Our Tuesday

I felt all ready for my first baby appointment now that I knew what to expect. I knew they did an ultrasound on the first appt. so this time we had Derrick come too so he could see it. I got an early morning appointment but when I got there I found out this office does it differently than my last office. A nurse sees you on the first appt and goes over info, schedules future appts. and I get lab work done. There wasn't a doctor appointment open until 11:30am. We decided Derrick would take the day off since he wanted to be there and we had the missionaries over for dinner that night...otherwise he wouldn't get 8 hours of work in. So we went home for an hour and a half and then went back to the doctor's office.

The actual ultrasound is so much better than the picture. The limbs and torso were so much clearer and its perfect little heart was beating strongly. When I saw him or her the spirit overcame me. I am, quite frankly, terrified to have another newborn baby (I wasn't at all scared with Caleb)...but now I know the horrors that very little sleep does to my head, the blackouts I experienced, the 8 weeks of healing...and it makes me scared. But when I saw this little baby, laying there quietly inside me (Caleb was active and moving around for this ultrasound), I couldn't help but feel peace. He or she was meant to come to us and I am grateful for that confirmation.
When we got home, Caleb went down for a nap and Derrick and I read Harry Potter. This is Derrick's first go around with them and he is loving them. We are on the fourth book and we always want to be reading...it is so fun.
Later that day while I was preparing dinner Derrick took Caleb out of the house and as they were coming up the stairs Derrick yells out to grab the camera. Here's what I saw:

It was a hot day so Derrick decided to take Caleb out for a play in the hose. Caleb thoroughly enjoyed himself as he always does when it comes to water.
We had the missionaries over for dinner, that night we got some chores done and we read some more Harry Potter. Later that night Derrick got an e-mail saying that everyone in his organization was getting an extra day off for good performance! We were wary of taking the day off and when we got this e-mail, it was like someone was saying, "See, you were supposed to take today off...you made the right decision!" We had a great day!

First Week of Nursery

I forgot until now that I wanted to post about Caleb's first week in nursery at church. True, he still has a few weeks to go until he is 18 months but Derrick and I both have callings in primary so we got the okay from the nursery leader to bring Caleb in early.
I took him in and brought him over to the tables where the kids could play with toys. He sat right down in the chair without me even asking him. He was just fine as I left the room. I go back to primary, go through opening exercises and then at the end of junior primary singing time I see one of the nursery leaders come in with Caleb whose face was red like he had been crying. The nursery leader handed Caleb off to a friend until I was done with singing time.
I got Caleb and headed back to nursery with Caleb to see what happened. They said when he had someone's full on attention he was fine but whenever he was with the group of kids he would slowly break into tears. I played with him and the other kids until I had to go back to do senior primary singing time. Luckily when I left they were getting to snack time and Caleb sat right down at ate with the other kids.
I did singing time then came back to nursery to see Caleb sitting in a rocking horse, happily sucking on a plastic doughnut. I heard that all of snack time and play time he did great. I watched him play until the end of church and he did really well playing with the other kids. I think he will get adjusted to nursery very quickly.

Favorite Place to Play

Caleb is always asking to get in his crib now. He just never wants to get out and has me give him his stuffed animals and books and toys. As long he's happy with that, I'm totally ok with it...keeps him out of trouble.

Also, here's the shirt Caleb wore to Utah when we broke the news to the family.

Caleb is obsessed with the camera, as seen above. It is so hard for me to get any good videos these days...same in this video. He was about to dance for me but sees the camera...bummer.

Three things

The Saturday of Labor Day Weekend we went to The Tech Museum. Derrick got us free passes for this year from work which included 4 IMAX movies. We watched "Under the Sea." Caleb sat through the full 40 minutes of the movie! It was amazing. Here's the one picture we got:

Caleb knows his face parts:

Here's me getting Caleb to say words that he uses a lot. I wanted to remember how he sounded when he said them.

Monkey See Monkey Do

Last Saturday I was preparing for singing time. I was teaching the kids the second verse of "When He Comes Again" in sign language. I had memorized it weeks before but I wanted to review it again. I pulled up the video off the church web site and started signing with the lady. Caleb watched the video the whole way through. When I played it a second time Caleb starts waving his hands in front of him the whole time I'm doing it.

This morning the first thing Caleb noticed when he got up was that the lap top was open. He goes over to it, moves his finger around the mouse pad, then puts his hands in the typing position and starts pretending to type. He really looked like he knew what he was doing.

Utah Trip AND...

Alright, we're letting this out early but we are 8 weeks pregnant. It got out to almost the whole Isaacson family so we'll just let everyone know...yes Mom and Dad, feel free to tell whoever you want.
Caleb's travel clothes to Utah consisted of bright blue shorts and a shirt I made that said, "April 10th, 2011" on the front and "Big Brother in Waiting" on the back. That's how we broke the news to Derrick's family. Everyone on the plane and at the restaurant we went to when we got to Utah thought the shirt was adorable. Note: Caleb's birthday is April 11th, one day after the due date. For birthday celebration reasons I'm hoping for another boy. How do you pull off a girl/boy birthday party?
Onto Utah...Sunday after church we did a tour with Derrick's grandparents that included a house the Grandpa Isaacson built, a house that Great Grandpa Isaacson built, a house that Great Grandpa Spencer built, a cemetary visit (very windy) and some touching stories about family history.

Okay, I was AWFUL at taking pictures. Lisa took some that I will try get after she gets settled in at BYU.
Monday: Isaacson Family 5k. I jogged the whole time!
Tuesday: Temple Square--we went into the Salt Lake Temple while Paul watched Caleb, had a Cafe Rio picnic, Caleb got soaked in the reflection pool, ate some Hatch Family Chocolates.
Wednesday: Bowling at BYU, dinner in Provo (my mom and brother James joined us), visit to Gma and Gpa Isaacson's
Thursday: Intertubing down the Provo River (weather was perfect, water level was high and we even saw some beavers), bbq at a park near the river (my parents bro James and sis Jenna came too). We got this pic and video

Friday: 2002 Winter Olympic Center in Park City--zip line, alpine slide, watched professionals practice long jump down a watered turf on a mountain side and watch professionals ski down a ramp that led to a pool where they could practice twists and twirls in the air before landing in the water. It was way cool!

Other fun things:

-Caleb fell in love with his grandparents. They were the ones that took him to do fun things so naturally he wanted them more than Derrick and me. The grandparents: let Caleb help in the garden, put him in the kiddie pool, played with him on the slide and swing, took him to the park and much more. Here's Caleb in the garden:

-THE BEST THING was that I didn't have to take care of Caleb much for a full week of morning sickness. I was so glad they loved Caleb (and me) enough to let me rest. Lynne would even make me warm breakfasts in the morning since cereal doesn't sit well with me. Derrick would make my lunches for me and get me whatever I asked for. It was a blessing!

-We played a lot of 500...my favorite card game

Overall, it was a good trip. Back to normal life.

San Jose's Children's Discovery Museum

This trip was a blast. Our friends have year passes where they can get 2 guests in for free so Caleb and I joined in on the fun today. Here's Caleb in a fire truck with Sabrina.

There is a temporary Bob the Builder Exhibit that Caleb loved! He could have walked around that thing the entire time and never would have got tired of it.

There were other places to discover too:

Oh how Caleb loved the water! The aprons did little to stop him from getting wet but I guess it's better than nothing.

Some Cute Things to Remember

Talking to my family last night I realized there were a lot of things Caleb has been doing that I want to write down and haven't yet, so I'm doing it now.
1. One evening last week Derrick just came in the front door from work. He rested his bike on the wall and picked up Caleb while his helmet and sunglasses were still on. Derrick walked into the kitchen where I was doing last minute dinner preparations and Caleb immediately folded his arms and bowed his head. He knows when Daddy comes home it is time for prayer and dinner.
2. Caleb says "bye bye" to everything: when a truck drives by, when a bird flys away, when Derrick leaves for work or when people walk away from him.
3. Caleb will grab my keys and hand them to me when he thinks it's time to leave the house because he knows we bring them every time.
4. For a few days Caleb would point out the outside light fixtures next to every door in our apartment complex. He would point to each one fervently and say, "I, I" (light).
5. We are always playing in the car, it is Caleb's favorite place to play. I never taught him this but he knows that the key goes in the ignition and sometimes he actually gets the right key in it. How he knows the key goes there, I have no idea because I don't think he can see me do it from his car seat.
6. Caleb understands a lot of what we say here are a few of the phrases he knows very well:
-Do you want to brush your teeth (or wash your hands)? (he LOVES these two things and will run straight to the bathroom)
-Do you want breakfast (or lunch or dinner)?
-Where's your....cup, blue bear, blankie, hat?
-Let's wake up Daddy.
-Do you want to go outside?

So smart and a little conceited

Caleb loves this book and he knows four of the animals on the last page:

Caleb will look at himself in the mirror sometimes and just smile. It is only when he is alone though. I can only get this on camera until he realizes I'm there.

Life

Caleb loves to play our keyboard and he especially loves to turn on this beat and get into it by imitating the noise and moving his head side to side like this.

Caleb has recently discovered his belly. Often when he has his shirt off and we say where's your belly he will strain himself to look at it like in the beginning of this video.

Also, on a different note I wanted to add that I got a new calling at church. I used to be the choir pianist but I was released from that and called as the primary chorister. I am so excited for this opportunity to work with the kids. When I was little I said I wanted to be the primary chorister because I loved singing time so much and now I am! I know this will be a lot of fun.

Imitations Part 2

The day after I posted "Imitations" Caleb started folding his arms for prayer. We never force him to do it, we just say, "Fold your arms" and then we pray. Now when we say dinner prayer he folds his arms and tries to adjust them to be folded just like ours. It is so cute!

Also, Caleb is starting to imitate all of our sounds. All day long he is just jabbering away. So often we'll say something then he'll try to say it too and every once in a while, he says the words exactly. We can't believe how fast he's picking up on things.

Imitations

Caleb, like any other kid, wants to be and do things just like us. Here are a few of the things we've seen him do:
1. We always dump the sand out of Caleb's shoes when we get back from the park. I caught him the other day dumping out his sandless shoes but I knew what he was doing.
2. Caleb took a pen and pretended to write on the Post its. (I'm always using Post its)
3. Caleb will hand us the remote when he wants to watch tv. He knows that's what makes everything work. I'm just glad he doesn't know how to make it work yet.
4. Caleb always wants to feed himself with the spoon and he will refuse to eat until the plate is on his tray.
5. When he gets his hands dirty I taught him to wipe his hands off by brushing them off together. He is always doing this at the park when he gets sand on his hands.
6. Derrick was with Caleb at the park when a man stopped to do some stretches and exercises. He was doing squats and Caleb was watching intently. Then Caleb started doing the squats too.

4th of July

We got this cute outfit in the mail. It came all the way from Utah! There were also some cute flip flops that were like a flag but Caleb refused to wear them which was too bad because they were the cutest things!

The 4th of July, actually the 5th of July this year, we went to Golfland with our church. There was a BBQ/potluck. We had a lot of yummy food and Caleb enjoyed the water toy they had out for the kids. He kept thinking it was a drinking fountain and was always trying to drink the water. Whatever, it kept him happy for like 20 minutes!

The beginning of this video is the end of Caleb imitating a baby cry. Whenever this baby would cry, Caleb would imitate it. So funny!

Camping

Friday night the three of us went camping...our first family campout! We've been so timid with Caleb (bedtime and sleeping in his crib) but now we are starting to be more adventurous. We went to Joseph Grant County Park which is south east of San Jose. We had the perfect campsite! There weren't too many people around, we had 2 picnic benches (though one of them isn't in this picture), close but not too close to the bathroom and a view of an observatory.

When we set up the tent Caleb was so excited. By the next morning he knew the word tent and was saying "teh teh" a lot.

For dinner we had tin foil dinners then smores for dessert. Caleb loved the BBQ pit. When he saw the flames go up he was attached. I told him it was hot and immediately he started blowing in the direction of the pit. I am always telling Caleb his food is hot and then I blow on it. He will then immitate my blowing even though it isn't on the food. So when I said the coals were hot he knew that meant you have to blow on it. Pure logic.

When it was time to put Caleb to bed we put a beanie on his head with the hoodie over that, he had on a long sleeve shirt, warm pants, his sleep sack and to top it off I put a pair of my socks over his hands. When I first put it on he looked at his hands and he was so confused. Derrick and I couldn't stop laughing at how funny he looked. This picture is Caleb not liking the get-up. He got used to it quickly though.

After Caleb was asleep Derrick and I played Ticket to Ride and Nines (with Rook cards). Then we saw this frog. It was huge!

Derrick is like a little boy when it comes to gross things like frogs:

That night Caleb didn't wake up once until 5:30. He was sleeping like a rock. Even when Derrick and I got into the tent, in our sleeping bags and zipped up the tent Caleb didn't move a muscle.

The next morning we did a little exploring, packed up and left. Caleb found a pepper on the ground there. He seems to have a knack for finding produce (like the orange at the beach).

Fun Friday Night

Tonight we went to a park with a man made pond. Caleb loved the water and wanted to get in! He loved chasing the ducks around and he did that until they all retreated into the water. The picture above turned out really neat I think. I just held the camera above the water, facing it to Caleb and wah la!

After our fun with the ducks we headed over to Baskin Robbin's for some shakes. Caleb loved it!

Trip to San Diego

Derrick and I wanted to go to San Diego sometime this summer so we decided to come for my sister Jenna's high school graduation.

We met my grandma and grandpa for lunch one day at the Coronado golf course restaurant.

Everyone loved Caleb

Here's my attempt at trying to keep Caleb happy in the car, it worked for a few minutes. Since Caleb had a hard time sleeping at night he would be a bit cranky in the car so I had to pull out all my tricks to get him to be happy.

With the sleeping, my dad would be up with Caleb, not me. He said since it was our vacation he would watch Caleb, how nice!

He even did the grilling on Father's day. We had steak and it was yummy!

Another really cool thing we did while there was visit the newly renovated Mormon Battalion. I couldn't believe how neat it was. You would go from room to room and it was like you were traveling with them through their journey. There would be videos in each room explaining different part of their trek. And the tour guide made it really fun. Caleb was entertained the entire 35 minutes of the tour!

I have to write my favorite part of their story. At one point on their journey many men were getting really sick and so they had to stop at a town (Pueblo, which is a town in modern day Colorado) that they didn't intend on stopping at. At this location they learned how to irrigate fields and other useful information for living in the desert. These same men that learned these skills were the ones that helped settle in the Salt Lake Valley. Were it not for their stopping at Pueblo, the pioneers would not have known how to adequately survive in the desert. Amazing.

At the end of the tour there was a place to pan for gold, since these people from the Mormon Battalion were there when the first gold of the California gold rush was found. Caleb loved playing with the water. I would definitely recommend this tour if you are in San Diego, especially if you have kids.

We actually forgot our camera but it was ok because they have a place to take a picture where they print a copy out for you and you can also e-mail it to yourself. Pretty cool!

Obsession

Here's 4 short videos I combined into one. If there is one phrase Caleb understands it's: Do you want to watch Sesame Street? Every time we get this reaction:

Caleb loves his blankie too. He sleeps with it at every nap and bedtime. Sometimes he will walk around with it and he always brings it up to his ears. Often it covers his face and he walks blindly but not in this video.

Clothes

At my baby shower someone gave us a real wool suit jacket and pants for Caleb. He finally fits into them and we had him wear it to church last Sunday. I bought the white shirt and tie and doesn't he look handsome? Everyone at church was pointing at him and saying how cute he looked.

I made a dress! A friend is teaching me how to sow and this is my first project. It turned out really nice and it makes me want to make another one :)

Learning Soooo Fast

We are so amazed everyday how quickly Caleb can learn. He never ceases to amaze us. One day Caleb came walking out with Derrick's tie around his neck. He knows that's where it's supposed to go. He does this often now.

This is Caleb imitating the metronome sound

This is going to make Pop happy. Take a listen

I did this, then Caleb imitated:

We heard a funny story a while about Derrick's second cousin Lily saying "bummer." I have tried to get Caleb to say it, since I liked that story and he does pretty well. He also says "out" at the end here too.

Caleb's First Beach Day!

I didn't have work today so we decided to have some fun at the beach. Caleb is sporting the outfit Gram got him when she and Pop went to Hawaii not too long ago.
We found a half sand dollar and gave it to Caleb, it didn't leave his grasp for like 20 minutes. You can see it in this picture.



Me trying to feed Caleb his lunch but he just wanted to play:

Most kids find seashells in the sand. Caleb found an orange and he couldn't be more excited. Yes, someone left a whole orange, what a waste!

All in all, it was a good day. We had so much fun and can't wait to go back again...if only we weren't so tired when we got home :)