Church Camping Trip & 10 Months Old!

I know I usually start my posts with writing about Friday, but sometimes the things that happen on Thursday don't get written about. I have a couple of cute pictures of Caleb when we went shopping at BJ's and Trader Joe's last Thursday, so I wanted to make sure they made it into the blog.

I love how it looks like he is reading the flyer

He has to be touching something whenever we go shopping

 



After we went shopping, we met Jen at the Thai restaurant for supper because Steve was at a class off-Cape and Rad was at school as well. We had a nice time and it was nice to spend some extra time with Jen.

 

"Excuse me, we're ready to order!"

 

Last Friday Caleb had a fun day with Grammy. He still had a runny nose, though, so he ended up not taking a very good nap. I picked Caleb up an hour early from Rad and Jen's house because we were going on a church camping trip and I wanted them to be able to leave at a decent time. I thought that if I fed Caleb when we got home he would take a snooze, but that didn't happen, so I was a little annoyed because I knew he would be going to bed later than usual because we were going to get to the campground a little late.

 

It did end up being a good thing that I fed Caleb when we got home. Earlier in the day, I thought that I had mastitis again because I was having a lot of pain and pumping did not relieve it at all. That is how it felt at first last time, so I called to get a prescription, but then when I got home and fed Caleb, it felt all better, so I think I must have had a blocked duct that the pump wasn't getting, but Caleb was able to. So, I was very relieved that I didn't have mastitis again, especially since we were going camping.

 

Caleb ended up taking a nap on the way to the campground (it was half an hour down-Cape in Brewster), so that was good. We visited with people that were already there while Steve set up our camper and then I fed Caleb and put him to bed.

 

Enjoying Mommy and Daddy's bed

 

Caleb slept very well Friday night. He didn't wake up until 6:15 and then he went back to sleep, but only for about half an hour. I wasn't sure if he would even go back to sleep at all, so that was at least better than nothing. We had a nice day with a lot of people from our church. I think there were at least 30 people that camped and then at least another 30 more came for either the whole day on Sabbath or came after church for the afternoon.

 

Here are some pictures from the morning, just hanging out and playing.

 

Playing with Grammy's zipper

Love this face!

Love these eyes!

 







Caleb took a nap from 11:30 to 12:30, which I was impressed with, since he was in the camper and it was noisy and brighter than usual. After lunch, we took a very long hike around a pond at the campground. Steve doesn't have a very good back, so I was going to carry Caleb in the backpack (I have given up on the Bjorn, because Caleb is just too heavy). I did carry him for awhile, but he got very heavy so my dad volunteered to carry him for awhile and it didn't bother him at all, so he basically carried him the rest of the way. Caleb ended up falling asleep on the walk and it was so cute. He slept for at least half an hour, so that was good. David carried Caleb the last little bit because my dad had to hurry back to the campsite because he had to leave to go somewhere.

 

 

After we got back to the campground, we had supper and then started to pack up and then we ended up leaving around 7:00 to go home in time for Caleb to go to bed.

 

Aunt Sherrie & Uncle Kevin came to visit at the campground



Florine, Caleb's adopted great grandmother

 



Sunday morning I got up and worked as usual. That was the main reason that we came home from camping on Saturday night instead of staying until Sunday. If we stayed overnight, I would miss out on several hours of working and that was not worth it to me. It was actually supposed to rain Sunday morning anyway, so a lot of other people ended up leaving Saturday night as well.

 

Steve had a good morning playing with Caleb and he took him to Home Depot to get some paint for our new doors.

 

 

Then Caleb took about an hour and a half nap and then Rad and my mom came over to watch the Patriots game. They played much better this week, so it was a much more enjoyable game than the previous two. Caleb spent a lot of time doing his version of crawling during the game and he made his way over to the dogs, which was cute. He likes to play with their tags around their neck and they don't seem to mind.

 

 

On Monday, Caleb and I went with my mom to Kohls, which just opened in Hyannis on Sunday. I haven't been to Kohls much because we don't have one close, but it is nice to have another option for shopping and I think we will be frequent visitors. They have a pretty good kids section and I did buy a couple of things for Caleb. The shopping carts are different than any other ones that Caleb has been in. Instead of him facing me, he is facing out on the front of the cart, and I think he really enjoyed it.

 

Love this expression

Wanting to touch everything

"I want one of each, Mom"

 

After shopping at Kohls, we went to Not Your Average Joe's for lunch and met a church member there who doesn't actually come to church anymore because she has a 96 year old mother who can't get out of the house. Caleb was getting tired by the end of lunch, so we hurried home. He kept trying to fall asleep in the car and I had to try to keep him awake. I was successful, but I was so annoyed because I thought he would fall asleep immediately when we got home and it took him half an hour! I think he only slept for about 40 minutes too.

 

Playing with his "laptop" at lunch

 





The rest of the day was pretty good, although Caleb has been a little stinker with nursing during the day lately. I only nurse him 4 times a day - around 6:30 in the morning, 10:30 in the morning, 3:00 in the afternoon and 6:30-7:00 in the evening. His morning and evening feedings are fine, but he is not as interested and too distracted at the other two feedings. This week seems to be especially bad and it is sometimes frustrating.

 

On Tuesday our big outing was of course to our playgroup. The last 2 weeks, there have been 3 boys and 1 girl, but this week, the other girl from the first week came back and then there was a new boy who was only 2 months old, so we had 4 boys and 2 girls. It continues to be fun to talk with the moms and to see the babies interact. I will be sad when this session is over (it is only 8 weeks long), but I think it will start up again after the holidays and maybe we can continue to get together anyway in the meantime. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures this time.

 

Caleb took a very short nap from 1:00-1:30, which was not good, because that is not long enough to last until bedtime. He has never been successful at taking a late afternoon nap, but I knew he needed one today and I needed a break because he was a pain again with his eating. I put him in his crib around 4:00 and he did end up falling asleep around 4:25 and slept until 5:00, so I was relieved and happy.

 

 

Yesterday Caleb was with Grammy all day, of course. They had a good day. I had talked to my mom about a new plan I had in regards to Caleb eating food. He is not making significant improvements, so I have decided to try to cut out his 10:30 nursing session and see if he will eat better if he is hungrier. My mom offered to try and give him some applesauce yesterday morning, and he supposedly did really well! All the applesauce came back to bite my mother later when he had a major blowout while they were out and about.

 

Eating applesauce at Grammy's

 

Right before the blowout

 

Stay tuned to next week's blog to see how my new plan goes in regards to Caleb's eating. I am just getting so frustrated with him not being interested in eating food (except for puffs), so I am feeling desperate and am willing to try anything to make it work. I am also going to maybe try to make some of my own food and keep trying to give Caleb some finger foods, because I don't think he likes being fed from a spoon (but seems to throw up anything with a texture, such as a banana). Something has got to click eventually and I just need to try and stay patient until that happens!

 

Well, that's about it for now. Have a great week!

 













 



Trip to Vermont, Meeting Uncle Greg, Epic Fail Moment & Some Bad Nights

Last Friday Caleb had a good day with Grammy and Auntie Jen & Uncle Rad. I got more pictures than usual from them, so here they are.

Right after he woke up for Grammy

Love this picture so much!

 

Friday night we had a supper of waffles at my parents' house. It seems like it has been forever since we have had Friday night supper together, so it was very nice. We had brought a high chair that attaches to a chair to give to my mom so we set it up and Caleb really liked it. It is a rocket chair and it even has a lever that you can pull and it makes a rocket noise. Caleb enjoyed eating his puffs in the chair.

 



Friday night Caleb had a bad night for some reason. He had a runny nose, so that might have been bothering him. Anyway, he woke up around 12:30 and had a hard time falling back asleep and was very fussy, so I ended up nursing him around 1:30, which I never do, but I knew it was a sure way to get him to sleep and to calm him down. He then slept until 7:00, which was helpful. We were leaving to go up to Steve's parents' house that morning, so after I fed Caleb, instead of putting him back to bed, we packed up and left to make it in time for church. He slept about 30 minutes in the car, which is about what I expected, so I wasn't too disappointed.

Playing with his new toy from my friend Amara

 

We got to church and I needed to feed Caleb, so we spent the time in the mother's room. Shannon & Sean and the kids were there, so Shannon was in the mother's room with them as well. I was kind of hoping Caleb would fall asleep while nursing, but I think because I was talking with Shannon it was distracting, so he didn't.

 

After church we went to Steve's parents' house for lunch and Shannon & Sean came as well. I knew that Caleb needed a nap right when we got there, so Steve started to get the pack and play out and I was going to get Caleb out of his church clothes and all of a sudden I discovered something. I call this my first epic fail moment as a mother. I realized that I had left Caleb's duffel bag with his clothes, extra diapers, sleep sack, swaddle, sound machine, monitor, etc. at home in his room. When I had finished feeding him that morning, I had gathered up the loose items and was supposed to go back in and get the bag but I got distracted and never went back in. So, when I discovered that, of course I was so upset and started to cry. I quickly pulled it together, though and decided we would just make it work. I had his diaper bag, so I did have a few diapers, wipes, and burp cloths, but unfortunately, I didn't have any extra clothes in there except for a onesie and since it was a chilly day, that wasn't going to be too much help. Luckily, Mary Ann had gotten some clothes at a thrift store for Caleb and one item happened to be a long sleeve shirt, so that was helpful. Shannon and Sean also gave us some of Finley's diapers (she wears size 4 and Caleb wears size 3, but it wasn't too bad) and then we decided we would take a trip to Walmart after sundown to get some pajamas and another shirt and to try to find a sleep sack. Meanwhile, it was time for Caleb's nap, so Steve wrapped him in a fleece blanket and he actually slept very well! He took a 1 hour and 45 minute nap (probably still making up for his bad night) and only got one arm out of the blanket. Here are the before and after pictures.

 



 

We had a nice lunch and a lovely afternoon visiting with Steve's family and Shannon & Sean. Here are several pictures.

 

Griffin is getting so big!



We were at Walmart basically right at sundown and did get some pajamas and a shirt, but couldn't find a sleep sack.

At Walmart

 

Unfortunately, Caleb had another bad night. I think part of it might have been because he wasn't in a sleep sack, because he seemed much more restless than normal. He woke up around 1:00 and had a hard time going back to sleep and then he woke up again around 2:30 or 3:00 and was very restless and fussy, so we actually brought him into the bed with us, which we NEVER do. And we were in a double bed at Steve's parents' house, so it wasn't really the best situation. I actually slept ok after that and so did Caleb, but Steve didn't, so that was too bad. Caleb slept until 6:30, which wasn't bad. I then fed him and stayed up to work and Caleb and Steve went back to sleep until around 9:00.

 

The main reason we went to Vermont this particular weekend was because Greg was going to be coming to visit for a couple of days after some meetings he was at in New York. So, he arrived at 2:00 in the morning and was there when we woke up. It was very nice to see him and I was so happy that he finally got to meet Caleb. We were just disappointed that Amy and the rest of the family weren't with him. We will get to see them at Christmas, though, so that is something to look forward to. Here are some pictures of Caleb with Uncle Greg!

 

The first meeting (in his Walmart pajamas)



I worked for a few hours in the morning and Caleb played with Daddy and his uncles and aunt.

The shirt we got from Walmart

 

Grandma also got to give him a bottle which was a special treat since that doesn't happen very often.

 

 

I put Caleb down for a nap and Steve went with the rest of his family (except his mom) up to see the progress on his dad's cabins. Caleb took another great nap of almost 2 hours and then it was time to feed him again and get ready to go home. Originally we were going to stay until Caleb's bedtime and then drive the 3 hours home, but since Caleb had had 3 bad nights in the last 4 nights, we didn't want to take the chance that he would not sleep in the car (like on the way home from Nova Scotia) and Steve and I were both tired and didn't want to get home at midnight. So, we decided to leave around 3:30 instead to be home to get Caleb ready for bed. That was a much better plan.

 

Thankfully Caleb had a good night on Sunday night and actually has ever since! So, I'm not sure what his problem was, but I'm glad that appears to be past us.

 

Monday we spent a couple of hours with Grammy going shopping. We went to a produce place and then to the mall. We had fun and I bought a new pair of shoes for work and Grammy bought some shoes too, so it was a successful trip.

 

Checking out the shoes in Payless

 

Monday afternoon Caleb took an 1 1/2 hour nap, so I was pleased with that. However, something happened to keep him awake at bedtime and it took him about an hour to fall asleep in his crib, which never happens, so I don't know if he got too much sleep or if it was something else.

 

He loves his puffs!

Playing with Mommy's shoes in her closet while she put away laundry

 

Tuesday we had a very busy day. Caleb woke up around 8:45 and after he played and ate again, it was time for our play group. The same babies were there as last week, so we were still missing one of the girls from the first week. He enjoyed himself very much (and so did I).

 

 

I had an appointment to pick up and identification card for work at 3:30 in Carver, which is about 40 minutes away. I decided to take a trip to Wareham to go to Target and JC Penney since we never make it up there (and since I was getting mileage to drive anyway). So, we left right after playgroup. I was hoping that Caleb would nap in the car, but usually when I hope for something it doesn't happen, so I was prepared for the fact that he might need a nap once we got there, so I had brought his big stroller, but thankfully he did sleep in the car, so I was really happy about that! We went to Target first and had fun browsing and did buy a few things (including a couple new flavors of puffs), but I didn't come out of there really wishing that Target was closer to us (although I know I would go if it was there).

 







Checking out the new puffs

 

Then we went to JC Penney and I got a few things for Caleb on clearance and a few Christmas gifts as well. Then we had to drive to my appointment, which didn't take too long. Caleb was very good in all of these places (I should mention that I did have to feed him in the car in between Target and JC Penney, which wasn't ideal, but we made it work). Caleb then napped again on the way home, which I was really happy about as well, because his earlier nap was not enough for the day, but I wasn't convinced he would nap in the car again.

 

We got home around 4:40 and then made supper and waited for Steve to get home. Here are a couple of pictures of Steve and Caleb when Steve got home from work.

 

 

 

Wednesday morning I actually had to wake Caleb up at 6:00 to feed him, which is good. He also went right back to sleep and slept until 8:30 for Grammy (she is still coming over to our house in the mornings to let him sleep). Grammy sent me several cute pictures throughout the day yesterday and it appears they had a busy day!

 

Picture I took when I went in to wake him up

Sticking his tongue out while concentrating like Grampy

Showing Grammy how he can pull his socks off

Mr. Nosy in Staples

 

When we got home, I had to make supper and Caleb enjoyed getting into the fridge in his walker while I was making supper. He really gets around in that thing and definitely knows how to get where he wants to go!

 

 

When we fed Caleb pears last night, he was very hungry and ate them all up, so I was really excited about that. This morning he did well too, although he is not always doing well yet. I think we are making progress, so that is good.

 







 



Well, that is it for now. Here are just a couple more pictures!