Sleep is WONDERFUL

Well the formula is doing the trick. Since I started giving Caleb a bottle of formula before bed, he's been sleeping much better. He now sleeps, pretty consistently, from 10:30pm until 6:30am. Still a little early for my liking, but at least I'm not getting up to feed him in the middle of the night anymore. At least not usually. I think he just went through a growth spurt, because yesterday he ate alot more than usual and woke up in the night to eat, but today he seems to be back to normal.

And now a few pictures for your viewing pleasure ... I'm sure most people just click down to look for pictures anyways :)

This little man had fun at bathtime tonight

v

He tries to sit up in his bath, even though he can't sit yet,
and boy does he love to SPLASH!!

What I love about Caleb at 4 months old

Caleb had his 4 month doctor's appointment yesterday morning. Can you believe he is already 4 months old?? I can't. What a big boy he is. He weighs 15 lbs 8 ounces, and is 25.5 inches long. Everything looked good and he's now graduated to only going to the doctor every 2 months, so his next check up isn't until right before Christmas. He got more shots yesterday which he wasn't too happy about. Although it's nice at this point that he has no idea what's coming, and he only cries for a few minutes afterwards. There were lots of kids at the office yesterday getting flu shots and some of them were crying long before they actually got the shot. Caleb had some sort of localized reaction to one of his vaccines and it made his little leg turn red and a little swollen right where he got the shot, so he's been getting Tylonal and the doctor said to put an ice pack on it. But I don't think its bothering him so I'm going to hold off on that unless I think it's bothering him. At this point I think he'd mind the freezing ice pack more than the actual soreness.

In other news, Caleb's first cousin was born this morning. It's a little boy and they are exactly 4 months apart. I'm sure they will have lots of fun playing together when they get bigger.

And now for the real reason for this post... what I love about Caleb at 4 months old.

*He is so much fun! His personality is really starting to develop.

*He is so happy, almost all the time.

*He is still fairly easy to entertain.

*He is sleeping 8 hours straight at night... most of the time.

*His little cheeks are so chubby and cute.

*He still loves to snuggle.

*He laughed for the first time this month.

*He's an expert roller.

*He gets excited to see his daddy in the afternoon.

*He loves watching football with daddy.

*He enjoys going on walks in his stroller.

*He is such a good baby, easy, happy, and very laid-back.


I can't believe he's already 4 months old. When people told me it would go by quickly, they weren't kidding!!

Now, I know I promised some pictures of Caleb in his baptism gown...well, legally, I can't post them on here because they were taken by a professional, but you can go here and scroll down just a little bit and you'll see Clowers Baby. Click on that and you can watch a slide show of the pictures we had taken of him a few weeks ago.

Pumpkin Time

Caleb has his first experience at a pumpkin patch yesterday afternoon. We picked out our pumpkins and took a few photos, of course. It was kind of cloudy out, but the temperature was perfect. We get our pumpkins and Christmas tree at a family farm on the edge of town.

Daddy and Caleb

Look at that face ... I can just hear him thinking, "Why do you do this to me?"



Mama and Caleb



I just think this face is so cute



Hhmm... what's this??

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures from Caleb's baptism day ...

like I've said, we had his picture professionally made in his baptism gown
and once we order some prints I'll share them on here, but these are from the lunch.



His yummy cake! Isn't it pretty??



Caleb thinks his "Pops" is so funny.



Caleb and his great-grandfather.

Still Up

Yesterday was a big day. Caleb was baptized! It was a fun, exciting day and busy, very busy. We spent the first part of the morning getting ready for church and trying to make sure Caleb would be neither tired nor hungry during the service. Once we arrived at church I changed Caleb into his baptism gown (there will be pictures at some point, I promise) and we headed to the sanctuary. The service was wonderful. Caleb was a good boy, the music was beautiful and the sermon was great.

After church we had lunch at my parents house with lots of family and friends, and Caleb got passed around from person to person. He doesn't mind being passed around a bit (I actually think he likes all the attention).

Caleb slept a little later today, making up for the naps he missed yesterday, but thats caused a late bedtime tonight. He's still awake and its almost 10:00, but he's in his swing and he's looking sleepy so I think he'll be asleep soon. At least I hope so........

Ok, I had to take a little break there. It's now 10:30 and Caleb has had his bottle (remember he gets a bottle of formula before I go to bed) and he's sleeping peacefully in his bed...finally. Charles is also sleeping and hopefully I'll be joining them both soon.

Maybe tonight will be the night that Caleb sleeps all the way until morning, although I doubt it since he had his bottle at 10:15 rather than 11:00, but we'll see.

A new plan

Well I've developed a new strategy, thanks to some advice from a friend (thanks Casey!!), that will hopefully get Caleb sleeping better at night. He's going to get a bottle of formula before I go to bed, which will hopefully help him sleep a little longer at night.

We tried it for the first time last night, and I was a little concerned that he might not like formula and that he wouldn't want to drink it, but he gulped it right down. He did make a funny face after his first taste, but it didn't seem to phase him. And he slept a little better last night than he has been, so I'm hoping this helps. Only problem is that I think it might have made his little tummy bother him today, which I've heard can happen. He was just extra fussy today and thats the only think I can attribute it to. Well, either that or teething. I think this little man is already teething! He chews on his clothes, his blankets, and his hands ALL the time, and is very, very drooly. But just to be safe, I'm going to skip the formula for tonight because he is getting baptized tomorrow at church and we can't have a fussy baby on such an exciting day. I'll pick it back up tomorrow night and we'll see if, after a few nights, it seems to be making a difference.

I'm also going to try feeding him more often during the day. He has gotten to where he eats about every 4 hours during the day, but I feel like he needs to get one more feeding in during the day to keep from waking up in the middle of the night. I can't fit one more in with him eating every 4 hours so I'm going to try to take him back to eating every 3 hours. This is a little complicated because Caleb refuses to eat unless he is hungry, and gets downright mad if I try to feed him before he gets hungry. If I can just get him to eat enough during the day to sleep through the night I think he'll make up for it by eating more the next day and then we'll be golden. Eating every 3 hours during the day, and sleeping through the night. I'll let you know if that actually happens. I know he'll sleep through the night one of these days (hopefully sooner rather than later), and I'm hoping that since he was doing so well just a few weeks ago that maybe it's just a growth spurt or teething or something that's causing these problems.

Time is already going by so fast, and Caleb is getting so big, I know I'll look back and remember the time when he wasn't sleeping through the night and it'll seem like it was no time at all. I'm just trying to enjoy every minute of being Caleb's mama, even the minutes at the 3 o'clock in the morning, when all I want is to be in bed.

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As I mentioned earlier, Caleb is getting baptized tomorrow, which is a very special day for us, and for Caleb, although he doesn't realize it yet. His baptism gown was made by a sweet friend of our family, and it is gorgeous!! I'll make sure to take pictures of Caleb wearing it and post them on here so everyone can see.

Something I LOVE and Something I HATE

There is nothing as fun on a cold (well ... kind of cold) dreary day like today as snuggling up on the couch and taking a nap with a cuddly baby boy, which is exactly what I did today. I'm not even going to think about all the things I should have been doing, like dishes and laundry and sweeping and dusting ... no wait ... I'm not going to think about it. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

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Exercise ... I HATE exercise, but I know I need to do it. I have these 3 stupid pounds left to loose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and on one hand I think, "It's just 3 pounds ... who cares?" But at the same time 3 extra pounds with each pregnancy is more then I want, so I'm going to exercise. At least that's what I'm telling myself. It's not like I sit around doing nothing all day. I do housework and take care of Caleb, and we go on walks (more like leisurely strolls) around the neighborhood, but I need something structured in order to stick to it.

Today was day 1. My sister and I popped in an exercise DVD, and got to work. Don't the people on those make you laugh?? They are entirely too excited about the fact that they are getting to exercise. I will never show that kind of enthusiasm for exercise. Hopefully I'll keep it up and in a few weeks those 3 pounds will be gone, and realistically, it wouldn't hurt to lose a few more on top of that, but we'll see how it goes.

Picture Time

Caleb had his picture taken today, and not by me. A real photographer came to our house and we had a little photo shoot. I'm sure he got some really great shots, and hopefully we'll end up with a special picture of Caleb in his baptism gown. (His baptism is this Sunday, btw)

In other news, Caleb has decided that he no longer enjoys sleeping. After a tiring week at the beach where Caleb slept like a champ, I assumed we'd come back home and get back into the swing of things. Caleb apparently has other plans. Right now ... nap time ... and yet Caleb is rolling around in his crib talking to himself. He sleeps on his tummy, and really can't sleep on his back very well, so when I put him down in his crib for a nap and he doesn't feel like sleeping, he just rolls himself right over so he can look around. Problem is ... he can't get back onto his tummy yet. So he rolls around until he decides he does want to sleep and then cries until I go put him back in sleeping position.

And don't get me started about night time sleep. The past few nights he has decided that he wants to eat more at night than during the day. He still sleeps fine, but he wakes up several times apparently sooo starving that he can't possibly wait until morning. Just one of the joys of motherhood I suppose.

Sorry the quality's not so great, the light was off in his room, and just to let you know ... he started this nap on his tummy, facing the other direction.

FUN in the SUN

We spent a wonderful week at the beach this past week.

Caleb got his first view of the ocean and dipped his toes in the water.

He wasn't sure what to think about the waves.

He preferred to be above the water ... not in it.

We spent a little time in the pool.

and alot of time out on the balcony, feeling the cool breezes.

The weather was gorgeous. Blue skies and clear water.

It was such a fun week, with lots of firsts for Caleb. Thankfully we got lots of pictures so that he can see what he did on his first trip to the beach.

What a week ...

It has been a long. tiring. busy. fun. exciting week. But now it's time for bed. Check back tomorrow to find out what we did and see some pictures from the past week.