Joseph and the Whale?

At Ridgemoms yesterday, Luke learned the story about Joseph and his brothers. He was telling me about it as we walked through Target. He said, "Joseph got thrown into a whale."

I corrected him, that it wasn't Joseph who was in the whale, it was Jonah. And I was a little confused by the fact that he thought it was Joseph considering he had just learned about Jonah in Sunday school in August and he had watched the Veggie Tales Jonah movie that morning.

He was just as confused by my response. He looked at me like I had two heads and replied, "Mom, Jonah was swallowed by a whale. It has a tail and it swims. Joseph was thrown into a whale. It's a big hole with water in the bottom."

He was saying "well" the entire time. It just came out as "whale" with his hick Texas accent!

Happy 65th Birthday, Dad/Boppa!

Today is my dad's 65th birthday! Since my dad is the man who taught me to love the Texas Rangers, we figured it was perfect to celebrate his birthday at the baseball game. The game was originally supposed to be at 7:05 PM so we were going to meet at my house for a little celebration before the game, but the time changed to accomodate a national broadcast on Fox. It worked out perfectly because this way we got to have a tailgate lunch before the game and then eat cake afterwards while waiting for the traffic to die down before going home.



Luke giving Boppa a birthday hug.


Getting ready to open his presents.


Dad's birthday gift from Mom was the tickets to the game!


Luke narrating the card he made Boppa. He drew Luke, Boppa, and all three Dots.


Opening the gift from us with Luke's help.


Boppa and his grandsons with the gift. We gave him baseballs with each kid's handprint on them.




Family picture before heading into the game.


The Rangers clinched the American League West Division the night before so we got to see the new division champs banner and new flag, which was fun.
(the banner)

(the raising of the flag)






We took in signs for Dad's birthday. The only one not pictured here is the one that said "Happy 65th Birthday Dad (aka Boppa)".


Luke and I went out to center field to play games one last time. He ended up winning this at the sling shot game!


Caleb:


Luke:


Luke made Boppa turn his hat like him. Coincidentally, it was during the 6 run bottom of the 4th inning. Rally caps?!


Dad got a gift bag from the Rangers (no pic of that) and his name was mentioned on the jumbotron, too.


Our seats were right by where the Texas Legends walk up after their race. Luke was ECSTATIC. We had to chase them out so he could give Davy Crockett a high five.


Caleb smiles for Mammie.


Mammie, Boppa and their grandsons.


Luke let Caleb wear his hat.


Rangers win! What a great birthday present!




Family picture with the Ballpark in the background.


Last but not least...cake time!


Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope you had a great day!!

The Caleb Burrito

New experiences

Disclaimer: If you are squeamish about poop stories, skip to the end of this post. You've been warned.

Yes, I'm going to talk about poop on my blog. This serves as my kids baby books so I try to keep track of as much as possible on here.

At Caleb's four month appointment, his pediatrician recommended that we switch formulas to one that will help with his spit up. So we have been using Enfamil AR (and now the generic Target version) since Monday. Caleb's amount of spit up has decreased dramatically, but we now have another issue. Constipation.

We've never dealt with constipation before. Luke was breastfed and never really had any issues pooping even after he started solids, but if there was a problem we could just feed him some pears. We can't do that with Caleb right now! He didn't poop for two days after starting the formula, and the first time he went yesterday (Wednesday) it was hard. Looked like a little rock in his diaper. The next time he went, he cried SO hard - and it was a cry I have never heard from him before. You could tell it hurt so badly. Sure enough, when I picked him up from Nate's lap to go change him I could feel it in his diaper. This time it was bigger than a golf ball and again, hard. Like it didn't squish or anything. I felt SO horrible for him.

I had called the nurse at his doctor's office before that episode and I'm really glad I did. They recommended that we get the dark Karo syrup and put it in his bottle. 1 tsp per ounce of formula in 2-3 bottles per day. Thankfully Nate stopped and got some on his way home from work so after changing his diaper, we gave him the first bottle mixed with Karo syrup.

This morning he had another bad episode trying to poop; it really is heartbreaking to hear him cry like that. The good news is that right after that he went again and it was the good consistency, so the Karo is working. I'm now alternating bottles with it right now. He just had one without the Karo so it will be interesting to see what happens now.

Okay the poop talk is done.

Now I'm moving on to sleeping talk.

This baby has been a mystery trying to figure out his sleep! Again he has proven to be 100% different than big brother. Luke slept through the night from 6 weeks old on, and we never had any real issues with his sleep. Caleb has been quite challenging, however.

He used to sleep decently on his tummy...until he started rolling over! He would end up on his back and that would wake him up. After two weeks of getting up 3-5 times per night to roll him back, I went to get a real swaddle blanket. We'd been doing a modified version of the swaddle when he was on his tummy - arms out, body wrapped - and when he would roll over, his crazy arms would wake him up.

Last Friday I went to BRU and got a SwaddleMe. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a blanket just in case it didn't work. He hated it the first time I put him in it - I was going to take it back. Over the weekend I was double swaddling him using our Aden + Anais blankets and then taping it closed with painters tape. But he was still busting out of it on occasion. Two days ago I tried the SwaddleMe again and this time it worked. I also have started just putting him to bed on his back. I think before the rolling over was waking him up just enough to not be in his deep sleep. He slept great for naps yesterday (3.5 and then 2 hours) and slept so much better last night. He went to bed at 8 PM, woke up at 3 AM but put himself back to sleep until 4 AM when I fed him a bottle. He went back to sleep, woke up around 6 AM for some reason, but then slept untl 7 AM. We'll see if this new trend continues...I'm really hoping that it does!

One thing is for sure - kids are totally and completely different! I wonder what else Caleb has in store for us that Luke never did. :)

Caleb's 4 month appointment

Weight - 15 lb 13 oz (75th %)
Height - 26 inches (75th %)
Head circumference - 42 cm/16.5 inches (50th %)

Nothing much to report - we have such a healthy, happy baby boy. He even gave the nurse a giggle when we laid him down on the scale. He has such a great disposition lately. Dr. D said he is growing nicely and was pleased that he has doubled his birth weight. We talked about his reflux and since the Prevacid has made such a huge difference and I can tell a change in him when I forget to give him his meds (which NEVER happens...), we're going to keep it up for now. He wants us to try the Enfamil AR formula since he's still spitting up a bit and see if that helps. It was funny, I had just finished saying that he doesn't spit up very often when he practically spit up his entire bottle. Almost on command.

He's advanced in his motor skills; he is freakishly strong. He was impressed with the fact that he immediately pushes up to standing when placed in a sitting position and with how high he holds his head up when he's on his stomach.

All in all it was a great appointment. Except the poor thing got two shots, which he did NOT appreciate. He was still fussing out in the car and fell asleep on his changing pad when we got home. Hopefully he won't be too upset the rest of the day, but I purposely planned nothing for us to do today just in case.

Matching Tie Shirts

My friend Michelle made the boys these matching tie shirts. We just love them. She had to make Luke another one, though; he grew out of his original one before Caleb was big enough to fit in his! When I decided to take Caleb's 4 month pics in his tie onesie, Luke immediately changed into HIS shirt to get pictures with Caleb.

Caleb looks worried.


Finally got the baby looking and the four year old isn't. That's when I gave up!

4 Months!

Caleb Michael is now four months old.

He has made a lot of changes this past month. He now smiles all.the.time. and he started laughing. He also started rolling from his stomach to his back, which has actually ended up causing a lot of problems! More on that later, though. Also in the past few days he's started grabbing his toys, which is so cute! He tries to get everything in his mouth, including his thumb.

He is now eating only formula...six five ounce bottles per day. He loooves his bottles; he gets very excited when he sees it.

Sleep this month has been mainly awful. We had a week of him sleeping through the night, but the rest of the time it has been very challenging. Currently the issue is that he rolls onto his back and wakes himself up and then won't go back to sleep without me having to go in and roll him back over. This happens multiple times a night. I'm losing it, honestly.

He is still wearing mainly 0-3 month or 3 month closing...sometimes a 3-6 month simply because he is so long! He has chunked up considerably since starting formula so it will be interesting to see how much he weighs at his four month appointment on Monday.

Let me just say that taking pictures of this baby is tough.

He is a smiley little thing...until he sees the camera. And he loves to stand up so much that every time I would sit him down, he'd be pushing his legs trying to get up. Difficult.

Sitting down is for babies!


The "what is that black thing and why is it shining light on me?" face. Every. single. time. I try to take his picture.


But he smiles if he can't see the camera!

Happy Birthday Nate

Today is Nate's 31st birthday! I hate the fact that he had to share his 21st birthday with such a terrible tragedy for our country, but it is what it is. We try to celebrate and be happy for another year of his life in the midst of the sorrow that comes with remembering.

I'm just so thankful for him and all that he does for our family. Meeting him changed my life, and I wouldn't trade our life together for anything.

Remembering 9/11/01

I can still picture that morning.

It was my freshman year at Texas A&M University. I had an 8 AM class everyday - Spanish 101. It was the first time I skipped the class. I was asleep in my dorm room. My roommate, Melissa, was gone. My suitemate, Adeena, ran through the bathroom that adjoined our rooms and turned on our TV. She said something like, "wake up, you have to see this. A plane hit one of the twin towers."

That got my attention, and she turned on ABC News. We sat there together and watched as the second plane hit the second tower. We watched the coverage about the Pentagon being hit. And we watched in horror as both towers fell.

I remember thinking, at first, that this couldn't really be happening. That it was some sick joke. That disbelief turned into horror as it started to sink in that it was real. And that horror turned to fear because we didn't know what it meant. Would there be more attacks, would we be facing a war on our home soil? And that fear merged with sadness. Sadness for all of the victims and their families, for the people of New York City and Washington, D.C., and for all the citizens of our country.

I remember not getting anything done that day. I remember huddling around the TV or checking the Internet most of the day with my roommate, suitemates, and friends. I remember freaking out with some friends until finally her mom told us over the phone to turn off the news and turn on a Disney movie. I can't remember if we actually did that, though.

I remember trying to get in touch with my mom, who was on a business trip to Wisconsin. I remember being scared of her flying back home when the time came. I remember talking with my dad and my sister, who were both in Dallas.

I remember when word got out that the student body of Texas A&M would be doing something to remember 9/11 at the next home football game. I remember getting my red T-shirt that said, "Standing For America", and I remember standing the entire game on the third deck of Kyle Field with my sister, wearing that shirt proudly. I still have it.



There's a lot I don't remember about that day and the days after it. A lot of fuzzy details mixed in with real memories. But I do know that I will never forget where I was or how I felt watching what happened. I know that my kids are going to ask me about it someday, just as I asked my mom about President Kennedy's assassination. That's part of the reason I'm writing this post, ten years later, to solidify some of my memories. So that one day Luke and Caleb can go back and read this and know what happened.

It's important that we always remember.

9/11 Timeline Video

Caleb laughing

Caleb has started laughing this month. It is still a rare, special occasion if you actually get a laugh out of him, but last night Daddy was just SO funny to him. I happened to be able to get most of it on video with my phone. Quality isn't the greatest, but you at least you can hear him!

Looking Back...

First Day of School!

Today is Luke's first day of school of Pre-K! Wow, has time flown by or what?! He will be going three days a week this year, and it is his last year at this school.

Honestly I've been counting down the days until he started back to school. He has been SO bored at home lately and it's been difficult to do lots of fun stuff with him while having a newborn this summer. Translation: he's been driving me crazy. I joked over the weekend that I would be dancing out of school after dropping him off. However, when we got up this morning I was so sad! And now I keep looking around the house for him. It's going to take some getting used to again.

He was really excited about going to Pre-K...until we got to the door of his classroom. There were only two other kids in there that he didn't really know, and he has a new teacher this year so he was a bit apprehensive. We ended up leaving him in tears, which of course made me tear up. But by the time his best friend Quinn got there, he was happy as can be so that made me feel better.

I can't wait to hear about his day when we pick him up.



This is Reese's first year going to school with Luke...she is in the three year old class.


Walking into school!