New carseats ... they're getting too big!!

Today we got David's new convertible booster seat in the mail. I realized the other day when I put Caleb in his car seat that he was very near the 1inch threshold. I know the limit on the car seat manual says 32" but at 29" he is as close as I'd like. With that, Caleb is being moved to the Britax Marathon 70 and David is moving to the Britax Pioneer 70 Harness-2-Booster car seat. This will grow with him till he will need a backless booster as his last step before being tall and mature enough to sit in the seat and just use the lap-shoulder seat belt. AHHHHH ...

Now keep in mind ... part of me is scared about this too. Afterall, a 'promotion' in car seats is actually a demotion in safety. Technically, we're ALL safest riding rear-facing in  an infant car seat, in the middle of the car. But that just isn't feasible for driving. :P But Caleb is still rear-facing of course. It is the law that he be rear-facing until 20lbs or 1 year and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends being rear-facing for the first 2 years minimum. We successfully had David rear-facing until 18 months. I'm going to try to get closer to that 2 year mark with Caleb though. It's safest. Besides, if he and David continue to be great buddies, I think it'll be easier since they'll be facing each other for longer. Once they're side by side and forward-facing, it'll be harder. :P

We leave in 2 days for Colorado for our annual Labor Day weekend trip and we're debating which car seats to take with us. Better figure it out ... yea for COLORADO IN THE FALL!!!

Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this year and we just cannot believe that it's already been 5 years of marriage, let alone 12 years in total!! We got to celebrate by going out for a date where we did not have to say "don't do that, stop touching your brother, sit on your bottom please, please finish your dinner, what are you doing?!" Instead, Mike and I chatted about a lot of different topics and just thoroughly enjoyed a beautiful Livermore evening. We went to a tapas restaurant that we've been wanting to try since it opened over a year ago. It was delicious and we even we honored with a glass of Prosecco and dessert by the owner for celebrating our anniversary, as well as being accommodating when they had a party that grew and we gave up our table to help.

Then we headed to another wine bar called Pour House where they had a live band playing great music and continued to just simply ... talk. It was such a great evening. We took a stroll to check out another restaurant we want to try as a family and were amazed at it and can't wait to go back with the boys as well as on our own to enjoy the live band they have on weekend nights. It was great to have an adult night out and only worry about us for a moment.

Here's to many more years of adventures!!!!!

Caleb ... 9 Month Stats

Has it really been 9 months already?! I cannot believe the summer is almost over let alone Caleb is three-quarters done with his first year. The time is flying by faster and faster and I am not so thrilled with that. I'll admit my current parent fail: I have YET to start ANYTHING for Caleb's baby book. So sad. Not a single photo has been printed. Not a single page laid out. In fact, the plastic wrap is still securely in place around the book. Sorry Caleb ... one day if you have children ... you'll understand how little time there is with one child let alone two. But I promise, before you graduate from high school, I'll have it done for you. :)

Height: 29" (75%)
Weight: 18lbs 12.5oz (25%)

At this age, David and Caleb were the same height but David was just under a pound heavier. Both are tall, skinny bean poles like their daddy. :) Thank goodness too.

Caleb is no longer ONLY army crawling. He's doing the traditional crawl too although you can tell when it hurts his knees on the hardwood because he'll either army crawl or stick his one leg up like David did. He is loving whole, soft foods more and more. He tastes everything first just like David did. He'll put it in his mouth, spit it out, put it in his mouth and spit it out. Usually the third time it stays in and he eats it. :P He LOVES hummus. He likes cracker pretzels. Avocado. Strawberries. Blueberries. Green beans. Chicken. Turkey. And yogurt melts. He has not taken a liking to cheese. So odd since that's one thing that David has LOVED the entire time. :)

He's babbling indiscriminately and squawking at us when he wants things. Case in point, he will begin yelling at you if he wants to feed himself and not have you feed him. LOL ... showing his independence early on I guess. He loves standing and pulls himself to stand quite easily. He's been crawling up the stairs for a few weeks now (since Aug 8th). In fact, he tends to head to the stairs as if to take himself to bed when it's past naptime or bedtime.

All in all he's growing quickly and just like he's supposed to. He has the best smile and his laugh is contagious and easy to get out of him. He's a flirt and absolutely ADORES his big brother, David. We can tell that as Caleb becomes more mobile and more active that David is loving this time even more. Because he's able to actually actively play with Caleb. Can't wait to see what the future holds for these two buddies ... I just hope and pray that they remain best of friends throughout their life even if they have different personalities. Because right now, I feel complete knowing my children are friends too.

And we have 3 teeth ...

... with one on the way. This morning, a very cranky and almost inconsolable Caleb provoked me to check his mouth. And there they were ... two pearly whites sticking out of the top of his mouth. His front teeth will take a while to fully descend but in the meantime will cause some pain and heartache. But it's just more proof that he's growing up WAY too fast.

Additionally ... he's beginning to get the idea of cruising. Which means I need to bring up another standing toy for him from the garage. :)

It's been a busy few weeks for Caleb

In just a matter of weeks, Caleb is now army crawling (devilishly fast too), able to get to a sitting position from his back/tummy, clapping and pulling to a stand. He's rocking on all 4's and even starting to do 'downward dog'. It's amazing how big he's getting and how quickly he's moving on and up in life. He wants so badly to keep up with David and I know David will rule the day when Caleb can walk with him. And David is loving that Caleb is eating solids now and even starting to eat puffs. Because David can now be involved in feeding Caleb. He's proving to love drinking water and can do so from a multitude of cups just like David could.

Although Caleb is not 'crawling' in the standard tradition ... he's crawling. He's on the move and is VERY fast. He cruises around the floor. One minute stealing toys in the living room then crawling around the corner and into the kitchen. He ventures under the dining room table without fear and rarely gets stuck. He takes off into the laundry room if I've been in there doing laundry. Mainly, he just wants to check everything out.

He pulls himself up to his knees in his crib. I know he can get all the way to his feet but I think that it's enough for him to sufficiently see over and check everything out that he doesn't go any further. We definitely need to lower the crib with that in mind. He pulls himself to standing on David's red chair in the living room and usually squawks out as if to say 'look at me!'.

We can tell he's teething and after some investigating I've realized that his top two front teeth are trying to make their first appearance below the gum line. No wonder he's been a little wonky lately. Poor guy. And his second bottom front tooth is coming too but the top teeth look closer to coming through. Ouch ...

Today we tried out yogurt melts just for sake of trying them out. He hasn't been wild about puffs and wagon wheels. Maybe they're too soggy? I'm not sure. But today he LOVED the melts. He even actually CHEWED them and not just let them dissolve in his mouth like he does with the puffs and wagon wheels. I gave him a piece of soft pasta the other night and he seemed to enjoy playing with it and trying to eat it. Guess I'll have to try that, some steamed veggies and fruit pieces too. He's getting so big, so fast! Ack!!!

You make my heart melt ...

I took these completely and udderly adorable photos of the boys yesterday and afterwards I told David that they 'make my heart melt'. David's reply was 'no mama! I don't want to hurt you!'. Oh so sweet ...

David is getting better about taking photos for me but mostly ONLY if I'm taking photos of Caleb. Otherwise he has no interest and runs away. What's even better is that I'm able to get Caleb to look at me AND smile. That's an amazing feat if I say so. Most little ones are so hard to photograph actually looking at the camera.

 

Earlier in the afternoon Caleb was sitting up and playing and then laid back to continue playing. And before I knew it ... he had snuggled down, cuddled his bear lovie and passed out. While rubbing his tummy. That meant he needed a little more Benadryl ... poor guy has a rash that is itching. Still trying to determine exactly what KIND of rash but I think it's a heat rash and NOT a food allergy like we originally thought. It's getting better as it's not read and bumpy anymore but it's still patchy and obviously itchy. Poor guy. I truly feel like a bad mom ... David promises I'm not. I asked if I was a good mommy and he replied 'yes, yes!!' Which in his world is better than yes. I asked if he was sure and he said 'yes, yes mama. I love you.' Oh that makes me feel much better.

Role reversal with David ...

Last night at bedtime, David and I had role reversal. He didn't want to dress himself (we've been working on that) and I told him that big boys dress themselves and he's a big boy. He proceeded to tell me no, he doesn't want to be a big boy so you do it for me mama. I then reminded him that he'll be 3 in less than 2wks and that when he turns 3 that he needs to dress himself.

"No mama. I don't wanna be 3 in June. I wanna be 2 so do my clothes"
"Well honey we get older and not younger"
"Then I want to be like mommy and turn 33 in Oct (he thinks daddy and I are the same age)"
"Ok honey but that still means that you have to dress yourself. Mommy dresses herself"
"I want to be mommy and you be David"
"Ok ... so help David get ready for bed"

It proceeded as such. He told me that I had to put my pajamas on, I told him I didn't want to. But you have to mama. Let's go get your pajamas. Then he told me I had to brush my teeth. I told him I didn't want to. He told me I had to brush my teeth to get rid of all the sugar bugs. I again protested and he just stared at me and said "you have to mama, now let's brush your teeth". Then I told him that I wanted to sleep in mommy and daddy's bed like he does every night. He told me, no mama, you have to sleep in David's bed since you're David. LOL ...

The whole event was hilarious but also fun to see how he saw his bedtime routine and to know that he actually knows what the routine is. Then we got in bed and I was tending to Caleb, he actually waited patiently and with his eyes closed for me to take care of Caleb before I snuggled with him. It was so sweet.

Something fun in the mail ...

Today, we received Mike's anniversary gift from PwC in the mail ... a Wii!! We cannot wait to get it all set up to be able to play. It's been a while since we last played with our Nintendo so we'll have to locate that and set it up too. We thought it'd be a fun gaming system for the boys while they're younger, especially since a lot of their games require action on behalf of the player and not just your fingers.

**UPDATE**
After getting it all set up we played Wii bowling. We weren't sure if we'd be able to get David to understand hitting the buttons for release, etc. and it took all of a matter of minutes to figure it out! He's so smart. In fact, his first game of Wii bowling, he bowled a 89 all by himself then his second game he almost bowled a Turkey at scored 127!! He's really starting to understand. Even trying out the other games like golfing, Frisbee golf, cycling, etc. This should fun for family nights for years to come. :)

David Wii Bowling ... Going for a Turkey!!