Happy FIRST Birthday Caleb!

My baby boy is ONE!  I found myself getting a little emotional on his birthday.  This is a big step in our lives.  I love being a mommy, especially to the most precious little boy.  
Just in the last week Caleb has begun using words.  He has known MAMA and DADA for awhile, but never said them that often.  Now he calls me mama all day long especially when he wants something.  He will point to a picture of Daddy and says Dada.  
Caleb loves dogs.  He now says, "DAHEE" over and over again when he sees a dog. He loves cell phones and will put it to his ear and say "HAH" his version of Hi.  
When he hears an airplane or bird he looks up in the sky and points to it.  He is obsessed with both.  He can say BIRD now too. He also says, "NANA" which means night night.  Night night means he mommy to take him upstairs to feed and rock him to sleep.  Sometimes Nana means just feed me and snuggle for a bit.
It's amazing how much my little boy can understand now.  If I ask him to get his ball he brings it to me and he brings me his shoes before we play outside. 
Outside!  He is an outdoors kind of boy.  He could play out there all day long if I let him.  Most days we do spend most of our time outside going on wagon rides, bike rides and walks.  My parents gave Caleb a red wagon for his birthday and he just adores it.  They also got us a bike carrier and just yesterday I took Caleb on an eight mile ride.  I know to some that doesn't seem very far, but for me it was like running a marathon.  The last mile home was a killer. He grabs his helmet and puts it on and then goes over to my bike when he wants to go for a ride.  He is to cute.
He has a few sticks that he carries around with him while in our backyard.  He also throws golf balls around the yard and let me tell you he has a good arm.  
He also loves water.  When we are outside he gets mommy the hose and wants me to spray him with it.  He loves to swim and play in the sprinklers.  We will probably be spending a great deal of time in the pool this summer.
As long as mommy is close by Caleb loves people and is very social.  He waves to everyone that walks by.  
Caleb can drink from a cup all by himself and also Grandma Melanie taught him to drink from a straw.  She has been working on that for awhile now. 
Caleb loves to sing.  When I rock him goodnight I sing and sometimes he joins me.  He opens his mouth real wide and says AHHH!  It's so funny.  
I'm such a proud mommy.  He is such an active and happy little boy.  I thank my Heavenly Father daily for allowing me to be Caleb's mommy.  Families are forever!  I love you Caleb.

Do you know where mommy's phone is?

Caleb loves putting our things in random places throughout the house.  We find little presents in the most random places.  I finally found my phone the other day.  Caleb hid it in the sliding glass door.

Lets play a game of what does not belong in the pantry.  BINGO!  My remote.  We have found our remote in other interesting places as well.  This was the most creative.  We found it a few weeks back in the kitchen drawer.
Caleb also puts everything in the bathtub.  Before I turn on the water I have to empty the tub out.  He puts cotton balls, books, toilet paper, hair blower, hair accessories & other toys in the tub.

A few weeks back we went to our friend John's home and had dinner.  Caleb's little friend Arlo was there and Shiloh (Arlo's mommy) took some really cute pictures of our boys playing.  They are such good little buddies.  They are one day apart.

Caleb giving Arlo hugs.

I would like for you to meet my newest most adorable little niece Anna Jane Woodmansee.  She weighed in at 7.1lbs and 19 inches long.  I went to the hospital on the 9th and was able to love on her for an hour.  She is just darling.  I was her first visitor and I have a feeling I am going to be her most favorite Aunt. :)  Andrea is a champ and went completely natural again.  Avery and Grant are in love with their new little sister.  

Look at all that dark hair.  I'm in love with Anna Jane.  She is a little angel and such a squeaker.  You forget how tiny and delicate they are when they are so new.  

11 Months today!

I can't say it enough.  I am so in love with my baby boy.  He is my joy and he has his mommy wrapped so tightly around those chubby little fingers.
He is constantly on the move and rarely takes time to just relax, but when he does I'm right there to get a two second cuddle in.  We spend 75% of our day outside.  He loves being outside and takes every opportunity to sneak out the doggie door.  Even if the back door is open he chooses to climb through the doggie door.  He loves throwing his golf ball in the rocks and grass and then leaning over as far as he can to pick it back up.  He does this over and over again.  Just the other day he leaned a little to far and fell right on the Aloe Vera plant and it scraped up his arm pretty good.  Caleb is a very tuff little boy.

Rob cut Caleb's hair Sunday morning.  It was his first hair cut and he did way better than I thought he would.  I took video of the cut and by the time I got the still camera out he was crying.

On Saturday, March 27th we went to our ward Easter breakfast.  Caleb loved finding eggs.  He found 5 and put them all in his basket.  He would pick up an egg then throw it across the lawn.  Then he would pick it back up and put it in his basket.  We had a blast.

We spent some time with Lauren and Weston at the train park a few weeks back. Caleb loves his cousins.  Lauren is so good with Caleb.  

Rob watched Caleb the other day while I went visiting teaching and when I came home this is what I saw.

My heart melted.  I love my boys.

Boys and their bikes!

Rob went to Sedona last week with his dad for a mountain bike ride.  They had some good daddy son time.  They ride together on South Mountain every week, but decided to change it up a bit.  From what I hear the riding was awesome and so was the company.

 

We love you George.  Thanks for being a great dad, father-in-law & g-paw.

The longest journey begins with a single step.

Caleb's walking... 

He started taking steps three weeks ago at 9 1/2 months and he hasn't looked back since.  He now walks more than he crawls.  It is so cute to watch.  He steps with his left foot and then swings his right foot forward.  We just traded in Caleb 2.0 for Caleb 3.0.  He is such a happy little boy and is so proud of himself for walking.  He will walk across the room to me just grinning ear to ear.  It is the sweetest thing I've ever seen and it makes me laugh every time he does it.  With his newfound independence he seems like a much happier little boy.  He just joins in on all the fun going on around him now.  

Caleb just turned 10 months last Monday.  Poor baby has had two colds in the last few weeks.  He had a fever for 4 days and it got up to 104.8F.  I took him to the pediatrician’s   office twice in 10 days and he only had a cold thank goodness.  So I kept him on IB Profin and Tylenol to keep the fever down and we got through it. While he was sick he would wake up 3 times in the night for his mommy. I would sooth him and then put him back in his bed.   Luckily he is back to sleeping through the night.  His weight at 10 months was 23.2lbs.  He isn't gaining weight as fast as he was because he only wants to feed himself now.  I'm still breast feeding him and then he will also eat table foods 3 to 4 times a day.  He loves to eat thank goodness.         

Caleb's favorite foods are:

Steamed carrots, green beans, peas, corn, squash, avocados mixed with pears or just plain, turkey & cheese sandwiches, cheese, Cheerios, mangos, bananas, pears, peaches, cantaloupe, pretzels, noodles of any kind, Mac & cheese, toast with butter & cinnamon, veggie straws, Mexican rice & beans & ice cream. 

Caleb's newest tricks:

Clicks his tongue at the top of his mouth

Fish lips

Waves bye bye

Woofs like a dog

Goes out the doggie door

Brings you object to share

Walks all over the place

Recognizes toy names like tractor, car, ball & caterpillar

Looks up in the sky when you say, "bird"

Feeds himself and chews like a champ 

Wrestles 

Caleb's 3rd tooth just made its grand appearance! Top right tooth just cut through March 7, 2010.

Caleb loved his 1st balloon.   The guy at Marketside gave it to him.

Grandpa Bill giving Caleb his 1st Otterpop.  Caleb moved his mouth forward and the Otterpop hit the back of his throat.  After that he just screamed.  I love this picture because they are both frowning.  I think we will try the Otterpop again at a later date.

 We fed the giraffe at the zoo a few weeks ago.  Caleb gave the giraffe a piece of lettuce and then we tried to give Caleb another piece of lettuce to give the giraffe and he wouldn't take it.  Guess he didn't want the long sticky tongue to touch his hand again. I don't really blame him.

Just playing in the backyard.

Playing with dad's bike.  He can't get enough of it.  Sometimes he sits on top of the tire and then gets stuck.  You can see he looks a little scared in one of the pictures.  I also think he has my crooked smile.  Lucky boy!

Just enjoying the awesome weather.  It was in the high 70's, so we put some shorts on and went outside.  Caleb loves playing in the grass and trying out his new walking skills.