Happy Valentine's Day!

I LOVE Valentine's Day! Granted most of the time, growing up, it seemed like such an anti-climatic holiday, but I love celebrating love. Yesterday Caleb and I spent all day long preparing dinner and decorating (read as: Yesterday Amy spent all day long trying to decorate in between Caleb's naps and trying to keep him happily detained to his bounce-a-bout). But all our effort was not in vain! Our family enjoyed a lovely, quasi-romantic, dinner followed by a few presents and cards. Oh and these beauties were for dessert, yum!, (thank you again pinterest). Unfortunately Justin is being careful with his diet so most of the dessert went to my grateful mouth (& ungrateful waistline). We hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day. It helps me remember how much I want to celebrate our love every day, not just on this holiday. I love my sweet husband and our adorable boy!

It's dead!

Since Justin and I have been married I have had a plethora of strange/uncommon illnesses. Uncommon for me at least. I used to be like Justin, where each year I would only have to worry about a short-lived cold coming once or twice a year. Now in the 3.5 years that we've been married I have had bronchitis, a cracked rib, strep throat, 2 ectopic pregnancies, kidney stones...and my latest problem? A dead, stinkin' tooth!

For the last couple weeks I have had issues/pains with my upper left lateral. I made an appointment with the dentist for a cleaning/check-up yesterday and the news was beyond disappointing. After tapping on the tip of several teeth, it was obvious the pain was isolated to just that tooth. Then the real cherry on top was the liquid nitrogen test. The cotton swab with the gas was excruciatingly cold to several teeth but when placed on my lateral, I didn't feel a thing! I kept waiting for the searing cold pain to hit but it never did. That was when the worst was confirmed. Either this tooth no longer thought life was worth living or it seriously offended my big front tooth, but in any case it is definitely dead.

Here's the thing with my teeth, I am slightly obsessed with clean teeth. I do not have a single cavity/filling in my mouth. I pride myself on going to the dentist twice a year, having flawless x-rays and getting a bill of excellent teeth care. (Maybe this has something to do with being the teacher's pet growing up... I now need to get an A+ from my dentist?) I floss constantly and can't stand the feeling of any plaque on my teeth. And then out of no where this happens. In all honesty the dentist said it could have been from something that happened a long time ago (perhaps the bike accident where I flipped over the handle bars and landed on my face? or maybe the aggressive orthodontics to get these babies all in a row?) but my tooth held on for as long as it could then gave up.

Anyway so this means a stinking root canal. That phrase to me is like saying Voldemort. We'll see how it goes. I have never minded the dentist because I have never had any intrusive work done. Who knows what my relationship will be with the dentist after Monday. Hopefully the laughing gas will work wonders. On the up side, since it is a small front tooth the procedure *should be* simple and straightforward, with only one root to deal with. I just hope the rest of my teeth like my mouth enough to stay alive!

What has two thumbs and is 7 months old?

This guy! (He can't believe he is 7 months already either!)

I guess the holidays made his 6th month really fly by, I really can't believe he is already 7 months old!!

Here's our schedule that Caleb has [thankfully] adapted to:

6am: nurse
8am: wake up! (I love this wake up time, although I am starting to feel guilty that I should really be getting up earlier..)
8:15: oatmeal with mixed fruit breakfast...yum!
9am: 2nd breakfast, nurse
9:30: go down for first nap
11am: nurse
12:30-1ish: formula bottle (I've started to supplement once a day with a formula bottle, this boy hasn't been putting on the weight all that much, but good news! After one 3 weeks of adding one bottle he is now 16 lbs, that is a 1lb weight gain! It took him 2 months, between his 4-6 mo check-up) for him to gain a pound, so this is progress!)
1:30: go down for afternoon nap
3:30: nurse
Caleb plays while I make dinner during this downtime
5:30: Caleb's dinner, he is a fantastic eater, he has loved everything we've given him. And he eats, and eats and eats....and if you stop feeding him (for even a few seconds) he gets mad!
6:30: mommy's milk bottle
7:00: lay down to sleep!

I love that he has such a predictable schedule. I try to abide by it most all the time but sometimes we just have to get out but he does great napping in his carseat. Here are some other recent highlights from our sweet boy...

He got a Baby Einstein dvd for Christmas. This was his reaction the first time we played it...totally mesmerized. He didn't even blink I don't think.


He is also standing now. He is pretty good at keeping his body in a plank so it becomes impossible to put him in a sitting position!


Speaking of sitting... he is doing great at that too! He is still wobbly but his balance is improving each day.



He also has rolled over (back to stomach) three times now! Which I have missed every time! I don't know how he does it but I will turn around for a second and he has turned over! He also LOVES his bounce-a-bout. It entertains him easily for 15ish minutes (or until he gets tired).


He is so curious and wants to explore everything with his hands. He especially loves mouths, so if you are holding him there is a good chance he will get those chubby hands into your mouth. He has also discovered his washcloth during bathtime. Once he sees it, his hands get a firm grasp on it, it goes straight to his mouth, where it stay (being sucked on) for the rest of the bath. Mom is not allowed to have it back.

Caleb is now fascinated with the camera...so it was tricky getting a picture where his fingers weren't in the lens!

He keeps our lives exciting and brings so much love and happiness into our little family!

Christmas, part 3

And the final Christmas celebration, that actually took place over December 25th, was our trip to Chicago to spend Christmas with the Blackhams. We had a wonderful trip!! We relaxed, went downtown Chicago, downtown Naperville, had an amazing celebratory dinner in honor of Justin completing his MBA and, of course, shopped! [I am shopped out for a while, does this happen to other people after the holidays? I feel like going to the mall is now a chore!]

We left on Dec 23rd and returned on Dec 31st. It was great being able to spend Christmas with so many loved ones. We had a family home evening Christmas Eve, complete with a re-enactment of the Nativity Story. Christmas was spent opening presents, having a delicious breakfast, attending Sacrament meeting and spending the rest of the day relaxing with family. I love when Christmas falls on Sunday. The next day we went downtown Chicago. We went up the Willis (formerly known as the Sears) Tower, even out on the Ledge! Then we went over to the Water Tower Mall. We though downtown seemed pretty uncrowded until we went to Michigan Ave. where all the shopping is, that is where everyone in the state of Illinois was!

Tuesday night Mom and Dad B. treated us all to an amazing dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. YUM! I'm not sure if the restaurant wanted to protect Caleb from the other people dining or if they wanted to protect the other people dining from Caleb but in any case we lucked out with our own private room at the restaurant. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate all of Justin's hard work and accomplishing his goal of getting an MBA!

The rest of the trip was a blur of relaxing, eating, shopping, eating, shopping, and shopping. Caleb enjoyed another set of 'firsts'....his first trip to Gma and Gpa Blackhams, his first time in a big city, his first Christmas!, and his first time, sorry for the graphic nature of this!, projectile vomiting. (Which so conveniently happened at the top of the Willis tower, albeit in the ladies restroom, but what a huge mess it was!)

It is great to be able to travel to see family but I think that might be our last Christmas away. Now that we have a true little family of our own I think its time we start making our own holiday traditions :-) The last few Christmas's sure have made some wonderful memories, I hope our children have such great memories from the holidays as Justin and I have from growing up.

Caleb, pre-sickness

Caleb after sickness, change of outfit needed for mom too!

Christmas, part 2

On to our next celebration! Since Justin, Caleb and I were headed to Chicago for Christmas, we decided to open the majority of our presents to each other while we were still home in Pleasant Grove. So our little family's Christmas celebration was on December 20th. We had a little family home evening first then we had Caleb open his presents (with much help) then go to bed. Then Justin and I opened our presents.

We were all definitely spoiled this Christmas! Caleb racked up on toys, which he was desperately in need of. He also got a bounce-a-bout that he loved, from Gma & Gpa Blackham and an awesome Chicco high chair from Nana and Pawpaw Froneberger.

I love our little family! Oh and as a side note, Caleb also had his 6 month check up on December 20th. He is a little guy, weight-wise at least, weighing in at 15 lbs and 26.5" tall. He was a trooper once again with the shots. He is now eating mixed fruit oatmeal for breakfast and a fruit or veggie for dinner (with rice cereal afterwards if still hungry). Because he doesn't seem to be packing on the chub from my low-fat milk, I have started supplementing a bottle of formula at noon in between naps. I have also increased the times I nurse. We are hoping to see a big gain by his 9 month check up! He is still only moving around on his back and doesn't enjoy tummy time for very long. He babbles/silently yells (I know it sounds weird but that is the best way to describe it) constantly. He loves to touch everything in sight, which means everything in sight gets lovely slobber marks on it since his hands stay in his mouth 99.9% of the time still. Doc said he was teething but I can't feel any teeth buds just yet. He still smiles very easily and is such a joy to have around! And I should note that our sweet boy has developed the most mellow personality. He is very easy-going and rarely cries anymore except for things he really needs (nursing, sleep). But for the most part he is even very patient when needing those things. I am grateful that he seems to inherited Justin's easy-going personality!

A sad Caleb after his 6 month immunizations:

Christmas, part 1

We were unbelievably blessed this past December to have not one, not two, but three Christmas celebrations! And yes, Christmas three times does take up ALL of December. Here is the recount of Christmas, part 1.

For the first two weeks in December, Mom and Dad Froneberger (a.k.a Nana and Pawpaw) came all the way from their warm Virginia abode to chilly Utah. We loved having them out here. Caleb and I spent most of the time in South Jordan at Heather's house. We shopped like no one's business. And then shopped even more. We enjoyed a great evening at Temple Square, with dinner at the Garden and looking at Christmas lights afterwards. The grandkids, Caleb included, sure loved playing with Nana and Pawpaw!

The creme de la creme of their stay was celebrating Christmas on December 16th, a few days before they left. We had a feast of delicious food, enjoyed a fire, laughed as the kids played and opened presents.

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!