First Trip to Martha's Vineyard, Dogsitting, Eating a Little Better & Another Cousin on the Way

Last Thursday we made a quick visit to my parents' office so I could give my mom a couple of things to take with her to Toronto (more on that a little later). Caleb had fun playing for a few minutes.

Thursday afternoon we took a trip to the grocery store and when I got back, Caleb had a lot of fun playing with the grocery bags while I put everything away.

Friday I didn't have a babysitter because both my mom and Jen were on their way to Toronto, so I had arranged to go to Martha's Vineyard with Caleb to do competition counts (similar to what we did earlier in the summer in Nantucket). I had to leave home a little after 8:00 to make the boat, so I knew Caleb wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Luckily, he cooperated and slept in until about 6:30, so he had already gotten over 10 hours of sleep. Friday morning David & Yully also dropped Toby off for us to babysit for the weekend while they went to Toronto.

We had a beautiful day to go to Martha's Vineyard. I fed Caleb on the boat on the way over and he took a little snooze while he ate. We did our passenger counting and walked around for awhile and just enjoyed the beautiful day.

Then we took the boat back and Caleb ate/slept the whole way back and then I brought Caleb in to my office to visit everyone because I hadn't brought him in since he was about 6 weeks old. Everyone was really excited to see him and thought he was so cute and so smart and they especially loved his waving and clapping! Here is a picture of him in my chair at my cubicle!

We stayed about an hour and then drove home and Caleb fell asleep on the way home, so I was happy about that. I took the long way home to make sure he would get 30 minutes of sleep, because he always wakes up as soon as I stop the car and sure enough, that's what he did!

Friday evening was our first real time with Toby since we were gone most of the day. We took a walk with all 3 dogs and it went fine, but was a little more complicated for Steve to walk all 3 of them. Our dogs aren't quite sure what to think of Toby. He is still a puppy and is very active and wants to play with our dogs. He kept getting right in their face to try to play and they would bark at him and he just wouldn't give up! God bless him for keeping on trying and not realizing that they weren't interested.

 



Toby did pretty good Friday night and so did Caleb. He slept for 11 hours, so I didn't bother putting him back to bed. We had decided not to go to church on Sabbath because we wanted to watch the live feed on the Internet of the church service in Toronto. If you are a faithful reader of my blog, you might remember when we had a series of meetings from It Is Written Canada back in May and they discovered that my grandfather Pampa had been a key contributor to getting it started. Well, they were having a special 40th anniversary celebration and they wanted to honor Pampa so they invited all of our family to go as their guests. My mom and all my aunts went as well as Rad & Jen, David & Yully, and Shannon & Sean and their family. We opted not to go because we didn't think it would be too fun with Caleb and all that driving and meetings. But, we still wanted to see the presentation, so we stayed home and watched online. It was a very nice service and tribute to Pampa and we were very happy we were able to see it instead of just hearing about it from everyone else.

Caleb took and hour and a half nap while we were watching the service, so that was nice. We ended up having a little bit of a long day since we didn't go to church, but we had fun. We spent some time outside on the swingset, which Caleb enjoyed.

We also took the dogs for a walk and then we took a drive to the creek and the West Hyannisport golf course just to see some nice scenery and take some pictures.

 



Here are a few more pictures from Sabbath.

 

Toby was a little more whiny Saturday night at bedtime, but he was fine after Steve went down and sat with him for a few minutes. Caleb slept pretty good Saturday night again and after feeding him the first time, he went back to sleep until 9:15. Steve was on duty while I worked, so that is always nice when Caleb sleeps half the time!! Steve took Caleb on a couple of errands late morning and I wanted them back between 12:30 and 1:00 so Caleb could take a nap. Well, unfortunately they didn't get back until 1:30 and Caleb ended up falling asleep for about 10 minutes in the car and I knew that was going to mess him up for the rest of the day and sure enough, it did. Steve ended up trying to get him to take a nap when they got home and it took him at least half an hour to go to sleep and then he only slept about half an hour, so that was too bad, but oh well. I watched the Patriots season opener on Sunday afternoon and they won, but it was not a pretty game. Caleb wore his Brady T-shirt in honor of opening day.

 

 

David & Yully got back real late on Sunday night, so we just left the door open for them to come get Toby. He behaved pretty well, but I still think our dogs were happy when he was gone because he ran them ragged chasing them around! He is a cute dog, though, and is very sweet! We would definitely watch him again if they needed us to.

 

Monday morning after Caleb got up the second time and ate, we took a field trip to Market Basket with my mom. My mom has Mondays off and is trying to do some things with us on those days since the only other days she has off are the days that I work. I actually hadn't been to Market Basket yet, so I was eager to check it out. They definitely have great prices and some different things, so I might have to go there every once in awhile.

 

Caleb was getting tired on the way home and I was trying to keep him awake so he would take his regular nap. I was successful and he fell asleep at home in about 5 minutes, but then he only slept 30 minutes, so I was so annoyed! He seemed so tired so I don't know how 30 minutes can be enough! I was then hoping that he would fall asleep later that afternoon when I was feeding him and he got really close a couple of times but never did, so that was annoying too! Needless to say, it was not one of our better afternoons and I was happy when Steve got home from work.

 

I thought this was cute since he has learned to jump over to his walker and stand on it

 

Tuesday morning we had our second playgroup. There were 2 new little boys there this time and one of the little girls wasn't there from last time. The 2 boys were 5 months and 6 months old, so Caleb is still the older boy, but it was nice to have other kids there and especially boys. We are really enjoying the socialization! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures this week!

 

Tuesday afternoon Caleb again took a 30 minute nap and I wasn't too thrilled, but I decided it wasn't going to ruin my afternoon like it did on Monday. He did end up falling asleep while eating later in the afternoon, so that was better because he wasn't as tired at the end of the day.

 

Wednesday morning my mom came over to our house in the morning so Caleb could sleep and he did sleep until after 8:30, so that was much better than not going back to sleep at her house. He also took a 45 minute nap in the afternoon, which was better than the last 2 days with me. They also did FaceTime with Nana & Grandpa, had lunch at the office, and went to the farmer's market. My mom also gave Caleb puffs for the first time and she was surprised at how well he does with them.

 

 

So, we have been trying to feed Caleb food more consistently to try to get him more used to it. He is doing a little better but is still pretty inconsistent. One time he seems to like it and will open his mouth and the next time with the same food he won't even open his mouth. But, I would definitely say there is improvement. He is also loving his puffs and is doing so well at picking them up and putting them in his own mouth. It is still slow going, but I think we are on our way to getting him interested in eating!

 

 

Last night Caleb had a terrible night and I don't know why. He went to bed at 8:15 and woke up crying at 9:15, 10:15, 11:30 and 12:30. He went right back to sleep each time, but it was brutal waking up so much! Thank goodness that is the exception and not the norm! I feel bad for mothers who have bad sleepers! I'm not sure if maybe he is starting to get another tooth.

 

This morning he slept until about 6:15 and then went back to sleep until 9:00. After he ate, we went shopping at a kids consignment store because I was looking for some 9-12 month shirts. I have tons of pants but not a ton of shirts. Unfortunately I only found a couple, but at least it was fun to get out of the house. Right now Caleb is sleeping and has been for an hour and 15 minutes, so I am happy about that. He is probably still catching up from his bad night last night.

 

The last thing I will write about is the fact that Caleb is going to have another cousin in March. Shawn and Camille announced that they are going to be having their third child and everyone was pretty surprised about that, but of course, very excited! Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl! We have had 4 boys in a row, so it is probably time for another girl!

 

Here are a few more pictures before I close!