I was feeling rather productive this morning. I got Caleb his breakfast, I emptied the sink and started some dishes in the washer, washed some clothes for Caleb, then I got the bright idea to mow the backyard. Caleb was going to help me with his little lawnmower.

Yeah, not so grand of an idea after all.

It wasn't all that long persay, but it's just so humid here, that it wipes you out like after three passes. And for those of you who have seen pictures of my backyard, you know it's huge. We have a rider that we use for the backyard, but the last time Jordan used it, one wheel came completely off, and the other wheel went completely flat. Not only that, it didn't start well in the beginning. It's a refurbished mower, but for some reason it didn't work well this time. The only thing that we can figure is that something happened with it after Jordan's dad used it when he was here in July (NOTE: I'm not saying that he did something, I'm wondering if something was going on with it and he forgot to tell us ). Ot it just took Jordan to get on it and the mower just decided to have PMS that day. I don't know. Whatever the reason, the parts for it are very inexpensive, so it's not going to cost us very much.

Anyway, back to the backyard mowing fest.

So, by the time I did the last pass, I seriously thought I was going to pass out. I was completely soaked (looked like I just jumped in the pool), my mouth was completely dry. I was stumbling when i walked. Needless to say, if I had gotten into trouble, nobody would have known but Caleb, and he can't run and get help. So, I was glad I was done. Caleb helped me push the lawnmower back to the garage and we both were ready to go inside to cool off and have something to drink.

While i was mowing, he mowed little patches, then got bored and played with the dogs, then played in their water, then mowed again. He was occupied and couldn't get into trouble, so it was a good thing.  Plus, he had some outside time.

Soon as I got in the bathroom, I immediately got into the shower and made sure that the water was cool. It felt FABULOUS!! I felt better almost immediately, which means I just got overheated (which is a crock, because the temp is only 70, but because it's humid it's probably near the mid 80s).

Now, I'm just drinking water and enjoying being cool. I might just take a nap when Caleb goes down in an hour or so.

Unfortunatly, this is my weekend to work. I hate working weekends. I wish we could get our debts down enough so that I can just stay home. Although, knowing me, I'll hate that after awhile and wish to be back at work. Honestly, I have a great schedule right now, it's the weekend I hate working. Even when we have another child, I'll stick with that I think, unless work happens to get me angry again.

Today's Caleb Photo:

Caleb's Baby Forecast: Playing with his Elmo Phone

Today, our little boy is one year old.

I would go through this day as what was happening and what I was feeling, but I'm not going to do that this time. Although, it is tempting.  It still is really weird though that he could be a year old.

It's been kind of an emotional day today. I was the first one to greet Caleb this morning and it was nice to be able to just spend some time with him one on one and cuddle with him. I think he liked it too. I then brought him down for his Maw Maw Tex and Paw Paw Tex to see and wish him Happy Birthday. Then it was breakfast time.

At 8am, I got him dressed because he was going to get another professional photo shoot for his birthday. But before he did that, he decided he was going to fall down the stairs. LOL. It scared him mostly because he reached out and grabbed one of the staircase rungs and that stopped him from falling all the way down. He didn't hurt anything, but he definitely was scared. And rightfully so, I guess.

So, I got his birthday cake out from the freezer, and it wound up being very rubbery and hard, and just not edible, so I had to go get another one. But I was going to give it the rest of the day and if it still wasn't right, I'd get it closer to dinner time.

At the photo shoot, he was just cranky. He didn't want any part of it whatsoever. I knew he was getting tired and I think that was the majority of the problem. I'm not sure exactly how the shoot took, but we'll see. She said that if I wasn't happy, I could come back for a reshoot, so I'll keep that in mind when I look at the proofs.

On the way home, he went to sleep. My plan was to go to walmart because we got a gift that my in-laws got, so I had to go and exchange it for something else, but becuase he was asleep, I felt it better to go home and let him sleep for a bit.

I dropped by  my parents house to give them their picture they had ordered from Caleb's Nine Month Photo Shoot, and also dropped off my in-laws collage picture. when I got back, I noticed that he was awake but went home anyway thinking that I could get him to sleep for a bit. Nope. Not at all.

So, I went to walmart and di what I needed to do. By the time I got hom it was about 2pm and it was time for him to eat, so I had my father-in-law feed him while I went ahead and started dinner for tonight. We put him upstairs because he was acting sleepy, but again, he still didn't sleep. UGH. Frustrating.

Had to wind up getting the cake, so we got an ice cream cake for the adults, and Caleb has his own little cake that he can get all messy with. That should be interesting.

Caleb finally went to sleep, and I have a feeling we're going to have to wake him up and he's going to be really cranky. Poor little thing has just had it rough today.

Right now, we're just waiting for dinner to cook and then the real celebration can begin. I just hope that Caleb will brighten up a little bit. It's his birthday after all.

On a side note, Caleb has begun to take his first steps!!! I bet he's going to be walking within the next couple of weeks.

I'll have PLENTY of pictures from tonight, but it will probably be in the next couple of days before I can actually get them on here.

Happy Birthday, Little Man. Your daddy and I love you VERY much.

Caleb's Weekly Forecast: That major rite of passage is almost here, if it hasn't happened already — some time this month, your baby may take his first steps alone. (If he doesn't, don't worry — it takes some children several more weeks or months to start toddling.) If he's like most children, your little one will take those early strides on tiptoe with his feet turned outward. Keep the camera ready to capture the moment!

Your baby's play probably will start shifting from mastering his fine motor skills — he's got that thumb-and-forefinger grasp down pat — to exercising larger muscles. Some children this age have an attention span of two to five minutes for quiet activities, although your child's favorite games may not be all that quiet.

Your child probably thinks it's fun to push, throw, and knock everything down. He'll give you a toy as well as take one, and he likes games where he can put things in containers and dump them out again. This works well with blocks in buckets or boxes and with pots and pans, which he can nest inside one another. He'll thrill to the loud sounds of those pots and pans banging together, too.

One year ago tonight, Jordan, me and my mom were on our way to the hospital for me to start my induction. It seems so surreal. I just can't get past the fact that it's been a year already. I have mixed emotions right now. I'm happy and excited, but at the same time, I'm sad. This year has just gone by so fast and I can't wrap my head around it all.

I can still remember my thoughts as we were going to the hospital. I was feeling so relieved that I wasn't going to have to carry him in my womb much longer. It was getting to the point I was too uncomfortable to move.

The whole process started at around 8:30 that night when my nurse gave me the cervidil to start softening my cervix. It didn't hurt and I didn't feel anything, but I sure did remember the fact that the monitor would slip everytime I would slightly move and the nurse would have to come in and readjust it every two hours. It wasn't a good night. I was tired and the ambien they gave me to help me sleep, obviously didn't help. LOL.

Caleb has had a really good week. He's spent time with his grammy on Monday and his maw maw tex and paw paw tex came to visit on Monday. He's been having all kinds of visitors it seems. On top of that, he's getting birthday cards and it just seems so weird. I can't help but wonder what he's thinking with all the commotion as of the past few days. He has to be thinking something is going on.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It's going to be a very busy but emotional day for all of us I think.

Caleb's Baby Forecast: Sleeping

For the next month, I do not have to work a weekend. I'm really excited. We're going a way for the weekend in the middle of November, and because that was the weekend I was SUPPOSE to work, I switched with someone in order to have it covered. That is why I worked every weekend in October. Thankfully, the way it worked out, I'm not working any weekend in November. That is so cool. I'd like to do that all the time, but I'd be the only one who would want to do that.

This month is going to be very busy. Caleb's birthday is Wednesday and we're going to have family in town, then we will be going away for a weekend, then we have Thanksgiving. It will be busy for sure.

Caleb is doing so well going up and down the stairs. He's getting really fast at it too. He's standing for long periods of time and that is just one step closer to walking. It's going to be really exciting the day that he does that. He still likes to walk assisted and he goes pretty fast with that. I can't imagine when walking by himself happens. He's probably going to start running soon after he walks with the way he goes sometimes.

Caleb's Daily Forecst: Playing with the diaper bag

Everybody clap your hands because you have never heard a musician is good as this young man. He'll melt your heart with this rendition of chopsticks. He's definitely one to watch for in the future. Not only is he a great musician, but he's good looking too!!!

And now for the music man, himself....CALEB!!!

Maestro Caleb

Caleb's Daily Forecast: Playing

...to be afraid of, Caleb is afraid of our vacuum cleaner. Actually, it isn't just OUR vacuum cleaner. It's any vacuum cleaner. He's so afraid of it that he won't come down the stairs if it's anywhere near it. Poor thing.

I've done just about everything that I can to try to ease his fear, but it doesn't work. I've vacuumed with him in my arms and he tries to get away OR he stares at it until I'm done that wants to leave. Or, I've left it off and take him to it so that he can just be used to it, but the moment I leave the room, he hightails it out of there. Or, if he's in another room and I'm vacuuming another, he'll uncontrollably because it's on and getting closer. <sigh>

Guess I will have to vacuum on the weekends when we are both home. Not that it's a big deal, but it's a little inconvienent.

I worked this weekend and it was pretty nice. Slow and just relaxed. I like those kind of weekends. Unfortunatly, flu season is coming and those types of weekens won't last for long. It's going to get busy. VERY BUSY!!.

Still have my cold, although I'm getting better little by little. It will be 12 days on Thursday when my antibiotic regimen will completely be out of my system. If I'm still not 100% by then, will have to talk to my pulmonologist again. The antibiotics that I took worked wonders, but still not over it. This is a strain that really is a bad one. It takes up to two weeks to get over it so I've been told. Right now, I'm all cough and mucous productive. No more extreme high temps or anything. That was the worst part. I've never been that sick. That was awful.

Caleb is over his though for the most part. Every once and awhile he'll have a little cough, but it's s far and in between that it's not worth mentioning at this point. So, he's back to normal for the most part.

I can't believe in EIGHT DAYS Caleb is going to be ONE YEAR OLD!!! I'm really sad. He's grown up so much. I sat down the other day looking through pictures and he's changed so much. And it's only going to happen more and more and I don't like it one bit. NOT. ONE. BIT.

What's worse is that he seems to be a head in a lot of things. I put thse Weekly Forecast things on the bottom of my posts and everytime I read them, he's already done that at least two weeks ahead of what they are saying (but then again, they don't have to be doing it at that particular week). Sometimes, he's ahead by a month. It's exciting but scary all at the same time. I think he's going to be a smart one, but we will have to nurture that and make sure that he applies himself.

I'm a part of a mommy message board, and I get a little jealous when they are doing something that Caleb isn't (ie, walking). But, I quickly come to the realization that Caleb is Caleb and that he's going to do it when HE'S ready. He has been walking with assistance since seven months ( he was very wobbly then, but he became steady by none months), but he just isn't steady enough for that first step by himself. He's just now mastering standing by himself now for longer periods of time. I'm just not going to rush him to do it because everyone else's baby is. Some babies don't even walk until they are 15 months!! I have plenty of time yet. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if he's still a little early than the norm.

This si going to be an exciting time. These next few years we are really going to be tested in our patience and when we add that second child in the mix, WATCH OUT!!!

Caleb's Weekly Forecast: If your baby isn't walking already, he's likely to take his first independent steps soon. (If he doesn't, don't worry. Some perfectly normal babies are 16 or 17 months old before they start walking.)

You can encourage your baby to walk by standing or kneeling in front of him and holding out your hands. Or hold both his hands and walk him toward you. If he's like most children, your baby will take those early strides with his arms out to the side (for balance) and bent at the elbows, his feet turned outward, and belly out in front while his bottom sticks out behind (for balance).

As always, make sure your baby has a soft, safe environment in which to hone his new skills. Follow standard childproofing guidelines and never leave your baby unattended. Most important, keep the camera ready!

You might feel like it's mean to make your baby part with something he's grown so fond of, but experts say now's a good time to start weaning him away from his pacifier.

The longer your baby uses a pacifier, the harder it can be for him to stop, but another reason to make the break now is that it's the beginning of an exciting speech development phase. Your baby may be less likely to chatter away with something in his mouth all the time.

Taking away a pacifier can be tough. Go gradually: Limit daytime use and then work your baby up to not using it at night. You can also try exchanging his pacifier for a stuffed animal or toy.

Around now your baby's play will probably start shifting from mastering his fine motor skills (he's got that thumb-and-forefinger grasp down pat) to exercising larger muscles. Some children this age have an attention span of two to five minutes for quiet activities — though your baby's favorite games may not be all that quiet.

Your baby probably thinks it's fun to push, throw, and knock everything down. He'll give you a toy as well as take one, and he likes games where he can put things in containers and dump them out again. This works well with blocks in buckets or boxes and with pots and pans, which he can nest inside one another. He'll thrill to the loud sounds of those pots and pans banging together, too.

Caleb and I went to Saturn today and had a good time looking at new cars. Caleb found one that he wanted when he grew up:

If I'm going to buy a car for him when he grows up, it sure isn't going to be this. This will be a mommy and daddy car. Not a Caleb's car. But it's nice to know he has good taste. He hightailed it in here when he saw this part of the showroom. I think we stayed in here for about 15-20 minutes before going on to the next point of interest:

THE CHILDREN'S PLAYROOM!! YAY!!!

He had a good time in there. I thought we were done when the guy came in, but he wanted to give me an estimate on what it would cost to fix the back driver's side window. The regulator broke that opens and closes the window so that needed to be replaced. It cost a lot more than expected, but it needed to be done. So, we spent another hour waiting around. We watched MSNBC news and he did pretty well. He was getting tired and I was hoping he'd go to sleep, but he would rather flirt with the pretty girls that were waiting, and they fell for it.

What are we going to do with him???

When we got home, I immediately put him in his crib to go to sleep. That lasted about 5 minutes when I realized he probably needed to be out of his clothing, so I went in there, he was sitting in the corner of his crib. I stripped him, put him back down, put a blanket over him and out the door I went to my own bed. We slept for about 90 minutes. I think he would ahve slept a little longer but he was crying hard. When I got in the room, I realized he had a poopy diaper. UGH.

He's been playing ever since. I have the fireplace going and he just plopped himself in front of it and is playing with one of his toys - actually taking everything out of the bin, but only to put it back a few minutes later.

LOVE. IT.

Caleb's Baby Forecast: Visiting Mommy

I don't have much to write about today. Just don't feel like doing much of anything, but I promised to put the video on that I was trying to get the other day. Caleb wasn't cooperating at the time, but I just got it. It's my shortest video to date, but it's worth it.

Dog Play

Caleb is at the window (obviously), and the dogs came up one by one. It's his new thing now.

My annual bronchitis is back and it's hitting me harder this time because I didn't have it last year. Why you may ask? Because when you're pregnant, you have a build up of progesterone (a steroid), and it keeps you nice and opened up. Now that I'm not pregnant, ugh. I have almost a 101 degree temp, and I'm coughing up my lungs. And the real icing on the cake???? I have to go to work the next couple of days because I'm in the lab, and guess what??? No back-up for me. I'm going to try to see if I can leave early the next couple of days. Thankfully, I have Thurs and Fri off, so that makes it easier, but I'll have to work this weekend again.

I just need to stay home, but I can't and it sucks.

I'm currently trying to get another video of Caleb, but he isn't cooperating. If I get it, I'll put it on tomorrow's blog.

Caleb's Weekly Forecast: Though at this point his vocabulary likely consists of only a couple of words besides "mama" and "dada," your baby can probably babble short, fully inflected sentences that sound like he's speaking a foreign language. Act as though you understand.

Your baby may be able to respond to simple questions and commands, especially if you give him some clues with hand gestures. For example, ask "Where's your mouth?" and point to it. Or try "Hand me the cup" and point to the object. He may even answer you in his own way, using his own gestures, such as shaking his head for "no."

Because he's receptive now, it's a good time to begin to teach your baby how to help out. Emphasize "please" and "thank you," and make toy cleanup time fun by turning it into a game. Though he probably won't get the idea just yet, it's not too early to start. Break the task into very small parts. At this age, he'll need you to work with him by his side.

It's up to you to help your baby make connections between objects and their names — the more you do, the faster your child's vocabulary will grow.

Keep talking to your baby and labeling things. Count stair steps as you climb them, and point out the names and colors of the fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. Read your baby a picture book and ask him to point to or name familiar objects.

Solicit his opinion once in a while: Ask him if he'd like to wear the red or the blue socks, or if he'd like to play with his blocks or his stacking rings. Give him only two choices — both of which are right in front of him. He may not answer, but then again, he may surprise you.

The other day, I was upstairs doing some laundry and Caleb wasn't making a peep, so I went to check on him. I couldn't find him anywhere. He wasn't in his room. He wasn't in the guest room. He wasn't in our room. I happened to glance downstairs, and there he was. Crawling on the floor by my dollhouse. For a minute, I couldn't figure out how he got down there without falling and me hearing him, but apparently, he got down there safely. Then, a thought crossed my mind that maybe I brought him downstairs, and just didn't remember doing it. Seriously, he was by my side no longer than five minutes ago, and you'd think that I'd remember taking him downstairs. I just couldn't remember.

Well, today I was going to find out how he did it. I was on the main level of our house, by the dollhouse, and Caleb was upstairs. I wanted to capture the moment of how our little guy came down the stairs.

Look What I Can Do!!

Before, he would surf board down the stairs, which means, he used his tummy all the way down. As you saw, he obviously didn't surf board his way down the stiars.

Disregard the grunting. He was a little tired and that's what he does when he's sleepy.

I just did a trim. It isn't a full cut, but as you can see in the before/after shots, there still is a difference. Several people made comments, and since I'm the only one that disagreed, I went ahead and compromised. The stylist just evened it all out, and I will admit, it does look better. Still, I felt so defeated.

He was so good and didn't cry at all. He just sat there watching it all, looking at her, finding me, trying to get into it. I am simply amazed at how even keeled Caleb is. He just takes everything in stride. The only thing he didn't like was the hairdryer cleaning up the hair around him. He wanted to pout, but he didn't. Instead, he just made a face that he didn't like it and could use a little help. LOL.

I love him so much.

Caleb's Baby Forecast: Playing