7 months

Another month goes by and yet again it's been extremely quick.  I feel like I fall more and more in love with this handsome little man every single day!  It's so much fun seeing each new stage and how much he continues to develop.  I've heard people say "oh I can't wait for my kid to be able to walk or for my child to be able to feed himself, or for them to be potty trained".  I realized there are stages that he's already grown out of so I'm just soaking up each stage and not wishing for him to be able to anything sooner because before I know it he will be 18 and graduating from high school and then I'd wish I'd be playing with him on the floor or reading to him at night or watching him discover a new toy.  Time is so precious and I'm thoroughly enjoying every bit of it.

Caleb attended his first wedding...well outside of the womb that is.  He was itty bitty in the womb (8 weeks) at Donny and Shaleen's wedding back in February of 2012...pretty sure he doesn't remember anything from that wedding. ;)  Anyway, after the wedding this past weekend, Caleb had a sleepover for the first time at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Lala's house.  Thanks Grandpa Mike and Grandma Lala....Caleb said he loved sleeping over and wants to do it again sometime.

7 month milestones/likes:
Drank out of a sippy cup but LOVES drinking from mommy's glass even more
He has figured out how to spin in his jumper
He rolled over from his back to his belly
He's now eating yummy fruits and vegetables!  He likes them all so far...avocado, sweet potatoes, bananas and pears
One night he grabbed onto the coffee table and pulled himself up to a standing position!  This was quite impressive to us.  Our coffee table has a small bar which was easy for him to grasp so I think that made it a lot easier.  Either way we were amazed!
Caleb went for his first walk in the stroller around Lake Calhoun.  We've been to the mall and around the apartment complex before but never over to Lake Calhoun in the stroller.  We are so excited to get him outside.

We love you Caleb, you are such a blessing!  Thank you for being such a fun happy boy!

Foot in Mouth...

...literally!  Apparently this tastes good?  Or is he hungry?  You can tell by his wrists (although hard to see in this picture) that he doesn't get a lack of food. :)  This is just his way of testing things out.  Not by examining it with this hands and eyes...by putting it in his mouth.  I'm really glad as adults we don't test everything we get our hands on this way.  He always keeps me smiling.

Priceless

As you've seen from previous posts Caleb has not been a cuddler for quite some time.  He likes to either be sitting up or standing or jumping...anything but laying down, except when he's sleeping of course.  Well today I could tell he was tired so I brought him in his room for a nap.  Before laying him in his crib, I sat with him in the glider and rocked him for a bit while I sang a couple of his favorite songs.  I actually started getting sleepy so I stopped singing but kept rocking.  After a few minutes I opened my eyes and looked down to see a sweet, peaceful sleeping baby in my lap.  I thanked God as tears formed in my eyes because I realized how long it had been since he let me hold him like this.  You're probably thinking that's crazy because he's not even 7 months old yet but to me that time has already passed by so fast!
I realized I probably had other things that "needed" to be done around the house but I decided to soak up every minute of cuddling with my sweet little boy because that's the most productive thing I could have been doing at that very moment.  Him sleeping in my arms for over an hour was simply priceless.  I LOVE the joys of being a mom!!  I wish I had a picture to capture the moment...these pictures will have to do. :)

Photo Shoot

Ok it really wasn't a photo shoot, Caleb was just on the floor playing and looking extremely handsome so I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pics.  I absolutely adore this little guy!

Anyway

Dear Caleb,

I read this quote by Mother Teresa and it left an impression on me so I thought I would share it with you.  These are great values to live by.  I love you!

Love,
Mommy

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

                                                                                   - Mother Teresa

Reading

Dave and I both have a love for reading which was not always the case for either of us.  I used to associate reading with textbooks...sorry teachers and professors but let's just be honest...not ALL subjects are appealing for everyone.  I can personally attest that I have definitely read some boring textbooks in my day.  Anyway, once I learned there was other reading out there besides textbooks, I really began to enjoy reading.  Looks like we are passing this passion of ours onto someone else!  This was not staged at all.  Hehe! ;)

This by the way is one of his favorite books.  All I have to say is "Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see?" and he gets a HUGE smile on his face.  He also loves Barnyard Dance...a true Sconnie...that's my boy!  There weren't too many barnyard dance's over on the east side of St. Paul so we clearly know he gets this from me.

Easter

He is risen!!  Praise Jesus!  We have a family tradition to watch The Passion during Easter.  This year instead we watched The Bible series on the History channel which I thought was great.  You read about those stories in the bible but for whatever reason that series seemed to really make it come to life for me.  Even though you can't truly know what it was like to be in the presence of Jesus crucifixion, my heart is always extremely softened when I watch what He went through for us.  It's humbling.  As a new mom, this year my emotions were on a whole new level because I tried to put myself in Mary's shoes and imagined what it was like for her to watch her son go through what He did.  I had tears running down my face as I thought about how much I loved Caleb and I just wanted to run up to Mary in the movie and just give her the biggest hug!

We also headed over to Dave's parents house on the east side of St. Paul.  I must say Caleb did much better this holiday.  Unlike Thanksgiving, we were able to get through the meal without him crying.  However back then I was starving him apparently so I would've been a little crankers too.  There was no need to be upset though this time with all those snuggles and kisses from Grandma La!!  Family time always warms the heart, we are blessed to have such great families.  The food was stellar as always...thanks Grandpa Mike and Grandma La for the delicious smorgasbord.  Hope everyone had a great Easter and I hope you all remembered the reason for the season!

Speaking of that I was a bit down this past week because I was talking to a friend who went to Guatemala over Easter and he mentioned that they really celebrate Jesus down there during Easter.  It's not about the Easter bunny and Easter eggs, it's about celebrating what Jesus had done for us.  They have parades and floats of the last supper and people carry those floats through the streets.  They celebrate the joy of knowing He will return some day.  I thought about it and realized how Easter is the most important day of the year for me and I wondered why we don't do that kind of celebration here in the United States?  Maybe there are some places but I have never seen any or heard about any here.  I thought about how for St. Patrick's Day millions of people get all dressed up and celebrate with parades and such....even people who aren't Irish.  Why don't we do that for Easter?  I'm not judging at all when families do Easter bunny pics or Easter egg hunts.  I have great memories of my Grandpa helping me find Easter eggs when I was little because I was the youngest in the group and couldn't run as fast as everyone else.  Plus I dressed Caleb up this year like a little bunny...it was fun and cute!  It was really just a realization to me that next year I want to CELEBRATE and make an even bigger deal out of Easter so we can show Caleb how important this holiday really is!  Let me know if you have any fun Easter traditions that revolve around Jesus, I'd love to hear your ideas.