Icky Nasty Part 2

The plumber never showed up yesterday! So we got to stay out at Chris's parents' house again last night. Chris came by work to see me after he packed up some more clothes, and Caleb was with him. He was such a show-off for the ladies! He was talking and laughing up a storm with them. The last few times he's been here, he's been so shy. Not this time! He's such a ham!

Today's my Friday! I'm taking tomorrow off. I thought I needed a holiday, so tomorrow I'm celebrating something! Chris is on spring break this week, so we're going to have a family day tomorrow. Don't know what we're going to do, but I'm sure we'll have a good time! I just hope my plumbing gets fixed today! Have a great weekend!

Icky Nasty!

So, what's the worst problem you can have in your home? Right now, I think that answer is plumbing! We started having some issues yesterday morning, and Chris thought he could fix the problem pretty easily. You know, our place is ancient and doesn't have the best pipes! Come to find out, our neighbors were having problems too. Our building is like a duplex, so from my understanding, we share some of the same pipes. Well, they had already scheduled a plumber to come in today, so we put our place on the agenda, too! I had no desire to stay in that nastiness, so off we went to Chris's parents house for the night. I hated that my neighbors don't have family nearby, and they went to a hotel. It was kind of exciting to watch some TV. It's become a luxury to us these days. We don't watch much, so we didn't set up our satellite over here. So we got to watch TV on the big screen last night. It was a pretty relaxing night. Caleb was in a good mood. I think Chris did more watching, and I did more giggling with Caleb! It seemeed like everything I did was funny last night. I just love his laugh! It's really cute when I tickle him. I must say, watching him is loads more fun that watching anything on the TV!

Quack! Quack!

We had a great time this weekend in Houston. I went for my scholarship interview Fri. afternoon, and I got it! There's some of my school paid for! Then we headed down to Robin and Matt's. It was great to catch up and hang out with friends. That doesn't happen very often!

Sat. morning we headed to the park to feed the ducks. Apparently their neighborhood is a bird sanctuary. There are tons of ducks and other birds there. Caleb had a blast feeding the ducks. At first, there were only a few ducks, but after all the "quacking" started, we were joined by several more ducks and birds. Caleb kept saying "Quack! Quack!" at the ducks. Too cute! We taught him how to throw the bread at the ducks, and he got a big kick out of that. I think Chris and I had more fun, though. We found out if you throw the bread in the air, the birds will catch it in midair. We had a lot of fun.

After feeding the ducks and playing at the playground, we headed to Kemah. I just love it down there! We walked along the boardwalk, and Caleb kept pointing out all the boats to us. There were tons of boats going in and out of the bay! After a quick bite to eat, we hit the rides. We all rode the train, and Caleb and I rode the carousel. He loved the "choo-choo", which he kept saying the whole time we were riding it! He wasn't so sure about the carousel at first; he kept reaching at me and grabbing my shirt, but by the end he was smiling and having a big time. He thought he was so big riding his zebra! After all that excitement, he was pooped! It was time to head back here anyway, so at least he slept a good part of the drive home!

I just love weekends like this one. It's fun to introduce Caleb to new things. I just love it! It's so much fun to spend time with my family. I love my boys! This week is Chris's spring break, so I'm taking a holiday on Thurs. Only 3 workdays this week! Too bad he has to work the weekend though. At least I'll get to see him Thurs! Have a great week, everyone!

Sandman

Not that there was ever any doubt, but Caleb is definitely "all boy!" While he was out at his grandparents' house yesterday, they were out playing outside. They've been doing some work to their yard, so there's plenty of sand to play in. Well, Caleb apparently was rolling (literally rolling!) around in the dirt and would keep getting on his belly and sticking out his tongue into the sand! Where did he pick this habit up? Who knows! Then he had to pick up the sand and pour it all over himself! My mother-in-law told me he was completely covered before it was all over! He had just had a bath when I picked him up, so he was nice and clean for me, but I could tell he'd been playing hard because there was still a little sand in his ear!

Then he wanted to play in the dirt at church, too! He got mad when I wouldn't let him. I didn't want to give him another bath! So he occupied himself picking me flowers and grass. It's so exciting to grab a handful of grass, you know. He's such a sweetie. He would come up to me with a flower and say, "Flower." After I would tell him thank you, he said, "You're welcome!" I surely hope these good manners last! I'm sure we'll have to keep working on them for the next 18 years or so!

Well, now we're gearing up for our big trip to Houston tomorrow. I have a scholarship interview tomorrow, and then we're going to hang out with Matt and Robin! Fun stuff here we come!

Out of Shape!

I must really be getting old! I've been trying (not too hard!) to eat better and get some exercise. How hard is that with an 18 month old? He won't let me do aerobics at home, so I'm doing the walking thing. Last night I threw him in his stroller, and off we went. There's a great place to walk at the schools across the street. I didn't realize how many hills were over there though! I've walked over there with Chris before, but I guess last night was the first night I've pushed the stroller. I'm too out of shape! And to think that this time last year I was doing step aerobics 3 times a week at the church! It's just gone downhill since moving to J'ville! Anyway, Caleb wanted to talk the whole time. He was telling me about all the stuff around him. We did our animal sounds and all that. Then he turned around in his stroller and looked up at me and put his finger up to his mouth and "shh"ed me! Where did he learn that? I think he might have been gearing up for "This Little Light of Mine" because then his finger turned into his light! So here I am, going up a hill and panting "This Little Light of Mine" with him! He tends to change verses in the middle of the song, and he went from shining his light to hiding it under the bushel "NO!" to not letting Satan blow it out (blowing his finger of course!). I'm sure if there had been people near us it would have been a funny picture!

After we made it back to the house, I was doing my weights, and he actually didn't bother me much during that part. However, when it was time for crunches, he decided to sit on my belly! He thought it was so funny! Oh, the joys of exercising with babies!

Smarty-pants!

My little man is getting too smart! It's amazing how much his vocabulary is growing. After the monster Caleb went away last night (grumpy hungry man!), he was such a sweetie. It's amazing what a few chicken nuggets will do! Anyway, he wanted to play in his room last night after supper. He led me in there and proceeded to point to most every picture in his books, the tractor on his bed, and anything else he could find and tell me what it was! How smart is my little man? I just love to watch him learning all these new things. Wouldn't it be great if we had that same sense of awe about our world? Then he was determined that there was a "choo-choo" outside his window. You can hear the train from our house but not see it. So he was trying to look out his window and kept saying, "Choo-choo!" and pointing out the window. How sweet!

We were both tired last night. Caleb didn't get a good nap, and I was just pooped, so I decided we'd lay down a little early. Well, Caleb decided it wasn't time to sleep, and rolled around for the longest time. Then Chris got out of class early, and Caleb heard him coming in. He jumped up on his hands and knees and started calling "Da!" Of course, that melts Chris's heart (and mine!) so he got to get up and play with Daddy for a while. It was worth getting to bed a little later. I love to watch my boys playing!

Huntin' Man!

He finally figured out this Easter egg hunting thing! We had a big family gathering at Chris's aunt's house yesterday, which included an all-out Easter egg hunt, too! Here's Caleb hunting with his cousin, Ashley. I'm so glad he figured out that you put the eggs in the basket, not just pick them up. We had a good, really sticky time!

Here he is with an egg in one hand and a sucker in the other! He was NOT giving up his sucker just to hunt some eggs! His mouth was completely purple, in addition to his hands and my shirt!

After all that excitement, he was a sleepy, grumpy man, so we left for naptime. He was asleep before we got to the road!

We didn't have church services last night so we got to spend some time at Chris's parents' house while Chris worked on his bazillion papers that are due tonight! Chris decided I should make homemade pizza for supper, so I did the pizzas and Farrah made brownie sundaes for dessert. Yummy! Caleb and Nathan were too cute running around chasing each other in their diapers. Never a dull moment!

Now it's back to work.....too bad today's not a holiday!

God is Good!

Chris has started working with the youth group at church. It's really going great. I think the kids really are enjoying everything. Chris's dad is playing his guitar and leading music, and Chris is doing the teaching. Of course, we have the "mood" set with the lighting and everything, and I think it's really going well. The kids, to the best of my knowledge, have never had anything like this before, so it's pretty cool for them, too. I know God's going to do great things with them. We're getting geared up for summer activities. It should be really good!

My little man is too sweet. He and Chris came to eat lunch with me yesterday. Of course, it was Caleb's naptime, and he slept through the whole thing! Oh well, I liked holding him. He looks so sweet when he sleeps. Then he screamed, "Momma!" when I showed up last night. We had to play a while before church. He thinks he is such a big boy! He just runs right up into the middle of the big kids like he can keep up with them. Several of them were shooting baskets last night, and he just ran right up there with them, not thinking that the basketball would hit him in the head! The kids are great, though, and include him. They give him the ball, and he throws it like he's just like one of them. My little man...too bad he won't be little much longer.....

Date With My Little Sweetie

Caleb and I had a date last night. Chris was in school, so I decided to take Caleb out, just the two of us. I decided we'd go get some pizza. However, he didn't nap yesterday, so about the time I got to Pizza Hut, he fell asleep. He was not a happy camper when I woke him up! But when he saw the crackers on the salad bar, he perked up and said, "Cracker!" We shared our salad, but he mainly ate the broccoli. He's the only kid I've ever seen who eats the crust of the pizza first! I'm afraid he's going to be a "bread-a-holic" like his mommy! We had a good time together and even had pizza left over to take home to Daddy.

I knew he must be exhausted so I tried to get him down around 8:00 after we got home and bathed and got ready for bed. He had other plans. He was so tired, walking around like a little zombie! Finally, I made him be still, and he was asleep in 5 minutes!

Chris and I even got to go to sleep early. It was nice because I was really tired. I was sleeping really hard because when I heard this loud thud at 11:48, I thought I'd been sleeping forever! The thud was my little man falling off the bed! Poor guy! I think it scared him more than anything. No injuries or anything. He's inherited something else from me: rough sleeping! Mom and Dad can attest that when I was little I may have fallen asleep right in the bed, but by morning I might be on the other end! That's how Caleb is! It's really cute when I walk in and he has that little rump sticking high up in the air. Anyway, he just wiggled himself right off the bed. He must have learned his lesson because when I kissed him when I left for work this morning he was still hugging the wall!

Little Booger Man!

Poor Caleb still has the snotty nose and nasty cough. I don't think I've ever been slimed as many times as I have in the last few days! It's disgusting! It's true, though, that it's different when it's your kid. I definitely always want the kleenex close by! Luckily, he doesn't act like he feels bad. I talked to our PA today about it, and he said he's seen lots of this lately, and that it's probably just a virus going around. He told me the medicine I'm giving him is the best stuff for him and not to worry about him unless he starts running a fever. (You can feel better now, Mom!)

A friend of mine dropped by last night for a visit while Chris was in class. Caleb put a good show on for her! The last time she was in town Caleb's room still wasn't done. I told him to take her to his room, and he just walked with her into the room and started talking about all his toys and books with her. It was like he was giving a complete tour of the room!

Not much else is happening with us...I got a letter in the mail to schedule an interview for a scholarship for school. Ya'll can definitely pray for that; I've got to get some serious financial aid if I'm going to go back for my master's. The school just increased tuition (not that it was all that cheap before), and it's going to take some help for both of us to get to go to school. Thanks for your prayers!

Fun-filled Family Time!

We had so much fun this weekend! Chris and I were both off all weekend and decided we needed to have some serious family time since we haven't had an abundance of time together lately. Friday we worked on Chris's office (he worked, Caleb and I played!). Then Saturday we were off to Tyler to the zoo. I know we go to the zoo a lot; we love it!

This time the petting zoo was open. I expected Caleb to be scared, but he just ran right in! He loved petting the goats. Chris even came in to take pictures!

Guess what animal we saw during this picture? That's right....the elephant! I think everyone around us turned to see what Caleb was doing! It's so cute, but it's really loud! I love it when he makes his animal noises!

Then we had to check out the giraffes. I think he made his horse noise at them, but I can't remember!

How cute is this picture? This is the part where Caleb was actually behaving! We had a few disagreements with Caleb about the way he should act and where he should go, etc., but I'm pretty sure we won! We're really getting to understand that we have to repeat everything a million times to get through to the little booger! I think he gets that stubborness from his daddy's side! (lol) I just loved this shot of Caleb holding his daddy's hand. He loves his daddy!



After the zoo, Caleb was zonked. So he took a nap while Chris and I did a little shopping. Not much luck though! I wish I had some pictures from our lunch at Fazolli's; Caleb was super messy with his spaghetti, as usual! He had sauce all over his face, on his forehead, up his nose, you name it!

Yesterday, we made a flying trip to Fairfield to have Easter a little early with my family. Most of the fam will be out of town next week so we decided to do our thing this week. Caleb didn't quite get the Easter egg hunt down. He was excited to find the eggs (ball, as he called it!), but he just wanted to hold onto it instead of putting them into his basket! (How do you like my smile?)







Of course, the fake grass is more fun than the eggs! We had a good time with him. It's amazing how much you change when you have a kid. I always enjoyed watching the kids hunt eggs. I thought they were cute and everything. But it's different with Caleb. He just brings such joy. It's so much fun watching him experience things for the first time and to see how amazed he is at things he discovers!
After the big egg hunt, Caleb discovered the slide! He and Pop had a big time, and I think he gave Pop a good run! Pop was worn out after a while! It doesn't seem like Caleb should be big enough to be sliding down the slide by himself! He's getting so big!








Too bad it's back to the "real world" today. We did get a little late start back, though. The alarm didn't go off, and we woke up about 6:10. Caleb and I have to leave the house by around 6:25 for me to get to work on time! Needless to say, I was a bit late for work today! I hated leaving him this morning; he's gotten really needy lately. He used to would go to anyone; now he wants me in the mornings. It's so much easier when he stays asleep all the way! That wasn't happening this morning. He was going to Chris's Nana's house today, and usually he'll jump down and go play with all the toys she has laid out, but not today. Besides the neediness, I think he doesn't feel too well. He's developed this pretty nasty wet cough and snotty nose. So, if it gets any worse, I'll get to go home early today! I hate for my baby to be sick, but I'd love to hang out with him! Have a great Monday everyone!

Crazy Busy!

I've actually been busy today; can you believe it? I had to help with a clinic this morning, and we had some visitors from Houston here to see how we did stuff. Why the region folks chose to send them down here to the sticks is beyond me, but we tried to help. They just got some money from a grant that we have already, and apparently the big wigs think we're doing a good job! SO, I actually had to work for a while this morning!

Chris and I are trying this eating right thing.....He's been doing pretty well, and I have too, except that today I had a craving! For breakfast this morning, I wanted a fully leaded, fully sugared dr. pepper (no diet!) and something greasy! (AND...I'm NOT pregnant!) So I made a run to this gas station that sells some really yummy, really fattening stuff, and I got caught! Chris got to come home from work really early because there were too many nurses there, and he decided to come by my office. He found me at the gas station! No hiding this one! Oh well, I've done pretty good most of the week....

Then we cheated at lunch, too, because he and Caleb came for lunch. Caleb was too cute! I love it when I walk up and he just starts smiling really big and says "Mama!" It just melts my heart! I'm glad I got to have lunch with my two favorite men!

Now I'm just counting down to 6:00. Chris and I are both off all weekend! Hopefully the weather will be as beautiful as it has been because we want to go the zoo or something. Just get outside and enjoy the weather. Sorry for all you poor folks who have to work tomorrow! Have a great weekend.....

Quality Time

I don't like that Chris is in class two nights a week, but I do get to spend lots of quality time with Caleb. We miss Chris, but it's some good "Mommy and Caleb" time! We had a great time together last night. I debated having a little picnic outside for supper, but we ended up just eating in the house. It was beautiful outside last night. The good thing about this time change is that it's not dark when we get home! So after we ate our supper, we headed outside. The seminary has a great play area for the kids, lots of swings and slides, etc. Caleb headed straight up the hill to the playground. We played in the swing for a while, and he ran around and had to play with the gravel. Rocks are so interesting, right? Then he remembered he loves the slide. He finally decided it's OK to go up the right way instead of walking up the slide and turning around to come back down. I helped him climb all the steps (I did most of the work, of course!), and down we came, Caleb laughing all the way! After about 87 trips on the slide, I decided it was getting too dark, so we headed home.

Caleb, however, wasn't ready to go inside. I had the porch light on, and he thought that was enough light to play with his car! He got this little car for his birthday, one of those "Fred Flinstone" type cars that you push with your feet. Well, he's finally decided it's good to actually get into the car, not just play with the horn and steering wheel. He hasn't quite got the going forward thing down, though, just backwards!

Finally, we made it inside for bathtime and bedtime. I just had to cuddle with him some last night after he went to sleep; he's so precious!

Tae- "boo!"

Since I don't really live in the best part of town, I don't like to go walk after work by myself. So, I decided to buy a tae-bo DVD so I can still exercise Mon. and Tues. nights while Chris is at school. Last night I put Caleb in his room with all his fun toys thinking that would entertain him for 45 minutes so I could do my workout. No such luck! Right after I turned it on and got going, Caleb walks in the living room and decides to join me. He thought it was some big game! "Mom's jumping around looking silly; I will too!" He was crawling in and out of my legs. Then he'd pull on my shorts or stand behind me and peek up from under my legs like he was playing peek-a-boo! He was laughing so hard! I tried to make it through, but after about 20 minutes of dodging a kid under my feet, I gave it up and played with Caleb. He was too funny!

I think he still hasn't quite adjusted to this time change either. He was getting sleepy pretty early last night. After his bath he crawled up on the couch with me and fell asleep sitting right beside me! He didn't even have the energy to lay down, I guess! He is such a sweet little fella!

Blah!

That's how I feel today! I don't know if I'm just getting old or what, but this time change has made me so drowsy! I'm sure it hasn't helped that I got to bed late the last couple of nights, either!

Well, we had a fun-filled weekend in the big metropolis of Fairfield! I had agreed to help officiate a charity volleyball tournament, so I was tied up for part of the time, but it was fun. Caleb, of course, was the center of Nana and Pop's universe for two days! He had a ball playing with them. He put on a show for us Sat. night when he danced on the table after supper! My, how my dad has mellowed in his old age! I never thought my dad would ever let anyone's feet anywhere near any place where his food touches, even if Caleb had just come out of the bathtub! I guess grandkids have special privileges! He's learned Roc (Eric's dog) and Brinkley's (Mom's dog) names. Every time Roc would start barking, he'd look out the window, point, and say, "Roc!" Then he'd have to start making his own dog barking sound of course! Caleb kept us plenty entertained....and Emily, too! They actually played well together this weekend. I guess Emily's getting ready to be a good big sister.

Now it's back to work. We had a super boring, super long staff meeting this morning. I introduced some new stuff, and change is never taken well, so it got a little interesting for a few minutes at least! I had to bring food today (we switch out months bringing breakfast), and I made sausage bread for the first time. It turned out pretty well, especially considering it was after 9:30 last night when I started making it.

My reward after the staff meeting was going to get my hair done. I got a new 'do! It's not too drastic, but definitely different and shorter! I love it. But, you know, I always like my hair shorter!