He Looks Awesome!

Those are the words spoken by Caleb's pediatrician today. Caleb had his two month check up this morning and we got a great report from Dr. K. In this picture, Caleb has already been weighed and measured and is waiting for Dr. K to come see him. This is a great picture to tell you about Caleb sucking his fist. He puts his hand up to his mouth as if to suck his thumb, but doesn't actually get the thumb out. The thumb is tucked firmly inside his fist. We can't decide if we should help him find his thumb or let him eventually discover it on his own. So far, we have settled for the latter.

Anyway, I'm sure you are waiting for the stats. Caleb now weighs 12 lb 8 oz. He has more than doubled his birth weight. He is 22 3/4 inches long which means he has grown almost four inches since he was born. Dr. K showed us a growth chart. Caleb was born into about the 5th to 10th percentile. He is now in the 75th percentile. Dr. K said she expects Caleb to be a fat baby which is a good thing at this age and she expects him to stay at the high end of the growth chart and maybe come back toward the 50th percentile around the time he starts walking because he is being nursed exclusively. Dr. K examined his reflexes and said he is a strong, healthy baby. As she left the room, she said Mom is doing a good job with the nursing.

I was pleased when she said this. Caleb is very healthy, thanks first of all to God and second to Mom. I didn't blog about it in the beginning, so only our family and a very few friends new that Mom was struggling with nursing and was very concerned and frustrated. She and Caleb were having a hard time growing accustomed to the whole nursing thing. But Mom persevered, seeking help from every source she could find and she never gave up. She and Caleb have become seasoned pros and as Dr. K said, Mom deserves a lot of credit for Caleb's health. Mom is a great nurturer and I am grateful I have such an incredible partner with who I am raising Caleb.

Caleb also received his first round of shots today. We were very apprehensive about this day because we knew that some babies have rough days reacting to the shots. So we did not know what to expect.

Of course, Caleb did not like the shots themselves. The nurse first gave him an oral vaccine before doing one shot in each thigh. She then stuck him with the first needle in his left leg and Caleb started crying and my heart just broke for the poor little guy. She quickly gave him the second shot in his right leg and before I knew it, she had little Snoopy band-aids on both spots. You can see one of his band-aids in this second shot. Caleb was a trooper and he was done crying before we even got out front to pay. I am so proud of him.

We spent the rest of the day waiting for the other shoe to drop. Possible symptoms include irritability, fever and diarrhea. Caleb really never did develop a fever. The most exreme sympton we noticed were two realy full (REALLY FULL) diapers about half an hour apart after we ate lunch. Other than that, he exhibited no unusual crankiness and showed no other real physical symptoms. He did sleep alot today, but we are not sure if that is related to the shots or his day yesterday. He hardly napped and we kept him out pretty late last night. Maybe the key to surviving shots is depriving the kid of sleep.

Although Caleb reacted really well, today was still an exhausting day. Mom and Caleb have already settled in for the night and I am going to join them soon. As I lay my head on my pillow tonight, my mind will be full of grateful thoughts of the wonderful litle boy with which have been greatly blessed.

What a Day!

Before anything else tonight, I must clear up a matter. I have been accused off site of causing Caleb to cry on Wednesday. Let me just point out that the picture was taken on Mom's phone while Caleb was sitting on Mom's lap while Dad was at work. Draw your own conclusions.

After not having any interesting pictures to post yesterday, Mom ended up taking a number of pictures today. However, I already knew which pictures I wanted to post tonight.

We took Caleb
to see a University of Miami baseball game tonight. We got him all decked out in UM colors for the occasion. We even brought out the UM pacifier (remember this...it's important). I was hoping that Caleb could get on TV as they panned the crowd. But we were running late and ended up no where near a camera. I guess it was just a pipe dream.

Caleb did fine through about five innings. He was fussy at first, but the sun was still pretty bright and it was still fairly warm. After the sun got pretty low in the sky, Caleb was ready to hang out and play. Around the fifth inning, he started to get fussy, so Mom crawled out of the bleachers and went to change him. He was fine for about an inning and then got fussy again. Mom again crawled out of the bleachers to feed him. She stood the rest of the game at the foot of the bleachers.

I was really excited to have Caleb at the game. One of the things I am really looking forward to is the opportunity to take him to lots of sporting events, especially UM games. I hope sporting events can become a bonding time for us. Alas, Caleb's first UM baseball game ended in defeat in extra innings. Though we were disappointed in the outcome, we have more games to look forward to and hopefullly most will have the right ending.

Earlier today, Mom emailed me this picture from her phone with the comment that Caleb needs a pacifier at work. In the picture, Caleb is soothing himself by sucking on Mom's finger. That's great for Caleb, but it makes it difficult for Mom to get any work done.

You might ask why we don't have a pacifier for Caleb already. Well, because we have turned into "those" parents. You know, the ones we said we'd never be. We didn't give Caleb a pacifier the first few weeks based on advice we got from the professionals so that Caleb would get used to his Mom. A while back, we discussed starting to get Caleb on a pacifier because he makes our pinkies all wrinkly. I wanted to get it out for him, but Mom wouldn't let me because it had not been sterilized. Time slipped by and here we are a few weeks later and we still hadn't sterilized the pacifier and that thing wasn't crossing his lips until it had been thoroughly heated at a high temperature. I sent Mom a text message this afternoon asking her to sterilize the UM pacifier because I was sure that would be the touch that would get him on TV.

He didn't like the pacifier at first. He gagged on it so we put it away. We tried it again at the game and he cried at first and let it fall out of his mouth. He gradually kept in longer and longer. By the time we were on our way home, I put it in because he was crying and I feel so bad when he cries in the car because there is not a thing I can do for him...and he looks right at me when he's crying in the car as if he expects me to help him. So he took the pacifier in the car and went to town. He didn't spit it out until right before we got home.

So we've crossed another small threshhold. We're only nine weeks into this parenting experiment and we are still learning, still trying to figure out how this all works. I just hope we get it figured out before he graduates from high school. I'm sure that's just a pipe dream, just like my dream that Caleb was going to become famous tonight.

Ordinary

People close to me may find this hard to believe, but I have nothing to say tonight. Today was truly unremarkable. Every day with Caleb is a blessing, but nothing about this day was what one would call remarkable. I just can't come up with something clever to say and Caleb did not do anything new or unique today. So I'll just leave you with this picture of a very peaceful Caleb.

Sad Boy

You have probably gotten used to cute pictures of Caleb whether it was simply a smile or a particular outfit or some achievement. I like those pictures too. But the fact of the matter is Caleb is a baby and he has moments where he is not happy. Those moments have not really been reflected on this site up to this point. So I thought I would share this picture of Caleb taken by Mom this afternoon while they were waiting for me to get home from work.

Now, you might think it is mean or cruel to post this picture of Caleb. But it is not truly representative of the Caleb experience to not show this side of him. Regardless, to some extent, a crying baby is cute. Doesn't this picture just make you want to pout out your lower lip and say "Awww, Poor Boy"?

What's really bad is that Caleb's grandparents, Granddaddy and Whatshername, think the sound of Caleb crying is cute. The first couple of weeks he was alive, they kept calling and asking if he was crying. If they could hear him crying, they would try to the get the great grandparents on a conference call just to hear him cry. Mom used to say that she would not let Caleb cry just to be their entertainment. So I don't feel that bad about posting a picture of him crying.

Little Moments

I'll say it again: Happy 9 week birthday. Your Mom and I are thrilled that you are a part of our lives now. There are so many little moments that bring us joy and that is what I want to share tonight.

Mom took her car in to have some work done on the brakes. This was not a fun chore for either Mom or Caleb as it required spending a couple of hours in an uncomfortable waiting room. Caleb slept through part of it before waking up and spending the rest of the time on Mom's lap. Althoug he did wake up cranky this time, it is always touching to admire how peaceful Caleb is when he is sleeping.

Caleb was wide awake and in a very good mood when I got home from work this evening. I took him into the bedroom and laid him down on the bed where we spent some time together. He is getting more expressive and reacts to me as I talk to him and tickle him. I was able to capture this picture of his smile using the camera on Mom's phone.

After I had changed clothes, we moved back into the kitchen to get dinner ready. For a while now, I have been talking about how strong Caleb is getting. Mom took this picture of Caleb because, for the first time, she laid him down on the Jungle Gym on his stomach and he held his head up from the moment Mom put him down. Prior to tonight, he has to push up from a prostrate position to get his head up and look around. So we were pleasantly surprised when he held his head up from the start.

It's hard to believe Caleb is already 9 weeks old and in his third month. On one hand, it seems like a lifetime ago before he was born. Memories of our life before Caleb are already fading. On the other hand, it has already gone be so fast. We have friends at church who tell us not to blink or he'll be graduating and getting married before we know it.

Milestones like his two month birthday or nine week birthday are fun to note and I know there are so many tremendous milestones ahead like his first words and his first step. I know we will be proud and joyful as he passes each of these milestones. I can easily see how a parent can get wrapped up in each of the milestones and then wonder where childhood went. So we try to savor the small moments like a smile or a new developmental achievement that may seem trivial to someone else. But to us, each and every one is a wonderful occasion worth celebrating. This is a wonderful journey we are on and I don't want to miss a single step.

I hope you are enjoying these glimpses into our journey.

New Routine

First off today, I need to apologize for not posting last night. Dad fell asleep on the couch watching a hockey game and by the time I woke up, it was well into Tuesday and I was too tired to do a post.

Second, as was pointed out in the comments to the previous post, Sunday, June 1 was Caleb's two-month birthday and I forgot to acknowledge that. So I won't forget to acknowledge that today is Caleb's nine week birthday.

Anyway, yesterday, June 2, was the first day of summer office hours at school and it was Mom's first day to take Caleb to work without anyone to help her with Caleb. Mom said it went OK, but was more challenging than she had anticipated.

One mom at school has been very generous to Mom and given us lots of hand me down clothes. She also tave Mom a bouncy seat that Mom is going to keep in her office this summer. This particular bouncy seat sits much more upright than Caleb's bouncy seat at home which caused him to slump over. To fix the problem, Mom had to roll up a couple
of t-shirts to put on either side of him and prop him up.

Although this arrangement presents some challenges, we are grateful that the timing of Caleb's birth worked out in such a way that Mom can go back to work and keep Caleb with her at the same time so that we don't have to put him in daycare for extended periods of time at this crucial bonding period in his life. We are also grateful that Mom's job, especially in the summer, provides a flexible environment to allow her to keep Caleb. We are truly blessed in so many ways.

Stopping Traffic

Caleb got really dressed up for church today. He looked like a little man all dressed up for prep school. Caleb received compliments all day on his his sharp vest, the matching socks and the shoes. Caleb was very well dressed today
and inspired dad to dress up a little bit more than usual for worship.

This is a great looking outfit and I love it, but I have a problem with it. The little pants don't have snaps like EVERY OTHER outfit Caleb wears. To change his diaper you have to actually remove and the shoes and the pants to get to the diaper. It's a lot of work and really annoying and by the time you are done, it is almost not worth it to put the shoes and pants back on him. That is why his only half dressed in the second picture.

We continue to be amazed at the response we get from total strangers who see Caleb. We are used to seeing glances across a restaurant or overhear people commenting on Caleb as we walk by. But we are still surprised by people who stop us or go out of their way to see him. Tonight, as we were getting Caleb out of the car at our small group, a car that was approaching us stopped right next to our car. the lady behind the wheel rolled down her window and said "I love babies. I have to see him." We walked to her car and gave her a closer look. She admired and complimented how beautiful he is until a car going the opposite direction could not get by. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience.

We have to enjoy it while it lasts. There are several other ladies at church who are pregnant including one whou should be giving birth very soon. It won't be long before Caleb is old hat and just another baby, so we are trying to soak in as much of the attention as we can.

Memories

Whatshername went home this morning. While we were all sad to see her go, things didn't get back to normal just yet. Mom is a a scrapbooker and has been dying to get started on Caleb's scrapbook for a while. She got her big
opportunity today. Mom's Creative Memories consultant (I've done plenty of advertising for other products, I might as well add a link for this one)hosts a semi-annual scrapbook day for her customers who spend their day working scrapbooks in the midst of an extended sales pitch. Pretty ingenius marketing if you ask me.

Of course Mom was going to attend the workshop. Since she was going to be there all day, she took Caleb with her. Mom spread out Caleb's quilt on the floor next to her workstation and laid Caleb on the quilt while she worked. Mom said that Caleb did really well most of the day. As you can see from the first picture, Caleb was pretty content to hang out. He also slept part of the time as you can see in the second picture. Caleb was a big hit and apparently distracted quite a few people from their own scrapbooking. He received quite a few compliments on how good he was. Of course, it's in his best interest to behave so that he will have a scrapbook someday.

Lots of Love

When I said yesterday that Whatshername has been keeping Caleb while Mom goes back to work, I didn't metion that Whatshername has been keeping Caleb at Mom's work. We are lucky that Mom's school shares the church building so that Whatshername has been able to keep Caleb in the church nursery. (We hope to hire a nanny that will come keep Caleb in the nursery when school starts again in the Fall.) This has allowed Mom to spend time with Caleb during the day.

Mom snapped this first picture of Caleb in the nursery. Notice how strong Caleb's neck is getting and how high he is holding up his head. When I got home from work today, Mom was really excited for to tell me about this and for me to see the picture. Caleb continues to amaze me with how quickly he is developing. It is hard to realize how much he has changed since we brought him home, but he changes so quickly.

This is a neat moment to capture, but that is not why I am posting this picture. I've been looking for the right opportunity to write this post for a while now. I am posting this picture because of what is under Caleb. Caleb is laying on a precious quilt that was made for him by his Grandmama (Mom's paternal grandmother). Quilting is a tradition that goes back to Mom's Munner (paternal great-grandmother). Mom tells stories about being at her Munner's house while Munner and her daughters, including Grandmama, would quilt. It is a very special memory for Mom. And now, Grandmama has made this quilt for Caleb who is her first great-grandchild. This quilt is something that we will always treasure because of the love and memories it represents and it will be a great way for Mom to tell Caleb about his ancestors and hopefully he will come to treasure it the way we do. Grandmama is a special person to us and I am glad that Caleb will always have a tangible reminder of her.

This is a picture, taken by Whatshername, of Caleb laying on a beanbag in the nursery. There's nothing special about the beanbag. It's just a cute picture of Caleb in his red onesie.

School Days

Mom has gone back to work this week to help wrap up the school year and attend graduations, awards assemblies and other events. Whatshername has been here to take care of Caleb while Mom gets back into the flow at work. There have also been a few additional gifts for Caleb as a result of Mom's reappearance at work. One family gave Caleb a pack of onesies and Caleb wore one of them to school today. The mom of the family who gave the outfit to Caleb saw him wearing it and was very excited to see him in it. Of course, Caleb was also wearing Mom's beloved sandals. (You can't seem them in this picture, but trust me, he's wearing them.)

Tonight, we had planned on going to Cafe TuTu Tango for dinner. This is the third restaurant we ate at in Miami and has been one of our favorites the entire time we have lived here. That is why we were so disappointed when I read earlier in the month that it is closing because their lease was not renewed. So we had decided to go for one last hurrah. Well, we missed it because they closed Monday. So we went to Outback instead. Caleb's Uncle Bob joined us and we all had a very nice time. Caleb slept through most of dinner right up until the very end.

When we got home from dinner, Mom was ready to get Caleb into his pajamas and hopefully get him ready to go to bed. Caleb was in a very good mood and Whatshername was able to get a really good picture of Caleb in his Mom's arms.