A Few Things

Above, Caleb made a road with Rumicube tiles and a parking lot at the end (by the time I took the picture Brynn had gotten to it--it used to look better). The holder for the tiles Caleb said was the bleachers. We didn't even know he knew what bleachers were. You can even see he set his construction worker in the stands. He is so creative!
Before I took the following video Brynn was growling, I didn't get much of it, you will just hear one small one. It was pretty funny though.

Stories:

• I made a fort with Caleb with blankets on the side of our bed. Later, when I was gone, he asked Derrick to make a fort. Derrick wasn't doing it the way I did and Caleb was frustrated by this. He told Derrick, "That's not pretty good."
• This one is a sadder story: This morning Caleb woke up crying. I ran in and after he calmed down a little he told me there were bees in his room. He was a little confused when he looked around and didn't see any. He told me they must have flown outside through a "little hole." I'm sure he was dreaming. This was the first time he has ever told me about a dream, though I think to him it was real.

Discovery Museum

I am not doing so well with updating the blog, sorry! These pics and videos are from 2 weekends ago when Derrick, Paul and Lynne went to the Discovery Museum with the kids for an arthritis fundraiser Julieanne is helping with.
I heard they had a great time. Brynn even enjoyed it so much that it didn't seem to phase her that she skipped her morning nap. Doesn't she look like she's having fun:

Week review

Brynn being my model for my new headband flower:

Here's a pic from the aquarium two weekends ago I forgot to post:

This week the playing between Brynn and Caleb has continued to progress. Caleb can really get Brynn to laugh by playing peekabo. He continues to crawl with her and she loves it. They also "talk" back and forth, especially at meal time. Caleb loves to imitate her noises. Some of Brynn's noises these days are: "ehssss" (just like the letter S), "Yeah, yeah, yeah." The latter is so funny because she will say it after I ask a question. I will even egg her on by asking her if she wants something and I will say, "Yeah, yeah?" She will then repeat the words.

So much this last week!

Here's the skirt I made for Brynn's 1 year pictures. I can't believe that's just a month away!

We found out this week that Brynn is old enough to steady herself on the scooter. She loved it. Caleb even enjoyed pushing her around.


And...Brynn is now crawling, no scooting. Just started about 4 days ago. It is so cute to see her explore and it is even more cute to see Caleb wanting to crawl around with her. If I pick her up, Caleb will tell me to put her down so he can crawl with her. They like to weave around the dining room table and chairs especially.

• Another thing about crawling, is that Caleb knows Brynn can't have small things. If he sees her get something small, he finds joy in ripping it out of her hands and saying, "No, Brynn!" It's good to have another lookout but it sure startles Brynn. Once this week Caleb put something small in front of Brynn and as she went for it he pulled it away, "No, Brynn!" He did that about 3 more times after that before we stopped him.
• Last Sunday at church during sacrament meeting, Caleb did something he knew he shouldn't and we asked if he wanted a time out. He looked at us and said, "Time out in nursery?" Tricky boy! He loves nursery and he thought he just might be able to let us take him there early. Sorry Caleb you have to wait until after sacrament meeting!
• Speaking of nursery, Caleb came home today and sang us the whole song of Book of Mormon Stories. He even said, "I will sing Book of Mormon Stories." He did all the actions and everything. That is the first song we've ever heard him sing all the way through on his own! He truly is turning from a toddler to a little boy.
• Scottie from next door came over and Caleb brought out his bean bag chair. He jumped from the couch to the chair then told Scottie to do it. Scottie would say, "Ok," do it, then go back to playing. Caleb would jump, then ask Scottie to jump. They took turns for a while. It was really cute. Caleb even told me at one point, "We taking turns Mommy."
• Caleb knows, for the most part, what is right a wrong. This is one quality I am so happy he has. When he knows he is making a wrong choice he hesitates to think about whether he wants to do it or not. Some kids just do it without caring, that is not Caleb. Also, he doesn't mind time outs (which are hands on the wall for 20 seconds) but at the same time he doesn't want them because it shows he's done something wrong. I love this about Caleb.
• Brynn does not like strangers anymore. She was good up until about 2 months ago. This week she started a thing where, if I'm holding her and a stranger gets too close to her, or starts to talk to her she nestles her head into my (or Derrick's, or Grandma's) shoulder and then pats her hands around me. It's like she's saying, "I'm quite comfortable here. Don't give me to that person."
  

Tonight at Bedtime...

Caleb was making Brynn laugh with the Mini Mouse doll. It was the cutest thing to hear Brynn laughing so hard:

Caleb Stories and Jenna Birthday

Caleb stories:

• We were reading ABC books. At the letter P, Caleb says, "P is for pee pee." He couldn't stop saying that and laughing through the rest of the letters. Potty jokes already!
• Before Caleb takes a bath we have him sit on the potty. One time this week he looked really excited and said, "I go pee pee." I looked in and didn't see anything but he was convinced he went. He was so excited I said, "Good job Caleb" and put him in the bath. After the bath I gave him a piece of licorice (our reward for going) and he was so proud. He even let Brynn suck on the end of it for a minute.
• Two Sundays ago Caleb came home from church with a coloring book he made saying, "Jesus created the earth." It had pictures of things on the earth. I asked Caleb, "Did Jesus create the earth?" Caleb responded yes. I asked what Jesus created on the earth. Caleb said, "Animals. Zebra. Elephant." It was so cute to see him learning the gospel!
  

Last Sunday James and Jenna came over and we celebrated Jenna's 20th birthday!

Caleb is a Funny Boy

• Caleb likes to color pictures and put them on the fridge. A few days ago he stapled a post-it note and stuck it to the fridge. I guess it was art to him.

• When we tell Caleb it is time for bed he says, "It not time Cabib go to bed yet."
• Yesterday I asked Brynn if she liked going to Grandma's house. Caleb looks over at me and says, "Bwynn can't talk Mommy."
• This is a sweet one: as Derrick and I were leaving Caleb's room Caleb said, "Mommy, give me a kiss. Silly." I had given him a kiss, earlier than right before we left the room. He must have forgotten that and thought it was silly that I would have forgotten to remember the last part of bedtime routine.
  

Crawling...well, scooting

These videos aren't great but Brynn is scooting all around the floor. She attempts to crawl but lands back on her tummy like this:

Here's the end of one of her scoots. She moves one leg up and pushes herself. It is exactly what Caleb did:

We also gave Caleb a hair cut today:

Dinosaur Museum

We had a blast at the Museum of Ancient Life. There was lots to do. Brynn was even able to get out and play in an area with plastic dinosaurs kids could play with.

There was a neat part with running water and sand...

...Caleb tried to collect all the trees and build them up in the sand.

There was also a sandpit with paint brushes so the kids could brush away the sand to find "fossils." So cute! Caleb loved that too.

Brynn was patient in the stroller while we did all the things for Caleb.


We will definitely be going back there again!

Bubbles!

A friend's facebook status was something like: Pinterest turned me from a boring mom to a fun mom. I totally agree with that statement. That same friend linked to this fun activity (we didn't do the paint part though). Caleb had a blast. He sat there for at least 20 minutes.

Even when he was done blowing bubbles he found other ways to stay busy with it. Like pretend the bubbles were food and he would mix up "pancakes" and give them to me. He also did this while singing Give Said the Little Stream:

Videos from this Week

Here's Caleb and Brynn talking. Caleb is obviously going down to Brynn's level. He likes to make the sounds she does.

Here's Caleb leading some music he was singing:

Songs and Clapping

Since we've had such warm weather out here Caleb loves to go outside with his construction vehicles, sit in this spot and push dirt around.


Brynn learned to clap her hands. I looked back to when Caleb first clapped his hands and it was also at 9 months. I guess baby's start clapping then.

Caleb is really starting to learn songs. In addition to church songs, here's a few more.
Last Saturday Derrick and I turned on a Psych episode while Caleb was awake, that is the first time we've done that and Caleb picked up the theme song. Listen closely:

Here's Down by the Station:

Fun times

Bynn had her 9 month doctor visit this month and she keeps going down on the weight charts. She went from 48th percentile at 6 months to 14th! Because she does eat so well the doctor didn't seem concerned. I might be adding in some doughnuts to her diet though, haha.

Caleb is really into Bob the Builder right now. He will put on his construction hat and ask to watch it. It's pretty cute.

Here's sweet Brynn getting a little daddy time in:

We also went to the aquarium this week to see the new attraction: sea otters. Unfortunately they were sleeping the whole time. Good thing we have year passes or I would be really disappointed. At the end they were giving out otter pops, what a cute idea!

New Blog!

I am so excited to say that I am starting a new blog! It will have everything creative I do on it (music, flower headbands, sewing, hair styles, recipes, etc.) Check it out: What These Hands Do

Pictures and Playing

Caleb has gotten into taking pictures. I am constantly deleting pictures from my camera. Mostly they are of his fingers over the lens but here are two that actually showed something.


Also, a big day has come to our house: Brynn and sit and play by herself. Here she is playing with some toys. It actually allows me to get some things done while she is awake.

Caleb has said a few funny things lately:

1. Derrick's work provides dinner every night for the employees. If it doesn't get eaten, it gets thrown away so Derrick brings food almost every night. Once when Caleb woke up from a nap I told him daddy was at work. Caleb said, "Daddy go to work to get food." We think Caleb really thinks that is why Derrick goes to work.

2. Continuing with the food from work thing, once I asked Caleb what he wanted for dinner. He said he wanted pizza. I told him we didn't have pizza and Caleb responded, "Call daddy, he get some from work."

3. Caleb was watching the garbage truck gather the trash. A neighbor was bringing down her trash as the garbage truck was leaving our culdesak. Caleb yelled out, "Garbage truck come back! There's one more!"

4. I gave Brynn a toy measuring tape to play with on the floor. The next time I look over Caleb has the measuring tape and I ask him if he took it from Brynn. He said, "I give her octopus." Sure enough he did replace the toy he took. At least he's considerate when he wants a toy she's playing with.

5. We were trying to change Caleb's diaper and put on his pj's. He was more wiggly than normal (if that can be possible). We asked him if he could hold still and he responded, so sincerely, "I can't do it." I don't think there could be a truer statement.

On the Brynn front, she is sitting completely without support. She always has to be doing something, whether it is simply watching something interesting, playing with a toy, eating paper or trying to get her hands on whatever I'm working on. She isn't crawling yet but she sure wants to, it's in her eyes.

Christmas

For Christmas we stayed overnight at Derrick's parent's house for a few days. One night was a family gathering and Lynne arranged for Santa to show up. Caleb got some Christmas Peeps from Santa. We also had a white elephant gift exchange.

Caleb had fun playing with Ron and Lauren's kids. Here he is making a tunnel for the train Peter is pulling:

Christmas morning Caleb sure loved his presents. He was literally shaking as he was opening them. We think he really had too much stimulation, he even had a breakdown about a half hour after starting to open presents. It was sad but once he had some breakfast he was a lot better.



We ate sausage, eggs, french toast and smoothies for breakfast. Here's Caleb with his smoothie mustache:

When we got back home we did this over and over again:

Luckily it wasn't too cold. We had a great Christmas and loved spending time with family.

Matching Skirts

I found out how to make this skirt on pinterest and since I had a little extra fabric I made one for Brynn too. I think it looks cuter on her than on me so that is why I pictured her first. I think when Brynn grows out of that one I'll have to make another because it's just too darn adorable!

Where it come from?

It has started. The "where it come from?" questions. So far here is what Caleb has asked about:
1. Where finger nails come from
2. Where mail comes from
3. This is the one that has been hardest to answer: "Where messy come from?" Caleb will ask us almost everyday why we shower. We try to tell him you just get dirty from walking around everyday but he doesn't get it and we don't expect him to because we can't even explain that very well.
Before we know it the question will be where babies come from. Not looking forward to that one.

Vacation and Sickness

Our San Diego vacation had it's pros and cons. Here's the story:
Friday afternoon we get into the Long Beach airport. We spend the night in Huntington Beach with my grandparents. I got to visit with my favorite cousin from the moment she was born, Jodie. I loved hearing more about her wedding plans and just talking to her! My grandparents loved Brynn. It was their first time meeting her. She would just sit in their laps so comfortably. It was very cute.
Saturday morning we drove to El Cajon. Had pizza for lunch, grandparents drove back home. We went to my parent's church Christmas party, ate food, saw Santa and watched a small performance by the primary kids.
Sunday was church and we watched 17 Miracles that night. Monday morning rolls around and, since it was raining, we went to the air museum at Gillespie Field, I have lived about a mile from that place my whole life and never knew there was a museum there. We found this cute little airplane for Caleb to get in. It had pedals so you could ride it like a bike.

Then we went to Parkway Plaza. I bought two outfits for Brynn and Caleb went on a few rides:

We got Yogurt Mill for lunch and after that I got a stomach virus. I wanted to die! I had that bad for one day, Derrick got it, Brynn got it, my dad got a mild form of it and I heard Andrew got it after we left. It was so awful, even after the stomach sickness was gone, you feel weak and have head aches for another day or two. My mother took care of both children and all the sick people. To my angel mother, thank you!
Wednesday morning the rain was gone and we felt well enough to take Caleb to the park for 2 hours. He loves being outside. Then after lunch we drove back to Huntington Beach, saw some Christmas lights and went out to dinner.
It wasn't the vacation we hoped for but at least I didn't have to take care of my children while I was sick.

Story Time

1.This morning Caleb and I had a cute conversation:
Caleb: Get big, Mommy and Daddy
Me: Yes, one day you are going to get big like Mommy and Daddy
Caleb: Caleb drive car
Me: Yes, when you are big you will drive a car
Caleb points up to our picture of the temple and says: Drive to the temple
Me, while Caleb is making a motion as if he is steering the wheel: Yes, you will be able to drive to the temple and go in when you get bigger.
This was one of the sweetest things I've ever heard him say. I feel good that we have already instilled in him the importance of going to the temple and that he wants to!
2. While at our church Christmas party, Scottie, Caleb's friend from next door, see me and asks, "Where's Caleb?" I point to Caleb and Scottie runs over to where Caleb is. I love that Caleb has a little friend. Too cute!
3. Yesterday Caleb called 911 for the first time. He was playing with an app on my phone and the next thing I know Caleb says, "The phone is making funny noises." I look down to find 911 on the line. They tell me who they are and I tell them we're fine. That was embarrassing. Afterward I explained to Caleb that we don't press the "Emergency Call" button on my phone and we only use it if there is trouble. He asks, "What is trouble?" I told him if mommy or daddy are really hurt, that is trouble. Who knows, maybe he will remember that if something ever does come up.
4. We tell Caleb to not go pee pee in the bath, since he has done that on a number of occasions. One day I told him I was going to take a shower and Caleb says, "Mommy, no pee pee in shower." I told him he was right.
5. Caleb will pick up his play cell phone and say, "Derrick." This is imitating me of course. He will also call out "Danielle" or "Derrick" if he hears one of us say it.
6. Caleb is picking up on a phrase I say all the time to him. "Just a minute." He says it when he wants to procrastinate something.

Craftiness & Happiness

I knew I wanted to make Brynn a Christmas flower headband, so this version of a poinsettia is what I came up with.

Brynn just loves Caleb and he loves to make her happy whether that's feeding her snacks, saying simple things like, "Good morning" or playing with her.