Happy 6 Months

6 Months Already - WOW!

At your 6 month appointment you weighed 12 lbs., 2 oz. and measured 24 inches long.

What a cute little guy you are. Lately you are enjoying sitting up on your own and beginning to fall over less - you are getting the hang of it. Most of your day you spend taking in all the events of your family who loves you much. Jack and Hannah love helping me with you. Whenever you start making noise on the monitor after a nap, your big brother always says "Let me go check on Caleb." Jack and Hannah then both run up the stairs to greet you. They spend a good portion of their day talking to you and rolling around on the floor with you. As much as they like you -- you seem to like them just as much. They are a constant source of entertainment for you as you watch them run around while you are sitting on the floor, in the jumper, excersaucer, etc.

You are still twirling in the jumper, we are waiting on your first jump. When sitting in the excersaucer you now reach out and play with everything using your hands. When you see something you want your eyes and your mouth simultaneously open wide with excitement and then you reach out to grab the item and bring it to your mouth. It is very cute! You enjoy shaking things and playing with balls, rattles, stuffed animals, etc.

We recently switched you from your hammock to the crib - you made a fine adjustment. During the day you mainly nap in your crib. You occasionally fall asleep in your car seat if we have to be out. When we can't get you to take you a nap we either let you sleep in the swing or in the ergo carrier. Just when I think I see a pattern or a schedule developing (I try so hard to help you with this) you switch it up on me. But it will come soon.

Roly poly - you have been starting to roll more often. For awhile you have been able to roll from your front to back and back to front. Recently I set you down and then you saw several feet away...you rolled until you hit the wall and could go no further. Also when laying on your tummy you will see an object several inches in front of you just out of your grasp -- I can tell you want it but can't reach. If you only knew how to crawl. (Soon enough)

Love watching your little personality continue to emerge. You will go to almost anyone and continue to be happy as long as you are well rested and fed. You smile easily for others, especially your family who you smile at just because you like us!

We like you too. We love you Caleb. Happy 1/2 Birthday!

Travels

I love to travel. I suppose this is fitting as I am a travel agent. I normally love to go places and love the way we get there, example - I enjoy plane rides, I love road trips. However, I do not enjoy this part of traveling at my current life stage. A few days ago we drove down to Denver and spent the night in a hotel - all 5 of us in one room. Let me just say that one of my children was still awake at 10:30.

Watching a movie in the hotel room, "winding down."

The next morning we woke up at 3:30AM and caught the 4 AM shuttle to the airport. Yikes, talk about tired kiddos. We caught a 6 AM flight to Atlanta, had about an hour layover and then took another flight to New York.

I won't go into all the details, I will just say it was stressful and it was so awful at different points of our aviation journey that I couldn't even cry. I was just in disbelief. Travel with a newly potty trained 2 year old, another 2 year old, and a 6 month old is something I would wish upon no one. My 2 year olds are old enough to watch movies but they are still two and act like it - a plane ride is no exception.

At least he slept a little bit on the plane.

The bottom line is that we made it and are now prepared to enjoy the next week here in New York visiting with family! I would also like to add that despite the elevated blood pressure and anxiety levels the outcome of our travels is definitely worth it!

Greeting Papa at the airport.

(kind of already dreading our 12 hour car ride at Christmas, anyone have any great tips?)

Happy Thanksgiving

So many things to be thankful for. We made a Thanksgiving Tree this year with the kids hand prints. It has been good for us to talk with the kids about the things they are thankful for...we ended up with a variety of items on our tree:

Thomas the train

clean water

shoes

thomas the train/princess sheets

coffee (that's mine)

family/friends

What a great holiday! Looking forward to celebrating tomorrow (Friday) with Mark's family!

Getting Ready for Turkey Day

We are ready for Thanksgiving!

Uncle J

My brother a.k.a. Uncle Jacob stopped in this last weekend for a quick visit. We did our usual donut shop visit, played, and I even got a little bit of one on one time with my brother. I am thankful for the time we had together. Can't wait to see him again at Christmas!

This was Jacob's 3rd time to get to see his littlest nephew since he was born. Thankful for all the time they are getting to spend together.

Uncle J showing J&H a silly app on his phone.

Toms

I recently attended a Toms "Style your Sole Party." This is where all the attendees purchase and decorate a white pair of Toms shoes. If you are not familiar with Toms shoes, it is a company that donates a pair of shoes for every pair purchased. The party was held at an art studio in town and was put together by a friend of mine. She is a high school student that has a huge heart for others - this was part of her Personal Project for school...I am honored to know her and I am so proud of the young woman she is becoming.

These are my first pair of Toms shoes and it was fun to get to put my creativity to use for a few hours while I hung out with some girls and decorated my Toms. I decorated mine with Africa for my little girl who is obsessed with talking about Ethiopia --her birth country.

This is a shot of some of the girls' shoes.

For more pictures you can go to...www.flickr.com/photos/sumcotoms

Candy Beans

Tonight I was fixing dinner and asked Mark and Jack to get the kidney beans out of the pantry for our chili. Jack was ridiculously excited about the "candy beans." I am talking jumping up and down and giddy with laughter. When we sat down to eat he kept asking for different colored beans. Poor kid, he was a bit disappointed when he learned the difference between kidney beans and jelly beans.

Thankful Thursday

I love my family. Seven years ago when I moved to Breckenridge to be a ski-bum I never imagined that this is what my life would be like today... Married to Mark with three children. What a beautiful family God has given me. I love that my days are filled with laughter, chaos, sticky hands, spit-up, hugs & kisses, pretend crocodiles, dress-up, lots of coffee and candy, and a best friend who comes home to me every night.

Happy 5 Months

So this post is late again (sorry little guy). It is true I have less time now that you are here but so worth it! These days you are alert and happy almost all the time.

The exceptions to this are when you are sick, hungry, or getting sleepy. The eating and the sleep thing we try and stay on top of and help you out before you get worked up. Your body strength has developed so much - you are sitting up and will stay upright if we set you up just right. Otherwise with a pillow you can sit up and look at all the commotion going on around you. You also spend time sitting in the bumbo chair, the high chair (when we are eating), the excersaucer, the jumper, and the swing. While you do get in the jumper you are not jumping yet...just sitting and twirling.

Your personality is so happy and your most favorite thing is for people to be looking at you. Your eyes are so expressive and you just love when someones eyes look at yours and you can lock the gaze and dazzle us with your smile. Speaking of your smile, I am in love with your dimple on your left cheek -- just like mine! You and me spend our days trying to keep up with Jack and Hannah. We have dance parties (you are always my dance partner), we all read books together, we watch them do art projects,etc. There is always a lot going on and you seem very content to soak it all in and go with whatever is going on.

The noises you make these days are awesome - you experiment with your voice a lot and make lots of little sounds, you love blowing raspberries, and your little laugh makes my heart turn into a pile of mush. We fake sneeze at you "Ah choo," and send you into a fit of giggles. Jack and Hannah love to play this game with you.

Sleeping - I kind of don't want to talk about it. You wake up way more than I would like. But you always go right back to sleep. Putting you down has been fairly easy...swaddled and in the hammock. A lot of mornings you wake up before we think you should so we take you downstairs and put you in the swing - you go right back to sleep. Eventually we will have to stop this but it is working for now.

You are getting big so fast! We love you Caleb James!

I'm a Model

This last weekend I asked Mark to take Hannah outside and get a few pictures of her. She was pretty excited that I actually let her wear those big black boots out of the house. When Mark came back inside he was laughing so hard.

He told her to stand in front of the door and she came up with these poses all on her own. Where does she learn this stuff? We both had a good laugh and then pondered what the future might hold for her...she is only 2 and already pretty full of herself.

I keep thinking of the "I'm too Sexy" song when I see these pictures.

"I'm a model you know what I mean, And I do my little turn on the catwalk."

Halloween

Happy Halloween

Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

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Flashback: I was a Mouse when I was 2, too!

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Caleb the Giraffe and his friend Madison the Clown.

Dad and Mom with Caleb.

Love that little tail / The Hubbards Trick or Treating.

Halloween was fun this year because the "big Kids" understood what was going on. They enjoyed getting candy in their pumpkins and really loved dressing up as Mickey and Minnie.