem to be in any pain which I am glad about.
Here's three cute videos. This one is from Sunday morning. Caleb is always saying this now.
Something about Derrick doing push ups near Caleb's face make him laugh hysterically.
Caleb has figured out how a slinky works! I can't believe he is smart enough to know it goes out and in. He loves to sit there doing this: