New Things for Caleb

I don't have any pictures for all of these new Caleb occurrences, but I thought I would share what all he is doing now.  It is just so fun and hopefully I can get a snap shot of a few of them.

1.  Clapping his hands
2.  Rolling his arms for the "Patty-Cake" rhyme
3.  Waving or "flapping" his arm to say hello (still working on goodbye)
4.  Trying to snap his fingers
5.  Talking on the telephone (picking up anything that might resemble a phone and saying "hi")--we just bought him a new toy telephone to practice his skills
6.  Saying "hi"
7.  Standing on his own for almost a full minute
8.  Eating lots of finger foods (loves cheese and berries)
9.  Starting to enjoy ice cream (it took him some time to get over the cold sensation)
10. Last, but not least, giving hugs.  Mainly to myself, but we are working on teaching him to give more hugs.

Caleb is too fun and too cute for words.  More pictures to come of him and of our new home.  Although I am unpacked, nothing is tip-top shape for pictures quite yet.  Stay tuned for more.

Colorado Happenings

In between leaving Albuquerque and moving to Dayton, we stopped in Colorado for the week and stayed with our families.  The above picture was Caleb in Albuquerque, before we left strutting his stuff in his cute hat and new saucer.  He had a lot of fun walking down the sidewalk and talking to the neighbors.  Oh, how we miss our neighbors.

Caleb and Grandpa.

Caleb with Grandpa and Grandma.

We had a great time spending time with both families.  It was hard to move farther than a 5 hour car drive, but we will be doing a lot of internet chats to keep everyone up to date and to see Caleb.

Goodbye Albuquerque

We have been REALLY busy this month, to say the least.  We packed up our house in Albuquerque, loaded it on our 24 foot truck and said, "Farewell Albuquerque," and a week later, "Hello Dayton."  It was a very big change for us to go from dry desert to humid green-ness.  I am not sure what Dayton calls their land here except humid, hot and bone-chilling cold.  The winter will definitely be an interesting switch for us.  I think we saw snow in Albuquerque a total of 3 times, nothing that really stuck.  Here, we have heard, the snow stays for days.  I already have a snow jacket and bibs for Caleb in anticipation of some snow playing.  Caleb is growing like a weed and is a very fast crawler.  It took him about a week to adjust to the time change even though some days it feels like he is still adjusting.  I am still adjusting.  It always takes me about 2 weeks to fully adjust and although it feels like it has been 2 weeks, it has only been one week and one day that we have been here together in Dayton.  I say, "together," because Jarred and his parents braved the roads and drove the truck which towed one of our cars and drove our other car out to Dayton while letting Caleb and I fly from Denver to Dayton.  The 3 hour plane flight was definitely worth it.  This past week we have been unpacking and decorating our house.  Since we only have 18 months here, we better make use of everything we have before then and enjoy being unpacked before we must pack up again.  It is a vicious cycle but one we will get accustomed to.  This was a hard move for me for sure.  I made such good friends outside of the military that we left behind in Albuquerque with the "see you later" mentality.  I hate "see you laters," because you never know when you will see them again.  Okay, enough with my talking.

The above picture is of our last picture in front of our first home in Albuquerque.  Below you will see the back of our truck, stuffed to the brim.

10 Month Pictures

I had to get some pictures in his little wedding outfit, so we tried to do some 10 month pictures.  I never updated you all on his 9 month check-up.  Caleb was in the 75 percentile for his weight and height, so very proportionate weighing in at 21 pounds and measuring 29".  We just weighed him yesterday and we was at 22.4 pounds, so he is sure growing like a weed!

Caleb was VERY curious about the grass and the way it felt on his hands and feet!

He is going to try it sooner or later, so we thought it would best if we were present for the occasion!

We had to get a fun Mommy and Caleb shot!  I look like a nerd, but thats okay, Caleb makes it look better!  I guess I should confess that Caleb has been scrunching his nose lately and I did not understand why or where he got it from.............well everyone, I believe he got it from ME!  Oh well!  Makes me laugh every time I smile at Caleb and he mimics me back with the scrunch/smile!

Caleb with his walker

Here is our big boy walking with his little walker.  We practiced a little in Clovis with Sam and Ashley, then got Caleb home and he knew exactly what to do!  At first he would be so tense and he would go really fast.  Now, he has relaxed a little, takes his time, stops, goes again.  He will get there sooner than we think!

Look at that determined face!

Weekend Away

It took a lot to get a good picture.  This would be Hadley saying, "Mama, why do I need to do this right now?"  Caleb thinking, "Whatever, let's get this over with."  Carly and I are following instructions nicely.

Hadley, "Caleb what are you smiling at, we need to be in this together."  Caleb just smiling.

Hadley, "Grandmama, I am going to look at your camera instead of Mr. Jarred's-please hurry though."  Caleb looking at Grandmama Johnson's camera as well.  Carly looking like she wants this to be over and me well, laughing at something.

Yay, Hadley is looking at Mr Jarred with Carly's holding her in place and Caleb, well, looking at the other camera.  

This is as good as it gets!  Fun times taking pictures with little ones.

Jarred, Caleb and I took some days off of packing our house and went to Riudoso for a couple days, then Clovis to visit our good friends.  Riudoso is a quaint little town in the mountains due East of Albuquerque.  We had a good time just relaxing and enjoying some time in New Mexico one last time.  We spent our time eating at some good local eateries and taking much needed naps.  Not exactly what we had in mind, but very refreshing.  From Riudoso, we drove to Clovis to see Carly, Hadley, Sam and Ashley.  We had a great time seeing our "military family" by catching up and saying our goodbyes.  The great thing about the military is that we are always moving and I am sure we will wind up somewhere close to each other again.  In the meantime, we are going to miss them a lot.

Captain "Adorable"

Jarred picked out the cutest pajamas for Caleb...."Captain Adorable" with a cape and a printed belt buckle.  This is just a preview of them.  The pjs are a little bit too big for him, so I didn't a picture of the whole ensemble, but just you wait.  Haha.  He is a cutie and I can't help but smile and take a TON of pictures of him!

Caleb Helping Daddy Pack-up

The latest news is that we sold our house finally!  Yay!!  What a relief!  We didn't know how bad we were sleeping before because of all the stress until we signed our offer.  Now, we are sleeping like rocks which is so nice.  The packing is going well-it has been nice to do the packing a little slower and just a few boxes everyday.  The real crunch time is this week with finishing the packing, cleaning the house and carpets before we depart on Sunday to Colorado for the week.  In the above pictures, Jarred was taking apart Caleb's bouncy seat and Caleb wanted to assist him.  Caleb really just wants to stand up ALL the time.  We are anticipating a walker soon!

Caleb Waving "Hi"

For a little while, Caleb was like my little dolphin mocking everything I do.  Now, Caleb is starting to do a few things on his own without looking at Jarred and I for assistance.  It is too cute.

Caleb was so proud of himself too!