Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!! May your Christmas be filled with God's blessings of hope, peace and love. We are so very thankful for what He has done for us. God bless!!!!!

Dear Santa....

Caleb still isn't thrilled about the idea of sitting in Santa's lap but he is willing to do it since he now understands who he is and that Santa brings presents. This year he asked for Sally (one of the Disney cars that we lost a long time ago), a jumper (trampoline), Heavy Metal Mater and Buzz Lightyear. He's been a really good boy this year... will Santa bring him what he asked for?

Christmas Program

Tonight was Caleb's Preschool Christmas Program. John and I has such a good time watching Caleb and his class. He didn't sing one word but he stole the show! He was in the very front row and moved his tongue back and forth from cheek to cheek and stood up and then sat down over and over. About 10 minutes into the show he realized that we were there too and said, "Oh! Mommy! Daddy!" and started walking towards us. His teacher kept guiding him back to his spot. He'd stay there for a minute or two and try to walk towards us again. Then he realized that he had cars in his pocket and took them out and started "vrooming" them across his chest. All the other kids sang their songs like they were supposed to but not Caleb. Not one word was sung by him! John and I were laughing so hard. It was great. :)

The Thanksgiving Stomach Flu Strikes Again!!

Hmmmm... I think I see a pattern here.....

Thanksgiving 2008 -- Caleb got the stomach flu and gave it to my entire family...... thank goodness John's family was spared.

Thanksgiving 2009 -- No stomach flu, just family & yummy food. :)

Thanksgiving 2010 --- Caleb got the stomach flu and gave it to my entire family..... this time he gave it to John's family too!

Will Thanksgiving 2011 be safe??

Does this mean we're in for another round in 2012??

Preschool Picture

Caleb has been going to preschool since last month when I went back to work. He goes to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and stays with my parents on the other days. It kills me to be away from him but I know that he is doing fine and thriving. I couldn't ask for more. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Christopher, and he is doing really good in the preschool environment. This is his very first school picture. I love, love, love it!! That's my boy! I am so proud of him.

Cousins

Caleb and Justice have such a good time playing together. I love their little faces! :)

Trunk or Treat - Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween!

Given Caleb's obsession with cars, naturally he would pick a race car driver costume for Halloween. He looked soooo cute. We actually went to 2 different Trunk or Treats (one on Friday and one on Halloween night). So he totally scored on candy. His bucket was overflowing so much that I had to dump some candy into my purse to make room for more! He loved it!

Happy 85th Birthday, Great Grandma!

My grandma celebrated her 85th birthday with us this weekend. Happy Birthday, Grandma! We love you very much.
P.S. I hope you didn't mind Caleb blowing out the candles for you! :)

Pumpkin Carving Party '10

Jan & Ljiljana had another successful Pumpkin Carving Party this year. We always love going to their parties. John and Caleb both won prizes for their carvings. Caleb's won "cutest pumpkin". :)

We also got to meet their newest addition, Merlin! He is one adorable little puppy!! I wish I had a good picture of him from the party but as you may know, it's not easy getting a puppy to pose (let alone sit still) for a picture! :)

Laundry basket

One of Caleb's favorite things to do is play with the laundry basket! I love this picture. He's such a funny kid.

You my best fwiend

Today was a great, great day. Caleb & I went to the park, the mall, then back home to wrestle and race cars. When we were wrestling he bonked his head into mine and it REALLY HURT! He said, "Sowwy, Mommy" and kissed it all better. Then he gave me a huge hug and said, "I wuv you, Mommy. You my best fwiend." The way he said it was so sincere and honest. It was so unexpected and touching that I started to cry and I thanked God for answering my prayers to become a mommy and for giving me such a wonderful son. He's everything I asked for and more. He's such a funny, smart, loving little boy. I am so blessed and thankful.

I love you, Caleb!

Family Camping Trip

We went camping again! Exact same place (Idyllwild), even exact same camp site #805. This time we went with my whole family. We had a great time and made lots of memories. The kids all had a great time too. Here are some pictures fom our trip. Mommy & Caleb by the horses at the campground.
Daddy & Caleb on a big rock.

The girls were much more interested in the big pine cones than Caleb was. As usual, he prefers cars.

Feeding the baby horse. So cute!

Yummy watermelon!

Our family: Papa, Leia, Great Grandma, Uncle Derek, Baby Alana, Auntie Shannon, Nema, Kaia, Daddy, Caleb & Me (Mommy)

Staring contest

On a walk with Nema and Lilo

Lounging in the hammock with Daddy. This is the life!!

Sleepy Picture

Caleb usually comes into our bed at some point during the night/early morning. On this particular day I woke up early and let Lilo out of her crate and she snuggled up in bed with her favorite boy. I couldn't resist taking their picture. They have it rough, don't they?

Little Fish

My Caleb is a little fish! He started swim lessons a week ago and is doing so well. He loves it. He scares me a little bit though because he is so unafraid of it. Here is a quick video of him swimming to the wall in my parents' pool today. He did great until he was holding a car in each hand. He can't swim very well while holding cars, I guess! But other than that he did great. The teachers in his swim class keep asking how old he is and saying that if he was a little bit older he would be in the Tiny Tots instead of Mommy & Me. He can float on his back like a pro. He jumps off the side of the pool and turns around and swims to the wall. He is my little fish! :)

Stitches!!!!

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

We celebrated by camping up in Idyllwild for the weekend with our friends Jan, Ljiljana, and Dominic. It had been quite a while since we'd gone tent camping and it was soooo fun. Caleb had an absolute blast! He loved being outdoors the whole time and had so much fun sleeping in the tent. He thought it was a "hort" (fort). :) He chased lizards, hunted for rocks, swam, ran, jumped, ate, and played in the dirt to his heart's content. He loved his froggy chair.
Family picture

Caleb found a worm in the lake and brought it to the guys to catch some fish. He was so proud to help them out. It must have worked because Uncle Jan caught a fish soon after!

Wouldn't you know it, Caleb spent all weekend camping and ended up busting his chin when we got home. Go figure. He slipped in the shower and got his first big owie. There was lots of blood. Poor baby! We rushed him to Urgent Care and the doctor gave him just one stitch and
some liquid bandaid. He was not happy but it was over pretty quickly. We were in and out of there in half an hour. Not bad for a holiday, huh? He is totally fine now though.

His first stitch! I'm sure it won't be the last! (although I would prefer that it was)

Pay Phone Conversation

Yesterday my mom and I took Caleb to the summer kiddie movie and while we were waiting in the lobby he found a pay phone. He picked up the reciever and had an entire conversation with who-knows. This was his side of the phone call:

"Hewwo?"
(pause)
"What you do-wing?"
(pause)
"I'm jumping"
(starts jumping)
(long pause)
"I wike twucks!"
(pause)
"Ok, bye!"

He made it through 3/4 of the movie (Alvin & the Chipmunks 2) before he said, "I'm done. Let's go bye-bye." He is growing up so fast. He is obsessed with "Cars". He even talks about McQueeen, Mater, Doc and "Heriff" in his sleep. He watched the move for the first time last weekend and sat there in awe with his jaw dropped. He screamed, "Mommy! McQueen's on TV!!". So cute! He is such a boy. I love it. :)

It's been a long time...

it has been a long time since i've blogged. i miss it and i feel like i have so much to say yet nothing to say at all. i have a ton of pictures on my camera that i need to upload but still haven't done it. i have the summer off from school so i will have more time to blog now. eventually i will put them on here and pretend that i posted them on time so look for back-dated posts sometime in the future....

i got an A in my microbiology class! yay. i worked hard for that A. i still have to take anatomy & physiology (fall 2010 and spring 2011) and then i can apply for the nursing program. sigh. i think i have a good chance of getting in but it's a really competitive program so it might take me a while to get accepted. i'm HOPING (darn that hope) that it will be put on hold because i'll get pregnant but you know how that goes............. sigh. not that i don't want to become a nurse, because i totally do and i think i would love it but i want another baby and we've been trying for a year and a half and that's no fun. i went to the doctor last month. he sees nothing wrong with me and no obvious reason why i'm not getting pregnant. he wants john to get tested again and i have the stupid cup for him but i just can't seem to want to have him get tested. the fertility stuff is so stressful. even thinking about going back for treatments is stressful. he was fine last time, i'm sure he's fine again. it's just a timing thing for us, i think. or maybe we're not supposed to have another baby or maybe i need to stop trying or pfffffffffftttttttt. i don't know. i'm just sooo soooo soooooooo sooooo thankful and happy that i get to be caleb's mommy and i don't want to take one second with him for granted. my prayers for him were answered and i am forever grateful for that. i love love love being his mom.

caleb is amazing. he is so smart! and so loving and funny and full of energy and i have a ton of stories that i can't think of right now because the dryer buzzer just went off and i have to get to my laundry. lol. (look for some stories in the future back-dated posts i was talking about earlier). he took himself to the potty today and went poop all by himself (he even tried to wipe!). he was so proud. he is a crazy, silly, little BOY now, no trace of baby left at all. i love him so much. i am so so so blessed to be his mommy.

Big Boy Bed

He's such a bog boy now!!
Naptime!

This post is way overdue but Caleb has moved out of his crib and into a big boy bed! He never liked his crib anyway and he's doing great in his twin bed. He started sleeping on the mattress on the floor in January and only rolled off once (lol, he didn't even wake up!). Then in February his Papa-Bear brought him the frame after he made a cool bed rail for it (he would definitely feel it if he rolled out of this one!). The frame is a hand-me-down from way back in John's family. I think it goes back to John's great-grandmother's day! Pretty cool, huh? He wakes up once during the night and yells "MOMMY!!!" and I get up and take him to go potty and then back to bed. It's awesome.

Caleb loves his bed. He takes any and all visitors to his room to check it out. Sometimes during the day we'll just lay in it together and read books or just cuddle and talk. He has such a vocabulary. He never stops talking. He gets really frustrated when I don't understand what he says. He has started being pretty demanding and I have to remind him to speak nicely to me and he says, "oooh, sowwy, Mommy" and gives me a kiss. I love it when he says, "Mommy, where are you?" and searches throughout the house. Hello, my house is on the rather small side and you just have to turn the corner to find whatever you're looking for. :) He loves my hair. LOVES, LOVES, LOVES my hair. He grabs it and buries his face in it, puts it in his mouth and sucks on it, and rubs it in his eyes. He is so funny. So weird. Guess I won't be cutting it short any time soon (not like I was going to anyway).

I love my Caleb-Caleb, yes I do!! (a line from a song I sing to him) :)

Happy Birthday to Caleb!

My little guy turned 2 today! John woke Caleb up this morning by singing him the happy birthday song and Caleb opened his eyes and said, "I want cake". He cracks me up! I can't believe how fast time flies. Caleb is everything and more that I've always wanted and he makes John and I happier than we've ever been. I can't imagine my life without him and I thank God every day that He made me Caleb's mommy.

He is TWO!!! I can't believe it. I love him more and more every day. He is thoughtful and loving, smart and funny, silly and crazy, cuddly and independent. I am so proud of who he is and I am so excited to see who he becomes. I just hope time starts to slow down a bit 'cause these last 2 years have FLOWN BY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CALEB!! MOMMY LOVES YOU SOOOO, SOOOO MUCH!

"Time Me Out"

The other day Caleb and I were spending the day with my dad and Aunty Gladys. I was trying to put him in his carseat and he was fighting it with all his might.

Frustrated, I said, "Caleb, do you want to go in time out?"

He replied, "Ok.... Time Me Out."

What do you say to that? He's not even TWO yet!!

I pushed his hips into the seat and buckled him in. My dad got a huge kick out of it.

Out of the mouths of babes!!!!

Makin' graham cracker hearts

i am the world's worst blogger! i haven't blogged in forever. my sis-in-law took this pic yesterday so i'm taking 2 mins to put it on the blog. next week is finals week and i am rockin' my chemistry class! i have an A+ right now with 2 more tests and a lab practical next week. i can't wait til it's over!

Caleb is the best!!!!! he can count to 20, he knows his basic shapes, he recognizes several letters (A, B, K, S & R are his favorites) and helps me sing the alphabet. he is so smart. i love him so much and can't wait to get back to being with him full time. next semester i'm taking a microbio class and although it's a really hard class it won't be as intense as the last 5 weeks. maybe i'll be able to blog more too!

It's 2010!

happy new year, everyone! i've been so bad about posting on my blog lately. there's just no time lately! we've been so busy. i miss it though. here's a quick wrap-up of what we've been up to....

Christmas was great this year. Caleb loved the tree and took every opportunity he had to grab an ornament off of it and hurl it across the room (thank goodness for shatterproof ornaments!). we spent Christmas eve at my grandma's house eating a HUGE spread of homecooked food. she really outdid herself! it was a lot of fun. Chrismas day was spent between home, papa/grammy's house and papa/nema's house. Caleb was such a good boy all year that Santa brought him a ton of presents. it was so much fun watching him rip open the gifts. he is so not a baby anymore. he is such a big boy.

as a matter of fact, he is such a big boy now that he doesn't need diapers anymore! his last diaper day was Christmas day. a friend recommended the 3-day-potty-training method so i gave it a try. it says that 22 months is the perfect age to potty train so i figured that since i had some time between semesters i would try it. it was a brutal 3 days but it worked! he is doing so good. he even wakes up dry almost every morning (he usually will wake up once in the middle of the night and i put him on the potty). he still has accidents at times but that's to be expected, he just learned after all. we're still working on pooping in the potty every time but this morning he came running in the room yelling "POTTY! POTTY!". we ran to the bathroom and i said "pee or poop?" he said "POOP!" and poop it was. a lot of it --- in the potty!!! i am so proud of him. it amazes me that he is out of diapers.

as for me, i got an A in my psych class. yay! now i'm taking a short term chemistry class on M-TH for 4.5 hours a day. my brain is WORKED by the end of the day (class gets out at noon). my mom watches Caleb on mondays (mom has mondays off) and my dad has him on tues-thurs. i miss him so much when i'm gone. i can't wait to see him when i get home. i just keep telling myself that it's only for a few weeks. next semester won't require so much time away from my boy.

that's all for now... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!