A Blast From the Past

As I sit here at 6 am, unable to sleep ;(, I can't help but reminisce about this time last year.  On this very day last year we were bringing Caleb home for the first time, and we were about to enjoy our very first week with him.  I thought it would be fun to look back on the posts from that first week.  Enjoy

• Caleb has arrived!
• Birth Story
• Coming Home
• First Bath
• 1st Week Recap    

Just to put how much they change in a year into perspective, take a look at these pics.

In my arms at 1 week

In my arms at 1 year

Caleb Day, and my King

Yesterday was a celebration day for Caleb.  Auntie K, Taylor, Isabel and I took Caleb to the water park, and celebrated his big B-day with him. It was the hottest day of the year yesterday, so the water felt AMAZING.  We had so much fun playing. 

After the water park we celebrated at home with daddy.  I kind of made him a cake.  I baked one, and had big plans to decorate it all fancy. However, I knew there was really no point, so it is just basically a mess of orange icing. Again he had no interest in trying it.  Who knew my little man who loves to eat would be intimidated by cake?? Daddy and mommy both are not sweets people so maybe he is not either?

On another note my little man won FIRST place at the country fair beauty pageant!! He and Isabel bothe beat 40 babies each and took home to top price.  It was a last minute idea to enter him, and when I saw how many babies were there I did not think he had a chance.  He actually did nothing on stage but smile a little, and show off his standing skills.  However, I guess his blue eyes just won the judges over. Nick and I were so excited when he won.  I mean I know he is beautiful, but it always helps to know other people think he is as well. 

All cute before the contest

Daddy was so proud of him!! I just loved seeing the proudness come over his face when Caleb won!

YAY I"M THE WINNER!

Caleb with his prices.  A 100 dollar savings bond, and a gold ring!

Both the winners :) (They were both contestant #10)

The Little Queen herself. 

1 Year

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions for this mama.  My baby has moved from the "infant/baby" stage to the toddler stage right before my eyes.   As I held him yesterday, on his first birthday, and celebrated Caleb day, I was so overcome with love.  It was so crazy to me how fast a year went by.  How it seemed like yesterday that I was holding my sweet little new baby in my arms, in awe of the miracle of life.  As I read "I love you forever" to Caleb last night, I couldn't help but cry.  I couldn't help but remember reading that to him when we first brought him home.  At that time it seemed like time would tick by, and he would stay my baby forever.  However, now I realize how fast time flies.  How fast my little man will be the boy who moves out of the house, starts his own family, and has babies of his own.  I had a great day celebrating his birthday with him yesterday, but I feel as though birthdays will always be bittersweet to this mama. 

Caleb at 1 year you are...

Eating:  You are transitioning off the bottle.  We have started a mixture of whole milk and formula this week in a sippy.  You seem to be fine taking your milk from a sippy except for your morning bottle.  We are slowly working on that one.  In replacement of your daytime bottles you are starting to have snack time.  This is up and down, and sometimes you still act hungry, but we are figuring it out.  You still eat three solid meals a day.

Sleeping:  Still sleeping fantastic.  Thank you sweet boy for that.  You go to bed at 9:30, and you sleep until 8 am.  You generally fall right back to sleep after your morning bottle until around 10.  You take another two hour nap around 12 or 1, and another 1 hour nap later in the day.  The times depend on your mood.  You just lay your head down when I put you in your crib, and listen to Scout play music and drift off. 

Size:  You are mostly wearing 12-18 month clothes.  You can still fit in a size 3 shoe, but your feet are getting so much longer that you are close to fitting in a four. You are wearing a size 4 diaper.  You weight 26 lbs and you are 29 1/2 inches.  You have really skinnied out these past few months.

Exciting New Things:

• You know what sound a doggie makes and it is your favorite thing to do.  We say "Caleb what does the doggie say?"  and you saw "Oofff".  It sounds more like a mixture between an owl and a dog, but it is soo cute.  You always bark at doggies when you see them.
• Bella is your best friend.  You play with her all the time, and you hold her toy and swing it back and forth like you have seen us do.
• You are walking behind toys like crazy.  You got a Buzz lightyear push toy for your b-day, and it is your favorite thing.  You could walk behind it forever.
• You have taken 4 steps. Not together, but at different times.  You are definitely getting more brave.
• You understand everything now. It amazes me how smart you are.
• You love to hammer things, and you are obsessed with any and all shovels.
• Your sand box and swing are your new favorite things.
• You're still a water baby.  You have no fear. You will dunk your head, crawl into the water with no problem, and splash.  Soo cute.

I love you more and more everyday my sweet angel.  Happy Birthday!

Presents and Cake

I really thought Caleb would dive into his cake.  However, he just picked at it.  He loved the yellow icing, and that was really all he would go for. I think the monkey confused him, and he did not really want to touch it.  At the end we placed him on the ground with a shovel, and he beat his cake.  So cute.

Getting cleaned up after cake.

Splash on Over

I have soo many pictures of Caleb's b-day from Saturday.  I am going to split them into a few posts.  We had a Beach Monkey themed party, and it turned out wonderful.  I forgot to take pics of a few things, but I will just tell you about those :).  This first post is dedicated to decorations.

I need to take a few more pics of this banner my MIL made.  This picture does not do it justice due to the lighting.  It had funny little monkeys all over it, and I just loved it!!

The food tables were lined with grass skirts, and all the food was served in buckets with shovels for the spoons.  I had pictures of Caleb from his various trips to the beach in buckets filled with sand on the tables. 

The cakes were AMAZING!! My aunt, grammy and sister worked very hard to transform a stand up bear pan into a stand up monkey pan.  The bear pan was actually the pan used for my first b-day.

The big cake up close.

Caleb's cake up close.

Another wonderful banner made by my MIL.  It had all of Caleb's monthly monkey pics. 

Gift table. This was only half the presents he ended up getting.  This little guy is well loved. 

Beach balls hanging from the patio outside. 

The backyard was divided into different sections.  We had a slip-n-slide.

A beach area

A sand box

A baby area.  This pic does not do it justice either. There were two pools, and in the center was a blanket with a bunch of baby toys.  It was a great place for mamas and babes to hang out. 

I also had a photo area set up with a blow up monkey and funny props.  There was a bucket filled with disposable cameras for people to take pics with. I am excited to get those developed.

I did not get a pic of our front entrance. I had blue and yellow lanterns hanging and a table covered with beach towels. On the table was a photo book of Caleb's first year for people to sign.

I just love how everything turned out.  Lots more pictures to come!