Milestones

The past month, we have met several milestones in our family.

• Craig and I celebrated our 3Year Anniversary!  
• Calder is 91/2 months!  At his nine month appointment, he measured 30 in. long (93rd percentile), and weighed 19 lbs, 4 oz (30th percentile)

• Calder has now been crawling on his hands and knees for a while now.  He is a little explorer!  He has found out that the kitchen cupboards and drawers open, and loves to play in the one drawer that I let him. He can pull himself up to standing on almost anything, and is getting really sturdy.  It is amazing how mobile he is becoming.  

• Calder got his first two teeth.
• Calder learned how to drink through a straw.  What he likes even more than drinking through the straw is blowing bubbles.

In other news, I got a haircut!  It is quite a bit shorter than it used to be (now it's above my shoulders), and I really like it!

Oh, and I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. Just thought I would throw that in there, I think this year is the most prepared I have been for Christmas this early in the ball game.  It is such a great feeling! Calder helped me get it all done, including the decorating.

Hurricane

Ok, so we didn't really have a hurricane, for obvious reasons.

But wind speeds last Thursday morning were clocked at 100 mph, which is technically hurricane speed winds.  It was kind of crazy/cool/scary all at the same time.  It is times like these that I am grateful we are renters; the repairs are not on our bill.  This is some of the damage in our apartment complex.

Shingles were everywhere!  Fences had fallen down, and tons of trees had either broken limbs or the whole tree had come down.

We ended up spending a couple days and nights at my parents' house because our power was out.

The weather forecast showed another wind storm coming on Sunday night, and with tons of debris that hadn't been cleaned up, the Governor was concerned.  He encouraged citizens to do what they could to get things anchored down before the next storm so that more things wouldn't get damaged.  Long story short, the Area Authorities got in touch with the Stake Presidents in the area, and our stake decided that church would be cancelled.  So we spent all day Sunday doing a ward clean-up.  It was kind of fun to see the whole neighborhood band together to get things ready.

The storm on Sunday didn't end up being nearly as strong, and we got everything cleaned up before it hit, so there was no more damage in our area.

A Little Late

So I am a little late posting Halloween pictures, but I just got them from one of our friends...
Craig and I were a couple from the 50's (his hair is slicked back, if you couldn't tell) and Calder was a little bear.

We went over to one of our friends' house the Saturday before for a little party, which was a lot of fun.  They had a leaf pile for the kids to jump in and everything!  Calder was having fun crunching all the leaves.

After the party, we carved our pumpkins.  I think they turned out pretty well!

Halloween day was fairly uneventful - we didn't get a single trick-or-treater!  Good thing I bought good candy.

Army Crawling

The last couple weeks, Calder has taken off!  I can't believe that he's 8 months old, and now very mobile!  He hasn't quite gotten the hang of hands-and-knees crawling, but he is getting really good at his army crawl.  The last couple days he has been up on his hands and knees a lot so it probably won't be too long before he figures it out.  He is loving being able to explore around our house.  Oh, and I am not sure where he learned his little high squeak from, but it is one of his favorite sounds lately.

He has quite the personality.  He is getting used to other people, and loves to see other little kids.  He LOVES when Craig comes home from work, we just play and laugh all evening - it is so much fun.

Cruisin'

We just got back from a much needed/graduation present/anniversary/family vacation.  We flew down to Houston, and left on the Carnival Triumph from Galveston.   We had a great time!

 Our first stop was in Progreso, Mexico.  As for the town itself, there isn't much but a beach and the flea market, which was fun to see anyway.  We went to some Mayan ruins nearby, called "dzibilchaltun."  They were really neat to see. It is crazy to think about the people that lived there.

 

 

 Calder was having a great time, too.  Especially once he got out of the backpack we were carrying him in.

 There was a beautiful natural pool with tons of little fish.  They would nibble at your feet if they were in the same place for too long.

 
 I was amazed at how big the ship was!  Apparently it is as long as 3 football fields.

 Calder was a champ all day, but he was pretty worn out when we got back to our room.

The next day, we stopped in Cozumel, Mexico.  We rented a car, drove to a beach, and enjoyed playing in the water and eating legit Mexican fajitas.

 Calder was a little nervous about the water at first, but after a few minutes, he was having a great time!

When we were done at the beach, we drove to the other side of the island.  The views were stunning.

The next day was just at sea again while we made our way back to Galveston.  But nothing beats a sunset and a sunrise on the ocean.

 We spent a few days with Craig's sister and her husband in Houston where we sampled some amazing Texas bbq and visited some things around the city.  It was fun to see them.

What a great trip! Calder was a champ through the whole thing, too.  Now, we are just adjusting to being back at home.

Say Cheese

A couple weeks ago, we got our family pictures taken.  My good friend Jenny (who taught 5th grade with me) took them, and we love them!!  She did such a great job!  I am having a hard time deciding which ones to hang up in our house.  Here are a few.

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Calder is 6 months old already!

Things I want to remember about him at this age:

• Calder is 17 lbs 7 oz and 27 1/2 inches long.  Hmm...it looks like his car seat won't last until he's one.  
• He is so much fun!  He laughs and squeals a lot.

• He is becoming more independent.  He rolls around to reach whatever he wants to grab, and can now sit by himself!  He still tips over after about 30 sec. but is getting better everyday!
• His favorite toys are his jumper - he can get some good air in that thing, and will just laugh and talk to himself in it - and a little saucer that he can sit in that has toys all around.  I think he feels so grown up in them.

• Calder will reach his little arms out to people for them to hold him now.  It is the cutest thing!
• He is getting better with other people.  He still stresses out a little, but is willing to let most hold him at least for a few minutes before he starts to get upset.

• He LOVES rice cereal and his toes, and has just started other solids.  We started pears last week.  He tolerates them now, but still doesn't like them very much.  We will try a different one this week sometime.  Mostly, I think he just loves to sit in his highchair.
• Calder likes to sleep on his side or his stomach.  The only time he sleeps on his back now is if he is asleep when we put him in his crib.  

• He still loves to go swimming!  He loves to splash and kick in the water. We may have to take some trips to the rec center now that it is starting to be a little too chilly to swim outside.  
• He loves to experience new things, like he loved feeling the sand at the beach, he LOVES playing with plastic water bottles and "drinking" water from them, he loves anything I give him to play with that is new for him.  I love how curious he is!

• He is starting to teethe.  They aren't ready to pop through, yet, but they are starting to bother him a little I think.  He constantly chews REALLY HARD on everything.
• Calder had his first haircut!  
• He likes games like peek-a-boo, singing songs, and still loves to be outside, look in mirrors, and be swung around by his dad.  

And last but not least, this is his favorite face to pull...

Kung Fu

Our good friends the Jorgensens came back from China a little while ago.  It was great to see them and catch up for a bit.  They brought back a little Kung Fu outfit for Calder.

 I think he likes the silky feel.

He has even started practicing some Kung Fu moves.
Thanks Jorgensens!

The Fastest Men in Mendon

Every year we always go to Mendon to participate in their fun celebration of the 24th of July.  It's become a tradition, and we always have a great time!

It all started the year before Craig left on his mission.  He showed up to run the 5k, and happened to win it, donning the title "The Fastest Man in Mendon" and bragging rights for a year, until the next race the next year.  After his mission, Craig wasn't even able to make it to the race that summer, but one of his best friends did, and took the title.  So since then, we have run the race (and the boys don't even win it anymore, they are beat by the high schoolers) every year, and it is something we look forward to.

This year, the race looked a little different for our family.

Craig ran with Calder, and he still did great!  I ran, and finished, which is all I was going for.  However, Calder did cross the finish line before Craig.  So I guess there are two fastest men in our family!

After breakfast, we go back and watch the parade and the Great Race.  The Great Race is a compilation of various tasks and contests, like a watermelon eating contest, log sawing, hammering a nail, and many others all piled into one Great Race.  Each ward in Mendon puts a team together to compete.  We root for the Mendon 2nd ward (Craig's family's ward) who ALWAYS wins.  Every year.  It is pretty funny, the other wards have started rumors that Mendon 2nd ward holds tryouts to be on their team.  Heh. 

Here are my boys watching the parade. :-)

We finish up the day by watching the fireworks that night.  I love the Mendon Fireworks.  They are short and sweet.  

Thanks Mendon for letting us come celebrate the 24th there every year!