So...since I last wrote 3 years ago, so much has changed!! I'm a mother. Wow. I'm a mom. I've been entrusted with a beautiful precious sweet funny baby boy, and it's up to me (and Chad of course) to care for him..love him....protect him... nurture him.....provide spiritual guidance....make decisions that will affect him the rest of his life....etc.. etc.. etc. Motherhood is tough, overwhelming, terrifying, stressful, tiring, emotional, amazing, wonderful, hilarious, magical, indescribable.
My little buddy is 8 months old. Wow. 8 months old. That means in 4 months, he'll be 1. And that means that soon, I'll only have 17 more years left with Caleb at home, if I'm lucky. And 17 years might sound like a lot... but these past 8 months have flown by so quickly that 17 years sounds like a very short time indeed (as my friend Erin helped me to realize). There's a Wal-Mart commercial that is playing now set to Taylor Swift's song "Never Grow Up". I cant see that commercial without crying. Because that's what i'm thinking continally right now. Never grow up Caleb. Never grow up..!
Confessoin: The first couple of months of Caleb's life were hard. I was a basketcase..! I tought I wasnt cut out to be a mom. It was such a drastic change... going from working full-time and being out-and-about all the time to being stuck at a home with a baby.. alone....A baby who at the time seemed very difficult. I was in pain from L and D- which you expect some pain, but I didnt expect so much pain. And of course with L and D you lose a lot of blood- and you dont sleep- so I was incredibly tired. So before having a baby, I thought yes, a newborn would be hard. which they are. but then factor in pain, weak from losing blood (medical term=anemia), not getting any sleep, and then having to go straight into caring for a newborn without any time to recover....yikes. it was hard. Oh and on top of that, your hormones go crazy after giving birth... so that adds a whole other layer of complexity to the situation! Friends and family kept saying.. just give it time. It'll get better. When you're living in it though, it's hard to upderstand that. it's hard to realize that your body will heal. you wont always feel so exhausted. your hormones will regulate eventually, and you'll be better. I wish I could go back in time and force myself to really understand that. I feel like I kept wishing for time to pass so that I would feel better that I didnt really get to enjoy Caleb when he was so little. He was so tiny....(6lbs 8 oz) so precious then. But like I said, when you're living it, its hard to understand. Next baby I'll know right? except I hear you get to relive all of those emotions all over again...!
So Caleb is 8 months old.. 8 months is a really neat and fun age :). He's babbling now "dadada" "babababa" and sometimes the occasional "mamamama"- and I like to pretend that he knows exactly what he's saying when he babbles mamamama. He's doing this army crawl thing.. hopefully he'll get the hang of real crawling sometime soon... I dont know if he'll get crawling down though because my little stinker is so stubborn and wants to be standing all the time! Caleb has a crazy huge appetite. The pediatrian asked me how many oz he normally eats at his 4 month appt and she was shocked when I told her the number... I think he's just so busy all the time that he needs more calories than the average baby! and he might have inherited my crazy fast metabolsim too! :) He's 90th % for height, 75th % for weight, and his head circumference is off the charts.... thats right- off the charts. Some large clothes wont fit him because I cnat fit them over his head. And we have to buy some pretty large hats for him- hats that almost fit me..!
Here are some things Caleb loves:
- Eating food... I think breakfast and dinner time when he gets solids are his favorite times of the day! He kicks his legs all over the place when he's in his high chair because he's so excited!!
- Looking at himself in the mirror. He's so vain :) Which I would be too if I were that cute.
- When we sing to him. And dance with him. My favorite thing to do with him right now is to dance with him with his cheek next to mine and sing him the "dancing cheek to cheek song". I can see his little smile out of the corner of my eye as I'm dancing with him around the room and its so so precious.
- Bath time. He loves splashing in the water and listening to mommy and daddy sing "splish splash" while we lather him up.
- Going places!! He loves being out and about- seeing different people, places and things
- Dogs. Dogs make him smile. Someitmes I think that he thinks he's a dog because he's always with them.
- Standing. He loves standing and walking while you are holding his hand.
- Reading books. He sits there with his legs kicking and smiles when he sees his favorite pages
- knocking down blocks. and taking off peoples glasses
- A new thing that he just started doing yesterday- putting a big toy in his mouth and holding it there while he lets go of it and then grunting until I notice. And then starts laughing and wants me to laugh wiht him when I look over at him and see whatever big toy he's captured in his mouth. he's a ham.
