11.29.10- Day 335

Lots of pictures:
At the pizza restaurant with the Sheltons Al and sleeping Caleb

The happy family

Paul and Caleb

Me, Bethany, and Caleb (seeing a theme- caleb, caleb, caleb!)

We had deer come right up to the cabin

Paul fed them dates... they liked it

Our family at "friendsgiving"

My first chicken pot pie- yum!

The successful 2 month pic

One not so successful... he was proud of the razorbacks for beating LSU though

Another not so successful picture

Hunt family Thanksgiving

11.28.10- Day 334

Well...
Sorry I've been absent for a few days! We've been super-busy and Alan has been home (so we've been spending lots of time together). It's been a nice mix of family time and visiting this past week.

Wednesday- We visited Paul, Bethany, and the other Sheltons up in Estes Park. It was so fun to see everyone and spend time in their beautiful cabin. Also, Caleb slept through the night on Wednesday night!

Thursday- We had a "friendsgiving" meal with about 20 people (a random smattering of friends from church, jbu, and random other connections). It was fun and tasty!

Friday- We had thanksgiving in Greeley with Al's family. Another tasty, fun time. Caleb turned 2 months old today!

Saturday- We rested and put up the Christmas decorations. We also got to chat with my family via Skype.

Sunday- We ended up sleeping in and spending a relaxing day at home. Sometimes you just need those days!

...pictures to come soon!

11.23.10- Day 329

More Caleb faces :)

11.21.10- Day 327

2 Things...

1) I just had caffenine for the first time since becoming pregnant in the form of a grande nonfat eggnog latte. Let's just say I feel a little buzzed. I hope it doesn't rub off on Caleb.

2) I like being a mom today. A lot. Let's just say I have the cutest son in the whole world. Even if he stays up late and wakes up early. I have always wanted to be a morning person. Maybe he's going to be the one to help me do it.

11.18.10- Day 324

Well... I realized today that I was 4 days off of my year countdown. (it was bound to happen)

In other news:

1) I got a subscription to Cooking Light with an Amazon gift card I had from filling out a survey for Regis. (thanks for the recommendation, Crystal) I'm hoping that having a magazine with good, healthy recipe ideas will motivate and excite me to cook!

2) Last night I thought my computer crashed... all that appeared was a black screen. Don't worry, after about 30 minutes of restarting my computer and unplugging it over and over, I realized that the screen had become unplugged :).

3) Caleb is really starting to smile! I can normally get him to smile in response to either me smiling or tapping his nose or making ridiculous mommy sounds. It is so much fun to watch him grow!

4) I ran for the first time in almost a year on Tuesday! It felt good to sweat and be a little out of breath. Okay... I was a lot out of breath :). I ended up doing a run/walk for 35 minutes. Wasn't sore yesterday, but I am today! I put the jogging stroller together so that I can take advantage of the nice weather today and get in another run! I'm going to go after Caleb's midmorning nap.

5) I'm so thankful for Thanksgiving coming up! Alan has 5 days off in a row, we're going to get to celebrate with friends and family, Paul and Bethany are going up to Estes and we'll probably join for a day, and I get to start decorating for Christmas! (I'm a stickler about waiting until after Thanksgiving!)

6) I'm realizing that my maternity leave is quickly coming to an end! I only have about a 6 weeks left! I'm going to try to soak it all in and get caught up as much as possible around the house. Hopefully I'm a little more ready to go back when the time comes. Right now I'm enjoying staying home with Caleb!

11.17.10- Day 319

Thoughts on baby books...

Well, I never read The Happiest Baby on the Block, but I did check out the video from the library. I would totally recommend watching it. It basically gives you the tools to calm your baby when he/she is crying. The best part- it works! Generally, I only have to use 1 or 2 of the 5 techniques and Caleb is quiet as an angel. (no promise on him remaining that way after I stop the techniques, but it is very helpful to relieve stess in both mom and baby). Plus, if you don't have swaddle blankets (which I would recommend) it teaches you a really good swaddling technique.What to Expect is a classic baby book. It has information on each month of life, developmental milestones, baby care, sickness, nursing, and many more things. It is nice to have a "go to" book for most things. I really like the section on nursing in the beginning. I wish I would have read it before I started nursing!

I like Your Baby's First Year: Week by Week because it always has a new section to read. It does not go as in depth as What to Expect, but rather than grouping chapters by month, it groups them by week. I love being able to open the book and read something specifically about my baby's development each week. Overall, it is your basic baby book with similar information to What to Expect: developmental milestones, sickness, child care, etc.
BabyWise was unfortunately the only parenting strategy book that I read before having Caleb. Now, don't get me wrong, there is some good information in the book and I actually do follow some of the principles, but the book presents caring for a baby like it is a formula. Because my baby didn't respond perfectly to the formula, I felt like a failure at first. The basic idea of the book is that you follow a parent-directed feeding schedule, which involves a cycle of feeding, awake time, naptime. This in turn will help your baby sleep through the night by the time they are 8-10 weeks old. They have a TON of research to back it up too. Sounds good, right!? The problem that I had with Babywise is that it presents its strategy as the "correct" and "only" way to properly care for your baby. When things weren't working as Babywise said they would, I was baffled because it seemed to me that if you followed the strategy, your baby would be an angel. Well, I've learned in the past 2 months that babies do not necessarily follow formulas. Overall, I just wish that it was not so hardnosed about its specific technique and gave parents other options for what to do if things aren't working out perfectly. All that to say, I do generally keep Caleb on a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hour schedule and generally try to follow the feeding, awake time, naptime schedule. The main difference is that I do more comforting and responding to Caleb than the book seems to recommend. I purchased Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child on recommendation from a friend after I was having problem's with Caleb's sleep that weren't being solved by Babywise. I really like this book! It approaches caring for baby from the different strategies (attachment parenting, PDF, etc). It gives solutions in a range that accomodates to whatever strategy you are following. It also explains sleep and its development really well. It doesn't necessarily give "solutions" to your problems, but it gives you tools to try and figure out the cause and address different sleep problems. I really like having it paired with Babywise, because it gives balance and speaks to problems that Babywise doesn't address.

11.15.10- Day 317

Psalm 62

My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
How long will you assault a man?
Would all of you throw him down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
They fully intend to topple him
from his lofty place;
they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
but in their hearts they curse. Selah
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge. Selah
Lowborn men are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie;
if weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath.
Do not trust in extortion
or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.
One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
and that you, O Lord, are loving.
Surely you will reward each person
according to what he has done.

11.13.10- Day 315

Some pictures on this cloudy Saturday...

It snowed... twice in the last week. It was just a dusting, but winter is here! (guess we don't need the water hose/sprinkler anymore!) Caleb is really starting to smile and socialize. He got to try out his Tiny Love Gymini today. He had lots of fun!
More Caleb

This is one his Grandma Kay took while I was at the post office

Here's a video (I hope it works)

11.11.10- Day 313

1) The post office is NOT open on Veteran's Day. Do not attempt to bundle small child and tread through the winter weather to said post office.
2) Struggling a bit with being bitter/jealous of my husband's freedom and my lack thereof with a new baby. Not that it's his fault or that we could change anything unless we switched to formula, but it's hard. I love little Caleb very much, but I'm at 4 of 7 days basically caring for our child by myself and could use a break. (that said, Alan feels bad for leaving me/working so much, so don't blame him) I think that this whole mothering thing is going to be a great refining work in my life.
3) Day 2 of snow with 2 more to go this week. Winter is here in a vengeance.
4) I think that Caleb's sensitivity is to chocolate :(. But, if I've figured it out, I have many days/nights of peace ahead of me :).
5) I really like the new show, Outsourced. It reminds me of when I went to India and makes me want to return. Yay for comedy Thursdays!

11.09.10- Day 311

Two things:
1) I'm in a cooking/recipe rut.... ever since I became pregnant.... sad, I know. What are some of your favorite, easy recipes? I NEED HELP! Please save Alan from another night of freezer/canned/take-out meals!

2)My son is adorable (plus sometimes I get bored when hanging out with him in the morning because he just likes to stare at lights and curtains). Thus, here are:
"The many faces of Caleb..."

Tired Happy
Very tired

Silly CuriousMore to come as he decides to become social :) I actually got a few smiles this morning!

11.06.10- Day 308

A few things that make me happy:

1) It's in the upper 70's in Denver today.
2) I added peanuts and citrus back into my diet successfully so far. (I'm hoping to add chocolate back in tomorrow- now that would make me REALLY happy)
3) Caleb slept from 9:30pm to 7:30am with only a feeding at 11pm and 3:30am! (and I took an hour nap during his morning nap)
4) My husband is off for 2 days!
5) I went to the first MOPS meeting that our church is starting. Yay for community with other moms.
6) My family is coming out the week before Christmas (including my Aunt Karen)!
7) Knowing that I don't have to be perfect because of grace
8) Panera
9) Relaxing Saturdays
10) Emotional, cheesy reality shows (Extreme Makeover Home Edition, School Pride, Biggest Loser, etc)

11.03.10- Day 305

A couple of things:

1) Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza- yum! Nicole introduced me to this wonderful dish. I was slightly skeptical at first, but it is a-maz-ing! Basically you put 4 oz. of Gorgonzola cheese on a pizza crust, add about 2 sliced pears, add some thyme and pepper, then walnuts if you want (I didn't because Alan doesn't like them). Cook according to the crust directions! It even passed the husband test. We ate the whole thing in one meal!
2) So, I didn't vote this year. I never re-registered when we moved into our house from Greeley (yes that was a ridiculously long time ago). Well, I feel that citizen karma has come to me because I got a jury duty summons today in the mail. If I don't serve my country in one way, I guess I have to serve in another. But... what are breast feeding women supposed to do!? Being a mom is not listed on the reasons for excused duty! I have to postpone the date anyway because it is while I'm going to be in Rhode Island, but when do I move it to? At least Caleb takes a bottle and I have Al's mom to potentially watch him for me. Anyway... I'll definitely vote next time... my driver's license is up for renewal and I will register then in hopes of satisfying Uncle Sam :).