Happy Birthday Nathan!

Happy 32nd Birthday Nathan! You are the best husband, father, and friend a family could ask for.  We love you very much and are so thankful that you are a part of our lives!

37 Weeks Pregnant

We are in the home stretch....just finishing up week 37 and thankfully still feeling great. Praise God, baby is head down, about 7 lbs, and in the 84%. Thank you for all of your baby turning prayers, and for my wonderful witch doctor. We are so thankful for a healthy pregnancy and we are super excited to meet our little guy in 2 weeks or less!

Haymarket Day

This weekend we went to Haymarket Day to celebrate another year our town has been around. It was founded in 1799, and during the Civil War most of the town was burnt down. There is still one house standing today that survived the fire. This year there was about 20,000 people at the festivities. There were craft booths, games and rides for little kids, and lots of good local food.

Caleb had fun watching the big kids on the bounce house and the slide and walking around.

He and daddy rode the flying bathtub...haha! Caleb had a huge smile on his face the entire time ;).

Then we rode the train.

Afterwards we watched a local band. Check out the turquoise electric guitar player's sweet moves. Many of them were air guitarish looking. They played Rolling Stones, The Who, and other good classic rock songs.

We finished the day at the Haymarket Museum. This is the first time we have seen this place open in the 2 years we have been living here. The structure was built in the 1883 as the town's schoolhouse, later converting to the Town Hall. Amazingly, it served as the Town Hall until 2001 until it was turned into the museum. They are planning to renovate the museum, so maybe we will get back to it in a few years.

It was a fun day, we really like living in Haymarket!

14 months old

Caleb turned 14 months old on Friday. It is amazing to watch him experience things for the first time, and to see his excitement as he learns. This past month Caleb started clapping his hands, saying bye bye, learned how to put balls  in the basketball hoop, enjoys pushing buttons (especially the garage door opener), learning to use spoons and forks,  playing with puzzles, points and he asks about lots of things. He is doing great walking and he rarely crawls. He has started throwing temper tantrums, so we are learning much in that area too.

Caleb loves his new room in daycare. He almost never cries when we drop him off and when we pick him up, he is playing or eating at the table. He is still the biggest eater in his class and his teachers say he frequently comes to the table and sits down throughout the day wanting food, haha! We are not sure where it all goes?! He is napping great on the cots, and we just bought him a new napper for daycare. When we opened it for him, he got so excited, laid down on it, and said 'night night'?

Here are his latest stats:
Clothes: 12 - 18 months for tops, 9-12 months for bottoms
Diapers: Size 4
Eating: everything for the most part, things he doesn't like one day, he will eat another day. Fruit, shredded cheese, and milk are probably his favorites.
Sleep: about 7:30pm - 6am
Naps: one a day, 2.5 - 3 hours long!

This month is also special because Baby #2 is going to be arriving within the next few weeks. By the time Caleb is 15 months old, he will be a big brother!

Happy 14 months Caleb, you are so special to us!

Hartland Orchard

This past Sunday, Nathan had a spontaneous idea to go to the apple orchard. We just got amazing weather in the 70's for the week, so we wanted to take advantage of the day. We headed to the Harland Orchard, about 20 minutes from our house. Last time we went to an orchard, Caleb was 3 months old. We thought he'd enjoy himself this time around, and we all did! We have been experimenting with our new camera lens, and we were both very happy with how the pictures turned out. Hope you enjoy!

Afterwards, we went to visit the Kerns girls. They got a new dog, Mo, so wen went by to say hello. No trip to their house is complete without a ride in the Barbie mobile. When you are a baby, it does not matter that boys ride in pink Jeeps:)

Hello week 36!

I am entering week 36 of pregnancy, and am on the homestretch! I am still feeling very good, my only complaint (aside from constant waking up to pee) is my lower back and tailbone now hurt perpetually.  I know it is all part of the process and the discomfort is temporary.  Otherwise I feel great, I am still swimming and walking, and keeping up with Caleb and Nathan at a little slower pace :). 

We are very excited to meet Baby #2 soon...guess I should pack that hospital bag?!

Caleb's First Day of School

Last week Caleb graduated from the infant room to the toddler room at daycare and today was his first day back to school! One happy little boy:).

The toddler room looks like a lot of fun and we think Caleb is really going to enjoy his new settings. There are many new toys and activities for him to learn, and the age range of the kids are 10-17 months old, so he is right in the middle. We met his new teachers last week, and we have heard great things about them. Over the last month, the infant room teacher was having Caleb spend time in this room for a little time each day so the transition would be easier.

We stayed with Caleb for a little while to explore his new settings, he was very curious and walked all over the room checking things out.

This was his infant room teacher, Miss Walker. Despite the sad look on his face (because we were leaving), he loves Miss Walker and so do we. She was so good with Caleb, understood him so well, and we knew how much he loved her too. We are sad that he will no longer be under her care, but we know he will form new bonds with his new teachers.

He had a great first day in the new room and was in a very happy mood when we picked him up. No day is complete without being tickled by daddy! It is a ritual before bath time in this house.

A couple of other things from the rest of our weekend. Caleb is starting to show a desire to do some things on his own. For example, we can rarely feed him with a spoon anymore, he wants to do it himself. As you can see from the picture, he can't quite do it yet, but we are encouraging him and know with time he will get there. I will admit it is a patience exercise on my part to watch, but I know it is great for his development and an important skill for him to learn. It is humbling to remind myself that I too was learning the same things many years ago :).

Another funny thing was on Monday we wore this little boy out. We started the morning walking around the tennis court, played inside, went to the playground, then went swimming...all before lunch. This is the first time he fell asleep at his high chair. We were laughing pretty hard when his eyes closed as he took his last bites of lunch. Followed by a 3 hour nap!

Happy Tuesday!

We love long weekends

Caleb's daycare was closed on Thursday, Friday, and this coming Monday to get ready for the next school year and Labor Day, so we have had a nice long weekend together. I took off from work on Thursday, Nathan took off Friday, and we are all off Monday for the holiday. Here's what we have been up to.

Walking, walking, walking! Caleb has been walking for one week, and he is doing great. Last weekend we took him to buy a pair of good walking shoes, otherwise known as his 'Ernies.' He loves putting them on on go, go, going:)

On Thursday, we played at the playground in the morning. Caleb does great walking in the mulch and he has fun going down the slide.

After a nap, the two of us had a lunch date out, and then went to the farm near our house to see the animals. He like watching the chickens run around and the goats are really friendly with everyone.

After seeing the animals, we played in the grass for a while. I'm not sure what happened in this picture, but he was not happy about something...he is starting to throw tantrums when you take things from him.

But most diversions can turn a frown into a smile instantly!

On Friday, Nathan took Caleb hiking at Chapman's Mills on Bull Run Mountain in the morning, and to Long Park in the afternoon. I accidentally left the camera on overnight, so he was only able to get a few pictures of their day. It was a beautiful morning, as you can see.

After riding in the hiking backpack, Caleb wanted to hit the trail too!

On Saturday visited our friends Tom, Erin, and Jenna for a BBQ. Tom had a couple of their college track and cross country friends over, and it was fun for the guys to get together. The grilled food and dessert was delicious, and as a thank you for all the nice hospitality, Nathan whopped Tom in a few games of cornhole. The first thing he said when he got in the car was he felt bad about it:). Caleb and Jenna had fun playing together, and Erin and I had a lot of good time to hang out. Thanks for the fun day!

Today we had a nice morning at church and the boys are both sleeping as I type. It is supposed to rain the next several days, so I think we will be indoors. Happy Sunday!