Technical Difficulties

We are here in Tennessee. Our trip went well. I would love to tell you about it, but I am having a hard time getting pictures uploaded to the site. If I can figure out what the problem is, I'll begin posting regularly.

Stay Tuned.

Sneezy

We had a bit of a scare this morning. Caleb woke up cranky rather than his usual chipper self. Mom brought him into our room and laid him down on the jungle gym. Since he was already cranky, she figured this morning would be a good time to get some tummy time. As he likes to do, Caleb did not stay straight on the jungle gym but instead went completely sideways. Because he was crying so much, Mom picked up Caleb and his upper lip was covered in snot. After wiping him clean, Mom took him into the nursery to take his temperature and he sneezed out some more snot. Mom was very distraught at the thouht that Caleb might have a cold. Caleb had a pretty rought morning and was inconsolable. Mom said he calmed down after they took a walk around the school with Caleb in the sling. Although he did sneeze out some more snot later in the day, Caleb does not seem to be sick after which is a good thing for his sake and for our sake since we are travelling tomorrow night. I figure he might have just had some allergic reaction to all the grass and fire smoke from last night.

Once he calmed down, Caleb did spend some time sleeping in his swing during the day. Mom thought this picture was pretty funny because the pillow makes his ears stick out.

By this time tomorrow, we'll be in Tennessee. We're looking forward to Caleb having the opportunity to spend some more time with Granddaddy and Watshername, Uncle S and Auntie M and the rest of Mom's family.

Endurance

We kind of put Caleb through the ringer today, but he did remarkably well. We got up early today so that we could be at church service early because I was speaking during the service. After
worship, we went to lunch with another couple with a toddler who is older than Caleb. We enjoyed visiting with them, but Caleb was starting to get a little fussy by the time we left the restaurant. After leaving the restaurant, we went to Home Depot to get Dad a rake and we finally got back home pretty late in the afternoon.

At home, Caleb took a nice long nap which charged him up for evening activity. We returned to the church building for a joint life group and cook out with the college kids. We ended up staying there nearly three hours. Caleb was passed around by a number of people and performed like a champ. There was only one real protest and the lady holding him at the time was able to soothe him quite easily. While we were singing, Caleb flirted and played with a couple of girls near us. If Caleb can get that many pretty girls to pay attention to him when he is in college, I will be quite proud of him. He only started getting cranky at the very end of the evening and he cried the whole way home. Mom tried to put him down in the crib after feeding him, but, as tired as he was, he didn't want to sleep in there. As usual. He has fallen asleep in the swing and I will carry him to the crib when I am done here.

Caleb spent some time on his jungle gym this afternoon. When Mom first started laying him on there, it was really nothing more than a clean mat to be under him. But he is becoming more and more interactive with the toys. He is big enough that they hang within his reach. He can't quite control the movement of his hands, so he hasn't reach out and grabbed anything yet, but his movement certainly knocks the mobile around and it catches his eye. One of the toys is a plastic cat. The cat is holding a ball and the cat plays a song when the ball is spun. Caleb has hit the ball several times and caused the music to play, so we are looking forward to the day when his cognitive skills have improved to the point where he connects the music with the spinning of the ball. When he figures that out, I guess we'll have to hear the tune incessantly.

Caleb also continues to get more and more expressive, especially when he is happy. He has a really huge smile. He is starting to share his smile with others beside Mom and I. I was able to capture a shot of this wide open grin while I was getting ready for our life group.