Chica Chica Boom Boom

A told B and B told C

Meet me at the top of the kitchen light.

Remember how about a month ago we bought Caleb a set of the foamy alphabet interlocking blocks? Well, tonight it was time to clean them. Basset hair, dirt, unknown substances and decomposed granite have all made their way onto and under the mat. My husband being the true engineer that he is took it upon himself to hang them out to dry in the most efficient manner possible. Pretty creative, eh?


They're all clean now and tomorrow we can reassemble the mat and go back to scooting and potentially crawling as normal. And it's clean. For our next child we may just bathe them with the hose and give a stick to use as a teether. At least Caleb can say though that we really did care about germs (or lack thereof) and tried to keep the rocks out of his mouth.

It's not like he can get much IN his mouth though as illustrated in the picture below. Those are banana puffs people.

He likes playing with the banana puffs - smashing them into the high chair and feeding them to the dog. Not so much interested in eating them and even if he was his aim sucks. This bodes not well for potty training...

I love my boys!

Holy Guacamole

This post is about avocado and crawling.

Let's start with the avocado. I mashed up a little avocado last night and gave it to Juan to feed to Caleb with his dinner. Usually, as soon as he sees solid food he opens his mouth wide like a baby bird and chows down on whatever you have to offer. Then there was avocado. He promptly made a horrible help-the-big-people-are-trying-poison-the-baby face and started gagging. It was honestly way too much melodrama (think Tutti fit level drama). He coughed and glared and gagged and sputtered so much that Juan flipped him over and patted his back to make sure he wasn't choking. Nope, not choking, just not feeling the love for the avocado. Hello! You're half Mexican baby! Of course this coming from his mother who abhors all forms of mashed potatoes, turkey, beans, peas, and eggs. If he's a picky eater he comes by it honestly. Anyway, he gulped down his "normal" dinner (lentils and rice) and drank his entire bottle. No avocado though. Oh well, Juan and I split it and enjoyed it with our dinner instead.

And as for crawling? He's up on all fours and rocking. He'll lunge forward but just ends up flat on his face. It's coming though. I see the little wheels turning...

We have several new videos of him up on YouTube - be sure to check them out!

Busy Week!

We've had a very busy week at our house! I flew to Guadalajara for the Latin America Symposium last Sunday. It was hard to leave my babies but they were in great hands with Daddy, Abuelita and Abuelito to take care of them. By all accounts their week went well. Caleb played well, ate well and slept well. Whew! I had a lovely time in Guad but was very ready to come home. Today Juan went back to work and I spent the day with Caleb and Chloe. Chloe somehow managed to sprain the pinkie toe on her right front paw. We had to go see Dr Brandeis this afternoon to make sure it wasn't anything serious. Nope, just a sprained toe. He said to keep her calm and resting for the next week. Don't think we'll have a problem there!

Caleb's still not crawling but we're getting close. I'll post new pictures this weekend. Be sure and check out the videos link - the new one of him laughing at Chloe is priceless!

It's a Boy!

One year ago today we found out that Caleb was a boy! I remember thinking that morning on the way to see Dr Berry that I wished I knew where we'd be one year later. We didn't know what the amnio would reveal, if he was a boy or a girl, or how the rest of the pregnancy or parenthood would go.

I'm so happy to say that one year later all is well and we think we're super lucky. Caleb is healthy, happy and such a delight.

A year from now? I may have a different tune - 18 months, walking, talking and who knows what else!

A Learning Experience!

I took Caleb to Penney's this afternoon to have his 6m picture taken. This is our first foray into the world of "real" baby pictures. He had his picture taken at daycare in July but that was super easy. This was not so easy.

We got there early and so we strolled around and checked things out. They do have some really cute baby boy clothes. We went back and the photographer took us back. She put Caleb on a white sheet sitting up and then tried to get him to look at her and smile. No dice. He wanted to pull on the sheet and eat it. She tried again. He started drooling on the sheet. She moved him so that his butt covered the drool spots. Still no smile. He wanted to look at the lights, the computer, the people waiting outside - basically anything other than her. She was getting annoyed but hello! He's a 6m old baby. And he's not screaming woman! Count your blessings.

We tried changing positions, changing clothes, clapping and snapping. Nope, no smiles. He didn't look upset or angry just not a smiley baby. It was a very studious Caleb face - you know what I'm talking about.

She did get some excellent pictures (says his very biased mother) and there were several that I ordered. I consider that a mission accomplished. No tears and good pictures. I did learn though that next time I need to bring some of his squeaky toys and a second set of hands. Caleb was really good but it's hard to wrangle a baby and decide what to order.

I should have a soft copy of the pics next week. Will post them then...

Cabo, Scooting and a Weekend at Nana and Poppy's

Talk about an action packed weekend!

Juan and I had a wonderful time in Cabo (thanks for asking Kasey!). The weather was amazing, the beach beautiful and the hotel very nice. It was a great pre-anniversary getaway and a gentle introduction to leaving the baby.

Here's a picture from our balcony.

Caleb and Chloe had a super fun time in WF with Nana, Poppy, Grandma and Aunt Bonnie. My babies are very loved. Caleb worked on his scooting skills and got lots and lots of kisses. Chloe got to play with Will and Trish's puppies and sniff all of Poppy's flowers.

I missed them both and was VERY happy to see them on Sunday night. Juan and I had a restful weekend and got a ton of sleep. It's still nice to be back and get some baby and basset kisses though.

We have a video of Caleb scooting - pretty amusing!

6 month checkup

Can you believe Caleb is 6 months! Technically, 6 months and 2 days now. Wow, time flies...

We saw Dr Ramirez this morning and got an A+! Our little darling was 19 lbs and 15 oz - practically 20 pounds! He's 27 inches and his head was something big. Weight was 90%, length and head were 75%. Those were the same %'s as his 4m visit so we're holding steady on the growth curve. Dr Ramirez was very impressed with his sitting, standing and scooching. He said we were developmentally ahead of schedule and looked great.

The exciting news is that we can now start to eat big people food! Cheerios, baby crackers and mushy table food are all ok. No grapes or hot dogs yet though. Yikes!

Caleb wasn't very impressed with the shots (3) and has been quite fussy since we left. I had a hell of a time getting him to sleep when we got home (despite the Tylenol) and now that he finally is napping I'm hoping it'll last awhile and improve his mood. Depending on how he does when he wakes up we may go to HEB and get some baby crackers.

I'll try and post new pictures later....

Deep Breathing Exercises

Juan and I are headed to Cabo this weekend to celebrate our 3 yr wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary sweetie! We're driving to WF tomorrow morning to leave the kiddos with Nana and Poppy. Normally we'd leave Spot at home but since Hurricane Ike is supposed to cause some rough weather in Austin we figured she was better off with them rather than home alone. Actually, I think she's better off. Juan thinks she's a dog. Anyway, we're flying out of DFW on Friday morning and won't be back until Sunday night. That's like 60 hours away from my baby! The sleep deprived part of me is ecstatic. The mommy in me is tearing up just thinking about it. Ugh. I know we'll have a fabulous time and that he's in the best of hands - trust me, nobody comes close to loving this kid as much as his grandparents! It's still hard to leave him. I know the first time will be the hardest. I'll just have to put on my big girl pants and deal.

Calebish

Juan and I were watching TV tonight. A woman came on and I asked him if she were pregnant. He paused and said "No, not pregnant. Just Calebish". And that my friends is our word of the day....

Calebish: [kay-luh-b-ish] adj. pleasantly plump; juicy or well padded.

Ex: Jonathan's rear end is calebish.

No offense Bub. It's those Briggs genes.

Super Sunday

What an exciting day we've had! This afternoon Juan, Caleb and I went to Toys R Us to look for a couple of things.

First, a set of foam interlocking blocks to make a "rug" in the living room. Alas, the baby swing is too small and we can't really (cough, cough) buckle the seat belt anymore. So, the baby swing is being banished to Jon and Amber's storage unit and we now have a lovely alphabet mat in it's place! Caleb's toy basket (thanks Nana!) fits well in the corner and he can sit and play in comfort. What a big boy!

Next we found a speaker thingy for my iPod. Caleb has a CD player in his room but it's started acting funny. We opted to go with the iPod player so we can bring the music with us and as a bonus it has a fancy remote control.

The most exciting thing though was an outside swing! I'm really excited about putting a real swing up in the tree. We'll probably wait until it's a bit cooler but I think he'll love swinging. And it's a nice way to say goodbye to the baby swing - with a new big boy swing.

Our new car seats have been ordered! Stay turned for pictures...

The Saffir-Simpson Baby Scale

Saffir-Simpson is the scale used to rate hurricanes - Cat 1, 2...5. At about 4am this morning our house was hit by a Cat 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Baby Scale. The volume was close to ear drum shattering and the pitch was about nails on a chalkboard. Our little hurricane was pissed b/c he wanted one of his parents to come and help him go back to sleep. Or feed him. Either would have been fine. Alas, they chose to replace the binkie and tell him to cope. That's when the gale-force howling began. It's time to Ferberize. As much as it makes my insides turn to jello to hear him cry it's what needs to be done. I can totally handle whining and wailing. It's the hysterical sobbing (along with real tears) that kills me. Juan usually send me outside with a glass of wine. That helps but the kid is SO loud that I can still hear him. Sigh. We've agreed that this weekend we'll do it. Wish us luck.

On a positive note he did go back to sleep this morning on his own. Juan took one for the team and crawled out of bed to feed him. But then it was up to Caleb to go back to sleep. He fussed for about 30 min or so and then fell asleep. We're both dead tired today. Ugh.

This is for you Poppy!

Caleb playing with his wooden blocks

Homeward Bound

We had a lovely trip to Garland this weekend! We left on Saturday morning after Caleb's 9am bottle and he slept most of the way. We arrived in time to have BBQ with Mr and Mrs Adams and Nana and Poppy for lunch. Afterwards we visited a little and then left for our play date with Reese. It was soooo fun to see George, Kasey and Reese! He has the best baby cheeks ever and was very cute and cuddly.

After we left Kasey's we went back to Mr and Mrs Adam's house to meet Nana and Poppy. We then left to have dinner with Gretchen, Ashley, Alison and Cody. It was really great to see them and catch up. Gretchen was kind enough to let us spend the night. Caleb got to watch Snowball from the window and was very intrigued. Sorry, kid. No cats for us! We headed home on Sunday morning and had a quiet rest of the weekend. Happy Labor Day!