Texas. Family. Friends. Engagements.

Caleb and I went to Texas for a visit this month. It was a really fun time! The only not fun parts were getting my iphone stolen at the airport and southwest sending our car seat base to San Diego on accident. Jordan had to go to the store to get an extra base since they wouldn't be able to get us the base until the next day. We needed an extra one anyways. I always forget to take the base out of Jordan's car and then I'll end up stranded at home some days. I still haven't replaced my phone though. So if you've tried contacting me, I promise I'm not rude :)

While we were there, my best friend, Blair and her boyfriend, Aaron, got engaged! They got engaged at Mt. Bonnell. Aaron had asked me to be there to get pictures. It was really special. They are so perfect for each other. I am so happy for them!!!

I was also able to spend a few days with my other best friend, Lydia. She is moving to Boston in a little over a week, so I was really thankful to get some time with her before she moves. We also visited my family in Houston and I got to meet my new nephew, Matthew! He is so precious and tiny!

Here are some pictures of our trip.

The view from Mt. Bonnell in Austin

Blair and Aaron talking before he asked

Getting down on one knee :)

Engaged!!!

Caleb just hanging out with Tucker

Grampops (my parents) played with Caleb for awhile and these next few pictures are the product of that haha. They had a good time.

My dad's face says it all.. haha

Caleb and my sister, Jana. She is having her baby boy next month!

Caleb and my sister, Heather. 

Caleb and my brother in law, Mat.

My nephew, Matthew at 1 month. He is Heather and Mark's son.

 

My beyond precious neice, Sloane, and Caleb :)

My cousin, Justin, and Caleb

Aunt Cindy and Caleb

My grandma and Caleb

My cousin Brice and Caleb

Caleb with his Aunty Lyd

Caleb LOVED Neil

Mrs. Wallace with Caleb

Mrs. Sandoz and Caleb

Lyd and me

Family is Forever

My sis-in law, Meghan, has been in the hospital now since Wednesday. She went in when she got really sick. They found out right away that she had pneumonia but they couldn't figure out why she was having such intense head pain. Today they decided it was probably from a botched spinal tap on Wednesday. They decided to do a caffeine treatment and it helped a lot. Hopefully it will continue to help and she will be healed. If not, she will have surgery to fix it on Monday. She was able to spend a little over a hour with her sweet, sweet boys. Normally, they don't allow it. I'm so thankful and happy that she got that. As a mom, I can't imagine being away from my kids like that, especially my baby. We are just praying that the caffeine treatments help her and that she heals on her own and for comfort for being away from her boys.

I've been helping with her boys. Here are a few pictures I've captured of the boys these past few days. Little boys are just the best. I would be happy if we had all boys, they are just so much fun and so sweet.

sweet cousins playing

Zephyr's sweet smile. These cousins already love each other. When they see each other they smile and laugh. It's so adorable.

Wiley has been the sweetest boy. 

And then here are some of the crafty things I've been up to over the past month for some baby presents.

I crocheted these. I love crocheting. I'm like a little old lady.

texas burp cloths.. i'm just learning to sew :) i got an amazing sewing machine for christmas.

girly burp cloths

Chubby Bubby

Chubby Bubby is one of our nicknames for Caleb. Bubba. Chubba Bubba... all inspired by his chubby thighs and peaches. We can't help ourselves :)

We had Caleb's 4 month check up yesterday. He weighs 18 pounds and 7 ounces and is 26 1/4 inches long! This puts him somewhere from the 75th-90th percentile. Not even three weeks ago, Caleb weighed 17 pounds 13 ounces! He is growing so fast and I'm getting a good arm work out daily haha. :)

I am so thankful for the pediatrician we have for Caleb. He's just great. He has such good advice and seems to really care about Caleb. I'm a pretty laid back mom, way more than I ever thought I'd be, but vaccinations are the one thing that have really freaked me out. I've just heard too many scary things and the thing about vaccinations is that your kid could be perfectly fine, but what if they are one of the few that reacts badly to them? I didn't want to risk it, it's so not worth it to me. I really did my research on them and I was also able to find a pediatrician that not only supports an alternative vaccination schedule but believes in it. It's so nice to be able to ask him questions and to not feel like I'm battling him or anything. The pediatrician that came to the hospital argued with me about the shot thing and ended up making me cry.. I probably wouldn't have cried normally but I JUST had a baby dude haha. Another pediatrician told me I was unfit to be a mom because I didn't want to fully vaccinate Caleb. So it's just so nice to have a pediatrician that not only allows me to do what I want with Caleb, but supports it and tells me that I'm a good mom. 

One of the things he recommended for after your baby or child has a shot is a homeopathic called Bella Donna. It comes in pellets and you can either dissolve them in a liquid or crush them up and give them orally. You use it instead of Motrin or Tylenol. Something else I highly recommend to anyone giving their kids shots is Vaccination Detox by Nature's Sunshine. My mom gave it to me when I was little and I have been giving it to Caleb and it's made a huge difference in how he feels after shots. The first time he was pretty sick and screaming his head off (very out of character for him, he's not a fussy baby) and since using the Detox, he seems completely normal after shots, just a little sleepier than normal. 

We went peach picking last week and it was really fun! Here are a few pictures.

Also, last week, my new baby nephew was born! His name is Matthew John Preng and he so precious! He was born on July 22nd at 4:37 PM, 20.5 inches long, and 7 pounds and 6 ounces. I can't wait to meet him! It's pretty crazy that Caleb already has 2 little boy cousins and he will have another one when Jana has her little boy in September! Boys are so much fun! My dad is REALLY making up for having 3 girls. 

Oh and I'm learning how to surf. I caught a wave the first time I tried and almost rode it into the beach but then after that I was having a hard time just getting through the waves. I haven't really spent any time playing in waves, so I just don't really understand how to get through them with a surfboard, but I want to figure it all out and to get really good. Just wait, someday I'll be doing this...

4 Months Old!

Caleb is 4 months old today!!! I can't believe how fast time has gone by, he is growing so fast! He is as close to perfect that a baby can be and we are having so much fun with him. It's also my mom's birthday, so Happy Birthday Mom!!! :)

He's started sleeping through the night very consistently. He will go down around 9 or so and sleep until 5 or 6, eat for about 20 minutes or less, and then go back to bed for another few hours. It's been so nice. Every now and then he'll have a night or a few nights in a row where he wakes up a few times during the night or wants to be in bed with us, but for the most part, he's doing so great. I like the nights he wants to sleep in bed with us, he's my favorite little cuddler. He's about to be too large for his bassinet so I think we are just going to move his crib into our room. I know, I know.. but his room is really far from ours and it's by the front door. He's just not old enough to sleep in his room.. I may be in denial, but that's okay :)


He's standing (with our help of course) a ton. He loves it. He gets this adorable look on his face the entire time and looks around to every one in the room like, "Look at what I can do!" We are going to get him a Johnny Jump Up so that he can stand as much as he wants. I've been holding him up and getting a serious arm work out.. he's so heavy! 


He hasn't quite figured out how to roll over yet. He's really large and heavy for his age, so I think it'll probably take him a little longer to build up the strength. He's figured out how to roll on his side and to roll back over from his side, just not completely over yet. He REALLY hates tummy time and just lays there and cries the entire time instead of finding a way out of it haha, so we will see :)


He smiles ALL the time. It's the sweetest thing in the world. He laughs a lot too. He's a super happy baby. It's seriously impossible to be in a bad mood when you have a baby like Caleb. I try to capture this on film a lot but as soon as a camera or our flip is on and in front of him, he gets very serious and just stares at it haha. 


He is still pretty needy for me. If I'm not holding him, he at least wants to be able to keep his eye on me. He'll get fussy if I'm doing stuff around the house but if I move him to where he can see me, he's as happy as can be. I really like that he is like that with me, it's so sweet and he's my little buddy!


He loves to look at himself in the mirror. He gets really tickled over it.


He is "talking" a ton lately. He'll try to imitate what I say sometimes too.. like "hi". We will talk back and forth and he gets so excited. I read that doing that at this age helps with their speech development and all that. The other day, he was crying and it sounded like he was saying "Everett". Obviously he wasn't but it was funny. So I was telling Meghan (Everett is her husband) and then Caleb said "Evvvvvv". It was hilarious. 


Caleb and Zephyr started to notice each other. They will stare at each other and bust out laughing and just be smiling like crazy. It's seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen.


We go in for his 4 month check up on the 27th, so I will post his weight and length then. Any guesses? Last time we weighed him was on the 8th and he was 17 lbs and 13 ounces.





Here's a video of Caleb "standing". I was hiding the camera from him so he wouldn't get all serious, and I ended up cutting his head off for part of the time, sorry! Check out his awesome chubby thighs while you're at it.. I love them!

Trip to Texas/PK Lake House and Caleb's 3 1/2 months

We just got back from an amazing time at the PK Lake House in Texas. Jordan's parents own a lake house out there and we spend the 4th of July out there. We don't have TV, internet, or cell phone service, so it's just a really great getaway. I was given a nook before the trip, so I spent a lot of time reading and cuddling with Caleb on the screen porch. We saw two great firework shows and went to a no justice concert (texas country) while we were there. We also picked up wake surfing instead of wakeboarding this time. With wake surfing, you are a lot closer to the boat and eventually catch a wave and let go of the rope and you just surf behind the boat for as long as you can keep up. I never caught on enough to do that, but I got better each time. Next year :) We rode jet skis and went tubing. We also got to see some of our friends, Brice and Kate. It had been a year since we'd seen them, so it was really nice to catch up. It was a really great trip and awesome time with the family.


Caleb went to the doctor today for one shot. He didn't cry at all and hasn't seemed to feel bad at all since the shot. I was really nervous because last time he cried a ton for hours. It was heart breaking. I had the nurse weigh him while he was there... he is 17 pounds 13 ounces!! Big boy! He's gained almost 10 pounds since birth. The average baby weights between 13-16 pounds at 3 months and Caleb is 3 1/2 months now.


Here are some pictures from our time in Texas:

sweet baby

he LOVES being naked haha

naked cousins haha

Wiley fishing

Caleb and Wiley snoozing on the boat

Wiley and Everett

Granpy and Caleb 

Meg Ev and Zeph

Wiley and Zeph, sweet brothers

jordan and jill playing blongo ball

Meg and Ev at No Justice

at the fireworks show at hell's gate

this goes from cliff to cliff and looks like a water fall. coolest fire works ever.

Brice and Kate with Caleb :)

This picture is funny. Caleb is screaming and Wiley popped in to be apart of our family picture. He's adorable haha.

we got to play with a cute donkey

That's the update for now. I'm not going to send out emails of this anymore, so if you want to keep up with Caleb, visit our blog. www.babycraft1.blogspot.com. 

Love you all!