I just realized how long it's been since I've blogged about Caleb... wow, time flies, huh?  Caleb is now 20 months old, and continues to be a joy in our lives.  It's hard to believe that, in less than four months, he'll be two years old!  Seems like he learns at least one new thing every day, and is continuously adding to his list of words.  Right now, I believe he says about 100 words that at least Walt & I can understand, and many more that we can't!  We haven't started officially potty training yet, but we bought a seat for the toilet, and will be introducing it over the next few days.  No pressure, though, as he's still pretty young.  He had his first sickness in February, along with his first round of antibiotics.. no fun, but glad he's over it and thankful that he made it 19 months before getting sick for the first time!  Of course, he was so kind to share with Mommy & Daddy, so our house was loads of fun for a few weeks!

Some of his favorite things include: taking a bath (he gets SO excited, signing "bath", squealing it, and practically jumping up and down), "moo" (Horizons Vanilla Milk), cheese, fruit pouches (with mashed up fruit inside), going to the park (he now explores all of the equipment, not just the swings), being outside, spinning in circles, Brobee (Yo Gabba Gabba), Mickey (though Minnie is close to edging him out as favorite these days!), Elmo, playing dog with Daddy, watching Daddy jump and "ribbit" like a frog, saying animal sounds (he knows kitty, dog, cow, chicken, monkey, horse, elephant, sheep, duck, frog, bear, bird, and donkey), our fish (there were three, but we're down to one named Z),  and spending time with family (he just loves Grandma, Granddad, Aunt Michelle, Poppa, and Grammy!!).

Life is good!  Things are mostly the same with us... Walt is in his 12th year of working for the School Board, and I'm loving being a stay-at-home mom.  I "work" part-time as a worship leader at our church, which is more of a blessing than a job, and it's perfect because it doesn't require me to spend time away from Caleb.  He's used to Mommy on stage singing in the microphone, and often mimics me with whatever "microphone" he can find- so funny!  He just continues to blossom and grow and thrive, and we couldn't be more proud parents of him! 

Update:  Shortly after posting this, Caleb poopoo-ed in the potty for the first time! So proud!! YAY!

Somehow, I failed to post this, but Caleb had his first haircut a couple of weeks ago.  We went to the Harmony Barbershop at Magic Kingdom.  I have more pics to post, but here is a before & after:

Wow, it is getting increasingly difficult to get pictures of Caleb!! He is on the move, and doesn't have time to hold still and smile for a picture. Ha!  He is growing by leaps and bounds... running all over the place, getting into whatever he can find, and talking up a storm.  He's really blossomed in the past few months.  His vocabulary now well exceeds 50 words (though mommy & daddy are the only ones who can verify and understand all of the words!).. it's just so neat to watch him get excited over being able to connect a word with an object or action.  Yesterday, he ran all around the house with a book... wasn't particularly interested in having it read to him; rather, he just wanted to say, "book! book! book!"  He's such a sweetie pie, and always quick to give hugs and kisses.  He has the best personality, and we get so much enjoyment out of him!  Sigh. I'm in love.

Here are the few pics we were able to snap over the past several weeks...

he'll kill me for this someday...
 

mr. curious

star of the game


football time

wearing his flags after the game

scouring the black friday ads, looking for a deal.. we decided there was nothing worth losing sleep...

picture time with aunt shell & judah

love those baby blues

smiley guy

too cute!

our cutie pie

How exciting (to some.. well, one of us)!  Fall is here!  We had about three days of gorgeous cool weather, but now it's warming back up again.  With the nice weather, we spent a good bit of time outside over the past few days.  Here are some pics from our house, Downtown Disney, and the Auburndale Park.

Caleb is now 15 months old!!  His mommy has been too busy to blog, so this will be a catch-up...

What a blessing he is!  Growing and changing, moment by moment, we find ourselves overwhelmed by how much we love him and how blessed we feel to be his parents.  He's such a joyful, happy child!  Very rarely is he upset or cranky (so it's obvious that something is wrong when he is unhappy). 

Here are some of his latest tricks and quirks:

-took his first 'real' steps yesterday (10/07/09).. hopefully video to follow, if I can figure it out...
-VERY verbal (he consistently says mama, dada, more (with sign), milk, meow, arf, moo, down, ball, where, poppa, grandma, grammy, Os (cheerios), all done (with sign), balloon, light, hi, bye, bath)
-loves to blow kisses (though it's usually followed by a wave and "bye")
-loves telling us what different animals say (so far, kitty, dog, and cow)
-likes to be chased
-gives lots of kisses
-points out every source of light and tells us about it
-LOVES to swing!!  He laughs the whole time! :)

Of course, there are tons more that I'll remember about the time I post this...

Here are a few recent pictures of Caleb:

Here are more Sanibel vacation pictures...

(trying to figure out why the "tweet tweets" keep running away from her)

(he just wanted to walk and walk and walk... and walk and walk on the beach)

(and then, when we put him down, he just wanted to crawl...)

(... and crawl, and crawl...)

(... and play with shells...)

(... and play in the powdery sand...)

(and of course, crawl...)

Here are some pictures from the first couple days of our vacation in Sanibel.

Ready for the beach! 

The next few faces were HILARIOUS!

Gorgeous Abby swimming (which she says VERY clearly!)

Mommy & Caleb swimming

Prune Toes!

Sweet boy- exhausted by the water! 

Caleb & Abby playing together

Aunt Kristi and Caleb

Yet another gorgeous picture of gorgeous Abby!

The passing of the Cheerio

I'm behind again... sorry!  Can you believe that Caleb is now one?  We surely can't!!!  The past year has been amazing as we've watched Caleb grow and learn and change.  Here are some pictures from his party and birthday...

A little pre-party catnap

The Cake (made by Mommy)

Patiently waiting on cake

Devouring the cake (He was true to form, a dainty eater- even with chocolate icing!)

In this picture, he's saying, "more"- despite the fact that all he has to do is get a handful!

SO big!

Look at all these presents! For me?

Shh... don't tell, but I secretly like the paper as much as the presents!

Hey!

Riding on my AWESOME fire truck from Auntie Shell and Nick

A quick break to swim with Daddy in my pool at Poppa & Grammy's house

I think I'm an escape artist, but Daddy is faster... for now!

Now, here are some pics from my actual birthday...

It feels so strange to say that Caleb will be a year old in just a matter of days.  Truly, it seems like I was just pregnant, or that we just brought him home from the hospital.  But, it a lot of ways, it feels like he has always been a part of us.  It is so amazing, and such a blessing, to watch him grow up and develop and learn all sorts of new things.  Some of his newest things include:
*crawling wherever he wants to go- FAST!
*doing the Tarzan yell and beating his chest (not so great in church!)
*cruising along the furniture
*babbling and talking... he says "mama" "dada" "more" "meow" and I think he attempted "book" a couple of times
*he loves to crinkle his nose and laugh
*belly laughing
*offering his arms/hands when I put on his shirt (when he is in the mood)
*feeding himself finger foods
*walking with help (though I expect him to take off on his own any day)
*he now has two teeth on bottom, two on top coming in, and his other front top tooth is about to break through any day

I'm sure there are other things that aren't coming to mind right now!

Here are a few pictures of him at 11 months:

Stole and devoured a cream puff

the nose-crinkle laugh (see all them toofers?!)

mid-crawl, stopping to pose for the camera 

his new favorite is to stand up at the recliner to get the remote

doing "Tarzan"

Caleb also got his first shiner last week.   I think everyone handled it well except for Mommy!  He was playing on the furniture, and just as I was getting up and saying, "I'm afraid he's going to fall on that corner," he fell... on that corner.  Thankfully, only his eyelid was cut... God definitely protected him, because had he been less than an inch off, it would've been his eye.  Here's the only picture I got... poor baby.
 

and, without further ado, the monthday pictures: