Kaleb-Pretty Much 8 Months

Kaleb will be a whopping 8 months on Wednesday, and since he has gone through so many changes over the last 6 weeks I couldn't wait to make a post all about him! Let me tell you, it's a looloo!!

***Like a Weed!***
Firstly, Kaleb is FINALLY growing out of his clothes! He's always in the top 75th percentile, but we really haven't had to worry about him growing out of his clothes very much. However, in the last three or four weeks, I've noticed that he has definitely had a bit of a growth spurt. So out with (some) old and in with some new!

Here is a picture of Kaleb at 2 months:

And here he is in the same onesie a few days ago. BARELY fits!

Almost looks like somebody blew air in him like a balloon.

***All I want for Christmas is...***
I should've mentioned this in my last post, but totally spaced it. Kaleb got his two front teeth for Christmas. We didn't really notice for a few weeks since he was sick, but now that they're over a month old, they're almost visible in his smile... but not yet, so I don't have any good pictures of them!


***My little Angel?***
While Kaleb was sick, he was almost always the sweet little boy that we have come to know. However, near the end of that month-long cold, he started becoming what I like to call "a normal child" which for him is cranky and wheepy! Unfortunately, even after he got healthy again, it didn't quite stop. Things have gotten better over the last week or so since there have been several changes to his life, listed below:

1. We are finally getting into a 2 nap schedule. I still have to work out the kinks, but at least now he doesn't spend an hour or more a day crying in his crib.
2. Feeding him more. Kaleb is much like his parents. When he is fed he is happy(er), so I stopped being so stingy on his foods and he has been more calm more often. I don't know if this is necessarily the correct way to do things, but as long as he's not spitting up, I'm not gonna worry about it too much. We even started feeding him crackers and baby snacks, and it has been an easy transition that he has really enjoyed!
3. New toys and experiences. There is more on that later
4. Crawling. Also more on that. See the rest of the posts.



***Big Boy***
We lowered Kaleb's crib when I found him after a nap, kneeling on his bed and gnawing on the top rail. I knew he had no problem pulling himself up, so before Kaleb did a Sargeant Syler and flew head first over the edge, we lowered his crib.... now he can see more of his room and he seems eager to escape when he wakes up from his nap!


***Speaking of new toys***
Since Kaleb is more aware and getting bored with his old toys (even the ones we just got for Christmas), we have had to get really creative with finding cheap alternatives to buying new toys. This has included a computer keyboard, a ladel...

and his favorite new toy is a metal measuring cup. He loves how shiny it is, the taste of metal and especially the sound it makes when knocked against other things. Below is a video of him enjoying this random little toy. Please make suggestions for baby-safe toys that you have 'invented'!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdXcBf9yKeM

***And new experiences***

Kaleb has become obsessed with new things now that he is in the discovery age, so now I find myself making excuses to go somewhere outside the house at least once a day. That way both of us don't get cranky! Another alternative is to have new people visit. Kaleb is really starting to enjoy his little cousins (like when Ellie came by the other day).

***CRAWLING, finally***
Before I had a baby, I was very misinformed. I always thought babies started crawling by 6 months. (even with 6 nieces and nephews, you would think I would have known better). However, as I did the research, I became aware that a lot of babies don't start crawling until 9 months. Well, Kaleb has a tendency to grow exactly with the norm. He isn't slow, but he definitely is not ahead of the game, so I was getting so anxious for him to crawl. PLUS he was getting UBER frustrated when he couldn't get to whatever he wanted. Anyway, this past week he FINALLY started crawling.

I have the before video taken the day before he started crawling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttWL1lZ9YI&feature=channel

And the video the day he started crawling:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MYKzsnLdN5k&feature=channel

Life is now easier because Kaleb is happier, but also harder because now I realized I gotta babyproof EVERYTHING!! Either way, we are excited for this little accomplishment!

*Kaleb Cuteness*

"Dada" is Kaleb's favorite word right now. He technically said Mama first, but now he can't stop saying "DADA" I thought it was appropriate to end with Kaleb wearing his Dada's hat. Is there anything cuter?

The Mid-January post

I am not going to apologize this time for not posting for over a month. Stuff happened... and I didn't put it on here immediately, so not only are there not going to be such refined details as would have been the case if I did blog once a day or once a week or even twice a month, but also the entries are a little bit mangled and not really in the order they happened... wutayagunado? (That is "what are you going to do" as said with a shrug in slang dismissal , which is how you would hear it if I were actually speaking to you).

***A stroller, a bed and a computer***
What do these three things have in common? They broke on us over the past month... hence one of multiple reasons I didn't update my blog (the broken computer, not the stroller). I won't bore you with the rather boring details because it would bore you... sufficeth to say, all three of these things have been repaired to the point where we could use them once again. Okay, the bed is still really pathetic and of course, it is broken on my side, but hey, that strange Hawaiian disease Lackamulah strikes again, so we're just dealing with it by stuffing a quilt on top of the box spring. I now have falling dreams like every night. Go figure!


***Jam- Good!! Meat- Good!! Wood- Good!!***
That is almost a direct quote from Joey of "Friends". I say this because as some of you know, I chewed the wooden legs of my parents' piano bench when I was a very little baby. Not just once, but to the point where there are significant bite marks up and down the wood of all four legs. Well, it turns out, our adorable son also finds wood fairly appealing, and we have caught him in the act of gnawing our coffee table several times!



***Christmas to Remember***
My wonderful husband did an amazing job of purchasing all of my gifts this Christmas with a limited budget. I got polar bear pajamas and slippers, a snuggie, games, and he even spent several hours at multiple department stores picking out the perfect purse. It turns out I was not so good. We ended up returning bout half of Ammon's gifts since they didn't fit right or weren't exactly what he would want. I wasn't insulted or anything. I want my sweety to be happy, but it just goes to show who knows who better (or who made a more specific Christmas list?) One of the few things Amnmon did keep was this fleece pullover:

**Goodie Disaster Gone Good***

We decided to make a whole bunch of goodies for our neighbors and friends for Christmas. Partially because we had limited funds and partially because I just don't feel like it's Christmas until I've spent a day in the kitchen making Christmas goodies and singing along to Christmas songs. I made a list of four things I wanted to make: banana bread, peanut butter cookies, crazy crunch (like carmel corn) and sugar cookies with frosting. Well, the banana bread and peanut butter cookies went off without a hitch: YUMMY!! Ammon even made the peanut butter cookies all by himself. After a mixup with the crazy crunch that made me delay making it until later, we proceeded to make sugar cookies... well actually it's my mom's "Butter Cookie" recipe that ends up making a slightly dry-er and flatter version of sugar cookies that are REALLY good with frosting. Anyway, Ammon wanted to make the BIGGEST batch, so he got started with NINE cups of flour and THREE cups of butter, etc. After he was done mixing I came over and noticed that the dough looked much more gooey than I was used to. Turned out that due to a miscommunication he had used granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar. We pined over the over-flowing bowl for a few minutes, called a few moms to see if they knew if we could salvage it, even tried to roll it out to cookie-cutter-out a few shapes... it was pathetic. Then, I decided to roll the dough in cinnamon and sugar... I don't like to brag, but they ended up being some of the best dang cookies I have ever tasted. I even made another batch last week and let me tell you, flippin addicting!! Anyway, so we ended up not only averting disaster but 'inventing' some darn good cookies! The recipe is under the picture of our resulting bags of goodies.

Originally I called them Cinnamon Roll Cookies, but my sister Jess and Ammon came up with a better name since they're similar to snickerdoodles, but better!

***Cinnamon Butter-Doodles***

1.5 cups butter/margarine

3 eggs

2.25 cups granulated sugar

4 tsps vanilla

4.5 cups flour

1.5 tsps salt

Roll golf-ball size balls in cinnamon and sugar mixture (1/4 cup sugar and 4 tsps cinnamon); Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. If you want them to be less crumbly, add about a half cup more flour. This recipe makes about three dozen, which doesn't last long.

***A WHOLE LOTTA POPCORN***
Kind of a fun story about Christmas: I had asked for a very specific type of popcorn popper for Christmas. I LOVE popcorn all the time, but when I was pregnant, Ammon's dad made me some popcorn with their family popper and it was so good, I craved it ALL the time after that. It's the Stir Crazy brand apparently. I know this because I ended up getting three of them for Christmas. One from Ammon and one each from two of my very awesome sisters-in-law. It all worked out in the end so that we only had one, but it ended up being a running gag by the end of Christmas day!

***Kaleb's First Christmas***
Of course I have to talk about Kaleb's first Christmas. We got him a cute little outfit and a couple of presents (don't worry I am not putting pictures of all of them on here). It turns out Kaleb is a really good gift unwrapper. Unfortunately, every piece of wrapping he tore off went straight to his mouth.

Ammon's family got Kaleb a bunch of books, which I am so excited about because we only had two or three baby books before Christmas. One book about a fire engine has a button on it to make a siren play. It turns out that Kaleb is obsessed with hitting the button, but starts crying after the third of fourth time. Ammon thinks the siren is baby talk for something very sad.

A kind of begged my mom to get a "Soft Shapes" book for Kaleb (it was on sale at the store I worked at) and it turns out that the little ducks that pop out of it are Kaleb's new favorite thing to chew on.

Another popular toy was a light and sound ball my parents got... a Walmart special... but it was Kaleb's first light-up toy, so now if we ever need to get his attention, we just pop out that toy!

***Sick Kaleb***
Kaleb came down with a really persistent cold on Christmas Eve and had it for almost a month (okay, lets just say he isn't quite over it yet). This later turned into a really nasty cough that possibly could have been RSV and we had to do breathing treatments. This has made him very tired and cuddly, but overall not too different from his usual self... Except maybe he liked to be with dad a little more:

Then while Kaleb still had his cold, he came down with a very stubborn diarrhea, ended up lasting a full week. Needless to say we took extra precautions to make sure he stayed hydrated, including giving him water and pedialyte. It turns out Kaleb REALLY hates the orange "fruit" flavored Pedialyte and the only way we could get him to drink it was by squirting it into his mouth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozpx8mtpeE8

Thankfully he really likes the grape flavor so he was able to get a lot of fluids that way. Unfortunately, now we have to try to convince him to drink plain water again.

We also had to deal with the awful diaper rash that comes with diarrhea, so thankfully my wonderful sister-in-law had some poddy pads from when she was housetraining her dog, so we lined the playpen and let Kaleb 'air out' for a few hours. (Thank you, Kelli)

***A boy and his (dad's) dog***

We've had such wonderful weather lately, we took Kaleb and Bowser to the park the other day. I don't often talk about Bowser, and as much as he is not the type of dog I would choose for myself, he really is a GREAT dog and the perfect playmate for Ammon. We have been relatively cautious with Bowser being around Kaleb, mostly because he's just a big clutzy dog, but also because Bowser, though very gentle overall, hasn't been around kids very much. When we went to the park, I sat Kaleb in the grass and Bowser laid beside him and licked him a couple of times, they just hung out like "little buds". It was so reassuring to finally have them really spend time together.

Update on us, finally

I've done what I always hate to see other people do, but I have posted a bunch of stuff at once... again. I'm apologizing, but I'm not sorry since it's just the way things had to be. Anyway, so here is an overall update on us (see "Kaleb at 6 Months" for all the fun stuff on him).

*Well, the beginning of November started off with a bang... okay, so it was more like a screeching of brakes as our highlander was getting repossessed at 8:00 in the morning. We knew it would happen, so it wasn't SO traumatic. Funny part was when the tow-truck guy called a few minutes after leaving to see if we wanted to get anything out of it and if he could come pick up the keys. I know it's their policy since people can get really hostile over such an event, but it made us laugh. Thankfully, my parents have graciously let us borrow my dad's retired work van. It has been a godsend... even if it only gets ten miles to the gallon. It's better than a bike!!


*We hosted Thanksgiving dinner for both sides of our family again this year. It was a lot of fun! So much food. Maybe next year we won't start off with chips and salsa and guacamole and deviled eggs and actually save room for the turkey and fixins. The best part of the night was when we all got together for Catch Phrase. My favorite word was Lick!


*We then decided to participate in the midnight shopping on Black Friday. The only reason for this was to get the $50 gift cards the mall was offering if you shopped before 3 AM. Unfortunately we got in line a little too late to get them. It was fun to say we did it, but we will never do it again unless we KNOW there is a CRAZY-GOOD sale on something we DEFINITELY want.

*Ammon and I were in charge of our ward Christmas party. We prepared for 250 people and were not disappointed! The young men and young women were our waiters and they did a great job (and extra Kudos to all who helped out in the kitchen above and beyond the call of duty). The primary children preformed a little nativity scene which we missed because of backstage duties, but overall I got rave reviews from attendees.

*We put up our Christmas decorations the other day, and the Dr. Seuss tree is back. Every year we have talked about getting a new topper for our tree, one that is less overwhelming for our 30-year-old fake fir. But then, when we see the adorable crookedness, we just don't have the heart.

*And now, I have three stories that show just how frustrating people can be... (sarcastic sigh) Ahhh... working retail at Christmas:

STORY #1: A lady came into the store with a toy we sell called a Rody. It's basically a Donkey version of the balls that have a handle that you bounce around on. (Google "Rody bouncing horse" to see a visual). Anyway, she had purchased the toy for her son and wanted to return it. She claimed that he kept falling off of it and she just didn't want him to play with it anymore. Firstly, it is a bouncing item for kids under three... don't ya think a kid might fall off of it occasionally? Secondly, we have a demo in the store that kids can ride on. We encourage kids between 1 and 3 to try it out... helps to sell it. Thirdly, all of our receipts say that we don't take back anything that is opened unless it is defective. So when I told her our return policy she refused to believe it was on the receipt (which was taped to the box that she had brought Rody back in). When I showed it to her, she said, "well, then its defective". I said, "What's wrong with it?" She replied, "It won't stay inflated". I was pretty sure she was just making this up to get her money back, so I told her, "Well, ma'am we will have to do some rigorous testing to make sure it is defective before I can give you a full refund." She was so desparate to save face she said, "Fine". I took her information and she left. My manager pumped that little guy up and we squeezed the Hee-haw out of him, but he was still fine after four days. The moral of this story is: People will do anything to not be caught in a lie

Story #2: I am often by myself when I work, which wasn't a problem until a few weeks ago. The other day, it was a busier time. I was gift wrapping while trying to answer a question for someone as well as greet all of the random people that come in the store. Then a younger gal comes walking toward me from the back of the store and says, "Um, one of the kids I'm watching just had an accident on the floor, so there's like a puddle of pee back there." I start to ask, "Would you like some paper towels or a mop or whatever to clean it up?" BUT she turns around and snaps at the kids to get out of the store NOW. No offer to clean up. No request for the closest bathroom. Not even an attempt to dry the poor little girl off!!! NOTHING!!! She proceeded to point the kids out the store without an apology, so I'm left to clean up the mess. The moral of this story: PEOPLE ARE SICK!!

Story #3: I middle-aged woman came in the other day shopping for something for a 5 year old and 8 year old and needed ideas. We pointed her in the right directions, and I eventually noticed she was accompanied by some mentally handicapped teenagers (they had been close by, but I didn't realize they were with her at first), apparently she was their teacher or aid. After she had picked out some things, I asked her who they were for. She pulled one of the girls over and said, "This little girl's cousins in Seattle had a terrible house fire and lost everything including all of their Christmas presents. I wanted to do what I can for them." The moral of this story: There are Angels among us.

Kaleb Christmas

It appears that Kaleb already loves Christmas. He sings along to Christmas songs in the car and while we putting up Christmas lights we decided to do a little photo shoot. Here are some of my favorites!!

Kaleb at 6 Months

Kaleb is now 6 months old! Or at least he was on the 3rd. At his Dr's appointment he weighed in at 20 lbs, 1 oz (90th percentile) and was 27.25 inches (70th percentile). So many things have happened for him over the last 6 weeks. Firstly we are having him sit up on his own in the bathtub. I tried that reclining chair for a little while (thanks for letting me borrow it jess), but he couldn't play in the water and he got so cold during the bath cuz only his behind was submerged in the water. SO we moved him back into the little bathtub, but without the ramp. He seems to like having bath toys as he was showing daddy:

We have moved him up to the bigger carseat that holds up to 30 pounds and we have even started giving him solids. Of course, rice cereal first and just this week we started him on veggies: so far, peas are his favorite. Next week, we will be doing fruits. It's very exciting!! Definitely makes our meal times more interesting. Below is a video of one of his first ever spoon-feeding sessions. It ends up being more a video of him trying to escape his dreaded Bumbo, but I think it's still cute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTyf5kqIvTo

Below are just a few updated photos of Kaleb... okay so they're almost a month old, but I really like his expressions!!

I just love Kaleb's cheeks, especially now that his back is so stable, his neck looks so skinny!!

Kaleb has been a lot more fun to watch and play games with. We put a mirror alongside him and he just got a kick out of that!!

This is a video of Ammon and I playing Peek a Boo with Kaleb. Makes us laugh so much:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTDoRA5bmY0&feature=channel

And this is a video of Kaleb's first trick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otVr4VkT-N0&feature=channel

He is also getting much more observant (unfortunately). He already knows which is his toy remote and which one is the real on and he was obsessed with the little picture on this sweater for a good five minutes.

Speaking of observant, Kaleb has gotten more into watching TV, or at least, watching us watch tv. The other day, we put him in his play pen behind the couch that faces the tv and when I turned around to check on him, i saw this: Kinda freaky!!

And with Kaleb's new observations means new toys:

Wrapping paper

This is the ring that holds his elephant... the rattle that hangs from the handle of his carseat:

And of course, video games:

With new toys, comes new friends... and apparently arguments with his new friends. Below is a video we caught while Kaleb was mad at one of his favorite toys. It must have been a very heated discussion because we can't seem to get his attention afterward!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M777-S3NhE4&feature=channel

Sick of Running on a Treadmill

I mean this figuratively of course since I haven't worked out much over the last few months. I just want to take a moment to vent... which is a horrible thing to do on the first real post in over a month, but I feel like these emotions need to be expelled in order for me to be rid of them, like a bad virus! Lately I have had this virtual depression come over me (almost like I'm completely overwhelmed) for about a month. At first I thought it was just the extra hours at worked combined with my desire to really be involved with holiday festivities... combined with preparing for our ward Christmas party. However, the word "overwhelmed" didn't ... it wasn't right. I'm not overwhelmed. Disorganized yes, but not overwhelmed.



However, something happened today that turned on that figurative lightbulb. I won't go into details what the last straw was, but I will say this: I am sick of running on a treadmill. I hate the feeling that I am working and not going anywhere. For instance, I am literally working but not making any more money... in fact, in the long run, I'm losing money by working. Also, I am given the opportunities to make decisions and then the very person who gave me those responsibilities re-makes the decision how he/she would prefer. And the worst one of all, that we have been praying for a full year for Ammon to get a good, stable job... and he still doesn't have one. I know the economy is what it is and we are definitely not the only ones suffering, if we are suffering at all! I know we are not doing everything perfectly to be able to even call up to the heavens and demand that we 'deserve blessings', but I feel like we are trying. Again, I reiterate, this is just a vent, something to let you know perhaps why I have not blogged in over a month.



That being said, I know that we are blessed. I feel it every time the heater comes on and see it whenever Kaleb smiles and my hubby hugs me. We are so lucky to have the support we have and still have our own house. So please don't reprimand a frustrated old woman for needing to blow off steam. I've just been thinking of that story of the man whom God asked to push a boulder, so this man pushes for months and months, but it never budges. Finally, the man asks God why the rock never moves. God tells him, "I didn't ask you to move the rock, just to push it. See how much stronger you are from all that you have been through." Hopefully, this means we are getting stronger... though most of the time I feel like I'm getting weaker. Go figure!

For the Love of the Muppets!!

The first has become a web-craze and is really hystarical!!

The muppets doing "Bohemian Rhapsody". For any who love the muppets, it's a good laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY



This next video is to help you get in the Christmas spirit:

Beeker doing "Ode to Joy". Probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Just remember to watch all of the different Beekers!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A&NR=1

Videos

Some new videos. The first is just an updated video of Kaleb sitting. He can sit all on his own, but just can't get there on his own:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYdShZ8bfQc

I've had requests for more laughing videos, so the next two have Kaleb laughing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UD63qWK-U4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq1lqBJT5DY


This last video was taken late at night. You may need to lighten your monitor to see it in detail. Kaleb had been awake for two straight hours past his bedtime and refused to sleep, so we decided to try to make him tired. Well, he decided to play a little game with us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v30KGSHm3Js

The Many Faces of Kaleb-5 Months

Tomorrow Kaleb will be five months old, so I am going to dedicate this post to all of his many faces. I've been getting a lot of requests for smiling pictures, but since Kaleb has many other fun expressions, I thought I should include all of them!!!

This is his, "You guys are weird, but I like it" Face

This is his classic smile... cute and coy!

Laughing smile, his cheeks are the biggest and his eyes are the smallest!!

Bubbles

What the?

Angry Smile... he's not angry, he just looks angry when he smiles

Sneaky...

His uncontrolled, super happy smile!! My favorite!

Halloween

Kaleb's first true holiday... Halloween!!! He was a white tiger, not a zebra as many people guessed. So cute!!! We were in charge of our ward Trunk-or-Treat and overall I think it was a success. Ammon really earned all the credit by monitoring the hot dog table and doing all of the PR work. I held the cuteness and gave out candy, tough stuff!

Grrrr!!

Kaleb even carried his own Treat bucket... for about five seconds!

Such a happy baby, now that Mommy is not drawing all over the face with eye-liner!

The Happy Halloween family



Jess and Chris and the munchkins joined us for our ward's Trunk or Treat. I think the adults had more fun than the kids. This picture kinda shows Christian's attitude,
"I'm only here for the food!"

Kaleb conked out really early that night. He was so well behaved the whole time. Then at about 7:30, fussy for five minutes, then asleep in Mommy's arms!!

This was our stash at the end of the night. What Kaleb collected and what we didn't get rid of.