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!