Sixth month

Eek!! Caleb is 1/2 a year old!!! Where has time gone??? He is quite the handful these days. His little personality is really starting to develop and he keeps us on our toes!! Here are a few things he has been up to:

•  weight: a whopping 20 lbs
• clothes size 12 months 
• diapers size 3
• rolling everywhere
• prefers to sit up- can't get to the position on his own, but trying hard
• lays on his side with his legs elevated in the air- I call it his Pilates move- trying hard to pull himself up
• drools, blows bubbles, and says "ba" ALL THE TIME
• less spit up this month- more DROOL
• cutting his 2 bottom teeth- can we say MOODY??
• Does not like to be held while you sit- wants to be up moving around at all times
• eats baby food 3 times a day
• drinks 6-7 five ounce bottles a day
• drinks only formula now :( I stropped nursing a week ago
• not crazy about formula
• very hard to take out to eat- he wants EVERYTHING we have
• enjoys eating apples, bananas, yogart, and avacado
• tried puffs several times- gags each time
• rode in the car seat for 12 hours straight with only one small meltdown- praise GOD
• enjoyed his first trip to the beach: loved the water, did not like the sand
• enjoys listening to music
• would rather play with household items (diapers, wipes, anything plastic, boxes) than his own toys
• just started crying when you change his clothes- must want to stay in just a diaper
• suddenly very interested in his paci- takes it in and out often
• enjoys going to walmart-- he looks around at everything and flirts with all the pretty women 
• still enjoys bath time and chews on his rubber duckies the whole time
• said first words "dada"
• babbles alot
• smiles has gotten even bigger and brighter this month- melts my heart
• lights up and smiles really big when dada comes home- just precious
• makes a very funny screechy laugh when we say "boo"
• loves playing peek-a-boo
• just started acting scared when the hair dryer, blender, or vacuum is first turned on
• still sleeps in the pack-n-play
• takes 2-3 naps a day (1.5 -2 hrs. each )
• morning baby- goes to bed around 8 and sleeps till 6 (7 is pushing it)
• hair color- dirty blonde with one brown section in the back
• eyes are a dark grey/blue- Daniel's family calls them the "Muddy Warren Eyes"

I had so much fun taking his 6 month bubble bath pictures. I could not pick a favorite so I posted several.  He has really become Mr. Personality lately, I just love it!

Happy 5th!

So.....Daniel and I will not forget our 5th anniversary because it ended up being quite eventful. Not the fun romantic events one might think of when they hear "5th wedding anniversary". Let me explain. 

Thursday night, Daniel agreed to watch Caleb so I could go to girls night. I went and loved every minute of visiting with my precious co workers- I am truly blessed to work with the best ladies. I enjoyed the menu too- breakfast for dinner (my fav-- doesn't happen much at my house bc D thinks breakfast is just for the AM) anyways when I returned home all was well. The boys were having fun swinging outside and I was refreshed from a short break.

Daniel and I got in some alone time outside after Caleb feel asleep then off to bed we went. The next day was our 5th anniversary and even though Daniel had to work all day I had planned on taking him dinner and spending some time with him at the station. 

Well my plans soon changed when I woke up around midnight with the strangest pains. I had heartburn that reminded me of my third trimester and I'm pretty certain the neighbors could hear my stomach churning. Well, I laid in bed wondering what was about to happen.

A few minutes later I rushed to the bathroom and for the next 4 hours Straight I went every 10 minutes. It was the worst stomach bug ever!! Why sure I've had my share of "stomach bugs"but this one was killer. Needless to say, Daniel was up all night worrying about me. To top things off he didn't want me to get Caleb sick so he very nicely decided to feed him at his 5am feeding. Caleb's little world was thrown for a loop because he has never been fed from anyone but me at his early morning feed because I have always nursed him. Well he cried and even screamed "ma ma". Broke my heart!!

Anyways Daniel went back to sleep for a few minutes until it was time to get ready for work. Caleb woke up screaming-- but I was not supposed to help. I felt like the worst mom. Daniel threw Caleb's things together and took him to his moms on his way to work. I was soooo thankful she was able to take care of him because I was soooo weak. I laid in bed all day because I could not find the energy to get up. 

Side note this was also the week that I started cutting out breastfeeding!!! Bad timing?? 

Anyways around 4 I decided that I needed to get Caleb back and I just laid on the floor with him till bedtime! I had no energy whatsoever. Around the time I was putting Caleb to bed, I got a call from Daniel and he said he was coming home because he was sick as a dog. 

Well the next morning we were both weaklings due to the lack of nourishment. Therefore, Daniel's precious cousin arrived at 7 am to take little man to a germ free residence. 

Daniel and I had the day to ourselves and All we could do was muster up the strength to get off the couch to eat crackers and drink sprite. Marriage at its finest!!

On a lighter note: I weigh the same I did on our wedding day thanks to this awesome "diet". 

No really, I've learned there is no man I'd rather be with than Daniel Davis. He always keeps me laughing and even when I'm down and out he makes me feel better. Cheers to 5 blessed years!!! 

Gotta eat!!

When Daniel and I found out we were pregnant we discussed how we wanted to feed our little one!! Yes we might be strange, but we wanted to teach Caleb early on how to have a healthy lifestyle. We discussed breastfeeding and I was determined to give it all I had! Well now that we have done that successfully for almost 6 months, it's time to talk about FOOD. We decided that fresh veggies would come in season about the time that he would start solids so we set a goal to make our own baby food. 

Our pediatrician encouraged us to start feeding Caleb rice cereal with breast milk at 4 months old. We started and he quickly began to master the spoon concept. For those of you that have been around lil man you already know he looooves to eat! If we eat he wants to join in. Therefore we decided at 5 months to get serious about baby food. My mother in law had purchased us a baby bullet and we had already decided we wanted to make all of Caleb's baby food. 

Daniel and his mom spent hours preparing a garden and it was starting to produce veggies around the time we decided to start food. Therefore I got out my baby bullet recipe book and started reading. 

When you are new at something it seems like it takes a while to get in the "groove". My first efforts were tiring. I followed the recipe book and prepared one veggie at a time and then filled up my Ice cube trays---stole this idea from my dear friend. And it seemed to be taking forever! I started thinking there must be a faster way to prepare a large quantity of baby food.

That's when it occurred to me that we had a large two tiered steamer in our cabinets that was covered in 4 years of dust--- yes Daniel and I used to be super heathy and would prepare completely steamed meals(chicken or fish and veggies). Well obviously we have gotten away from that and our steamer was just collecting dust. 

The day I pulled it out we had several pieces of zucchini and squash from the garden and I had purchased 5 sweet potatoes. I cleaned the veggies and cut them up and threw them all in the steamer. 20 minutes later the veggies were ready to blend. Then I made anotherdevision to use our full sized blender instead of the very miniature "bullet". This saved sooo much time and I feel like my veggies were smoother in the blender. 

*** I think the bullet is great for preparing small quantities of baby food but I was ready to make a lot and fill the freezer. ***

After all the food was prepared I filled ice cube trays and put them in the freezer.

A few hours later I popped the food out and put each type of food in galloon size baggies. 

Now when it's time to eat all I have to do is get out 2 cubes of baby food and thaw them out. It's just as easy as store bought food and I have the luxury of knowing what is inside each meal he eats!

So far Caleb has eaten zucchini, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocado, and apples.