Caleb's (late) 14 month update

Age: 14 months plus a few weeks
Weight: 28lbs
Size clothes: 2T


Interests: Caleb continues to enjoy throwing balls and heavy objects. He has recently mastered how to put objects inside other objects, so he is very busy fitting cups inside each other, putting balls in his ball drop, and putting toy cars in bowls. It is so fun to watch his little brain work! He also has enjoyed having food fights on a daily basis. He hit grandpa Danny with a pile of sweet potato during our visit last week! Caleb's favorite part of his day is bedtime wrestling and belly flops with Daddy. It is hilarious to watch those two have a blast being silly! Caleb continues to enjoy his little friends, and play
dates are a highlight of his week.

Challenges: The food throwing is quite challenging. He does it when he is starving, in between bites, and when he is done eating. Oh my! Caleb has also started head thrashing, body lunging, and feet kicking when he is having a mini tantrum. Usually this happens when I have asked him to give me an object that is unsafe. He throws it at me and then starts with his mini tantrum. Big feelings! ANother challenge is the fact that Caleb LOVES fruit in smoothies, but will not eat in in whole form. He will be drinking a berry smoothie, and be poo-pooing the berries I have offered him on his plate. So silly!

Milestones: Caleb has been pulling to stand and cruising for a while, but recently he has started to push up to standing without support, and take 1-3 steps before belly flopping on his bed. Caleb has added "Uh-oh" to his vocabulary, and will say "Ma ma ma" for "mama milk" when he wants to nurse. Caleb has also started sleeping longer stretches at night, and has gone up to 8 hours without nursing at night. My baby is growing up!

Funny Memory: I was able to visit my family last week for 5 days and it was a blast! The funny memory of the month was actually a bit my fault and quite tragic. On the airplane I opened Caleb's straw cup for him to drink some water. The pressure from the plane caused the water to fire hose him in the face for 1-2 seconds, shocking both him and me.  About 2-3oz of water flew out of the cup, and not only was his face entirely wet, but my clothes, the window, and his pants were as well. Caleb started screaming (not funny) and it took me a a while to help my shocked and upset baby to calm down enough to strop his protest. At the time it was NOT funny, but looking back I can't believe I forgot about air pressure!

Sleepy beauty 

Loves climbing 

Major bedhead 

I love my smoothie, but won't touch fruit

Water play with friends!

Visiting Great Grandma M! 

Life Update

Its been a while since I did a true "LIFE" update.


The Baby (of shall I say toddler)
Caleb never ceases to make me smile. God put all of his light into this little guy to remind me to smile. Caleb's recent antics include watching his food drop off of his highchair, throwing balls around and chasing them like a puppy, and playing peek-a-boo. He is saying "uh oh" and it is quite cute. This little guy's favorite place to be is outside, particularly the beach. We are learning while he cannot walk yet, he sure can climb. He can climb anything that is about bellybutton level or lower. Stairs are a piece of cake.

The Hubby
John has been working really hard at his new job with Fortune Builders. He is a real estate investment coach and is really great at what he does! So far he has gotten really positive feedback, and I have to say it is a relief to have him come home excited to share what new things he has learned and how he is growing. It is such a blessing to see him thriving in an environment that he can use so many of his skills and talents. He is such a great speaker and leader, and it is wonderful to see him use his gifts in the workplace. John has been leading a men's morning prayer time at Flood Church once a week for a few months now (5am start time, whew!) and he is loving the little community of guys that is growing out of that time.

The Family
We took a wonderful family vacation to palm springs last weekend! It was a blast to get away for a few nights and to spend some intentional time making some family memories. We stayed at the Westin and got a little bit of the resort feel. We had a blast swimming at the pool, going out to Thai food, and exploring the gondola base camp. Caleb's favorite part was seeing falling snow for the first time on our way home! It was such a nice and needed rest but it already feels like it was ages away since the daily grind started back up again this past Monday. We need more family getaways!

The Home
A few weeks ago I started the "40 Bags in 40 Days" challenge. you can read more about it on this amazing blog.  The point is to get rid of 40 bags of "stuff" during the lent season (or any random 40 day period). So far I haven't gotten rid of as much stuff as I would have liked to, but I have reorganized and transformed so many spaces in our house! In addition, my parents have gotten on board and made some serious strides to revamp their garden, and a few of my friends have taken up the challenge too! With things like this I will usually get really pumped, make make a commitment to clean regularly, and then will easily become derailed after a few days, maybe weeks if I am lucky. The reason why I picked this particular challenge was so that it had a clear start and end point, with simple and flexible instructions. I'm excited to see the end result of how much lighter our lives will be once this 40 day challenge is over.

Before

after

The Mom
I am stretched pretty thin right now but have had glimpses of relaxing . I haven't been sleeping a ton due to Caleb having a few nighttime wake-ups, which John graciously helps out with by bed-sharing with Caleb on his twin mattress frequently in the middle of the night. I am struggling to find things that are truly life-giving and refreshing that I can do throughout the day to recharge. I know one of them is cooking myself a yummy lunch when Caleb is napping, but I am on the lookout for some ways to do some quick self-care. In the midst of dirty diapers, laundry, shopping, cooking, doing dishes, and keeping a human alive it is hard to prioritize ME. God has been showing me that I need to slow down and enjoy simple things, and I hope that I can find out what those simple things might be!

Enjoy some more pictures of out crazy climber!

He got himself all the way up there