That's what my blog is thinking...and maybe you too? I haven't blogged in a while.
The to-do list in my head is growing longer every second. Caleb is going down for his nap (however being very noisy about it) and its my time to get things done. I need to make a grocery list, I need to make our bed, I need to clean the kitchen, I need to clean myself... but I want to blog instead. :-)
We Blackhams have been feeling very blessed lately. Caleb is the sweetest child ever. The weather is warming up, the days seem longer after DST, and now that Justin is done with school we have been getting a lot of quality family time in the evenings. I didn't realize how mediocre I have been feeling until it started getting warmer out then I just feel so happy and giddy! I am not a winter person.
Here are some updates...
Up until about a month ago I was feeling kind of bored during the days. Being stuck inside with the cold weather and not feeling much motivation to get outside. Then I got a calling as a counselor in our ward's Relief Society and I am bored no more! I love it. I wanted ways to serve but didn't know how to get out and do it. Now the opportunities are endless. I wholeheartedly agree with this quote from this month's Visiting Teaching message: "Our Father in Heaven has given us specific work to help build His
Kingdom. He has also blessed us with the spiritual gifts we need to
accomplish this specific work. Through Relief Society, we have
opportunities to use our gifts to strengthen families, help those in
need, and learn how to live as disciples of Jesus Christ." Without Relief Society I don't know if I would find that many opportunities to serve, I love being a part of Relief Society! So between kissing Caleb and doing Relief Society items, I have been keeping house and doing my usual routines. So I am busier but loving it.
Justin is loving his time with me and Caleb (I am putting words in his mouth... but I am sure they are true!). His 31st birthday is just around the corner, on the 19th. I plan to make him a spoiled man on his birthday! Since the beginning of January he has been working with a trainer and a nutritionist to help him get in better shape. He has been working so hard and is incredibly diligent about his food intake! As a result he has lost ~15 lbs and it is all body fat. He is one good looking hubs if I can say so :-) I am so proud of him! He motivates me to finally get rid of all the leftover pregnancy weight and eat better. So far I am eating slightly better...but that's it. I just don't know if I could eat only 6 oz of chicken and a vegetable for dinner...I like my food too much.
Caleb is silly as ever. He is blabbing all the time. No teeth yet! He will be 9 months next Tuesday. He is consistently rolling onto his belly but hates it when he does, he hasn't quite mastered the art of rolling back onto his back. He loves sticking out his tongue and playing with his toys. We don't sit him up too often but he is pretty solid at sitting. He only will eat stage 2 babyfood. I tried mashing up a banana the other night at dinner and he choked on the tiniest piece! I am honestly a little paranoid about him not rolling around, pushing up with his arms or making movements to crawl. I will be interested to see with the doctor says about his development at his 9 month appointment. As of this week Caleb is no longer nursing. For the last couple months my supply has been almost nonexistent. Pair that with my low-to-non-fat breastmilk and Caleb wasn't getting nearly what he needed from me. I would guess that Caleb's low weight and low weight gain is a direct result from my nonfat breastmilk, I just hope it isn't the cause of his slower physical development. So now Caleb gets 2-4 oz formula when he wakes up around 5:30am (then he goes back down to bed), he gets babyfood +oatmeal for breakfast, followed by 4 oz formula. At lunch he gets babyfood+rice cereal with 4 oz formula, a mid-afternoon snack of 4 oz formula and then for dinner babyfood + cereal with 4-5 oz formula. Does that seem like enough food/formula throughout the day? I am pretty much feeling my way around blindly with his feeding schedule, I get different schedules/bits of advice from other moms and do what I feel is right for Caleb. But I am open to more suggestions!
That's pretty much all I can think of at this point.. we are so grateful for all our beautiful blessings and especially for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now I will get going on my to-do list!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Video attempt
Certain loved ones are dying to see videos of Caleb... I am dying trying to figure out how to successfully get them posted somewhere...anywhere on the internet, that doesn't take 1/2 a century to upload. Here's our first attempt at video blogging, hope it works!
Caleb gets a kick (or sometimes sad...) when we growl at him. He has never been around dogs so I don't know why he thinks its so funny! I love playing with him!
This is what I hear most all the time when Caleb is playing... and its loud! Note his arched back and tilted head.. that's his form of crawling. He can get anywhere he wants by throwing back his head and pushing off with his feet. Silly man.
Caleb gets a kick (or sometimes sad...) when we growl at him. He has never been around dogs so I don't know why he thinks its so funny! I love playing with him!
This is what I hear most all the time when Caleb is playing... and its loud! Note his arched back and tilted head.. that's his form of crawling. He can get anywhere he wants by throwing back his head and pushing off with his feet. Silly man.
Put a sock in it
This is not a lovely habit, but Caleb loves putting everything fabric in his mouth...socks included.
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!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
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!
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!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
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.
He keeps our lives exciting and brings so much love and happiness into our little family!
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!
Monday, January 9, 2012
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.
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 after sickness, change of outfit needed for mom too!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)