One

One last post for the year. One more look back at everything that has happened this year. One more miletsone hit today: the 10 month mark. Lots of "ones."

I can't believe the end of 2011 is here. Although such a whirlwind, I clearly remember January and the baby shower at which so many awesome friends and family members celebrated the upcoming arrival of Caleb with me. As if it were yesterday, I remember the caravan of Mom & Bill with their trailer and me in my car, first to Santa Nella and then to Red Bluff - with Paul following 10 days later - to wait until Caleb was born. At the time, that seemed like the longest wait of my life. I remember seeing Caleb for the very first time and remember the overwhelming rush of emotion those first moments. It's still so very vivid to me.

March, April and May were all about bonding, adjustment, bottles, diapers and sleep! It was so good to find our groove... to find what worked for us. There were no arguments over who HAD to feed the baby or change his diaper. Can an adrenaline rush last for many months?? I went back to work in April and we got into a new groove with a new schedule, but it was an easy transition.

The summer months were so much fun. Every week from the time our nieces and nephews got out of school for summer break until the week they had to go back to school, one of them was here to babysit. It was great to have full-time in-home daycare, the cousins got to bond, and I got some good time with all of them :)

After the kids went back to school, I took another leave of absence from work. Those weeks were the most fun! At the beginning, Caleb turned 6 months and was turning into a fun interactive little person (from an adorably baby-ish baby). We played, went to the park, shopped, went to lunch with Daddy and with friends. The transition from my 6 weeks off went right into another 6 weeks that Paul took off from his work. That was a bonding extravaganza. Paul was in heaven as was Caleb. In that time, we took a week long vacation to Palm Springs and enjoyed the time we got to spend with him. Caleb hit so many milestones during this time - crawling and teeth to name two biggies.

Paul returned to work at the beginning of November and Caleb has been in full-time daycare since then. I am so, so happy we found a great daycare provider! After visiting a few places, my heart was heavy as I began to think I would have to settle in some way - whether it was a schedule I didn't agree with (3 hour naptimes?) or a distance I didn't want to travel (neighboring city that would add at least an hour of driving to each day). But on that fourth visit, I was so relieved to know we didn't have to settle on any one of the wants on our wish list. I am truly at ease when he's there... our provider is super!!!

So here we are in December. December 21st. Caleb is 10 months old today. He's on the verge of walking, has five adorably placed and spaced teeth, is eating mostly "real" food instead of baby food, squirms like a fish when getting his diaper changed (he has better things to do than slow down for that, you know), loudly expresses his opinions at times, climbs *over* Starr instead of around her, thinks Coco's growling "leave me alone" sounds are absolutely hysterical (uh ohhhh), and crawls through the doggy door faster than you can say "the doggy door is only for doggies!"

We have over 3,000 pictures that encompass everything from pre-birth ultrasounds to this week's trip to the beach. To skim through them beginning to end is just mind boggling, but what a great trip down memory lane. The best words on which to end 2011: happy, eager, proud, relieved, but most of all, grateful. Looking forward to a great 2012 for us, and for you!

Merry Christmas!!

Everyone takes their kid to the pet store to get the Santa pic, right??

Baby's First Christmas.