Happy Halloween!

Ah, Halloween. I've never been a big Halloween fan - I have nothing against candy mind you, I'm just not big on dressing up. I'd rather have real clothes than duck suits or a Marge Simpson wig. Parenthood has given me cause to stop and take a new look at Halloween though. What are little babies good for if not dressing up? He can't talk (and thus protest) and despite his new found mobility I'm still much faster than he is. It's perfect! I've been waiting for today for over a year now. My master plan was to dress up Caleb like Chloe and Chloe like Caleb. And, as I connected with my inner Martha, I was going to make their costumes myself.

Yeah. Notice all those past tense verbs? I've had a horrid sinus infections for two weeks now. Caleb has a runny nose and Chloe is already so traumatized by this baby brother thing I feel guilty making it worse by putting her in a diaper and head band. Finally at 8pm last night I started on the costume.

Anyway, I actually think his costume came out really cute. He hasn't worn it yet - today was a school day and then he was seriously overdue for a nap when we got home. He's still sleeping now so I'll wait until Juan gets home and then take some pictures. Chloe's been let off the hook this year.

So, we're on to next year! Raggedy Ann and Andy? Jack and Jill? CP3O and R2D2? I'm taking suggestions...

Move over Monet - Here come Caleb Rafael!

Caleb brought his first official piece of artwork home from school today.
It's a tree (obviously!) with leaves that are changing colors. Pretty creative for a child who has never seen a real season change, eh? Note how the fingerprints slowly trickle down towards the ground as if to symbolize summer's passing and autumn's arrival. Just like he's transitioning from infanthood to babyhood. As he becomes more and more mobile so do the leaves move on too. The alternating colors surely represent the inner struggle he faces as he struggles for more independence yet still relies on us for everything. I'm not going to discuss what the brown smear of tree trunk stands for. I'll leave that to you artsy types.

Ok, this is getting deep. Time to stop and go do laundry.

Caleb Goes To Camp

Caleb went to Camp! It was totally one of those full circle moments as a mother when you realize that your child is creating the same memories you had (and deeply treasure) as a child. I realize he's not going to remember it but I will, Juan will and Nana and Poppy will too. My baby went to Camp. He got to "walk" in the woods and listen for wild animals. It will be his playground as he gets older. One full of adventure and fantasy and hopefully not too many bug bites, four wheeler accidents or minor forest fires. Not that anyone in my family would do a thing like that anyway...



Needless to say we had a lovely visit with Mom and Daddy this weekend. Besides our trip to the great outdoors we watched the football game, did a little shopping and gave Caleb a haircut. Yup, a haircut! I'd trimmed the top a few weeks back because he was totally getting a comb-over. Poppy graciously offered to trim the sides and back on Sunday. Juan has a video on YouTube and despite it's name we did NOT eradicate the baby curls. I promise that all is well with our baby curls.

New photo album on the left - forgive the slobber, snot and basset hair. It's a losing battle.

Crawling Chaos!

He's on the move people. And wow is the learning curve steep.

Caleb started crawling on Tuesday. It's now Friday and he's a mad man! If it is remotely dangerous or not appropriate for a seven month old baby he is ALL over it. His current list of favorites include:

• dryer sheets
• curtains
• the poor, poor dog
• any cord, wire or other electrical thing
• the vaporizer
• dirt, rocks or leaves that have been tracked in by the dog

Nice. Silly old me thought that once her beloved first-born was mobile he'd joyfully turn and crawl towards HER as she clapped and called his name. Yes, she who endured 41 weeks of pregnancy only to be followed by 14 hours and 18 minutes of childbirth. (OK, so I had good drugs and it wasn't all THAT bad). No, no fair reader. When I try and get him to come towards me he simply smiles, turns the exact opposite direction and then high-tails it for the nearest illegal object at lightening fast baby speed. Lovely.

Here's an example. This afternoon Caleb and I were in the nursery and I was trying to change the sheet on the crib. I put him on the floor (I couldn't very well put him IN the bed if I was changing the sheet, right?) and was proceeding to untie the bumper (which we have to have or else he gets his fat baby legs caught in the slats). I'd untie and turn around and check, untie and turn around and check. He was slowly making progress towards the curtains. Fine, I had only a couple of ties to go and figured I'd finish before he managed to pull them down. So I finish and turn around and see this:



That's the bag of new diapers that I keep next to the changing table. He graciously pulled them all out of the bag and was slinging them around the room. And there's the super dangerous plastic bag to boot! Agh!

To quote my beloved mother, "At least he wasn't twins!"

There's a fun video of him crawling on YouTube and also another one from tonight.

We may have met our match....

IBM 10K

Look at us sporty types! Ok, so maybe sporty is a stretch but we did get up quite early and do the IBM 10K this morning. Juan ran, Caleb and I walked. We had excellent company to walk with - Angelica, Melva, Jennifer and Noelito. We had a nice stroller brigade going while Juan and Noel ran. Juan beat his time from last year and was quite pleased I think. Caleb babbled, kicked and tried to wiggle out of his socks when Mommy wasn't looking. He fell asleep about halfway though and napped until we finished and were back at IBM. It was a fun morning!

Here's a picture of Angelica, Caleb and I after the race.

We've had a quite afternoon since we got home. My boys (and Chloe - as always) are napping and I'm about to start dinner. The weather in Austin in beautiful. Finally a change from the heat.

We're already looking forward to next weekend when Nana and Poppy come to town. Perhaps Caleb will finally start crawling when his Nana's here...

Walking

I have a new goal: To be able to take a nice walk in the neighborhood with BOTH Caleb and Chloe. Now, those of you who are familiar with my beloved basset know that this is much easier said than done. She can't walk in a straight line to save her life, she enjoys peeing every five feet and she pulls really hard. Juan has tried again and again to make her walk like a civilized animal and in all honesty she does do pretty well with him. I'm another story though - I let her go as far as the leash will allow and pulling hard just means we all walk a little faster. To walk with Caleb though means that we had to first lay some ground rules.

1. No pulling.

2. Walk in a straight line (or as straight as the stroller driver walks)

3. When Mommy says stop, you stop.

4. Basset ears and front stroller wheels must be even. We all walk together.

5. No whining or slinging slobber on the baby.

Off we went! Well, until I opened the front door and realized it's (gasp!) kinda cool this morning. Door closed and baby was forced to put on pants and socks. Major whining ensued on both the part of the basset and the baby for the delay in travel.

Off we went again! Only to encounter a pug and it's owner walking down our street and just one yard away. We had to stop and let them pass. Mommy gave another pep talk to the troops.

And off we went for real!

We did pretty good for our first try. Chloe pulled. I corrected her. Caleb got the hiccups. Chloe whined. Caleb giggled. Stroller ran over Chloe's feet b/c she didn't stay in line. Chloe whined some more. Caleb chewed on the stroller straps. Chloe peed. I ran over the basset feet again. Caleb kicked. And so on and so forth.

We made it to the end of the street and back. I'm happy and ready to try again tomorrow.

Here's a picture. Hope you all have a good day.

Cranky Rasberries

So, in the past four posts or so I've mentioned that my baby is cranky. Well, he's still cranky. And no, it's not something we're doing (or not doing) to him. He's just cranky. Thankfully he's eating better so that makes Mommy happy but the attitude is not improving. He did take a break from his whining yesterday to blow some rasberries for me. Even when fussy, he's really very cute....

Happy 7 Month Birthday Scooter!

Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

Una Visita de la Familia!

This past weekend Abuelita, Abuelito and Tia Adriana came to see us! Caleb had lots of fun playing with them and laughing at Rocky. I know they enjoyed spending time with him as well.

Adriana got some really cute pictures!

This is one very loved baby...

We had a quiet rest of the weekend after they headed back to the Valley. Caleb played with his blocks and keyboard. Day care is closed today so Juan and I worked from home this morning and traded off baby duty between meetings. Caleb's still super fussy and cranky. No sign of those top teeth but if that's not the cause of his problems I don't know what is. We're hoping this is a passing phase - I want my sweet baby back!

Auntie Am's Visit

Pictures from our visit with Amber last weekend...

Caleb's New House

We got our little rug rat a Fisher-Price house! It's not big, just a glorified (and rather noisy) doorway but it has cool stuff like a window, doorbell, clock, rain spout and a radio. It's fun! Juan was Super Dad and put it (and the 1000 screws that it came with) together without a hitch. Caleb really likes making the door say "open" and "close". And chewing on the "mail". New pics in the album. Maybe Santa will bring him the accompanying cell phone and bird bath. I'm not joking - this house has accessories.

We think the top teeth are on their way. He's super fussy, super sleepy and isn't finishing meals. Something is going on for sure.

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Pictures, pictures, pictures

Here are the 12m pajamas that Nana and Poppy sent. They're a little long but fit everywhere else!


Here's a picture of our new entertainment center. I tried to get both Caleb and Chloe to sit in front but Chloe couldn't be bothered to interrupt her nap and pose.

And our big boy up on all fours!

Yikes

I was in the kitchen last night making Caleb's dinner while Juan gave him a bath. I heard all this excitable noise coming from the nursery so I trot down there to see what's going on. This is what I find:

Yes, that is my baby. Yes, he's standing on his changing table. And yes, Juan is only holding him up by one finger.

Yikes.