Caleb is 2 years old!

Caleb, two years ago today, we welcomed you into the world. You were only a little over 5lbs when we brought you home.

You grew fast during your first year, and you changed and learned more than we could have ever imagined.

\

 

 

 You developed and matured so much these past 12 months, and you amaze us everyday with the things you do.  Here you are at 15 months:

18 months:

 

21months

You are so curious about the world around you, and you have a fun and adventurous spirit. You keep us laughing and on our toes, and you are turning into a big goofball!  You are talking up a storm, and can let us know pretty well what you want. You can say many words, speak in two to three words sentences, you repeat things you hear, and understand almost everything we say. You know the sounds of many animals, your body parts, food, things around the house, names of books, TV shows, and movies you like to watch.

 You can eat with a fork and a spoon, and you are learning to drink from a cup. You are an excellent eater, and some of your favorite foods are fruits of all kinds, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, baked beans, spaghetti, pizza, hummus, peanut butter, crackers, anything chocolate, juices, and of course milk.

 

You are growing fast! You have all of your teeth except for your 2 year molars, you are 34'' tall (35%), 23.6lbs with clothes on (15%) and your head is 19'' (50%). You wear a size 4 diaper, 12-18 month bottoms, 18-24 month tops, and size 5 shoes. You sleep from about 7:30pm to 6am and take a good 1.5 - 2 hour nap each day.

You love to listen to music and you are starting to sing songs. Some of your favorites are Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, Chuggington, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and the Hot Dog song. You have your own way of singing each of them, and they sound so cute! You do not know your ABC's yet, but you sing, BBBB, to the tune.

 

You like to run fast, jump, climb, spin in a circles, and balance. You are all boy and love to play outside, dig in the dirt, and wander and explore.  You enjoy going to the pool, you are learning to ride a tricycle, and you like to color, paint, and play with puzzles.You like books, and some of your favorites are How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, I love you Stinky Face, Forest Friends, and Chuggington.

 

 

You can be serious and focused when you want to be, especially when you are working with your hands. From the beginning, you have had great hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills. You are curious about how things work, and love trying to take apart and put things back together.  You are a big helper around the house, you take good care of your Elmo doll, and you are becoming very independent.

Lately, one of your favorite things to do is play on our kindle. You know how the screens work, how to find your favorite TV shows, games, and books. We have even caught you trying to Skype papa a few times!

You love your little brother, and you like to make him laugh, rock him when he is upset, taking a bath together, kissing him goodnight, and seeing him first thing in the morning. He looks up to you!

Caleb, each day you bring more fun, joy, and adventure into our lives. We love every minute of it and are so thankful that God chose us to be your parents. You are an incredible TWO year old boy! Happy 2nd birthday Caleb, we love you!

 

 

Ben is 9 months old

Ben is 9 months old, and if I had to choose one word to describe him, it would be sweet. He still smiles and laughs all the time, and he only cries when he is hungry, tired, and now also when we take something away from him. Ben has 2 bottom teeth, and two top teeth. He is a drooly little guy, and usually douces his bibs and t-shirts several times a day.

Ben is heavy! I am not sure how much he weighs, but he is our little tank :). Ben is wearing mostly 12 month clothes, and now he and Caleb can share clothes too. He is still wearing size 4 diapers, but we may be upsizing him soon.

Ben eats oatmeal, rice, baby fruits and vegetables, yogurt, crackers, hummus, bananas and melon.
He sleeps well, most nights until 5:30/6am. He and Caleb have been sharing a room for the past week, and it is working out great. If one of the boys wakes up, the other does not seem to be bothered if they are asleep.

Ben likes playing with toys, especially his music table, farm animals, and blocks. He is so close to crawling, it will be any day!

 

I had been making shirts each month with Ben's age, but since we arrived in the Middle East we thought we would put him in a dishdasha, in honor of the start of Ramadan tonight. 

Ben is scheduled for his 9 month appointment next week, so stay tuned for his weight and height.

We love you Benjamin, happy 9 months!

Here is Caleb 9 months old

Two top teeth

Ben's two top teeth arrived. I love this slobbery boy's smile!

Night Life and Marine Life

One of my goals while living in Kuwait is to get better at photography. There are so many types of photography styles, and Kuwait will be a great place to experiment with night shooting since they light up the city so colorfully. Clearly, I need a lot of practice, but I still thought some of these pictures turned out ok.

 

The first is of the hotel that Nathan and I stayed when we came to visit in March.

 The next few pictures are down by the gulf. On Friday evening, we got a babysitter for a few hours, and Nathan, Jason, and I went to dinner.

 We went to a restaurant that serves all kinds of middle eastern food, and it was delicious.

 

 On Saturday, we met Abeer, her two boys, and Rachel at the Scientific Center. Inside the center there is an aquarium and a place called Discovery Zone, which is similar to the Children's Museums. They had a lot of neat animal exhibits and a huge sandbox for the kids to play. Caleb and Firas had a good time exploring the museum, while Ben and Faris slept and looked around.

 I would say the sandbox was the biggest hit of the day for all the kids.

 Abeer with Faris and Ben. Faris has big curly eyelashes and I love his hair. Why is it that little boys always have the longest eyelashes! The two boys are only 3 months apart, and I think future partners in crime :).

 I love this pictures of the boys playing together.

 Even the adults can get in the sandbox, bonus!

 Next, we went to the aquarium, which we all really enjoyed. Most of my pictures did not come out well because of the lighting, but here are a few. As you would expect, lots of fish :).

 And big fish, as Caleb said.

 We ended the day with lunch at Pizza Hut.

It was a good weekend!

4th of July

The Embassy hosted a 4th of July BBQ for the Embassy, Military, and their guests. There was music, lots of good food, a sponge bob slide, bouncy castle, and soap soccer. Caleb took his first camel ride with our friend's son, Brian, and he had a good time!

 Miss Rose, who watches our boys during the week, came with us to the BBQ. I have been wanting to get a picture of her, and she finally warmed up to the idea after seeing our blog last night! She is great with the boys, and they enjoy spending the days with her.

Caleb was very excited about the sponge bob slide, but he was a little unsure about going down once he got to the top. It was a bumpy ride down, but I think he enjoyed it :).

Good ole American boys!



 

Our friend Jason is in town this week, and he joined us for the BBQ this evening. He and Caleb are becoming buds, and they had fun playing together this evening. 





Happy 4th of July from the Middle East!

Balls!

Two little boys are enjoying Caleb's early birthday present! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma R :).