Gerber Contest, Grandma & Grandpa Visit, More Pictures from Ina, Not Eating Again, Passport, and Changing His Schedule

Last Thursday we went to Trader Joe's and got a couple of small pumpkins. I wanted to take some pictures of Caleb with the pumpkins and Trader Joe's had very nice pumpkins that were cheap, so we got a couple. I ended up getting some great pictures of Caleb and one of them I even entered into a Gerber baby photo contest. It's worth a shot, right?

This is the one I entered into the contest

Deep in thought among the pumpkins

Also a look at our new door and shutters

 

Last Friday was a work day and Caleb was with my mom in the morning and with Rad and Jen in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, so Rad and Jen took Caleb for a nice walk in the stroller and had a good time playing with him.

 

 

We had my parents and Rad & Jen over to our house for supper on Friday, kinda for Steve's birthday because Rad and Jen had been in NY for Steve's actual birthday. It was a quick meal because there was a meeting at the church and Steve had to go get the sound room set up for the meeting. But, it was still a good time.

 

Steve's parents came down and got to our house Friday evening after Caleb was already in bed. They hadn't seen us in about 6 weeks, so they were looking forward to seeing Caleb.

 

 

A not fun part of Sabbath morning was Caleb not wanting to eat his applesauce and oatmeal. He had been doing so well with eating the last 2 or 3 weeks and now, this week he doesn't want to eat pretty much at all. It started last Thursday and then Caleb ate good on Friday and then ever since Sabbath morning, he hasn't done good at all. He will eat a couple of bites and then will lose interest, turn his head, and refuse to open his mouth. It is soooo frustrating!! I thought we were finally past this issue and here it is rearing its ugly head again! Why won't my kid eat???

 

Anyway, we made it to Sabbath School (although a little late) and Caleb had a fun time with the kids.

 

 

 









I nursed Caleb during church and he was tired, so he took a nap while eating. After church we had potluck and then we had our friend Ina take some pictures of Caleb again (and a few family pictures). I had initially been wanting to have her take pictures so I could enter one in the Gerber contest, but I loved that pumpkin picture so much I used that one instead.

 

Here are some of Ina's pictures (and I took a couple of her taking the pictures). They really turned out well.

My favorite

This is actually an upside down picture of him

Looks like he's singing

Love these two!

 

Sabbath afternoon we went home and I tried to get Caleb to take a nap in his crib, but it is so hard on Sabbath because our schedule is off. He wouldn't sleep in his crib, so I ended up having to nurse him to sleep again for the second Sabbath in a row. I am not too happy about that, but at least he slept some. After that, we took a nice walk and then came back and visited a little while before Caleb's story and bath time.

 

Saturday night Caleb slept really well - from 7:30 to 6:15 with hardly a peep. I was happy about that, however, then he wouldn't go back to sleep because he had slept so long. I ended up getting him up after about 45 minutes of not going to sleep. We went out to breakfast Sunday morning with my parents and Steve's parents. We had a nice time and Caleb was well behaved, although by that time he was getting tired.

 

Entertaining himself at the restaurant

Daddy hung him on a coat hook at our booth!

 

After breakfast I brought Caleb home for a nap around 11:00 and Steve and his parents went shopping (Steve and his dad to Harbor Freight and Steve's mom to the Christmas Tree Shop). Caleb initially woke up after half an hour and I was so upset, but I went in there and put his pacifier in and he miraculously went back to sleep for another hour and 15 minutes, for a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes, which is about the longest nap he ever does lately. Usually I am lucky to even get an hour out of him.

 

Steve's parents ended up leaving before Caleb woke up and then later that afternoon, Rad came over to watch the Patriots with me and my parents came for the end of the game (which was awful, but I won't dwell on that).

 

Gotta love a little boy in overalls

Playing with Mommy's breast pump during the Patriots game

 

 

Watching the game with Grammy

 

Monday morning Caleb was up at 5:00 and I don't know why because he has been doing so well lately sleeping a little later. I am a morning person, though, so it doesn't really bother me when he wakes up that early. Monday ended up not being the greatest day for us. Caleb went back to sleep until about 8:15, so that was fine, but then he was a little cranky the rest of the day. He wouldn't eat his solids which made me upset. He wanted to play while nursing so I had to slap his hand a couple of times which he didn't like. He did not take a very long nap, which was really too bad, because he needed it. Then we went to meet Steve on his way home from work so we could apply for a passport for Caleb and we went to the post office and I thought the hours were until 4:30 but they only took passport applications until 4:00, so we were too late, so it was a wasted trip. I was not happy about that, because it was a wasted trip, but that's just how my dad had been going! I was happy when the day was over and Caleb was in bed. For the most part, Caleb is such an easy baby, but it is a struggle sometimes when he gets a little cranky, because he sleeps so poorly during the day. If he is happy, it is not as big of a deal when he doesn't get a long nap, but when he is grouchy, it just makes things worse. I am just glad that the bad days are few and far between!

 

Tuesday was a much better day. Caleb slept very well again Monday night and slept from 7:30 to 6:30. Because he wouldn't go back to sleep on Sunday after sleeping that long, I didn't even try to get him to go back to sleep on Tuesday morning after I nursed him. Instead, he stayed up and then I put him down for a nap around 9:00. He slept for 50 minutes, which is not bad. Then we went to our play group. We were sad because this was supposed to be the last week of an 8-week class, but when we got there, we got the good news that they were going to let us continue until right before Christmas and then start up again in January. So, we were all very excited because we have been having a good time getting together. Here is a picture of Caleb and his friend Julia. It is hilarious because he is kind of laying in her lap.

 

 

After play group we came home and I fed Caleb his solids (not too successfully, of course). Then I put him down for another nap and he ended up sleeping for an hour and 20 minutes. I was very happy with how the day went because Caleb slept more than 2 hours total, which is way more than usual. I could get used to this schedule, so we'll see if we have more days like that or if we go back to the regular schedule.

 

Tuesday afternoon we tried again with Caleb's passport and this time we were successful, so that was good. We are getting him a passport because we are going on a cruise the first week in February. He doesn't actually need a passport for the cruise, but if something were to happen and we had to fly home from one of the islands, he would need a passport for that, so we would rather be prepared.

 

Yesterday I worked, but my mom wasn't able to take care of Caleb because she was going to a funeral for Pastor Mark's mother off-Cape. I got Dede from our church to watch Caleb in the morning and then I took a 1/2 day and came home in the afternoon.

 

Caleb did well for Dede in the morning, although he didn't eat much of his solids or drink much of his bottle. It is nice that I have someone who can watch Caleb that I trust when my mom can't do it. I got home around 12:45 and Caleb was ready for a nap, so I put him down. I am still trying to get him to go to sleep without the swaddle and about half the time it works and half the time I end up swaddling him anyway. Yesterday he did fall asleep without the swaddle and slept about 35 minutes and then I left him in his crib for awhile and he fell back to sleep for a few more minutes but woke up again shortly after that. Oh well. Here are a few pictures from when I went to get him out of bed.

 

 







This morning Caleb woke up just before 6:00 and he did go back to sleep until about 8:20, so that was his normal schedule. He absolutely refused to eat more than 2 bites of his applesauce and oatmeal, though and I was so upset. I feel like we have taken several steps backwards again, which doesn't make me happy. He also seemed a little grumpy again today. I had to go to the dentist, so I dropped Caleb off at the office with my mom and she took this adorable picture of Caleb helping her work.

 

 

Well, that's about it for this week. Here are just a couple more pictures that I missed from the week.

 

A nice early morning shot of our house with the new door and shutters