Sibling Love

Caeden and Callie get lots of  "playtime" together during the day.  So far, they still adore each other.  Callie is always awake first in the mornings, so when Caeden wakes up and she sees him for the first time - she gets the biggest smile on her face and starts kicking so fast!  He is the same way - he likes to hold her first thing, he likes to help me with her, and he truly is so good with her!  I just love to see their relationship at this stage!  Just want to share some fun pictures of their sibling love!!

Playing in Caeden's tent

Silver Dollar City!!!

Last weekend, we took our first trip to Silver Dollar City for the year!  Caeden remembered it from last year and was super excited!  Of course this was Callie's first trip, and she handled it like a champ!

We left at 8:00 that morning, ready for the day!  Callie took her morning nap in the car towards the end of the trip.  The traffic was light and we got in quickly - Yay!  (PS - the weather was absolutely perfect that day - sunny & mid-70s!)

The first thing we did was ride the train - before the line got too long.  This is usually one of Caeden's favorite parts!  The whistle was a little loud for Callie, so we heard several cries every time they blew the whistle, but I think she got used to it as the ride went on.

Sitting in Nonni's lap!

Caeden giving some money

to the "robbers!"

Callie and Nana

Papa with cousin Lyla

(she slept through the entire

loud train ride)

Then it was time for the kid rides.  Caeden rode the kids' roller coaster last year and wasn't a fan.  But apparently he forgot because he wanted to ride it again this year - and loved it!  He was smiling and laughing the whole time!!

They are in the front car

 We paused between rides to eat lunch, and then it was time for Callie's nap.  She slept 1.5 hours in my Boba wrap while Caeden continued to ride rides.

 Riding the elephant ride with Papa

Unfortunately I didn't take anymore pictures after this.  We made our way over to Geyser Gulch where Caeden loves to shoot the balls.  We then went through Granfather's Mansion - he loves the part with the upside down rocking chair!  And finally, we headed home - where Callie took an evening nap in the car, and Caeden relaxed to a movie!  We had a blast, but needless to say, we were ALL in bed early that night!

Date Night with Mr. Man!

Caeden and I have recently started going on periodic "dates" in the last year.  Last week, we went to Chick-fil-a for a date night.  They were hosting a Mother-Son Date "Knight" for Mother's Day!  We were both so excited - we even both got fancied up!  Reid and I have talked about using these opportunities to teach our kids how to treat the opposite sex.  So, while Reid was getting Caeden dressed, he talked to him about how to open the door for mommy when we get to Chick-fil-a.  And Caeden did (with a little help of course...those doors are a little heavy!)  :)   But it was so sweet of him!

Here is our date night story, told by pictures:

Pre-Date picture

They did a Medieval Knight theme, so when we first arrived, we were greeted by 2 workers dressed up as a Knight and Princess, standing at a podium.  We had to confirm our reservation, and they took us to our table.  Even the cow was dressed up as a knight!

While we waited on our food, he was able

to draw our Family Crest on his shield of armor.

Of course, being three years old, our Family Crest

was a bunch of scirbbles!! :) 

Mommy & Caeden enjoying our food!

I loved the tablecloth and candle centerpiece.

They also had a sheet of conversation starters

that mommies could ask their sons - so fun!

After dinner - the chocolate fountain!!!

Love it!

And that cute face!

Of course, we couldn't leave before

playing on the indoor playground!

And as we were leaving, we noticed a man making

balloon animals.  So we got in line, and Caeden

requested a blue mouse!  Again, he 

was soooo excited about this part!!

I had so much fun with Mr. Man that night - and I can't wait to continue "dating" him as he grows!

Fishing with Daddy

After school one day, Reid took Caeden fishing at a pond that is nearby our house.  After going a few times and not catching anything, Caeden finally caught a small catfish!  Boy, was he excited!!  He talked about it the rest of the night, and kept telling me that it felt "slimy!"  This picture is just too cute for words!

Squeaky Clean

After a long winter and very few car washes, Reid decided our van needed a good scrub-down.  So on a warm day recently, he got out the hose, soap, and sponges.  And course, Caeden wanted to "help!"  Our neighbor friend was over too, so they all joined in on the fun!

This was his favorite part...

dipping the sponge in the bubbles.

He would then smear the bubbles

around on the sponge.  I guess he wanted

to make sure it had enough soap to scrub. 

Darby and Caeden - what a team!

Notice how much more wet he's gotten...

By the end, it was more of a water play activity, and both kids were soaked!  But we had fun and memories were made!

Callie: 7 months!

This is my big girl at 7 months old! She just keeps growing! Although I know this is expected, it just seems like she's growing faster than she's supposed to be! I cherish each day I'm given with her! 

Here is a summary of her seventh month (when she was 6 mos old):

EATING 

Callie generally ate every 4 hours. However if I needed to adjust her schedule on a certain day, she could eat earlier if needed. She finally fell into a feeding schedule that seemed to stay the same over the month. She would normally eat breakfast (nurse, solids, bottle) between 7-8am. Then lunch (solids, bottle) around 11/11:30am, a snack (bottle only) around 2:30/3:00, and dinner (solids, bottle) around 6/6:30. Sometimes she would wake for a short feeding in the middle of the night, but not usually. 

She started refusing nursing at most feedings. She would always nurse at her first feeding (and in the middle of the night if that happened) but that's it! So we did mostly solids and formula this month. Her bottles ranged from 4-7 oz. 

Once she turned 6 months old, we started her on fruits and veggies. Her first food was avocado. Then she had bananas, then sweet potatoes, then yogurt, then pears. Every time we introduced a new food, she made funny faces at first and wasn't crazy about the new flavor, but usually after the second feeding, she was fine! She will eat any of these foods without any trouble. So far, I'm still making her own baby food, and I love it!

 First Veggie: Avocado!

Feeding herself a teething biscuit

SLEEPING

Callie's sleep pretty much stayed the same this month. She took 3 naps a day. They weren't always at the exact same time each day....I just watched her for sleepy signs. She tended to usually stay awake around 2 hours between naps. Her morning nap seemed to get shorter (30-45 min), her afternoon nap was usually 1-2 hours, and then her evening nap was also short (30-45 min). As long as she woke up happy and playing, I knew she was well-rested. 

At nighttime, she seemed to have several night wakings this month. Most of the time she would go right back to sleep when given her pacifier, but sometimes she would eat. She can put her paci in by herself during the day, but she doesn't do it at night yet. I think it's just because she wakes up disoriented and can't find it. But her sleep was getting better with less night wakings by the end of the month. 

Another milestone in sleeping this month: we successfully took away her wedge that she slept on and we finally weaned her from swaddling!!! Yay! We've tried this several times and each time her sleep went dramatically downhill. But I didn't worry too much....I figured we would just keep trying every once in awhile until she was ready. This month, it finally worked! We started out by un-swaddling one arm. Once she had done that for a few weeks while maintaining her normal sleep patterns, we went to swaddling her trunk only. I'm just so glad to be done with this!!

PLAYING

This was a big month for Callie and she learned to do lots of new things! She figured out her Jumperoo and loves it!  Since she had learned to sit on her own at 5.5 months, we got some of her "big girl" toys and she has fun with those too!! Some of her favorite toys are her baby piano, baby laptop, and her learning home. It's fun to see how quickly she learns which buttons, switches, and spinners do different things. 

 Letting big brother push her in the Cozy Coupe

She L.O.V.E.D. this thing!

She stayed in it for so long and just let us push her

in circles around the driveway!

She has also been figuring out object permanence. If we hide something, she will look for it. If she drops something from up high, she will bend her head over, trying to find it. She loves to look at herself in a mirror....she smiles so big at herself and sometimes laughs. We love her big open-mouthed kisses that she gives! When on her tummy, she kicks her feet so hard like she's trying to go somewhere, but just can't quite I figure out how to move yet! But I think our favorite part is listening to her talk. She started babbling at the end of this month and she is so expressive (and loud) as she tells us all about her day! 

Callie is also great about playing independently. She will sit and play in one spot with a few toys for 10-20 minutes. I feel like this is pretty good for a baby who can't move around yet. BUT if I walk through the room where she can see me...it's all over....she wants to be picked up. So I often try to stay out of eyesight when she's playing by herself. :)

 First time on the swing!

Again, Caeden has fun pushing her!

Swinging together!

Another first....Callie started going to the church nursery on Sundays this month, at 6.5 months old. Up until this point she would still either sleep or sit quietly during the adult service. But finally, she got to the point where she was ready to play (loudly). She has done fine in the nursery so far. Both weeks that she's gone, the teachers have commented on how she was the happiest baby and how great she did. 

TEETHING

Callie still does not have any teeth, but she started showing several signs of teething at the end if this month (right at 7 mos). She has been extremely fussy (but acts better with medicine), is a drooling machine, and we are constantly wiping her (clear) runny nose. So who knows? Maybe we'll see some teeth soon!?

On a day she didn't feel good,

but still smiling!

OUTINGS

Callie went on her first camping trip this month, and loved it! I think she just really enjoyed being outside the whole time, and she still slept great the whole time. More details on that trip here. 

We also took her to Silver Dollar City for the first time. My parents, Reid's parents, and my sister's family all went together. Again, Callie did wonderfully! She took a morning nap in the car on the way to Branson, a 1.5 hour afternoon nap in my Boba wrap, and an evening nap on the way home. She was just happy and content, enjoying being held by lots of people! :) More on this trip in a future post!

GROWTH STATS

Weight: 18 lbs 3 oz

Length: ??

Clothes size: 6-9 mos, 6-12 mos, 9 mos

Shoe size: finally moved up to a size 1!!

Diaper size: 3

MILESTONES

• Can feed herself a teething biscuit or cracker
• Babbles (says ra/ra/ra, da/da/da, na/na/na, and a few other random sounds)
• Smiles a lot when interacting with people (very social)
• Objects and gets upset if we (or big brother) try to take a toy away 
• Really works to get a toy that's out of reach
• Looks for a dropped object
• Rakes with fingers to pick up small objects...can pick up a "puff" but can't open her hand to get it into her mouth
• Passes toys and objects from one hand to the other

Callie, 

We just love hearing your sweet voice, and big belly laugh. We adore your proud smile. And it's amazing to see how quickly you figure things out and learn. You are very clingy to mommy right now, but mommy doesn't mind at all. You also get so exited when Daddy walks in the door or when Caeden walks toward you to play. Our family is so complete with you as a part of it. 

We love you sooooo much!

Jumping, Jumping!

This is the day Callie figured out how to jump in her Jumperoo!  We had been putting her in it daily since she was 5 months old, but she would just play with the toys.  Finally, one day, it clicked!  And she has loved it ever since!

April Camping

As many people know, our family loves to go camping!  We usually go 3-5 times a year, and have done so since I was in junior high.  Our favorite camping is in the Spring and Fall, when it's not ridiculously hot!  So, we scheduled a weekend in April to go to Devil's Den with my family.  We had the pop-up camper, and my parents had their large RV...with our sites right next to each other.  It was wonderful!  

We arrived Friday evening, and left Sunday morning.  But all of these pictures are from Saturday!  With our crazy Spring weather this year, it ended up being colder than we had anticipated.  So, each morning, we just bundled up before we went outside!

Nana & Callie

Sitting in her pack 'n play

while we got breakfast ready.

And then playing in her ExerSaucer,

one of her favorite toys!

This is Caeden....

our miner who was rescuing Spiderman!

He seriously loved this hat and wore it

almost the whole weekend!

Amber & Caleb made it up for the day...

So here is baby Lyla (3 weeks old)!

Mommy & Callie

Caeden loves to go in & out of the camper

all by himself!  :)

Callie laying on her playmat....in the pack 'n play!

And Caeden trying to help entertain her!

He sure loves his sister!

Going on a hike! 

Another reason I LOVE my Boba wrap!

COUSINS on their first hike together!

Nana & Caeden having lots of fun!

Then it was Papa's turn to carry him!

Our one family pic from the weekend!

Later in the evneing,

Checkin' out the campfire!

Caeden just LOVES being outside!

Here he is with a big dump truck, collecting rocks!

Caeden & Daddy roasting a hot dog!

The men by the fire...

Uncle Caleb & Cousin Emerson

Cousins!  Eating their dinner together!

After dinner, Caeden & Daddy went on a bike ride.

They actually did this A LOT over the weekend!

Eating in the camper....with his miner hat!

Emerson eating his S'more

Caeden checking out his new cousin, Lyla

Yum!  Caeden & I think the S'mores 

are one of the best parts of the weekend!

We had a wonderful first camping trip of the year!  And Callie did an awesome job for her first time outside for a weekend!  They both still took great naps, and slept great at night!  We can't wait for our next camping trip - although I'm sure it will be much hotter this next time!