Oh the Places You'll Eat

As we were traveling as a family last month, we found ourselves in a variety of places. We stayed out in a village with a pastor and his family, at a lodge at the start of a hiking trail, various hotels and spent lots of time in the car. As a result of all our traveling, Caleb had to eat in a lot of different places, none of which were familiar to him. We are so grateful that he is an easy going little guy! So, we took a few pictures of him eating his cereal along our journey.

He spent a lot of time eating in the car (while we were driving). Jared was good about taking the curves (and huge pot holes) slowly while he was eating!




He also ate on my lap in lots of restaurants and hotel rooms. He did a really good job of not grabbing my arms, the spoon or the cereal dish.




If I didn't have a table, I sat him on the bed to eat. "Look at me, I'm a big boy!"




Our friends gave us this traveling seat to use while they are gone. He isn't quite big enough for it yet, but he still did pretty good. "Dad, are you sure this is a good idea?"




Finally, we are home and eating in his "high chair" that is actually a baby swing with a tray. This is his first bite of carrot. He never really enjoyed the carrots, but we have moved on to pumpkin and he loves it! Perhaps that is because pumpkin is technically a fruit...

Confessions of a First Time Mom

I awoke Sunday morning feeling sorry for myself and downright tired. Jared is traveling again, so Caleb and I would spend our first Mother's Day alone. Our great excitement for the day would be walking to and from church (2 1/2 miles) in the afternoon heat! We didn't get off to a great start. I asked Caleb for a Mother's Day kiss - he chose to spit-up on me instead...I carried him to church in my arms (instead of in his wrap), forgot the shortcut and by the time we got to church my arms were shaking...I tried to feed him in the middle of the two hour service and the toddler sitting next to us decided to perch on my shoulder...on the way home, his hat blew off into the only puddle of (dirty) water in sight. Needless to say, by the time I got home, I wasn't feeling very "blessed". God had great things in store for us that were yet to come. They started with Caleb taking a 2 1/2 hour nap which allowed me to get a short nap in as well. When he woke up, he gave me several kisses (without the spit-up of course!). He ate his dinner and actually enjoyed his vegetables. We played in his room while I packed up his things for yet another move. He giggled and scooted around playing with everything in sight. Then we spent some time playing in his doorway jumper. He had never really gotten the hang of it before, but tonight he was a wild man. He would run forward, lift up his legs, and fly backwards! He laughs so much these days at just about anything. At the end of the day, as I laid my sweet boy in bed, I felt incredibly blessed. I was blessed to spend the entire day with my baby boy (who won't be a baby much longer). I got to cherish every moment and have him all to myself - no need to share with anyone! I couldn't have received a better gift. I am sure that every mother reading this that has grown children wishes they could have a moment like that again. To God be the glory for the precious gift of our son!

Not Crawling Yet...

Everyone keeps warning about how difficult it will be to keep up with this little guy once he starts crawling. They tell me he will get into everything and I will have to keep a constant eye on him. Well, he isn't crawling yet, but that doesn't mean he can't get to anything he wants within his eye sight! One day, I was so desperate to get some work done in the kitchen that I put him in a laundry basket to play just to keep him in one spot! So, he doesn't "crawl" yet, but he rolls, scoots, drags and flops to get wherever he wants to go.

Exhitibit A - playing on the bed (in our village lodge) with a toy. I walk by and put an empty water bottle at the end of the bed...

About 5 seconds later he has rolled, scooted and dragged himself into position to get that most amazing (empty) water bottle. Who needs toys?!

Home Again

We have been traveling as a family for the last two weeks. We had a great time, but it is wonderful to finally be home again! I have lots of pictures to post, but that will take some time. The grandparents were going into shock without pictures of their grandson so here is one for them! We spent a lot of time "walking" since there wasn't a lot of space to roll around.

Reading Fun

As many of you already know, I love books - especially children's books. Well, unfortunately, I had to leave all of my books in America. So, when Caleb was born, I wanted to start reading to him, but I didn't have any kids books. So, my dad sent one, my mom sent one and I bought one here in Shillong. So, for the past 6 months, Caleb has read the same three books! However, as you can see below, he never tires of looking at his books!

"Oh! I love this book!"

"Look at that tree!"


***As a side note...this will be the last post for a little bit. I have really worked at trying to update this blog regularly. However, we are traveling to meet Jared tomorrow and we will be gone for a couple of weeks. I promise lots of pictures and fun stories when we return!

Daddy's Little Helper

Our friends gave us the walker they bought for their daughter (who has now outgrown it). Caleb likes to play in it, but he doesn't really go very far. At first I thought he just needed time to figure it out, but I think he just simply isn't interested. Jared was trying to adjust it so that he could move in it more easily, but that didn't really do much for him either. Either way - they had a good time "fixing" the walker together!
Be praying for Jared as he continues to travel and teach. He has been gone a little over a week now and is starting his third training tomorrow. We'll go and meet him at the end of the week. I'll try and take lots of pictures of our new home town to post when we return!

New Beginnings

Today I was forced to come to grips with the reality that my baby isn't so much a baby anymore. We are getting ready to travel again, and I needed to find some warm weather outfits for Caleb. I began sorting through his clothes and realized that it was definitely time to put away his 3-6 months clothes and break out the 6-9 months clothes. I found tears in my eyes as I put away his tiny little outfits and got out what seemed to be waaaay too big outfits! My dad sent him these basketball overalls at Christmas. I remember laughing when I pulled them out of the box. I was certain there was no way he would wear them before we came home in July. Well, wonder of all wonders...they fit him just right and it is only April! So dad, here is your not so little grandson showing off his new skill in his new overalls!

Here he is - standing completely on his own looking out into the neighborhood!



His favorite place in the world right now is anywhere outdoors!



His face says it all!