ONE

Caleb is 1!
He weighs 23 pounds 9 ounches (50%).
He is 31 1/4 inches tall (90%).

Below are some fun picts of our adorable little boy!

He brings so much joy and laughter into our home!
I am so blessed to be his mom!

Birthdays

Since my family's reunion was over the 4th of July,
we celebrated Caleb's birthday
(a little early)
along with our Country's birthday.
It was so much fun.
We went to the park and Caleb found a.....stick!
He and Dad had so much fun playing together that they wore each other out.
We also watched the parade. This is Caleb and his cousin Zachary.

Can you guess the hair style of the day for the youngest 3 family members? Amy, Myself, Katie
Andrew, Caleb, Addison

And of course we had to celebrate with cupcakes...
"What is this blue stuff? Fingerpaint?""Oh I see, you're supposed to smash it, squish it, and squash it!"
"Oh no, now it's all over my fingers."
"I wonder what it tastes like."
"Wow, this is Yummy!"
"Do you want some?"

3 THINGS

3 Things have happened this month
You can all probably guess the
FIRST
Caleb is 11 months old!!
How can he be that old you ask?
I don't know-
I'm in shock myself!Although you can't see the customary 11 month sign in the above picture-
it was taken on his 11 month birthday.
Out of more than 30 pictures,
a couple of attempts at taking pictures
and
a couple of hours
this was the best one.
Why?
Well that brings me to the
SECOND THING

Yes
He is walking!
AND
He thought that sitting still while I was trying to take his 11 month pictures was
TORTURE!

Can you tell what the THIRD THING is from the picture below?

Well, if you guessed riding a horse-
you are correct.
For those of you wondering how the above picture is a hint-
3 words
tight wrangler jeans!
(I found them in a box of clothes my sister Amy sent to me.
I was really excited because
I thought it would be really cute
for Caleb to look the part the first time he rode a horse.
They were too big,
length wise anyway,
but way too tight around the middle.
Talk about Torture!
So I took a picture and put them back in the box.)

10 Months

Where did my baby go?
It's like he turned 10 months old and all of the sudden he's a little boy.

He has mastered crawling!He can pull himself up on his knees.

He can stand supported by the couch
and even daringly tries walking a few steps.
He doesn't make it very far,
but I'm sure that it won't be long before he's able to walk all by himself.
And that is probably the hardest part.
Don't get me wrong-
I love seeing all the new things he can do
AND
We cheer with him when each new developmental stage had been reached
BUT
He soon won't be my dependent baby anymore,
BUT
an independent little boy!

He has wild bath hair!
(Ok, so I added this picture only because I love it!)

And
He just looks like a little boy!
CUTE!
ADORABLE!!
But
not my baby anymore!
(Even with food stuck to his neck!)

On The Move?

Caleb is now on the move...

OR
At least he's been practicing!
(He does great at army crawling.)
He's also really good at scooting backwards.
The problem?
He can't see where he's going and ends up in interesting locations-
like under the bed,
OR the coffee table,
OR the chair.
He is then usually STUCK until mom or dad come to his rescue!BUT
Who needs to crawl when you have daddy around to help you walk
wherever you want to go!
(Which, by the way, is Caleb's preferred mode of transportation!)9 Month Stats:
20 pounds 6 ounces (50 percentile)
30 inches long (95 percentile)
Where did these giant genes come from?

AND
as you can see-
just as cute as ever!
OR
is he even cuter?
Yep, I think you're right
he's even cuter!
BUT
how can that be possible?
It just is!

Wonderful Week

What A Wonderful Week

FIRST
Happy Birthday Tanya!
It was so great to celebrate Tanya's birthday with her-just the 3 of us. I love this picture of her and Caleb.
It's kind of hard to know what to get someone that has given you THE gift that has fulfilled your dreams-motherhood.
But, Tanya, we hope that you know how much we treasure you-
the wonderful young woman that you are.
WE LOVE YOU!!

SECOND
Caleb has a new cousin (the first of 3 that is due in the next couple of months).
Addison June was born on 11 March(I'm not sure why this picture posted side-ways.
I tried many different things to change it, but I guess you will just have to turn your head to see it properly.)

THIRD
Caleb is now 8 months old!
Unfortunately he no longer fits in the outfit that we brought him home from the hospital in
(I know-go figure.)
But it was a fun way to see how much he is growing.
Well after trying different outfits, Brian suggested we put the original outfit on his frog.
FOURTH
These are just some fun picts of Caleb.I love this one!If you look closely, you can see his hair sticking up from his head-cute!

Look

Here are some cute picts of Caleb from the last month.
February 16th Caleb turned 7 months old.
Perhaps you noticed 2 things from the above picture.
#1 Caleb has mastered sitting up.
(The pillows are behind him because occasionally he thrusts himself backwards.
Although our floors are carpeted they are not soft,
so in order to prevent brain damage and tears,
I try to make sure something soft is behind him. )
#2 I doubt next month I'll be able to fit him in this outfit again.
It is really getting too small.
He definitely doesn't fit in 0-3 month outfits anymore.
(It's not that I don't have other outfits for him to wear that actually fit and are warm,
it's just become a way for me to show how much he is growing on his monthly birthdays.)
Caleb just hanging out doing one of his favorite things-
chewing on anything he can get his hands on!

The title of this picture could be:
I love eating!
or
I love making a mess!
SAME THING!

I love this pic of Caleb-
it shows off his cute smile,
his gorgeous dimple,
his out of control hair,
pretty much what a handsome and adorable little guy he is!

Update

Wow, I can't believe it's been since November since I blogged!

Sorry to all!
Time is flying by and Caleb is growing so fast.
Below is the last 2 months in a nutshell.

December 16thCaleb's first Christmas was right around the corner when we celebrated his 5 month birthday. I was scheduled to work the first half of Christmas day
and we were planning on heading to Brian's parent's after I worked
so we celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve.
Caleb proved to be an expert at ripping off the wrapping paper on his gifts.
And yes, he was more excited about the paper than his gifts.
He was so cute (as always.)

Our first Christmas Tree!
Brian had a wonderful idea when we were decorating our tree this year.
We decided to have a "thankful tree".
Each day we would write down a couple of things we were thankful for on slips of paper
and then we hung them on the tree.
On Christmas day we planned on reading them out loud.
2008 has been a wonderful year - we have truly been blessed!

January 16th was Caleb's 6 month birthday.
6 Month stats:
18 pounds 4 ounces
27 1/4 inches long
He is getting so BIG!
AND
some BIG things have happened this month:
On January 29th the adoption was finalized.
Although he has been 100% part of our family and hearts since we brought him home,
it was so wonderful to know that he is lawfully ours.
And even BETTER on January 31st he became a part of our eternal family FOREVER!
My heart felt like it was going to burst with JOY and GRATITUDE and LOVE!

Here's our eternal family
(Aren't my boys handsome?)
(Brian's mom made his cute little outfit.)

Oh what a wonderful, wonderful, marvelous day!
A day I will never forget!

And last, but definitely not least,
This joyful day was made possible by this very special young lady:
We love you so much Tanya!