8 months

Cal's 8 month old today! Each month seems to fly by faster and faster. He's a total dream these days - always happy, lots of fun to play with, finally becoming a better sleeper (not waking up at all sorts of random times in the night), taking 2 regular/predictable naps a day, and did I mention FUN to play with! He jumps in his jump-up thing now, loves reading books (listens, follows along, shows excitement, laughs and smiles when appropriate), rolls around the room as his method of movement (recently started worming around on his tummy), loves peak-a-boo, and says "Mama" or "Mom" all day long! Cal's definitely a mama's boy. Today I had to get sclerotherapy done on my leg, so I dropped Elle and Cal off at a friend's. I guess Cal cried the whole time. So sad (mostly felt bad for my friend). A little over an hour later I walked in the door and he was instantly better. He rarely cries though (that's why it's so sad when he actually does) and it's usually easy to get a smile out of him.

Isn't he just so darn cute!! I really can't get enough of him. None of us can for that matter. Elle begs to get him up in the morning. She'll take a bath every night now just so she can play in the tub with him. Madi loves to tease him and he returns the love with pulling hair. And I can most always get Spencer to rush home if he knows he won't get to see Cal before bedtime otherwise. 

Cal's got such a sweet little personality. He's fun, playful, and silly, yet very focused and concentrated. He reminds me a lot of Madi as a baby. He's taking the signing thing very seriously (can't tell if he's signing milk or waving though, but opening and closing his hand is his new favorite thing). He says, "Mama" all the time and usually when he wants me for something. He'd stopped saying "Dada" completely until Spencer surprised us and came home early from a business trip. Cal was so happy to see him that he said "Dada" the rest of the night. 

And check out that hair! Is it just me or is he in need of a hair cut?! Spencer says NO WAY! 

Cal a total tummy sleeper and wakes up every morning completely soaked - through onesie and jammies. Tonight I moved him up to size 5 diaper (didn't have any 4's on hand) and we'll see if it helps. 

The biggest difference in this baby than my other two is that I'm determined to have him be good eater. I didn't go the baby food route this time, but rather stuck to fresh fruits and vegetables - sweet potatoes, squash, broccoli, spinach, green beans, carrots, avacado, blueberries, peaches, pears, bananas, and apples - along with oatmeal, brown rice, and pasta. Steaming, baking, cooking, chopping, blending. . . I tell ya, I've become a pureeing machine. It's WAY more work and I feel like I'm constantly doing dishes, but it feels good to know that I'm feeding Calvin lots of good stuff! Hopefully my hard work pays off and I'll get a non-picky eater out of it. He sure is bigger than both his sisters were! Cal still nurses great, but recently his two bottom teeth broke through and I experienced my first bite! Anymore of that and he's done! Those little baby teeth do make for a super cute smile though (can you see em?)!

Love LOVE loVE this little boy!! SO glad I get to call him mine!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving I was particularly thankful for living close to family. Growing up Thanksgiving was  the one holiday we traveled for. I always looked forward to seeing tons of cousins (usually 50+), aunts, uncles, and both sets of grandparents. It was always a crazy fun time and I'll forever have such fond memories of the Thanksgiving holiday. While I would have loved for my kids to have their cousins to play with, we feel so blessed to have grandparents nearby. This year we joined Boppi and Grandpa Al at their house. And it really was such a wonderful Thanksgiving day. Spencer's mom knows how enthusiastic I am about cooking and let me bring whatever I wanted (made raspberry pretzel jello and bought a pumpkin pie). It was nice not to have the stress of cooking. I love a good meal, but I am not a fan of all the work and dishes involved. When we got over there in the morning, the turkey was already in, mom had made the apple pie the night before, rolls were being started, and everything else was easy. Mom and Dad have this meal down to a science. Dad does the turkey, gravy, and stuffing, and mom does the sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mashed potatoes, rolls, and apple pie. And let me tell ya, it was a meal fit for a king!

Cal was diggin the turkey. . .

Our after turkey walk - in preparation for dessert!

Thursday night the girls slept over at Boppi and Grandpa Al's (such a treat that rarely gets to happen). Spencer had to work on Friday (I'll be so happy when this arbitration's over) but mom and dad joined the kids and I at the beach. I was so grateful for their company! Thanks mom and dad for the memorable Thanksgiving weekend!!

Cal got a kick out of chasing seagulls with Grandpa Al!

Madi's blog

At the park this afternoon Madi kept wanting me to take pictures of her with her baby. She mentioned how when we got home she wanted to write a story about all the things they did together. I suggested to Madi that she start her own blog. She's always taking pictures and can now write simple sentences by herself. I figured it'd also be a good place for me to record all the projects she does. I could just take a picture, post it on her blog, and then not feel so bad tossing it!

My thoughts were letting her type her sentence and post the picture I took of her and baby, but by the time I layed Calvin down, switched loads of laundry, and put a few things away, she was already done with her "blog post":

HA! I loved it! It was a perfect documentation of our park outing - Madi and purple baby on the swings, Elle going back and forth between the swing and slides, and Cal trying out the slide for the first time. The clothes were totally off though. I wore jeans with my blue checkered shirt, and the kids -well, they're posted below:

Madi doesn't play babies much anymore so I was loving how excited she was to push her little stroller and baby all the way to the park! 

Notice Elle's outfit. This was her 6th of 10 outfit changes today! This little phase she's going through is super exhausting, especially when she wants me to redo her hair after every outfit change!

Oh, and I'm still gonna get a blog set up for Madi, just not today.

This weeks happenings

Felt that the blog needed a little updating. It's been a rather eventful week and I wanted to document . . .

Monday I finished a project for Christmas. Feels SO great to be done with gifts for the Jenkins side of the family! And speaking of Christmas, our stockings arrived this week! Up to this point we've been unsuccessful with finding stockings we loved. Think we finally have a winner! After hanging them up I didn't want to take them down. We might just be decorating a bit early this year!

Tuesday was election day. It was fun having Elle and Cal join me at the polls. They were angels and didn't make so much as a peep.

Wanted to get a pic of the 3 of us together, but Elle ripped her sticker off too fast.

After voting, the kids and I headed over to the church for my parenting class. It was our third session and focused mostly on how to have a happy successful marriage. We also talked about the love languages and color code. No matter how wonderful a marriage Spencer and I have, I know we still gotta continue doing the little things that keep it alive. Like: writing love notes, going on dates, meeting him at the door with hugs and kisses, and letting him know how grateful I am that he works so hard- allowing me to be at home with the kids. Sometimes I joke about how nice it would be to be able to leave the craziness of home (drama, fighting, messes, etc) and actually go to work. But honestly, he and I both know what  an absolute disaster I would be if I had to leave our kids with someone else all day long. Even leaving the kids with Spencer for an afternoon makes me homesick for them. I feel blessed to have a hard working, super awesome, smart husband! Something else I really want to be aware of is not arguing in front of the kids. Personally, I view our arguments as disagreements and we're just "talking it out", but Madi has stopped us several times telling us not to fight. I want our kids to grow up seeing how in love I am with their dad, not feeling like we argued a lot. My favorite quote of the day: "One doesn't fall out of love. One stops doing loving things."

Random pic from sometime this week- an afternoon home with the kids. Never want to forget them this little.

Overall, Tuesday was a great day, but ended in a very disappointing night (it took a couple of days for Spencer to get out of depression). I was just sad. Sad to loose a candidate who would have made such an amazing President. I was so hopeful and anxious for Mitt Romney to be the leader of our country. Ya, life will move on, but life could have been so much better with him in charge.

Wednesday I had a dentist appointment in the morning, followed by my first round of sclerotherapy on my left leg. Calvin was a trooper and joined me for both appointments while Elle hung out with her buddy Lily. Sclerotherapy was a piece of cake - just a bunch of pokes and a little stinging that went away with pressure applied. The hardest part is having to wear my stockings 24/7 for the next 2 weeks. I actually wasn't allowed to take them off for 3 full days afterwards. Finally getting to shower Saturday afternoon felt glorious! But actually, the hardest part is definitely gonna be not running for 2 weeks! Walking is all I'm allowed. I'm planning on posting pics once I have something good for an "after" (the before pics are a bit scary :). I should be all done with procedures come mid December.

Thursday I worked in Madi's classroom. Mrs. Newton was out sick and it was complete mayhem without her there. The sub was a sweet old guy, and the kids were taking total advantage of all that sweetness. I so wanted to take over and whip those kids into shape. How I miss teaching!

Friday the girls decided to be angels. They got all their jobs done (by 9am), earning them "popcorn movie" after school. Then after dinner we ended the night with a bonfire. Unfortunately, those "angel" girls don't do so well when they're tired (sugar doesn't help either). The drama started even before the bonfire did. Crying over what to wear outside about threw me over the edge and I was tempted to call the whole thing off. Good thing I've got Spencer to keep me from loosing it.

Staying up late resulted in an extra early wake up. Didn't help a mama who was up a lot of the night with a sick, stuffed up baby. Spencer was a love and took the girls out for two hours this morning. Then tonight Spencer and I were able to escape to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. A great end to the week!!