It's a month late, but here they are!

Caleb making Emma laugh

This is from a little while ago, but I realized I never put it up here for everyone to enjoy. I think its precious.


Caleb entertaining Emma from curtis carson on Vimeo.

Emma Update

Emma now crawlsand pulls up to standing

and draws

And is more beautiful than ever!

And is loved!

I know the kids aren't even looking at the camera, but at least we all have our eyes open, that in itself is quite an accomplishment.

Caleb 's Birthday Party

With everyone here and the decorations up we're ready to wake Caleb from his nap.

First we played a game where everyone hid, but sang happy birthday until Caleb discovered them! Then we got straight into it with the piñata;. Below are a picture of the finished product and a video of Caleb going after it after he broke the strings that were hanging it.

Then it was time to open presents! He was thrilled with them all! Lots of car, truck, train, boat and plane things. It was such fun to watch him open them. He always thought the present he was opening was just going to have a duplicate of the previous present. So if he opened a train, he would question "train?" as he opened the next. I think this was the only way we got him to stop playing with his newest present and open another. Here were our wonderful guests! Unul Anny (Andy, my brother)

The Lady (Kara, my sister)

Papa and Papa. (Grandma and Grandpa, my parents)

Here is Caleb taking a break from the exhaustive nature of present opening to have a little snack.

Memma playing with Caleb's new boat on his new comforter! She loves his new toys just as much as he does.

Next was the ice cream and cake. It was a train as hopefully you can tell. We filled the cars with pineapple, blueberries and sprinkles.
Here is Caleb with a fist full of ice cream! Here is Caleb upset that no one told him ice cream was so cold.

Would you like some cake?

More cake destroying. He maybe took one bite. He's not a cake fan.

Apparently it was time to wash his hands, which he lovingly tried to do on Daddy's shirt.


All done with the cake!

After cake Caleb got a quick bath where he got to play with his new water boat. Then we handed out thank you pictures to everyone and said good bye. Papa (grandpa) got a hug. Then Unul Anny got a hug. Then Papa (grandma) got a hug. Then Caleb ran over to Andy and said "kiss," but Andy declined. So Caleb gave The Lady (Kara) his kiss and said buh-bye to everyone.

This is the party decoration destruction that Caleb initiated when everyone left.

Counting

So Caleb loves counting from 1 to 2. But today we went a little farther. I pointed out the 7 blocks that he had laid down as a train and told him the numbers to count. It went something like this:

One - "Un"
Two - "Two"
Three - "Tree"
Four - "Pour"
Five - "Pour"
Six - "Pour"
Seven - "Pour"
One - "Pour"
Two - "Pour"
Three - "Pour"

Sick

Today we are all sick, so what do we do on sick days? We take all the pillows and blankets from the bedrooms and put them on the living room floor and lay around watching cartoons or just cuddling! Of course it always turns into a game of tug-o-war over a blanket or a game of hide-and-seek! They never stop playing!

We can't wait for daddy to come home and join the fun!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Caleb is 2 today!

We had fun birthday play time and built another slide. Caleb's favorite!


We had birthday pizza for lunch!


We went for a ride on the bus to the toy store! Caleb loves the bus!


We played in the toy store for a long, long time!


We picked out birthday presents! (He gets them Saturday at his family party)



We walked the 3 miles home because Caleb loves walks!


We stopped to see all the cars and trucks on the highway overpass!


We got a yogurt parfait from McDonalds, Caleb's favorite!


We took a birthday bath with bubbles that smelled like cake!



And then Caleb got a special treat before bed! Peanut M&M's.



And everyone got kisses goodnight!


Curt and I both wish it was Caleb or Emma's birthday every day! Its so wonderful to be able to celebrate them! Cake will be on Saturday, so stay tuned for that mess!

The big 2!

Caleb will be turning 2 in 2 days! I am really excited for him!

Ball Bath

I think bath pictures tend to be my favorite. They are easy because the kids are contained and having fun! So here are some more to enjoy!

Also of interest Caleb has acquired the skills to make use of possessive pronouns. "Mine" is a favorite. But surprisingly he uses the word "yours." And he uses them correctly. He is slowly using prepositions as well as adjectives. "Fast" is by far his favorite adjective, only second to "pink." And he can count to two, but don't ask him how old he is, he doesn't know. Oh, and his use of present tense verbs like "running", "cooking" and "raining" also amazes me. And his abilities to add an s/es to make things plural. He definitely knows "car" from "cars" and "baby" from "babies." Pretty good for a kid who just whipped out his words about two months ago. I know this is only interesting to me, but its really encouraging to notice the small stuff!

Emma on the other hand has also upgraded her speech. She now screams for the pure fun of it! She has yet to officially crawl, but can still get anywhere you can think of via rolling and scooting. And those two loner teeth remain the only brave ones that have ventured out from hiding. She remains the champion sleeper out of the two of them, sleeping through the night and at least half the day.

I love my babies!

The Big Bug

Tonight right before the big Michael Phelps race for his eighth gold medal a BIG bug flew into my house. Don't ask me how he got in, I don't know and can't even speculate. There we were, minding our own business when he just bombed straight into the living room and landed squarely on the wall behind us. I of course yelled for Curt as if I had just seen a robber outside and Curt came and saved the day! I hid Emma in the babies room and Caleb and I watched in amazed wonder and complete horror (respectively) as Curt caught him in a clear container and promptly displayed the new finding. Caleb quickly took a liking to this new creature and immediately fell in love. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Bug. Then Curt took him outside to let him loose where he belongs.

Chef Caleb Carson

Today Caleb and I whipped up some pancakes while Emma and Curt hung around waiting to devour anything in site. It was all great fun!

Caleb actually poured all the ingredients in himself.

And he stirred it all up!

This is where our babies get their beautiful blues.

Emma is obviously too little for pancakes, so she got frogs instead.

Air and Water Show, Chicago 2008

Today, we trekked it down to the Air and Water show at North Ave. Beach to watch the jets and the planes fly over. It was nice to get some sun, hang out on the beach, and visit with friends. Our friends Scott and Jenny along with their four kids Noah, Hope, Summer, and little baby Simon all came down and joined us for the fun in the sun. The weather could NOT have been more perfect - 70º, not a cloud in the sky, and a light breeze to boot!

We had anticipiated that Caleb would be THRILLED to see all the planes and hear the loud engines as they flew by. What we didn't anticipate is that we would be arriving at the beach at the point when he should have been taking his nap, and that with all the activity, he would be WAY over tired and have no idea how to handle himself.

So, Caleb enjoyed the planes none the less; but he did it amidst BARELY being able to keep his eyes open. At one point, when he was resting his head on momma's shoulder, waking up at every jet passing, one of the gentlemen working at the giant Ford display that we were pitched in front of came over and asked if Caleb would like a little mini Ford Focus to take home. We happily obliged, figuring we would give it to Caleb when he was awake and that he would have no interest while in his current state.

But before we could even take it, he popped his head up and excitedly reached for the toy car still in its package. He asked for 'help' from daddy to open up his new toy - and voila! He was a new boy! From that point on, he held his new little possession as if it were the most valuable thing on the planet.

More than the planes, more than the boats, more than the sand, the beach, and all the other kids playing in every direction, Caleb found his prize. He didn't fuss any longer, he didn't try and run away anymore, he didn't take any one else's toys... he just sat and held his new car the rest of the time, watching and listening to all the planes as they flew by. He finally fell asleep right at the end of the show, on my shoulder. We put him in his stroller, and with two sleeping babies, trekked it all the way back to our house via the fabulous Chicago Transit Authority.

Caleb was so excited about his new toy, that he even insisted on having it during his bath.


So, the show was great; the jets were amazing, the people were EVERYWHERE, and Scott and Jenny are wonderful (along with their kids!)... but, the greatest part of the day, at least for Caleb, involved a kind man and a beautiful little shiny red car with Caleb's name all over it. You never know what to expect in life. Pleasant surprises come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. So, a hearty thanks to the Ford guy for making my son's day!

The missing Grandpa

I was visiting what is called CarsonArts, a site about Curt's side of the family (made by his dad and his dad's wife, not to be confused with Curt's mom). Although I have visited it before and had this one thought before, this time it seemed intensely heavy: Curt's dad has not met either of our kids. I mean until now its just been something said, but tonight its an actual ache in my heart. I am in no way reflecting on his dad's character, I've only met him a few times and while Curt and his dad don't have an incredibly healthy relationship, not because of hate, but because of disconnect, I still know the love Curt has for his dad through any and everything anyway. I can't rationalize why this makes me cry, it just does. I would love for my children to meet him and call him grandpa. Isn't that how it works?

The piano

Since moving the piano from my parents house here to our apartment its been interesting watching Caleb get acquainted with it. At first he would only press one key at a time and very timidly and softly. After a couple weeks of that he moved on to not wanting anyone to play the piano at all, shutting it every time he heard it. Then we moved onto the typical "what you would imagine". Banging. But maybe just one of two bangs and then it was over. Now he really enjoys playing along with someone else while they play.

And now there is just the sweetest sound coming from the living room! Curt is playing and singing and I can hear a tiny little voice singing along! I'd love for that sound to fill our house for ever and ever!

Omagles Continuum

And then we built this... Ta Da!

An awesome omagles FORT!

Can you even believe the possibilities?

A MASSIVE OMAGLES FORT!

Someone explain how this is even possible!?

It is 7:44pm Sunday. Do you know where your omagles are?
(And if you do. Are you willing to sell them?)

this post brought to you by a desperate omagles fan

Omagles

The missing generation of omagles has left children everywhere completely oblivious to the fun they could be having. These are probably the best toys ever. They are interlocking pieces that can be made into anything the imagination can conjure. And then used as the creations they were made to be. For instance... today Caleb and I built a slide out of them. And then he slid down the slide. And ran down the slide. And ran up the slide. And threw many random objects down the slide. I have tried to find where I can buy some more because we just have the pieces left over from 20 years ago when my brother, sister and I were wee little ones. However, they don't seem to be made anymore. We only have two wheels and I would really love to have four so I could make a wagon, and other four-wheeled vehicles. Anyway, if you have kids I urge you to try and find some and buy them (or at least tell me where you found them so I can).

How exactly...

... do you get a child with no social skills to have social skills? Ha! When Jenny, Scott and their kids were over last night we got the most intense picture yet of how Caleb doesn't know how to interact politely with other kids. He banged them on the head with a wide array of toys, including balls and bats. He also pushed Summer, 2, off of a chair and proceeded to clap when she fell, got hurt and cried. It amazes me how such a young little kid could come equipped with this behavior. I can understand some things. For example: taking his toys from them and being interested in what they are playing with, but the really mean stuff throws me. I am positive he is actually trying to be mean. At least the little smirk on his face at times says so. I have no idea how to discipline him in these situations. So far we have tried a combination of spanking, time-outs, telling him no, explaining to him that he's giving them ouchies but his behavior hasn't improved.
He definitely isn't this way all the time, not even the majority of the time, which makes it even harder to understand why this personality sometimes prevails. I'm sure it has to be something disciplinary that we are failing at, right? Any clues?

Please Please Please

Has anyone figured out a way to get their husbands to understand what its like to be with kids all day every day? Because if I have to hear one more time how frustrating it is to come home to a messy house I am going to follow the masses and jump off a bridge. I don't understand why he thinks he could get it done. He watches the kids for 2 hours at a time maximum and he does a great job in those two hours. But 12 hour days 7 days a week, come on. It's not even remotely the same. Besides, I don't think he realizes that it makes a huge difference to have someone sitting in the room while you "watch" the kids. Or at least in the house. If he thought about it for a second I think he would realize how much he enlists me for help in those times. Calling for a bottle here. Or for me to watch one of them for a second while he does this or that. If I had someone helping me I could get it done too. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and think he is wonderful and he does a great job of taking care of us. I just wish there was a way to get him to understand my day and not judge it based on the dishes in the sink and the laundry that needs to get done and the toys on the floor that I already cleaned up 6 times that day and just couldn't do one more time. I wish he would judge it based on the things I did get done because I work really hard. I don't know if anything could make me feel less appreciated than this.

The Jenny and her Kids

Today's trip to the Jenny House, which I shall not affectionately call Jenny and Scott's house, was great. She indeed fulfilled all enticements with sandbox, pool and relaxation. The kids had a great time. Caleb just doing whatever he wants with no regard for anyone else around and generally not interacting with the others kids. I have no idea what to do about this. I guess I've done a lousy job of teaching him how to interact, which actually comes as no surprise. I spent the afternoon fumbling around in my quickly vanishing stores of vocabulary for any words other than like and awkward pauses to form answers to very easy questions. And could not form questions of my own to ask. I've explain to Curt before: I can think and type. I can even think and do anything, anything except talk out loud. There is some unexercised part of my brain that won't allow me to get my vocal chords and my brain to function at the same time. So Caleb just gets where ever and goes about his busy business playing with any and everything around. Emma on the other hand loved everything about the other kids! Noah 6, Hope 4?, Summer 2 and Simon who is just a few weeks old. She loved "talking" with whoever was in her sight even if they were five feet away and obviously doing their own thing, which is just totally adorable. She also got a lot of attention while she was in the pool from Jenny's kids. They dripped water on her head and decorated her with grass blades. She loved every second until she decided it was time to go to sleep and have something to eat. Then she hollered at the top of her lungs until I got her out of the water.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures, there would have been some really great ones, but can you even imagine me trying to talk and take pictures. It would have been a total disaster. Hopefully we'll have plenty more time there though. And as our apartment comes down the final stretch of unpacking and organizing hopefully we'll be able to have some friends and their kids over here as well!

Good morning

Good morning...
- two messy messy diapers
- two mouths to be fed
- two body's to be washed
- two...

Oh, hi there Caleb and Emma. I didn't see you behind all the stuff that orbits your existence like many moons. Sometimes I feel like I am three people. Or two and a half once you factor in self neglect. Its a wonder anything gets done around here. When you lay it all out who really has time for 2 baths, 1 shower, seventeen separate play-times, one-thousand potty breaks, fifteen million meals... I mean come on. There are only 24 hours in a day. I exaggerate a little, but its not far off the mark.

Today there actually have been four meals, one snack, four diaper changes, two baths, one playtime involving three people, two voicemails, one returned call, a lost daddy to track down and two naps and one blog underway. In the mess of it we did make some exciting plans though! We are going over to Jenny's house to play with her four kids. We've never been there, but she did a wonderful job enticing us with her talk about sand boxes and kiddie pools and if I heard her correctly I am sure she said the word relaxing in there. So around 3 we are going to head over and hopefully Caleb, Emma and myself will make some new friends!

First Bath Together - Pictures say it all

Caleb and Emma play with toys in the tub.

Caleb notices Emma's toy.

Caleb takes Emma's toy.

Emma tries to retrieve stolen toy.

Caleb shoves toy in his mouth as Emma watches.

Emma finds new toy.

Its been a while

Actually I don't know if two years can even be catagorized in "a while". It's been two years and now two beginnings. Befitting to a second start to the blog there will now be two babies included. Enters Emma.








And as this baby apparently needs to be put to sleep (says the annoyed daddy) exits mommy.

First play date

We went to dinner at a new friend's house yesterday. We had met them over the past summer at a barbeque and Billy is in the music scene, so him and Curt hit it off, and Cynthia was pregnant with a boy and due just a few weeks after us so we talked a bit too. Ian, their son, ended up being born just five days after Caleb. So for dinner we went over there and Caleb made his very first best friend. They held hands and smiled at each other. It was beautiful.

Still no computer which means no pictures and short posts. Sorry.

Until another time...

Our computer crashed, for good. I'll update when I can, but it won't be often until we get a new computer. And with the new apartment who knows when that will end up being.

Rain Rain Baby loves you!

I didn't get the chance to tell yesterday about how the bebe woke up around 10:30am, ate again at 2:30pm and didn't eat until 9:15pm. He was awake and not fussy and apparently not hungry either. 7 hours! Then today, he seemed content to eat a "meal" and then three hours later have a "snack" for five minutes and then eat another "meal" after another three hours. (and no biting) This has been music to my abused touch sensors. I actually didn't feel the need to hand him to Curt the minute he finished feeding.

Curt and I have been working on getting Caleb to fall asleep by himself. It's somewhat odd that he'll be lying on the bed having fun and when he gets tired he cries to let us know he wants us to put him to sleep. We would like for him to just fall asleep if he's tired, but that's hasn't been the reality so far. Yesterday we really started putting some work into it, putting him down when he is almost completely asleep but not totally. Sometimes he drifts off to sleep and sometimes this wakes him up completely so we start over. Today though, he fell asleep three times by himself. Straight from play time to sleep without anyone holding him. Once was while we were eating dinner. Once while he was swinging. And once just now at the end of the night on the bed. Geez...today was another great day with/for the baby. He was happy all day and just awesome to hang out with! I guess 3 months does mark some type of miracle transition, but ours just came a day late? I need a lesson in patience. This small victory is fun to enjoy!

The Big Move

Here are some bath-time photos to enjoy while you read.

Today the baby had a great day. Happy, happy baby. Probably because I didn't have any ice cream to make him sick. He's been awake for almost the entire day, except maybe two 45 minute naps. He's just been wide eyed and playful.
We think he might be teething. He's been on this chewing rampage. He chews everything and especially likes to chew on those freezer teething rings. Time to invest in some rum. Also time to invest in some clothes that are invisible and weigh nothing because he doesn't seem to like clothes anymore. Not today, because we pretty much left him naked most of the day, but in the past few days he'll cry and we won't know what for, so as we go through the list we eventually end up at 'change his diaper'. And so the clothes come off, and the diaper comes off and he stops crying, but he isn't wet or dirty, and then when you try to put his diaper back on he cries, so you take it off and he stops, and then you try to put it on and he cries. The kid hates clothes. When he is potty trained he can have all the naked freedom he wants, but until he can control his urges to pee all over we'll let him be naked while closely supervised. And even then he's already peed on our bed twice.
Well, tonight is the big move, we're bringing all, or most, of our belongings to our new place in the city.

Boob Ban

Caleb helping with the laundry.

Today has been sad. I've been sad. It's a been a rough day with baby. For the most part he was cranky all day. I think it's because I ate ice cream last night. I'm sure the milk gives him a stomach ache. I knew better and did it anyway. And then I actually pumped a bottle, which after being bitten four times I asked Curt to give to him. He ate a little and fell back asleep, so Curt thought he was done. I dumped the rest of the bottle because you can't save it after he's eaten out of it. Well five minutes later he woke up hungry and I ended up having to feed him anyway. I asked our midwife about babies teething and breastfeeding and she said it wouldn't be a problem because they don't use their teeth to feed. Well, unfortunately for us our baby does. When he is done he usually pulls his head away, but in the instances when he is extremely tired and too lazy to move but doesn't want to eat anymore he just bites down, hard. I don't know what to do about that.
Yesterday was suppose to mark the point where things just get better and better, right? Three months. Easy sailing through the rest of this baby stuff, right? Eh. Today was one of the hardest days yet. I am not good at this baby part. I like when they can walk and talk. I even look forward to the parts where I help them with their calculus over a talk about sex, drugs and rock and roll. I think most of the stress doesn't actually come from the baby, just things related to taking care of a baby that normally wouldn't matter to Curt and I. Like having an apartment by ourselves, finding jobs that require us to work for someone else 40 hours a week because at this point there is no other choice, none of our personal entrepreneurships have provided an income great enough to fully support an independent american life-style, and can we really live in a car with a baby? We could, but it'd be cold in the Chicago winter and the baby needs so much. How would we wash diapers? I wish things were different. I don't wish Curt and I had it made, I just wish people worked differently than they do. I wish we could live in a community that really took care of each other in a minimilistic way, no waste and no excess. We could have that here with my family except my mom has these worldly standards because she is old and doesn't understand the way we want to live, so she kicked us out for not having jobs, despite being able to pitch in quite a bit of money for rent each month. She says it's not the money that counts, it's the principle of having a job. Sorry about all that (I just need to make some mommy friends), my point is... it's not the baby that causes the stress, he just ends up being the last straw piled on my presently weary mind and body.

Happy 3 Months

It's ironic that he was alive in my belly for nine months, alive outside my belly for 3 months already and is still considered 0.

So the hand and foot prints went all right. Curt helped with the hand so it ended up pretty decent, but I did the foot by myself and a 3 month old kicking around is a lot harder to manage than I thought. He is strong. I know we should do it while he's sleeping, but it's a lot more fun when he's awake.

Note the wet spot on the right. He was naked and those of you who are baby savvy know what it's from. It's all over me too.

Flip it and Reverse it

I am reneging on my renege of promised pictures. Here are just the few pictures we stopped to take while in Missouri.






Caleb with his Aunt Kim (Curt's sister)













Cousin Ari, Uncle Jason, Cousin Jessie and Caleb








Caleb sleeping with Grandma Carson










Daddy and Caleb napping after an amazing Thanksgiving dinner

Oh wonderful night of mercy

Last night was wonderful. Curt got home around 2:15 from his show and we went to bed. The Bebe was already sleeping and stayed that way until 10 to begin his day, waking twice for very brief 10 minute feedings. We went for a walk in this surpisingly beautiful weather for a November day in Chicago and Caleb had his first picnic (feeding outside) at the park. Then he hung out with Uncle Andy and was all smiles and very loud laughing.

As I suspected

He still sleeps! Thank the Lord. I was beginning to think this would last forever.
This morning I did most of the driving home from Kim and Jason's while Curt got some sleep because his band has a show tonight. So when he left around 5:30 I fed the bebe one more time and we went to bed! At around 8:30 he woke up, and I had no idea what time it was, and thought it had only been a few minutes, half hour tops when he woke up again. I was miserable, but by my own doing. I got up, tried rocking him, bouncing him, carrying him around, begging him to go back to sleep, telling him all my frustrations... finally my dad took him and after about 20 minutes of non-stop crying I looked at the clock. Time to eat! I felt pretty bad. But then again I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night and then drove 10 hours home on top of a busy week with very sleepless nights, so I understand why I had no idea what was going on when I woke up. I fed him and he went right back to sleep. The dog woke Caleb up when she barked at whatever little dogs who are scared of everything bark at. Of course his little tummy was empty, so he ate and now is back to sleeping.
I however am somehow still awake, I have a hard time sleeping when I'm waiting for Curt to come home from a show so I can hear all about it. We miss the papa while he is gone.

Caleb-eye-view

I'm reneging on my promise for pictures (read previous post). Sometimes you just get caught up in the moments, even when they total 3 days.

It's hard to keep this about Caleb, but we have our own blogs and Curt will probably write something more encompassing of the total week. But for the sake of those who just want the baby stuff, here is the baby stuff...

The nights remained unsleepable. Despite being squish-squashed between Curt and I, Caleb still woke up and screamed for dear life until someone picked him up. Cuddling him close wouldn't do, patting his bottom wouldn't do; he was insistant upon the gentle sway one can only do standing up. Well one can only do that for so long without any sleep before they go crazy. And two didn't handle the job sufficiently either. It's nice to be home where we are expecting the baby will go back to his long sleeping nights. I hope that when we move to our new place come the 1st, that he won't go through the this there.
The days were good. He was definitely not on his usual schedule, but it seemed fine when we took it bit by bit. He wanted to be held ALL the time, but there were lots of hands around to help with that. I got touched out real quick, I can only handle so much physical touch in one day so Curt ended up doing most of the holding and bouncing.
All right, this is it for now because I am looking forward to getting some much needed and desired sleep.

Missouri

or misery. At least during the nights for us.



The drive was one tick from perfect. There was only one time when he seemed sick of riding in the car, but that lasted for about five minutes and then he was fine again. The drive was a traffic free 9 hours of baby sleeping bliss. Not a big surprise.

During the days here he is having a wonderful time meeting all his family and seeing new faces, some of which are little and curious. He loves the action and sleeps through just about all the noise six adults, one six-year-old, a four-year old and two three-year-olds can make. We are having an amazing time with Curt's family and we don't get to see them that often so having us all together at once is just a lot of fun.

and then we go to sleep and apparently the world is ending, at least I am pretty sure that is what Caleb is screaming about every hour or less when he wakes up. This is a new scream. Actually, this seems to be his only scream so far. He has his loud cries, his soft ones, his just barely cries, his grunts, coos, oooohs aaaahs, and what sometimes seems like talk, but this is definitely a full throttle scream. Curt and I have about 25% of our sanity left by the time 3 am rolls around and then one of us finds some hidden in the walls and takes care of him while the other sleeps.

But nonetheless the joy of family severely outweighs the long rough nights. I'll be sure to tell some of the stories later when we've got some pictures to share as well.

As told by the papa...

I was doing some things and missed the baby going to sleep tonight, or as I just read on Curt's blog, not going to sleep.

Road Trip

Sort of. We're getting all ready and packed today so that we can head off to Missouri tomorrow morning. We'll be spending the week and Thanksgiving out there with Curt's sister and brother and their families. We'll be back sometime Friday late afternoon, so expect an update sometime that night.
I pray that Caleb does good in the car for the 8+ hours it takes to drive there. I imagine it will be more like an 11 hour drive after all the stops to eat and play, but we should miss a lot of traffic by leaving tomorrow.
Well, it's bathtime for the kid and then laundry and showers and packing so I better get productive.

Feeding Schedule

I think I've figured out why he's doing this every 2 hour deal, which he did last night for a couple of the feedings. He's ready to step up to only feeding every 4 hours, because he is giant and can probably hold a lot more food now. But... I don't think he is comfortable with that. He'll eat half a meal (refusing the second side) and then two hours later eat the second half. So he's really only getting the full meal every four hours. It's good to know that his eating is slowing, but this isn't how I imagined it working out. I imagined what I would do with the extra hour inbetween his feedings. Today I am going to set myself the goal of trying to establish the four hours somehow.

Grandma Carson

Thanks Grandma Carson for all the clothes and blankets and other little guy things. We're most excited about the items that were Curt's when he was a baby!!! Curt had some of the items on in pictures we got too!

Boxing Baby

Finally a glimpse, although a rather poor one since I don't know how to use Curt's camera for video.

The Papa Sneezed

And scared the living happiness right out of our baby. Scared him so much he cried. That's because Curt has the most obnoxiously loud sneeze; he says it's more natural to let it all out like that.

Post ER Doctor Visit

Once again we were on needles at the doctor's office because of the screaming children and cold atmosphere. I think we are going to seriously start looking for alternatives. But that has nothing to do with the baby yet, so on with it...

Caleb now weighs 16lbs. Which is 16 ounces in 9 days. He is growing at this extraordinarily rapid pace still. As for the allergic reaction, it was due to cow's milk. No more formula for baby ever, unless we absolutely get to the point where we need to and then we've got to take him to the doctor to try soy formulas. I don't see why we would need to though. I am more than capable of feeding him and storing a few bottles. I'll just have to make myself pump bottles because I don't like having to feed a pump between feeding the baby when feeding the baby is already so time consuming. But I guess in the future that time will be replaced for me when he drinks the bottle and I don't have to do the feeding.

This allergy thing also requires a stict diet for me. No dairy. I can handle no cow's milk, I love soy milk. But I LOVE cheese, so that is going to be a little bit more difficult to avoid. And you would be surprised how many foods have milk products in them. But mostly foods that are bad for you anyway, mostly desserts, which is sad for this sweet tooth, but good for this overweight post pregnant woman. And once I eliminate dairy we should have a completely fuss free baby, instead of a mostly fuss free baby.

Natural Bully?

With his size he is prime bully material. And coincidentally his new favorite passtime is boxing with daddy. He puts his hands up (see left) and daddy taps them with his own fists which sends Caleb into a fit of laughing and smiling.

The actual chances of him being a bully are very slim with dad's laid back attitude and our family desire for a life like Jesus. .

This isn't a joke or an exaggeration.

This is a true life story.

We'll begin last night. The evening looked as though it might lead into a pleasant night. Around 5:30 Caleb ate some dinner and didn't wake until 11 to eat again. After eating, he decided it was playtime, so we let him join us in watching a movie. He was pretty good, just stared at the "color box" for... I don't know how long, longer than I could stay awake. Curt stayed up with him while I slept until Caleb woke again at 4 to eat. And then at 5. And then at 6. And then at 7. And then finally at 8 when he decided it was time to begin our day. This must be a growth spurt. At least I am hoping it is, because that indicates there will be an end to this madness.

So Sorry

I think I hurt the baby's feelings last night when I asked Curt to tell him to go back where he came from because he's been extra good today. Slept most of the day in the car while we found ourselves an apartment in the city. Just hung out when he was awake, smiling and talking. And then sleeping some more. He's on a five hour stretch right now. Can't complain so I won't.

You win some and you Lose some

We lost last night, and it's not even like the baby won. He lost too. After a wonderful night two nights ago I was expecting last night to be just as wonderful. This was not the case. At one point I told Curt tell him (Caleb) to go back where he came from. He wanted to eat ALL night long. Is there an almost-three-months-old growth spurt? That's the last thing this kid needs is a growth spurt, he's been growing at growth spurt rate since he was born.

Nonetheless, he is still our favorite baby of them all and we still love him.

Marriage and Babies

I've come to notice that marriage is the hardest part of having a child. Or that the hardest part of marriage is having a baby. Either way they just seem to amplify each other; good or bad.

When the baby has good days our marriage has extraordinary days.







And when the baby has bad days our marriage has some pretty bad days.

Ambient Melodic Rock

Last night the baby went to his first concert outside the womb. Curt and his band fastfallstheeventide.com played a show at Clearwater Theatre in West Dundee.
We put little ear plugs in his ears and watched Curt play. Caleb fell asleep. The ENTIRE time. Snoozed away. During a rock concert! And to top off the night he gave us some wonderful, long stretches of sleep. He slept from 11:15 until 5:45 and then from 6 until 10. Thank you Lord!

Chicago Proof

All bundled up for winter (although I don't technically think it is winter yet) and donning his never absent bib due to his never absent stream of saliva.

The rewards

It's so rewarding when your child begins to smile at you and talk to you through various noises other than cries and be comforted by only your touch, voice or scent.

This little piggy went to the ER

So Curt and I have struggled with the whole formula issue. He is absolutely and 100% against it, but I on the other hand feel it would be ok every once in a while during those 3am feedings when I've been up the whole day and night before. So up until now Curt has told me to suck it up and get through the half an hour. It's caused some fights, but we've survived. Today however, this wasn't an option because I wasn't home. We had a row, I left to take my sister to the airport and when the baby got hungry Curt gave him some formula. 20 minutes later Caleb was being admitted to the hospital for a pretty horrible allergic reaction. I met them just as they were done getting signed in and heading back into the ER. Our baby was completely bright red everywhere with tons of tiny white bumps on every inch of his body (except his little toes). I cried lots, we kissed Caleb lots and Caleb was none-the-wiser with a few smiles and extreme calmness. After an IV, one last check of the vitals and three prescriptions, two normal allergy meds and one for those prepackaged shots, we were sent home with a perfectly normal baby, except the puking.

I think very differently about formula now, at least for our little guy.

Just rip my heart out

He'll be lying on the floor having a wonderful time looking around and smelling things and trying to get his hands in his mouth, which by the way always land directly in his eye every time (see above), and then it happens...
He opens his arms out wide, opens his fingers and swoops the air in front of him and clasps his fingers into a fist. He's reaching for anyone, anything, something to make him feel like he's not floating in a weird world by himself. And if no one is there for him to feel he immediately gets this horribly scared face and screams in panicked breaths. It is really sad and most of the time if we can't catch it before it happens we grab him and hold him close and his breathing keeps up pace for just a few seconds before he realizes he's ok.
This is worse than any cry brought on by a wet diaper or hunger or tiredness that he can't turn into sleep by himself, this cry is... well... I'd rather be woken up at 3am to change a messy poopy diaper and in the process be shat on.

Business as Usual

I think you can all guess what this face is for. Note the clenched fist and the slight hunch forward.

Two Month Checkup

Today we visited Dr. Reddy. We learned that Caleb has grown another 2 inches since his first visit there one month ago. He's now 25.5" tall. Taller than 97% of boys his age. I don't question whether he'll have my height genes or Curt's anymore. I think it's obvious. He weighs 15lbs 3 oz., which also put him at 97% for weight. We got ourselves a giant baby!

And I put him at 100% tough because he got 3 shots. It's horrible to watch that. Because after the first one he screams and his screams are for help. Something is trying to kill me and I need some help please! Mom? Dad? And we just stand there watching while he gets another one, and then the last. It only took total 30 seconds but finally Curt swooped him up and he immeditately stopped crying when he knew we were there to help him. When you're walking out and the doc says he'll see you in two months for the same round of shots it makes you really wonder whether or not you even want your child vaccinated. I would love to hear some opinions and personal stories on the subject.

Walking Graduation

Remember how I talked about holding Caleb under the arms and him walking around. Well, in respect to that there has been a graduation of sorts. We now only hold his hands and he does the rest. Does all the leg work, supporting most of his weight and does probably about half the balance work and walks around. He doesn't have enough strength, or just hasn't figured out how to push himself up, but I don't doubt he'll be sidestepping along the couch or table soon enough. I give him another two and a half months to gain completely control of his abdomen muscles and develope a little more balance. I know this expectation is high, but so far he's been blowing my developemental expectations out the window, so why not challenge the kid some. I mean he's already two months old. I'll give him five months before he needs to start earning his keep around here. Go get a job already baby.

Roar I will eat you!

We had a little lion for the Steck's Halloween party.

And after the festivities Caleb got his first piano lesson. Let's just say it was less than productive.

Two Months

Again another timeless month where time seems long and short and sometimes doesn't exist at all. We celebrated by making teeny tiny cupcakes for everyone to enjoy albeit indirectly for the little guy. Grandpa and Grandma Craft (my parents) and Uncle Andy, Aunt Kara, Mom (me) and Daddy each ate one. It represented Caleb in the way that he can't do anything for himself yet, so like everything else, why shouldn't we do it for him?

This time I made a desperate attempt at getting his hand print and after squishing the paint around for a while we got it... sort of. I waited patiently until he opened his hand and tried to smash it on the paper the intant he did. But he's quick and grabbed the entire paper and squished it too. If not a true hand print, it is definitely a true testiment to his personality.

Fellow Carson

Cousin Josiah, Uncle Tim. Aunt Carol and Cousin T.J.

The never ending struggle

We finally gave in. Actually I gave in and dragged Curt along with me. We rounded up some gift cards and went to the store and bought a swing. We are constantly fighting a war against consumerism. Is this just a product of convenience that will not only rob us of money, additionally rob many people out of even basic survival needs and rob our baby from a constant much needed closeness and comfort that only a gentle sway in the arms of his parents can bring him? Respectfully... Somewhat, a resounding (and disheartening and indirect) yes and most definitely not. Caleb absolutely loves the thing. Sometimes all he wants is to be left alone to sway by himself. I think he gets touch-sensor overload just like I do. In this thing he gets complete freedom of limbs without having to be squashed against our bodies all the time. He gets a great view of all that is around. And the swing never gets frustrated at him when he wants to swing for hours and hours at a time. This isn't to say that our first choice is the swing and if he seems bothered by that choice we hold him. Our first choice is always to hold him, but when he makes it clear he doesn't want that, or we make it clear we'll go out of our minds the swing is a nice compromise.

Beautiful Autumn

This afternoon we went to Goebbert's Farm and Market.

Most of the day Caleb spent sleeping in his sling while we drank hot chocolate and hot apple cider.

We looked at tons of pumpkins; picked our favorite two. Curt and I got into a big row because we are new at this parenting thing so we headed home.

Later we made up because we love each other and carved our pumpkins and roasted the seeds in the oven.

Hanging with Gramps

My dad insists on trying to reason with Caleb about crying. He says things like:

"You just want to go to sleep because you're tired, huh. Well if you would quit crying you could."

"You want me to pick you up? You better quit crying. Quit crying and I'll pick you up. You better quit it now boi."

"We let you eat in peace, now you be quiet boi and let us eat in peace."

"You're not really crying, you don't even have tears baby. I'll believe you when you get some tears"

"Watch the game."

"When you go to school are you going to want your teacher to hold you all the time. You are spoiling this kid holding him all the time. You gonna make your girlfriend carry you every where? Now quit your crying. Boi"

Boi = boy in a southern drawl when the y is completely stripped off the end.

I love my boys

One Month Checkup

Caleb is now 23.5" tall and weighs 13 lbs 4 oz. He is HUGE. We've already had to start using 3-6 month clothes. He is growing at a rapid pace, probably because he will stand tall like his daddy at 6'3". His appointment today was pretty uneventful, except having to lug him through the entire hospital just to get to the doctor building because I couldn't find parking any closer. It turned out to be a bigger challenge than I thought even though my standard six week recovery time is now coming to an end. I just haven't had time to build strong enough mommy muscles because he was so big to begin with and is growing so fast. I'll catch up hopefully. All in all though, the baby is thriving and in good health.

One Month

While daddy was at work we made him this present. The blank space on the right of the page is meant to hold one little hand but Caleb liked the paint on his hands so much that he squished it there and wouldn't let it go. I found this very amusing.

It seems like Caleb has been with us forever, which makes this month seem so long. And then it seems like he can't be a month old already, which makes this month so short. Timeless would make for a good compromise.

Nursing

It's gotten 100% better. I suppose my body has gotten a lot tougher therefore it's no longer painful. Thank the Lord. Now I pray that I don't have to go through that with every child we have because we would like to be blessed with many.

The Thumb

Isn't sucking your thumb a built in trade for babies? Caleb seems to not know how to do it. He's trying really really hard to learn though. We're not quite sure we want him to. You can always take away a pacifier, but you can't always take away a thumb. Not too worried about it either way to be honest. If he sucks his thumb until he is five, what's the big deal?

More often than not he gives up and shoves his whole fist in his mouth and sucks on that. Then he moves his arm and cries because somebody took away his suck toy.

PlayTime with Daddy

It's a miracle

He can walk. This isn't a one time occurance. It's constant. The kid walks. When you hold him under the arms he stiffens his strong legs, all we do is put our hands under his arms for balance and then he takes one knee and brings it practically to his chest and then places his foot squarely in front of him. Then he quickly follows with the next leg. And on and on until we are in a completely different location than we were one minute ago. I can't believe how strong his legs are and how natural that walking motions come to him. Forget crawling, this guy will be running around the house in no time. I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse. It'll be good not to have to tote him around with me and I could probably get him to just follow me with promises of excitement. But then again that excitement could take him off someplace else requiring that I be the one in tow. There is plenty of time to think about it before it actually really happens though.

Nursing

We are having some troubles. I just think it is so incredibly painful to nurse Caleb. I actually think it hurts more than giving birth to this huge baby without any meds. I can't imagine doing this for a year. Please tell me it gets better and that I don't have to just get use to it feeling this way. This is a huge catalyst of fighting between Curt and I because I dred having to feed the baby and cry most of the time while I do. And Curt can't stand that so he gets frustrated and trys to help which ends up making it hurt worse. I'm seriously considering just making bottles and feeding him that way. I think part of the problem is because he had bottles for his first few feedings at the hospital when they kept him in the nursery to watch his breathing. I pray this will get better like everyone says it does.

Date Night

This week date night continues. Curt and I went out to eat and took the little guy with us. We timed it between feedings and he slept the entire time despite the place being packed on a Friday night. We didn't really talk. I suppose we were adjusting back to doing somewhat normal things that don't entirely revolve around Caleb.

First Bath

Early this morning the baby lost his umbilical cord and so when daddy got home from work we gave him a bath! He loved every second of it and for obvious reasons did not like getting out of the bath. It was kind of scary at first, not knowing exactly how hot the water should be and trying to handle a very slippery baby that we still think it so delicate. But nonetheless the baby was right at home in the warm liquid atmosphere.

Five Days Old

Today was our first visit to the doctor. The nurse weighed Caleb in at 9lbs. 8 oz. and took his height at 20.5 inches. As an introduction to Dr. Hann, Caleb loving almost peed on him, but rightfully so because later the doc gave him a shot. All in all we don't like the doctor's office at all. Crazy loud kids all crammed into one area and muffled screaming emanating from behind wooden doors. You got to do what you got to do... but it makes us question, do we really have to do it this way? I would be thrilled to find a midwife-esque pediatriac practice.

At home

The past two days at home have made it seem like time doesn't exist, that everything goes at it's own pace and when you stop to think about time nothing has a place, it's all just jumbled together over some span of unmeasureable time.

It's been a blur of feedings and napping, baby and us. I don't know when we've gotten sleep because we've been up most of the night each night but neither of us is tired. And then there are the hours each day that we spend watching him.

And then the constant dialog we have going with the little guy who probably doesn't hear us half the time and definitely doesn't understand us. Above Curt and Caleb are having a father-son moment. Curt is telling him he better behave himself.

Taking Baby Home

We got Caleb all buckled in his carseat after about an hour of trying to figure out how to adjust everything to fit him. The nurse wheeled me with the baby in my lap out to the car that daddy had pulled up. It was incredible to be back in the real world with our brand new baby. I said to all the drivers You be careful, we are bringing our new baby home. Curt cried the entire drive. It hit him hard having the baby outside the hospital and actually among the busy world aound us. When I asked why he was crying he said because he (Caleb) has no idea how much love there is for him. He just has no idea. And Curt was right. Caleb was just enjoying his sleep and there was definitely more love for him than he could ever know in that car.

Day One

Bonding






With







Baby

Birthday

August 26, 2006 at 1:29am Caleb Zachary Carson made his way into the world.

It was Friday night, which means it was date night for Curt and me. Our friend Marcy told us earlier in the week that the baby was going to come late Friday night.. I wanted to stay in because I was a little weary about going into labor someplace I wasn't completely comfortable. So we played carolinaopoly for a while until I pulled my first "send the husband out for something specific to eat because I'm pregnant and want it now please". Well, it would also be my last. He came home with the requested ice cream and I took one bite and realized that I didn't want it anymore. I felt a little weird. About an hour later my first contraction hit... hard. Then about a minute later another hit. By the third I asked Curt to start timing. Each one was 90 seconds long and 3 minutes apart (start to start). We were in business. I spent the next hour in the bath with Curt helping me through each contraction. We called our midwife, Amy, and she said come on over to the hospital.

We got there and Amy got the low down about contractions and timing and how long it'd been going... and when we told her an hour she said she'd check where I was and then we'd discuss our options; meaning she expected we'd have the chance to go home for a while longer. Wrong. Half an hour later I was pushing. And 20 minutes after that Caleb tasted his first breath of air.


He's the most beautiful boy
I've ever seen (which still makes his daddy the most beautiful man I've ever seen). He weighed 9lbs and 3oz. and was 20.5 inches. He's a tough little guy. When the nurse tried to clean out his nose he grabbed her hand and pushed it away. We prayed for a bold and courageous baby and we definitely got one!



It's amazing to see your baby face to face for the first time. Nothing in the entire world could have existed outside of our new family and I wouldn't have even noticed.






And then seeing Curt hold him was more than my heart could have room to hold. God gave me the most beautiful and wonderful gift for me to care for for nine months until it was time for me to give the gift to my husband. I couldn't imagine giving him anything better than our child.






Welcome to our family Caleb!