A Whole Lotta Fun

This last month feels like it has been a flurry of activity! So here are the things that have happened in August , in the order they happened, that I haven't mentioned in previous postings:

1. Baby Sam was born August 8, 2008 at 5:42 in the morning. She is the first baby girl on the Shurtliff side of our family. She's going to be one spoiled girl. Her full name is Samantha Lorraine Shurtliff.
2. After 6 months in Texas, you can finalize baby adoptions, so now legally, Dallin is Ariane and Zane's baby as of Friday, August 22, 2008. The following day, he was sealed to his parents in the Houston temple for time and all eternity. There were many tears of joy that day, and Matt and I are so glad we were able to be there in the temple with them for that special event.
3. We bought a mini-van!!! This was totally not on the 'to-do' list for another year until another child was in the picture! For those who don't know Matt, one of his most endearing qualities is that he is such a friendly and out-going person. Leaving church or similar functions is a 30-minute event since he has to say good-bye to so many people. Matt is a very genuine person who would do anything to help his friends and family. One nice side benefit to that is that he's able to strike these amazing deals because of people he knows whether it's baseball tickets, taking our car into the shop, or buying a vehicle! The story usually goes that Matt knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy that just loves Matt and will cut him a sweet deal. Anyway, I'm not quite sure if I was ready to be a "mini-van Mom" just yet, but it was a deal that we couldn't pass up, even with the increase of gas prices. It is a 2005 Dodge Caravan with stow-away features (which we like a lot for future vacations). It's in excellent condition. After we sell my Corolla, we're hoping that the van purchase amounts to only $3-4000 out of pocket, depending on what we can get for my car.
4. We bought new couches for our family room. As much as we love my Grandma and Grandpa's old couch that was passed down to Ariane & Zane and now to us, we had been saving up for something a bit nicer and more trendy :o). I'm a very conservative person when it comes to decorating, so when we were doing some shopping around, I thought I would like the neutral browns, tans, or greens. I was very surprised with myself when I fell in love with some bold, fire-engine red couches! (There are pictures below.) The couch and loveseat have arrived. We are waiting for our chair and cute rug now. Once the rug is in, we'll be picking out paint colors. I'll take a picture of the room once we have it all put together so some of you decorators can give suggestions!

5. Caleb turned one and we celebrated his birthday yesterday (to allow Dallin to have just a 'Dallin weekend' when we originally were going to have the party). Matt's aunt and uncle who live in Conroe, were generous enough to allow us to use their house for the space and the swimming pool. Here are a few pictures of the event:

The birthday boy sporting a new outfit that Daddy picked out for him.
Caleb's birthday cake
Singing 'Happy Birthday'

Digging into the cake and feeding himself with a spoon.

We had to help him get started a bit. I practiced with a cupcake the previous week and Caleb had no problems digging in and making a mess, but Caleb got real shy with everyone watching him so Daddy and I intervened.
Caleb's new toys and clothes:

The pillow was made by Matt's mom that has cute footprints all over it and quotes a phrase from the song, 'I Am a Child of God.'

1 Year Down

I am such a cruel mom! Caleb had his one year check-up on his birthday, which means he got 5 shots. Caleb weighed 22 lbs. (48th percentile), his height was 29.5 in. (42nd percentile), and his head count was in the 55th percentile. (3 months ago his head count was in the 80th percentile, so I'm glad his head is average-sized now.) As the pediatrician and I were chatting, I gave Caleb a ball to distract him. He threw it right to the pediatrician. She was surprised at his accuracy and asked if he could do it again. He threw the ball right to her 5 times in a row. She exclaimed that she has never seen a 1-year-old be able to throw so well and to throw a ball over hand. She asked if she could show him off to the nurses/workers out in the waiting area. Mom's get overly proud of stuff like this :o). After that, we chatted about weaning, which Caleb and I both are having a difficult time with, and the fact that Caleb's right foot turns out quite a bit when he walks. We also talked about discipline and teaching children how to sit still in situations like church. Matt and I pretty much trade off for all our church meetings since Caleb can be pretty noisy, especially if we won't let him run around. So I'm going to start practicing some "quiet" times during the day, probably right before his nap times. Anyway, below are some just-born pictures as well as some recent shots that show how much he's changed.

August 22, 2007

Caleb was born at noon.
His first nap with Daddy.
The day of his blessing

5 weeks old
Our loveable 1-year-old

Up, Over, In & Out

Lately Caleb loves to climb on top of things, such as this box, and crawl into tight quarters. Here are a few pics:

Toasted Buns

So I'd like to think that we all have our "blonde" moments every once in awhile. Last Saturday was one of mine. Caleb woke up with really bad diaper rash and cried during each diaper change. (He had diarrhea, which resulted in A LOT of diaper changes! Poor kid.) I tried as much as I dared to keep a diaper off of him so that his bottom could air out and heal. What better solution than to go outside and play in the water naked? Matt had to go into work unexpectedly, which never happens on the weekends, so Caleb and I were alone. (Rather, Mommy was alone to deal with Caleb's cranky moods from not feeling 100%.) Caleb was having a blast playing outside in the water. My brother and sister-in-law just gave us their Little Tikes play gym, so at the bottom of the slide, I filled up our baby pool. He would run around with the hose, and I turned on the sprinkler after awhile. Needless to say, we were having so much fun that I lost track of time and stayed out there longer than I intended...and Caleb wasn't wearing any sunscreen. In my defense, we go on morning walks/jogs every morning for an hour, and I don't ever put sunscreen on Caleb! He's got his daddy's skin and tans very nicely. But his poor butt cheeks have never seen the sun, and they got a bit toasted. I felt so horrible! Not only did he have diarrhea and diaper rash, but he had a sunburned butt too. (I'm just grateful his front end didn't get burned also!) Luckily he was so exhausted from the day, that he slept really well that night and the next day most of the sunburn had sunk in. I felt so bad about the whole thing that the last thing on my mind was to take a picture, so this picture isn't taken until two days later. Most of the sunburn is gone, but you can tell it was the upper half of his cheeks that got burnt. Really I just wanted to post a picture of my son's cute bum :o) and his famous thunder thighs.

Soccer

I have never been a huge soccer fan, but Matt was able to get some really good tickets through his work. I do not enjoy watching football or baseball all that much because there are so many pauses in the game. Soccer was surprisingly very entertaining to watch because it is non-stop action the entire time. I hear that it is very likely that the game could end in a tie, 0 to 0. It was fun to win 2-0. Go Dynamos! We took my sister and brother-in-law and had a fun date night.

Caleb's First Word

According to the all-knowing books and pamphlets, Caleb is supposed to be able to say 'Mama', 'Dada', as well as point to his body parts when we say them. He will say 'mamamama' and 'dadadada' sounds, but he does not recognize Matt and I as either of those words even though we practice frequently. We also practice his body parts several times a day as well, starting with the face. So after all this work for the past three weeks, Caleb finally said his first word a few days ago. (We have it on video camera, but when we upload our videos to our computer, the videos are very jumpy. Anyone have suggestions?) Caleb's first word was....drum roll....'AT'. Pretty much he just loves to make those sounds together, especially the 't' sound, but he says it all the time. Obviously we have more practicing to do.

When it comes to motor skills, however, Caleb has the books beat. He started walking early (now he's working on a little jog). His favorite activity during the day if nothing else makes him happy is pushing the lawn mower by himself up and down the side walk. He can throw a ball with amazing accuracy, always right-handed much to Matt's dismay. He's also very good about climbing both up and down the stairs. So bottom line, according to my sister Ariane, our boy is going to be all brawn and no brains. :0)

Fun at the Pool

We don't have a pool in our neighborhood yet, so we decided to go to the pool in the neighborhood that my brother and sister live in. I was really impressed with the cool splash pad area for kids. Caleb loved it!

Caleb with his cousin, Drew