Catching Up - Grandma and Grandpa's Visit in May

Organizing pictures is tough work when you take so many! I have finally organized the pictures from the last 8 weeks or so and can finally post about Grandma and Grandpa's visit in May! Connie and Rick drove here from Colorado and got here on Sunday, May 10th - Mothers' Day. We got to spend 2 short weeks with them but tried to do as many fun things as possible on the weekends when Paul and I weren't working. But during the weekdays, Caleb got some pretty intense G & G time all to himself! They took walks and they played; they cuddled and snuggled. Grandma even showed us cool stuff for kids on their iPad so now we're considering that... AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOY! Who knew?!

I'll let the pictures and captions tell the rest of the story of this most awesome visit:

Caleb! Guess what?! Grandma and Grandpa are coming to see you!

That means it's time for snuggling...

... and cuddling...

... being outdoors...

... and learning to suck it up when it comes to tummy time!

Rick, Connie, Caleb and I went to Ojai to have lunch with Grandpa Jay and Grandma Barbara... where we ran into Nana
and Papa! How cool is that?! Only person missing was Paul :(
From L to R: (front) G'ma Barbara (stepmom), Nana (mom),
Caleb, and G'pa Jay (dad)
(back) Papa (stepdad), Grandpa (Rick), me, and Grandma (Connie)

Grandpa trying to feed Caleb a Whodidily Cupcake in Montecito.
Bad Grandpa! (hehehe)

We decided to go for a cruise out of Santa Barbara on a big sailboat... this is right before we left.

The beautiful view of the Santa Barbara coast from the boat

Grandpa and Caleb... just chillin

Good times, good times!

The next day, we went to Boccali's in Ojai for the anniversary festival.

Mom and son... they are both so happy!!

Our friends Norm and Michelle, then me and Rick

Paul, Barbara and my dad

It was such a great visit and we can't wait to do it again!!

Four Months Old

I've done my absolute best to enjoy and appreciate each Caleb moment in the last four months. I am constantly reminding myself that these moments won't last forever and that soon enough he'll be crawling, walking, talking, talking back, and unappreciative of the constant kisses. So before those last two things happen, I'm just taking it all in. And? LOVING IT!

He is still such a good baby... I definitely know when he needs something because those are the only times he cries. And those times? Rare.

At this stage...

Things Caleb loves

• His play gym. Um, more like destructing his play gym. He's happy to play with the toys hanging from it, but he's happier when he's kicked a leg or two out and has the whole thing flattened out on top of him.

• Song time! The Itsy Bitsy Spider (with hand gestures, of course) and Five Green and Speckled Frogs (which, imagine this, can actually be Ten or Fifty Green and Specked Frogs, depending on how long you need the song to be! Kinda like 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, Kids' Version!)
• Bath time! Bath time climbed the list from "tolerates" at eight weeks to "loves" at four months! He splashes, he floats on his back (Daddy's assistance), he plays. It's magic. And it prepared him well for the pool in Palm Springs on Fathers' Day weekend :)

• Reading time! He looks at the pictures, reacts to the silly voices we make, and "reads" along. His attention span is better than mine... I'm working on that.
• Stroller time! He likes to be on the go, whether it's a walk in the neighborhood, rolling through the library, or bumpy terrain at the park.

Things Caleb tolerates

• Sitting with us while we eat at the table. This will hopefully move up to the "loves" list above when he actually gets to indulge in eating food instead of watching us eat in front of him.

Things Caleb doesn't like much

• That darn binky falling out of his mouth. While he IS able to find it with his hands sometimes, he just isn't coordinated enough to find his mouth quite yet. A hole in one is still a fluke... I mean, it happens, but it's most certainly about the stars and moon aligning moreso than any mad skills he's acquired. As entertaining as it is for me to watch, he frankly gets pissy about the whole thing.

And to add categories this time around...


Things Caleb's parents love

• Hearing him scream with delight and laugh. Best sounds EVER!
• Watching him hit new milestones and make new connections.
• His omnipresent smile.

Things Caleb's parents tolerate

• I have to put this here because my "love" and Paul's "doesn't like so much" come out as a neutral: Paul gets up with him 9 out of 10 times at night. I don't even hear them most times - but I soooo love that he (Paul) hasn't complained even once about this. Caleb will sleep through the night some nights, but many nights he just can't quite get over the 4 or 5 a.m. hump. So we (mostly Paul) will feed him, change him, and get him back to bed for a nice wake-up time between 8 and 9 a.m.

Things Caleb's parents don't like much

• Seeing dog hair on my little guy's hands. I know it will only get worse as he crawls on the floor, but I really don't like that.
• He is growing and changing so fast! I wish I could slow some of that down.

Just thought I should document some of these things before I forgot. Life is flying by and if I can freeze just these few thoughts and observations, why not?

Sweetest Sounds Ever Heard

This video melts my heart! Caleb's cousin Michael played peek-a-boo with him in Target tonight:

I love him so much!

My Newest Favoritest Picture

Yeah, I know favoritest isn't a word ;)

Here's Caleb and Daddy looking at their twins:

Stats and Crazy Thoughts

Stats first since I'm so excited to say... our healthy boy is still a BIG, healthy boy!

At 9 weeks, his head circumference was 16.5 inches (90th percentile), he weighed 14 pounds (95th percentile) and was 26 inches long (off the charts - the average length of a 5.5 month old!). The doctor said he eats, sleeps, pees and poops just the right amount. Wait, was that TMI? Sorry if so... I mean those terms in the most medical of senses ;)

Perhaps getting 9 hours of sleep on one of the weekend nights and another 9 hours last night (yes! a work night!) made me a little loopy because I said something to Paul about having another and he said something like "did we win the lottery and you didn't tell me??" I guess this is one of those situations where I can't say "money aside..." because, well, money is never aside. Perhaps we can talk along those lines if I get another kick-ass bonus next year :) For now, and for always, Caleb is a blessing and I know we're lucky to have him and our lives are so full and complete just the way we are.

And some recent pictures of our little-big guy:

Had to put a pic with Paul's hand so Caleb would look small(er) than something

When do we add peanut butter and chocolate to the diet?

Ack! So cute! We have 3 robes for him and use them all because, well, why wouldn't we when he looks this cute??

Currently my facebook profile pic because every time I look at this, I smile!

Chicks dig him

From today... 9 weeks 3 days (but who's counting?)

From the weekend... Happy Easter, naked baby style!

Updated Pictures

I uploaded new pics today here
Password = calebian

Damn he's cute. I don't think I'm supposed to say that... I'm supposed to wait for everyone else to say that. Ahhh to hell with the "rules."

Back to Work. Blech.

I went back to work today. My work is generous and offers a "new parent transition week" which means I can work 20 hours and get paid for 40. Quite frankly, I was not ready for this. Even now - after finishing a 4 hour work day - I'm not ready for this! I had a mini panic attack this morning... like a last minute attempt to figure out how I could NOT go back to work and still pay our bills. I failed to come up with anything doable, because short of selling our house and living like homeless people, it ain't gonna happen.

Of course I knew my return to work day was coming. In fact, I had chest pain that started on Sunday and got worse yesterday. All sorts of things went through my head... like maybe it was a physical symptom of stress (like the idea of returning to work). I went to the doctor and he poked and pushed and diagnosed it as costochondritis (click here to learn more about that) which according to Wikipedia, a diagnostic version of God, if you will, has symptoms similar to those you may have with a heart attack. Alas, it's likely due to hauling a heavy little baby around in a heavy little car seat and his recommendation was to switch the load to the other side of my body. We'll see about that.


I'm pretty sure if I look back through the archives of this blog, I'll find a post about how sure I was I wanted (perhaps even wrote "needed") to work because that's what I know and it's how I define(d) myself. I don't have time to go look for that blurb but that's ok... I'd probably choke on my own words anyway. In case I'm not being clear, let me put it this way: I want to stay home and play with Caleb all day!

Because I don't want to just complain and not have a plan of action, I do plan to do something about this quandary: I will immediately start playing Lotto, the Early Retirement Plan :)