Seven Months!!!

Happy 7 months Calin! 

It seems like I was just doing this for 6 months!  Where has the time gone?! Here are a few (or a lot) things about Calin over the last month:


 -Calin is BUSY!! It seems like he never stops moving.  He is always on the go playing with something or trying to get to something he wants to play with, or just moving and shakin'!

-He is trying like crazy to get his body to do what he wants it to...CRAWL!! He can lift himself up on his knees on his own, but has only done it a few times.  The last few days he puts his weight on his knees but ends up scooting backwards instead. Rolling is still his favorite way to get where he wants to go. Heaven help us when he does figure out how to crawl...he'll be everywhere!! (bought all the childproof stuff at the store this week so we will be ready!)

-He is an excellent sitter!  He can lean to both sides to reach things and pick himself back up again.  He often leans over on purpose to switch to his stomach. He does still occasionally fall to his back but it is much more controlled and he doesn't slam down when he does fall.
-As mentioned above, he loves to roll all over the place!! He has figured out how to roll, scoot, roll, change directions, etc. to get to something he wants.  He is very smart and is good at figuring it out!

His feet and hands are often a blur because they are moving all the time! 

-He has his first tooth-the bottom right!! It was rough getting it here and we are not looking forward to the second bottom tooth coming in. :( I could not get a picture of it since it is still pretty little. 

                                       

-He got his second cold.  This one was much worse than his first. It came at the same time as his tooth which made for a rough week filled with a bad cough, runny nose, and a painful tooth! 

-He also had his first HUGE blowout.  I was not prepared and skilled in the art of blowout clean up. :( It was a rough day (and on my birthday no less!) and a big mess! 

 -He talks and talks to anyone and anything!  He especially likes to take the stage during all three meetings of church and he makes sure that he is heard! He is making lots of new and funny sounds and we love it!
-Besides a loss of appetite when he was sick he still loves food!  He goes through phases of disinterest in breast feeding and I don't think we will be able to do it too much longer. He still has a bottle after his feeding to supplement my milk.  He loves all the solid foods we give him and loves to make cute noises while he eats..."mmmm"!

 -He is learning how to clap his hands (and is getting really good!) and LOVES when we clap and say "Yea Calin!!"  The first time he really enjoyed being cheered for was when we were skyping with my parents and he would knock down his tower of cups and they would cheer and he would look up at the screen with this BIG smile so proud of himself.  It was very cute!
-Loves to play games and is starting to recognize cause and effect.

-Loves his stacking cups and playing "tumble", his tower of rings, his big and little cars, and his rocking horse.  But his FAVORITE toy is his wrench teether.  He loves to chew like crazy on that toy! We will put toys around him on the floor and he will pick that up, chew, put it down, play with another toy, go back to the wrench, then another toy, back to the wrench, and so on.  It is so funny that he loves it so much!

-Loves to jump on the trampoline.  One day it even bounced him right to sleep!  We are glad it is getting warmer again here in St. George so we can go back out and jump some more!  We did not enjoy the 20-30 degree weather!

-Still loves to read!! He loves new books and his old favorites! 

-Will play really well by himself unless he is getting tired or hungry and then he likes to have someone in the room with him.  

-Puts EVERYTHING right into his mouth!! Anything and everything he can get his hands on! 

-Has been a terrible sleeper the past few months.  Bed time and nap time have been long, drawn out, difficult battles.  However, he is currently experiencing some tough love and is having to cry it out...:( Hopefully his sleeping habits will improve!!

 -He is curious about everything.  Anytime he sees something new or we go somewhere new or somewhere we have not been often he stares with his mouth wide open taking it all in.  He loves to watch and explore!

-Most of the time Calin is a happy, smiley, lovable little boy! We sure do love this handsome little bundle of joy!!  

ER Visit and Twins again!

Last Thursday Robby had a disastrous ending to his church B-ball game.  Another player came down from a shot and his elbow ran into Robby's forehead. This was the result:

I got a call about 8:45 and loaded up Calin, (it was past bed time and I was hoping he would just fall asleep in the car on the way to the ER). picked up Robby at the church (a friend brought his car home for us), and drove over to the ER.  Luckily it was not too crazy and we got right in.  However, once in to the room we had to wait about 45 minutes for the doctor to come do the stitches.  Calin did not fall asleep and was intrigued by the new place, new people, and new shiny things to look at. I tried to get him to sleep while the doctor stitched Robby up.  He got close a few times, but would wake up to a noise or movement.  Oh well.  It was a late night for all of us!

Around 10:30, eleven stitches and a hefty $ payment later we were on our way home.  It was a sad and painful night for Robby!


Tuesday, Parker (my friend Maria's son) came to visit again!  Parker and Calin are exactly the same age to the day and we found out this visit, only 15 minutes apart!  Crazy!  We hope they are going to be good little buds!

Checking each other out! 

Whoa what's this!?

They both kept grabbing at each others faces.  I had to keep pulling hands away to keep them from grabbing each other too hard. 

Both babies were much happier this visit!  I was able to maintain happiness and control for almost 2 hours before Robby got home.  It was good he came when he did because then both babies started to get a little hungry and cranky!  Parker had a rough last 1/2hour before mom got back.  Then Maria and I took the two boys out with us for dinner!  It was great to have them come visit!!


Also, last Wednesday we celebrated my birthday.  It was a pretty low key day (despite a disastrous blow out).  I was able to enjoy lunch and dinner out with Robby and Calin.  That night we had an ice cream cake here at our house with Robby's family.  It was a great day!  In the pictures above you can see one of my exciting presents!  A bike trailer! I am so excited for it to get warmer so I can try it out!
 

It's Christmas!!

We had a wonderful trip to Oregon for Christmas break!  Robby got done with school on Thursday and then Friday afternoon we headed up to Salt Lake.  Calin did great during the first leg of the trip.  Then we got up really early on Saturday morning to continue on our journey to La Grande.  Luckily the weather was great for us and we did not have any rain or snow the whole way there! Calin hung in there until the last couple hours of the trip.  Once we got past Boise we could tell he had had it in the car!  He was not screaming or crying, just a little whiny and needed constant attention to keep him happy...books, songs, toys, etc.  It's a good thing Robby was back there with him since I don't do well reading or looking down a lot while riding in the car.  Especially around all those curves once in Oregon! It was a LONG drive but great once we got there!!

 Calin even practiced his driving skills while we were stopped in Burley! 

It was wonderful to get to LaGrande and let Calin be out of his car seat and play!  Everyone was so excited to see him and he got lots of love and attention!  We had a lot of fun Saturday afternoon and Sunday just enjoying family, going to church, and yummy meals cooked by my mom!! 

Calin enjoying the chair Grandma and Grandpa got for him! He loved sitting up at the counter and table with everyone like a big boy!

On Saturday afternoon and evening it started snowing.  We were SO GLAD it waited until after we had gotten there!  My mom found our old "snow suit" and got that out for Calin to use.  It was a good thing too since we don't have clothes like that living in St. George!  We got Calin all bundled up and took him out to sled and explore the snow.  I was of course the paranoid mother worrying about the snow in his face and him being too cold, but he seemed perfectly fine.  He was not too overly excited, but just enjoyed being pulled around.  A lot of the time he looked like he was so comfy he just might fall asleep!

All bundled up to go outside! 

First pull around the yard with Grandpa! 

Snow in the face...

Everyone came out to watch and be entertained! 

Having a good time in the snow! 

Yea for snow on Christmas Eve!! :)

Poor Calin was even subject to a ride with Mia.  We torture our poor dog!  Calin didn't seem too troubled by it, but Mia did not seem too pleased and was looking for any chance to jump off!

Warming up with Aunt Becca after the sledding excursion in their matching snow outfits.

Christmas Eve night we spent with our neighbors the Harris'.  We have spent Christmas Eve with them for as long as I can remember and we all love this tradition.  We always have a delicious dinner, then games/activities, read the Christmas story in Luke, and then end with more food; snacks and dessert.  It is always lots of fun.  This year we made gingerbread houses and played holiday charades.  I love spending Christmas eve with family and friends! It was a great night!

Robby and I's Nativity gingerbread house.  We won "best in show"! 

Calin enjoying playing with the leather couch on Grandpa's lap and partiers in the background.

Calin with Grandma, Elizabeth Harris and Jan Harris (our party hostess). 

Calin relaxing with Aunt Becca and Jeff Harris. 

Calin got hungry and tired so we took him home to listen to our final chapter of Cinnamon bear, open his Christmas Eve pajamas, and snapped a few cute pictures before putting him to bed so Santa could come!










Even though he had no idea what was going on, Robby and I sure did have a lot of fun doing the Christmas thing with our little family! We look forward to lots more fun Christmas'!











Calin woke up bright and early Christmas morning to discover what Santa had brought him.  We are pretty sure he loved it! ;)

Investigating his new toy! 

This is so cool!  

Our little family Christmas morning.

My sister, mom and I in our new polka dot pajama pants.

Calin was very interested in all the new toys he got, but like a true 6 month old definitely loved the paper the most! 

Christmas afternoon we went out to the Elgin Opera House to see the local production of "White Christmas".  It was fun to get out and do something with everyone there. Even Calin got to go and was amazing and slept through the WHOLE play! That was nice because we all got to enjoy the show!   Most of us were surprised it was as good as it was with the low expectations we had going in.  It was a fun way to spend the afternoon! 

The rest of our trip we just enjoyed playing with new toys, hanging with aunts, uncles, and grandma and grandpa!  Here are a few other things Calin did/enjoyed! 

  

Chilling with Erich at the table in his new chair.  He liked to be there and bang his toys on the table.

Hanging out with Uncle Josef and Grandpa aka "Papa Dan".

Loved having baths in Grandma and Grandpa's tub. 

Went on a walk to the park to enjoy being outside and had his first experience with a swing. 

Hanging with Grandma at the park.

Swinging with everyone! 

Playing with all his new toys!

Sitting at the table playing games with Harris'.

Another view of games.

We really enjoyed our stay in Oregon and were sad to see it come to an end!  The drive back went well.  We did not have any problems with weather which was so great!  It's always hard to know when traveling in the winter!  We got to Salt Lake Friday afternoon and went to the mall to exchange some Christmas gifts.  It was CRAZY there!  I couldn't believe how busy it was.  Then we went to Aunt Becca's to feed Calin and let Calin kick and play for a while.  That night we stayed at My Uncle Max and Aunt Karen's house.  It was nice to rest for a little bit and have a bed to sleep in.  We also were able to have my college friend Cyle and his wife Athena and their boy Kingston stop by for a little bit.  They live out East and we had not seen them since before we both got married (they have the same anniversary as Robby and I).  I was excited to meet Athena and for Calin and Kingston to have a chance to meet too.  Kingston was born two weeks before Calin.  It was so fun to visit with them even just for a short little bit!  Thanks for coming to see us! 

Classic Calin (mouth open) and Classic Kingston (tongue out)

Calin really liked Cyle and Athena and rolled right over to them!

Our two little families!

Then we finally made it back to St. George on Saturday and enjoyed being out of the car!  It was a great Christmas and we are glad we got to spend it with family and for my family to get time with Calin!  Calin has adjusted right back into being at home and is getting to be such a great sitter!