"Ladies" Newport Weekend

I realized that most of my pictures are from our "ladies" weekend in Newport, so that is the only thing listed in my title. I'll get to that in a minute.

First of all, Friday was another day of Caleb at Grammy's house and then having Josie and Rissa come over after school to help babysit. It is working out really well and my mom is able to get some things done while they entertain Caleb. Their mom gets out of work and comes over to our house around 4:00 and stays until we get home at 5:00. This is going to be our routine for another few weeks until I finally decide it's ok for them to watch Caleb by themselves for those few hours (as long as my mom is around in the area for emergencies).

I have probably mentioned that Caleb is obsessed with the phone and puts everything up to his ear like he is talking on the phone. Crazy because I don't like talking on the phone and rarely do it so I don't know where he learned that from!

Grammy gave him some raspberries and he liked them. He is getting so much better about trying new foods and is not very picky at all.

 

Sabbath morning we went to Sabbath School and there were quite a few kids there so we couldn't sit down the whole time. Caleb was very antsy in Sabbath School and didn't want to sit on my lap. He wanted to be walking/crawling around all the time, so we spent most of the time out of the chair anyway.

 

 

It was a special Pathfinder/Adventurer/Little Lambs Sabbath, so it was pretty cool to see all the kids in  their uniforms. We have over 30 kids in those groups and it is so amazing to see all of them together like that. What a ministry we have in our church!

 

 





We were going to be headed out to Newport after potluck, so I decided that I needed to take Caleb home when the sermon started to give him a nap to make sure he had a good nap before going to Newport. He is not the greatest car napper, so I didn't want to count on that. I ended up eating lunch during his nap, so we just skipped potluck altogether. Caleb took a pretty good nap, but not quite as long as I would have liked. So, we went back to church and got ready to go. My mom had organized a ladies weekend (Caleb got to go since I am still nursing him) with I think about 22 ladies to go stay in Newport at her time share. We had a great time! We drove down in the afternoon and everybody got situated in their rooms and then we took a walk across the street to Goat Island to a lighthouse. Before we went on the walk, I fed Caleb some supper and my friend Ina took some great pictures of him while he was eating.

 

Here are some pictures from the walk.

After the walk, it was time for me to get Caleb ready for bed. We were sharing the master bedroom in the main unit with my mother. Caleb went down pretty good although I had to double up on the sound machines because mine is not very loud (I used an app on my phone to make it louder) and it was very very loud outside the door with all the ladies out there. By the time I was done feeding Caleb, our supper was ready so I was able to enjoy it without having Caleb around. We had a nice evening just visiting and then some people went in the pool but I stayed in the room with some of the other ladies. I finally went to bed around 11:00, which is late for me!

Unfortunately, Caleb was awake a little earlier than usual in Newport, but oh well. We got up and I was one of the ones in charge of making breakfast (we had picked names for the different meals so it wasn't the same people doing it all the time).

Playing in our room before going out into the rest of the place

 

We had a nice breakfast and worship and then we got ready to go on the Cliff Walk.

Caleb in the middle of all the ladies during worship (he actually turned the TV on during prayer - oops!)

So we went on the Cliff Walk and it was very nice. The majority of it is still closed due to damage from Hurricane Sandy but we were able to walk about 1 mile before we had to turn around. Caleb was getting a little antsy to get out of the stroller at the end of the Cliff Walk. Since the group was so large, we were having to wait for the back of the pack and so we didn't get done as quickly as we would have if there had been less people.

 

After the Cliff Walk, we headed to one of the mansions. It was later than I had hoped but that's what happens when you have such a large group to corral! My plan was to take Caleb back for a nap after the mansion while everyone else went out to lunch. I was very disappointed when I found out I couldn't bring the umbrella stroller into the mansion. I knew that wouldn't go well because if I tried to carry Caleb he would just want to get down. Well, now that he is walking, he ended up walking  through a good portion of the mansion (with some crawling mixed in). I did hold him some but he was very squirmy. Anyway, we enjoyed the mansion and then we went back for a nap.

Blowing a kiss to himself in the mirror

On the steps of the mansion

I, of course, hadn't done any work yet that day, so I was able to work for almost 2 hours while Caleb napped and everyone else was out to eat, so that was good. After lunch, a lot of people left to go back home, but there were a few that were staying until Monday morning (including us). Some of the ladies played a game in the afternoon and Caleb watched.

Then some of us went swimming, although most of the ladies just went in the hot tub. Of course Caleb couldn't go in the hot tub so I was stuck only going in the pool, but oh well. Caleb loves swimming, so he had a great time.

 

After swimming, I brought Caleb back for supper and then got him ready for bed. I then worked for another couple of hours after he went to bed.

 

Monday morning Caleb was up early again and we pretty much just had breakfast and got ready to go and were out of there shortly after 8:00.

 



We stopped at Target on the way home since we never go there. After we got home, I immediately unpacked (I have to do that, or I go crazy) and then fed Caleb lunch and put him down for a nap. I wasn't sure he would sleep long since he had been in the car a lot of the morning, but he took a pretty good nap. After his nap, I worked on my latest photo book for a couple of hours while he played in his room, because there was a really big sale and I needed to finish my book by Tuesday to get the sale. I was able to finish and ordered a 90 page book for about $17, so I am super excited about that!

He is so good at entertaining himself thankfully

On Tuesday, we had our play group at someone's house, because we are on an official break until next week. Before that, we went to Trader Joe's for some groceries. The play group didn't start until 11:00 and Caleb's nap is usually 12:00, but he had slept in until about 6:45 that morning, so I left the play group around 12:15 and he was down for his nap around 12:40 and slept for 2 hours, so I was really excited about that! Usually it is an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half, so 2 hours is really good. After Steve got home from work, we took a quick walk with the dogs, although it was pretty cold. I am so ready for spring to really be here!

Yesterday morning we woke up to a snowstorm, which we knew was coming. Neither one of us had a change to our work schedule, unfortunately, so we still dropped Caleb off at my mom's. The drive wasn't too great, but all the schools were canceled, so there weren't too many other cars on the road, so that made it a little safer. By the time work was over, everything had stopped and the roads were clear, so the drive home was fine. Caleb and Grammy had a long day stuck inside, but at least he's a good boy!

Helping Grammy with her spices

Trying fresh papaya

He loves to push buttons

 

In other news, Caleb now has a new cousin. Shawn and Camille had their third child, a daughter they named Winslow Eve. We are very excited she is here and can't wait to meet her, although I am not sure when that will be!

 

Well, I think that's about it for this week. Here are a couple more pictures.

 

He does not feed himself yet, but we are practicing!

He loves to play with the dogs' tags



Caleb is Walking!!!!

There are several exciting things that happened this week, but I am leaving my title at just the fact that Caleb is now officially walking!! The sad part is that of course it happened while I was at work. I am glad that I can say he took his first steps while I was there. But, he started walking for real last Friday while I was at work. My mom had 2 girls from the church helping her with Caleb in the afternoon (they will eventually watch him on their own in a few weeks) and they were the ones that got him to start walking. My mom sent me a video while I was at work, and I couldn't believe it because he would barely take a couple of steps before that! So, anyway, he is walking a lot now, but he is still pretty wobbly at times and crawling is still his transportation method of choice because it is so much faster for him. But, I definitely feel like we have crossed that hurdle and he will keep getting better and better at it. By the time spring is really here, he will be an old pro and will be able to play outside and run around.

So, on to the rest of the week. We went to my parents' house for supper on Friday night, which we hadn't done in awhile. It was nice. Of course we had to duck out pretty quickly to get Caleb to bed, but we still had a nice visit.

On Sabbath we had a great day with family. Alison and Shannon and their families came down for the weekend and got here in time for church. After church we were having everyone over to our house for lunch but I wanted to get Caleb down for a nap before he knew everyone was there, so we rushed home after church and I put him down and put a box fan on to drown out the noise. He fell asleep instantly and ended up sleeping 2 1/2 hours, so that was great. It was so loud while he was sleeping, so thank goodness for the box fan!

After Caleb got up, Westin went down for a nap, so unfortunately they didn't have much of a chance to play together. A lot of the group ended up going for a walk on the beach later in the afternoon, but Westin was still sleeping, so I stayed home and visited with Alison while he slept and Steve took Caleb with him to the beach.

After they got back, Caleb and Westin played for a little while and then I fed Caleb supper and got him ready for bed.

 

Everyone came to our house for supper as well. My mother had made some burgers, so it was a pretty easy meal. Thank goodness again for the box fan. I nursed Caleb in his room and he fell asleep and then I came out to the rest of the group and it was soooo loud I couldn't believe it. I couldn't tell with the box fan on. Caleb slept the whole time through all the chaos, which was great. We had a nice supper and visit and then some of us played some games. Then most people left and Steve and I stayed up very late talking with Alison, which was really nice since we don't get to spend a lot of time together.

On Sunday morning, Steve, Heath, Rad, and Sean got up and went disc golfing. Alison and I stayed home with the 3 boys and had breakfast and played while they were gone.

They were both "talking on the phone" with the remotes

 

Alison's boys are a little wilder than Caleb, and it got pretty chaotic while they were playing. We decided we were going to go to the playground with Shannon's kids as well. We stopped at Rad and Jen's house on the way because Heath had never seen their house.

 

Troublemakers climbing the stairs at Rad and Jen's

 

We went and had a fun time at the playground and we also went across the street to the Centerville Country Store for penny candy.

 

 





Then we went out to Thai food for lunch (and took over the whole restaurant). Then the ladies went to the consignment sale and I have to say I was soooo disappointed. It was not nearly as big as it was in the fall. I bought so many things in the fall and just walking into the hall was so overwhelming. This time it was very disappointing although there was still a fair amount of things. Alison and Shannon weren't disappointed, but they don't know what they were missing out on from last time. I think last time I spent about $125 and this time, only $42. We still were there awhile, and got a few things. One of my best finds was the game Lucky Ducks, which we have in Nova Scotia. Caleb really likes playing it and "ducky" is one of his new words now. One of the things he does, however, is take his plastic baseball bat and smash the ducks until they all fall off. He won't quit until they are all off, too. I guess there is no denying he is a boy!

After we got back from the sale, Alison and Heath headed out, but Heath wanted to go to Harbor Freight (and of course, so did Steve), so Steve took Caleb with him so I could get some work done. That was nice because of course I didn't do any work earlier in the day because of our company. It was a really great weekend with everyone and I wish we could see them more!

Monday we did our weekly grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and Shaws. It was St. Patrick's Day, so I dressed Caleb in green.

Caleb only took an hour nap on Monday, which made working a little more difficult than usual. He continues to fall asleep very quickly, though, which I am so happy about. I don't think there was anything else exciting that happened on Monday. Just laundry and getting cleaned up from the busy weekend.

Tuesday was more of the same. We went out again and did a little shopping. We ended up at the Dollar Store and got a couple of Easter things. Caleb was excited with a little Easter basket I got him.

He only napped for an hour again on Tuesday. But he did sleep 11 1/2 hours the night before, so that's not too surprising that the nap was short. He really doesn't seem to require much more than 12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period.

Yesterday Caleb had a good day with Grammy and Grampy was around some. Grampy taught Caleb to say "I love you" and it actually sounds a lot like it.

Today we got up early and went up to Cedar Brook School to see Jonathan and his choir do a concert. We hadn't seen him since July, so it was really great to see him and the choir. They sounded great, but Caleb did get a little antsy so we were out in the hall for a little while.

Checking out some baby chicks at the school

 

My mom rode back from the school with us and we stopped at a couple of stores. I was really hoping Caleb would not fall asleep in the car on the way home because I needed to work while he napped after we got home. He was almost asleep at one point but they we stopped and that must have woken him up because luckily he did stay awake until we got home. I put him right down for a nap and he went to sleep quickly and slept 1 1/2 hours, so I was able to get some work done, which I desperately needed. And I just wrote this blog while Caleb ate lunch, but now he is done, so it is time to go play! Here are a few more pictures!