2011 Blackham Christmas Letter

I, once again, let the time get away from me. I had good intentions of typing up and sending out a family letter to all of our loved ones around Christmas. Instead I resort to my blog to publish our update, I'll call it our Christmas letter, lazy-man-style.

2011 has been our most eventful year so far of our marriage. It is interesting to look back on the almost 4 years of marriage and see how, very truly, every year gets better and better. Our family has been blessed beyond belief this year, as it seems we are every year. We can't thank our Heavenly Father enough for the bounteous blessings he pours upon us daily.

Justin has stayed incredibly busy this year, as he has been the last two years, working full time at Pinnacle Security and going to school 1-3 times at night each week. Not to mention the countless hours of homework that was on his plate. He must have some magical power that allows him to accomplish everything he needs to in a day and still have time to spend with me and Caleb. But that is all in the past now, thank goodness!!, Justin had his final class of his MBA program on December 14th. That's right, he now has his Masters in Business! (And I have to brag for my husband for a brief minute, because with everything on his plate, he still managed a 3.8, I think, GPA!...how amazing is he!?) We are really busy with the holidays right now but once January comes and Justin doesn't have classes to attend it is really going to hit home that he is done. He loves spending time with Caleb and is the best father. Caleb loves his time with his dad as well, there have been many evenings where I couldn't get Caleb to take a nap or struggled at bedtime but Justin just has the right touch with Caleb.

Amy worked the first half of the year at Pinnacle Security, alongside Justin. She misses getting to spend so much time with Justin but her new job is much more rewarding. Since Caleb was born she has been a stay-at-home mom full-time. She loves taking care of Caleb and watching him learn and grow. She is also a Den leader in her ward, helping the 9-year-old Bear cub scouts each Wednesday evening on their bear badge. This calling has taken a little while for Amy to warm up to but she knows it will help her down the road with teaching Caleb things that aren't revolved around baking or decorating. Which, coincidentally, is what she loves doing now that she has more time to. There have been many crafts online she has spotted and wanted to make, along with new recipes. She loves being able to create things.

Caleb is growing faster than a weed! He didn't quite double his weight at his 6 month check-up on December 20th (weighed in at 15 lbs) but he has grown in height quite a bit. When he was born he was 19'' tall, he is now 26.5''. We hoped he we take after his dad's height, he's getting off to a good start. He "talks", or rather yells, constantly. Occasionally he will give us a cute coo but for the most part he likes to be loud and...well...let out sounds like he is being tortured. He loves to make these sounds and we've gotten used to them, they are pretty funny to hear now. Our favorite is when he makes the sound when he is being put in his car seat and we are tightening the straps. He will let out his pained yell then stop, wait for our reaction, then give us a big grin. He has become quite mobile, but not in the way one might think. Instead of rolling over, he stays on his back, throws his head back and kicks off his feet. Recently his favorite has been maneuvering across our living room floor to make his way under our Christmas tree. We fear he might never grow hair on the back of his head because its constantly being rubbed on the carpet. He is eating solids and trying out vegetables. He loves to be talked to and played with. He brings so much happiness to our little family.

Trips we've taken this year... because Amy was pregnant for half of the year, our trips were limited. We did manage to have a little get-away in Park City before Caleb was born. We also spent a few days in Heber for the Blackham family reunion, a week in Virgina Beach in August, and this Christmas will be spent with our family in Chicago. As Justin and I both love traveling together we look forward to taking more trips in 2012!

We are excited to see what 2012 holds in store for our family. We hope you all have had a wonderful 2011 and we wish you all the choicest blessings during this upcoming year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A little laughter

Whew...mom tells some pretty good jokes :-)

He's caught a big one!

Caleb's newest finger obsession: the fish hook. I can't keep this little one's fingers out of his mouth.




Yes, I'm talking about you cute guy.

We give thanks

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. The Jones' were gracious enough to have us up yet again. We love getting to see them, which unfortunately isn't very often, but when we do it is always a good time! Dinner was amazing, company was superb, and best of all, Caleb was an angel all day.

Our little family really is so blessed. Actually that is an understatement. But I don't know how to express in written word all of our countless blessings. Justin has a good job and is an incredible husband and father, we are absolutely loving being parents to Caleb, and we have so many loved ones to share our days with. This time of year makes me realize just how important the family is, and we are so blessed to have not only our little family, but parents and siblings and cousins and grandparents who we love so much and who share their love with us as well. Speaking of grandparents, Grandma Blackham sent out a super cute outfit for Caleb for Thanksgiving, thanks Grandma! Caleb was the cutest little Gobble-Gobble turkey ever for Thanksgiving.

And thanks again to Amanda and her family for having us up for Thanksgiving! We are so grateful to have been able to share this holiday with your family!

Caleb getting loves from his cousin Sarah, she tells me each time I see her what a great babysitter she is going to be for Caleb someday and I believe it!

Once again, our view!

I was going through some old pictures on our camera (from this summer & whatnot) when I came across this stunner. And I know you're wondering, but this photo is not photo-shopped at all!

And a close-up on that rainbow action. Such a beautiful land we live in!

Picture Post

I am not taking nearly enough pictures to document Caleb's baby-hood! I did snap some cute pictures of Caleb while getting ready for bed last night. He turned 5 months this last Sunday! Some specs on our 5 month old:
|| He still LOVES his fingers/fist/hand, my fingers/fist/hand, ...anyone's fingers/fist/hand really. Or, let's be honest, any object that can fit into his mouth.
|| He is eating rice cereal and oatmeal for dinner, followed by ~6 ounces of milk. He is becoming quite the healthy eater!
|| His daytime schedule is still somewhat up in the air, but his nighttime routine is great. He goes down to bed between 7-7:15, sleeps without a peep usually until 6:30 for his first feeding. Then back to bed till 8 (or at least that is what he did this last weekend and we LOVED it, never has 8am felt like sleeping in for us but it sure does now). Honestly his schedule seems to change almost every 3 days it seems like, but he is getting plenty of sleep and food so we are happy with that.
|| His personality is so funny. He knows what to do to get your attention, has the cutest fake cry/whine, and LOVES to be played with. His smile lights up our world and thankfully he gives us his smiles all the time.





And in other picture updates...
While spending [too much] time on my iPad looking at recipes and Pinterest, I have been fascinated at how creative people are online! Ideas like this one or this one have me intrigued and keep me busy! Here are some things I have done recently for the fun of it..

|| A grati-turkey made out of leftovers from Caleb's Halloween costume. We write things on the paper feathers each day for something we are grateful for.
(*IF by chance you do enlarge the turkey picture, your eyes do not deceive you, there is a certain person in our household that wrote they were thankful for oreos....sigh)


|| Can you guess what this is a picture of?



|| Maybe this picture will be a little more obvious... The floor of our closest is carpet, so we will put Caleb down there with some toys in the morning while we get ready. I decided to join Caleb one morning and when I looked up I saw the underneath view of our hanging shirts. It made for pretty interesting pictures!




|| And from one of the links above with the paper wreath, well since I already had most of the necessary components (an old book, sponge, brown paint, hot glue fun) and since Roberts on Tuesdays lets you double up on coupons, I made this project for a whopping $4.00 (for styrofoam wreath and Thanksgiving-themed scrapbook paper).



Now time to get back to Thanksgiving baking & preparations! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Trick-or-Treat!

Halloween wasn't incredibly eventful this year. I usually get really into Halloween, decorating, planning my outfit, etc. Staying at home makes it so I lose touch with the world it seems like, but I did at least make Caleb's first Halloween costume. I didn't even think about costumes for Justin and I, granted I am sure Justin is relieved over this fact-he doesn't like Halloween much. Caleb and I, along with my sis and her son and daughter, went to Pinnacle in the afternoon for their festivities and to see Justin. It is the best possible trick-or-treating scenario, hallways filled with offices with a bucket of candy (unmanned) right in each office doorway. If I were a kid I would love it-and totally rack up on candy!

We're looking forward to next Halloween when Caleb will be walking around and slightly more interested in the holiday. At least his bedtime will be a little later so he (we) can go out and enjoy some of the evening. We were going to go to our wards trunk or treat but Caleb fell asleep on the way there, haha, oh well! I plan on making up for this year, I have plans for Justin, Caleb and I to be Barney, Betty and BamBam Rubble! (jk, I've already tried talking Justin into that costume, no such luck haha)

I saw a cute baby Angry Birds costume online back in September and figured it looked easy enough to replicate. So that is how Caleb became an angry bird for Halloween :-) Here is the original costume.

And here is Caleb's version (so happy to finally be getting him to smile for the camera!):



And because I'm a dorky mom who wanted to make Caleb a real angry bird:


...And in case you don't know what an Angry Bird is... its a app/game for androids, iphones, ipads where you sling-shot flying red birds into a quasi-fortress to knock it over and squish pigs. Totally weird sounding eh? Here is a pic of what the game looks like:

Our view

I just have to add one more thing...
Last week the evening sun gave the field next to our apartments a green hue that was simply picture perfect. I love our view.

But this view, hands down, is still my favorite:

Crunching leaves

I love Fall! October is one of my favorite months, the weather turns brisk, the leaves turn beautiful colors then fall to the ground for another one of my favorite things...crunching leaves, and of course it marks the beginning of decorating season! Decorating my house that is... first Halloween decor, then Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day...etc. And I'm one of those weird people that really enjoys Halloween. Caleb's costume will soon be revealed, if I ever get the motivation to finish the hardest part of it lol.

Anyway, Justin and I decided to head down to BYU yesterday afternoon to enjoy the changing colors and beautiful weather. I LOVED Fall even more when I was a student at BYU. I remember walking up to campus and being surrounded by golden and red trees while the leaves crunched under my feet and the smell of dried leaves filled the air. Well BYU must water their trees too well because for the most part the leaves were still green, and BYU maintains their sidewalks too well because what leaves had fallen were neatly swept away to the side of the sidewalks. Nonetheless, it was an awesome visit.

They tore down my freshman dorms (Deseret Towers) and in their place built some gorgeous new dorms, hello? Can I be a freshman again! I would love to live in those beautiful buildings. Also Justin and I have very fond memories from when we lived just south of campus of walking to the duck pond that somehow attracted tons of ducks. So we parked at the Wilk and decided to head down to the duck pond. Along the south end of campus was also a brick trail that had such great potential when I was at BYU for being a great scenic walk. Well BYU has outdone themselves! We took that brick path and all along the path is now a gorgeous stonebed stream, complete with waterfalls! And the duckpond got an upgrade as well, with a new wooden walkway around it.

Might I add, Caleb loved the campus as well. I told Justin that Caleb was destined to be a BYU Cougar, but I don't think Justin was too fond of that idea. We'll see :-)

Anyway here are some of the gorgeous shots we got from our little walk:

Four month check-up, already?!

Our precious lil' guy is already four months! It's so hard to believe! And it is amazing to see how much he has changed since his last check-up. Caleb is no longer our tiny newborn, he is so long he doesn't fit in between the armrests on my rocking chair in his nursery any longer. He smiles constantly (just not for the camera) and just this last week he began to squeal when he gets really excited/happy. Justin and I can't imagine our lives without this sweet, amazing boy. We love him so much! I am so blessed to be able to stay home with him all day.

Here are a few other updates on Caleb:
- He doesn't get nearly as upset as he used to so going out during the day is much more pleasant. I try to get us out at least every other day to see the world :-)
- He is starting to take on more of a schedule during the day. He wakes up between 7-7:30, eats around then. Takes his first nap around 8:30-9, then his next nap is around 12:30-1. He is starting to go longer than two hours between feedings, and later in the afternoon/early evening he may take a 30 minute catnap before bed. His bedtime is around 7 or a little earlier and just within the last week he has started waking up between 12:30-1:30am for his first feeding then 5am for his next feeding. I figure he must be going through a growth spurt because he was going 9.5 hour stretches at night between feedings. Needless to say this has been a hard adjustment for mom! I am hoping he will go back to his long stretches soon.
-We are starting Caleb on rice cereal but he doesn't seem to be a big fan thus far, I don't think we will push too hard until he is 5 months then we'll really focus on him eating solids.
-Caleb is a fantastic toucher/grabber. He loves playing with the toys that hang from his play yard, his stuffed puppy and any blanket. He will touch your hands/arms when you change his diaper and buckle him in his carseat. He also loves faces, he constantly plays with my face (& Justin's too) when we are holding him craddle-style.
-Caleb still LOVES his fists. He wants to suck on them constantly and when he isn't sucking on them he is either trying to get them to his mouth or stares at them very intently. When he is going to sleep in his crib Justin and I will check on him, just to find him staring at his hands as they are clasped together. He gets side-tracked when nursing if he sees his fist in his peripheral. Silly guy.
-He prefers putting himself down for his naps (hallelujah!). I was fighting him to take naps a few weeks ago and he would just get more and more upset. The next day I decided to just put him down in his crib for his nap, within 10 minutes (of completely being silent/content) he had passed out. Mom loves this preference!

And his four month stats:
Height: 24" (18% percentile....I know can you believe how short he is considering his dad is 6'3"!)
Weight: 14 lbs (33% percentile)
Head circumference: 41 1/2 " (31% percentile)

Although his stats say he is on the smaller side, he seems so big to me and Justin!

Tummy time!

Mom makes me do tummy-time every day. I like it for a little while but after a few minutes I get tired. So I cry to let Mom know I've had enough. For some reason she likes to take pictures of me doing tummy time (I don't know why), here are some of me doing tummy time last week:

See I'm happy here, and might I add, I look darn cute, right?!




Then here I am a minute later:




Then I start to get tired, but Mom still doesn't move me:



So to get my point across I have to cry:



By then I'm really tired, so this is what I do:
I have to give mom the stink-eye sometimes, I don't understand why she has to take so many pictures of me:



Here I am the next day, I used all my strength and lifted my head quite high:
And then I got tired again, so I let mom know I was done:


So she picked me up and tried to get me to smile but I don't like to smile for the camera...

But I still am really cute...
Oh and here I am with my fist, I really love my fist, it is sooo fun to chew and suck on!

Anyway, here are a few other of my favorite pictures from another day last week. When mom gets ready I sit in the bouncer in the bathroom and play with my giraffe and lion. I like to take my favorite fist and hit them, they move around a lot when I do that. Other times I just like to look at them.


And one last picture of my adorable, chubby feet! They peeked out from my blanket when I was napping last week and, of course, mom took a picture of them!




That's all, I'm off to play with mom!

Caleb