Bubbles with Auntie Jenny

Auntie Jenny came to visit. And Caled hammed it up! Lucky for him, the fun continues because he gets Grandma all weekend to himself while Dave and I get a little getaway before Lucas joins us. We love having visitors
Happy Friday!

Happy

that my sweet Caleb still loves to cuddle

still loves his rocks

and watermelon. This boy loves his watermelon.
Photography by Jenny

Maternity Photoshoot

Jenny did a mini-photoshoot. It's a bit more difficult when you add a toddler (on one of his fussy days) to the mix. She captured some really sweet moments though. Here are my some of my favs. I can't believe Caleb will be a big brother in 3 months and we will become a family of four! Wow. It hasn't hit yet...and actually I'm not sure it will hit until after Lucas is born. Thanks for taking these photos Jen!

All Smiles

When Mom and Dad aren't around the smiles and cheeser face comes out. A little boy gets very silly and hams up all the attention. Lucky for him he gets a double dose this week. Two days with Auntie and then an entire weekend with Grandma while Dave and I go camping and enjoy a little getaway, just the two of us, before Lucas joins us. So thank you to Grandma for coming to hang with our little guy and thank you to auntie for playing and taking pictures of Caleb. I can never get him to smile for me in the camera these days. So these photos make me very happy :)






Photography by Jenny Walker
Hope everyone has a beautiful and sunny weekend!

On Motherhood

This video made me smile and laugh, reflect and remember, and to gently remind me, not to take these precious days for granted.

If I could go back to before Caleb was born, I would tell myself
"Pray, Savor, and Breathe Deeply. Treasure each moment because they last but a second, and remember that especially during the hard moments"

What would you tell yourself?

The long awaited

patio furniture has been bought and built :) I'm just giddy about it. Let me explain. When Dave and I got married and lived in our little one bedroom condo that we rented, we would go on long walks in the evening and look at all the beautiful houses and yards. And we would say to eachother, one day we'll have our own house. We would daydream about what the yard would look like, flowers we could plant, etc. Then we bought our first home. And so now we go on long strolls and day dream and plan how our yard will look. Slowly we have been working on our yard, adding our own touch here and there. Since we have gotten married, my daydream has always included patio furniture for our backyard BBQs and a bench swing. To rock gently on in the evenings, talking quietly to my husband, listening to the birds. To hold my babies on, to curl up and read a good book on, to breathe in deeply the sweet smells of each new season. Now, curled up on our swing we are envisioning all the flowers we'll plant in the backyard, the green grass that will grow, the fruit trees to be planted. There's always a little piece of a dream waiting...

Caleb is pretty excited about the patio furniture too.

But, even more excited to help Dad build it.

He even 'read' the directions to dad.

And I do mean, really, tried to read them to dad. What he said, couldn't tell ya...

And being oh so helpful

One day soon, there will be green grass growing on the right side of our yard, maybe a flower pot or two, and some fruit trees and flowers. All in the works....

This was built while Caleb napped. And a good thing, it was a little more involved than the table and chairs.

If you can't find me...I'll be right here, perched like a bird on a tree and happy as can be.

My outside oasis now consists of swinging back and forth, warmed by the sun, watching my sweet little guy play during the day, my hubby by my side in the evenings.

Relaxing

And enjoying the sunshine this week.

The big boy bed saga continues

We're getting there, day by day. I'll be rejoicing when Caleb is completly back to his normal sleep. But for now, he's doing as good as can be expected. He is finally getting the hang of it. Today he pointed to his bed at naptime and walked over to it at bedtime. He is starting to talk himself to sleep like he did in his crib and he has been better about staying in it without us having to go back in. If he does get out, he does a few minutes of trying to open the door by banging and or trying to open the door knob and then gives up and goes back to bed. He is still waking up earlier than normal, but was able to put himself back to sleep this morning after one check-in. Naps are a little shorter than normal too, but I'm just taking it day by day and hoping he'll get back there soon. Patience. Patience. Patience.

There have been some sweet moments, within the stressful moments of this transition.

1. We don't hear a peep in the early morning hours, until the door knob starts turning/thankfully Caleb doesn't know how to escape yet.

2. Caleb makes a request by pointing to his prayer book before we put him in the bed and then climbs into my lap for a cuddle while Dave reads him his prayers, and then he sits and points for me to put him in the bed.

3. We have heard Caleb going back and forth from bed to door a couple times after we leave the room, and then finally putting himself back into bed. At naptime today and bedtime he never got back out of the bed after we left.

Here's hoping, yet again, that maybe we'll make it past the 4/5 am shout out Caleb has been doing these past three days. And that perhaps tomorrow, he'll nap for 2hrs instead of 1 for his mama! But really, I'll take what I can get and I'm grateful that Caleb's been doing this good so far.

Little footsteps in the garden

Caleb was MIA the other day. I was inside for a few minutes and when I went back outside Caleb was nowhere to be found. And then I saw a little flash of blue inside the garden area. Somehow Caleb found his way into (opened up the white fence) the garden and was as busy as ever. Picking up rocks and sticks. Plucking some fresh strawberries, and just doing what he does best. Digging in the dirt and touching everything in his path.
So now I'll have to watch a little more closely so our raspberries don't meet their fate in the little but not always so gentle hands of a toddler boy named Caleb.