Some Action Shots...

Here's some action shots of Caleb at the Vancouver airport right before we flew back home to Raleigh.

He's starting to look like quite the athelete....they had a little play gym there and he was just having a great ol' time running around and screaming.

I particularly like the 'action shot' with him looking like he's about to sprint across the airport floor. I think that he get's that from Jay since I for one know that I wouldn't be running unless my life was endangered. :)...although, my sister and my dad are both runners so maybe he inherited some latent gene from the Tang side. Although, from what I hear from Toon, Jay was a very fast runner back in the Army days...

Communication is Key

"Communication is COMPLICATED. We are all raised in a different family with slightly different definitions of every word. An agreement is an agreement only if each party knows the conditions for satisfaction and a time is set for satisfaction to occur."

I read that quote somewhere and thought that it was very on pointe. This relates to all people that we have to communicate with: family, spouses, bosses, co-workers, friends....

Which brings me to thoughts on how to raise Caleb to be the best person he can be. As parents we strive to keep them safe, warm, fed and otherwise free of other baby worries....and as they grow into toddler-hood, we then strive to teach them right from wrong. But then comes the more abtract values. How to you teach them to be compassionate, kind, and giving? How do you teach them to be creative thinkers and how do you teach them to keep their minds open? How do you teach them to be hardworkers but also have fun and not to grow up too fast?

Don't all parents have these worries? I realize that we teach by example as they grow but are there things that can be done to make sure that all our bases are covered in case I forget a crucial lesson?

It's Been A Busy New Year So Far...

It's been a super busy New Year so far....

Caleb and I just got back from a very short visit to Vancouver....and to anybody that's surprised that I was in town, it was because my visit was so short that I didn't really tell anybody. It was filled with family stuff and visits with my parent's friends. I'll post some pictures later.

It really reinforced that I would love to move back to Vancouver....but it also reminded me of how expensive it is to live there....oh well,....maybe in a few more years I'll be back home.

Grandma Stella was so happy to spend time with little Caleb....don't you see the family resemblance in these two?

Merry First (Real) Christmas Caleb!!

Merry First (Real) Christmas Caleb!! Last year he was only a week old so it didn't count really....He was OUR Christmas present last year....

This year Caleb really didn't know what to do with the presents. Even upon urging, the wrapping paper tearing really didn't interest him that much. He was much more interested in the boxes that the toys came in. Daddy got him lots of stuff including a red wagon, an activity table for his trains, an art easel with a chalkboard on one side....and my favourite, his Thomas the Train robe. We were calling him "Hef" for Hugh Hefner (aka 'Puffin') all day long.

Pic That Stacey Took

I had to post this pic that Stacey took over the weekend (that's my boss in the background)....

Caleb sure has a funny expression on his face....

Happy First Birthday Caleb!!!!

We had Caleb's first birthday party yesterday and Jay and I both agreed that it was a success. We had just the right amount of people and we had lots of food and cake for everybody (more than enough cake) and even though Caleb slept through the first 2 hours of the party, he woke up in time for the presents and most importantly, the cake.

There were so many cameras going yesterday and Kristen took sooooo many pictures of Caleb eating cake and opening presents. I had to pick through and just post the highlights but I'm sure that I'll have to devote another blog entry just to incorporate the other photos.

We're so happy with all our guests that came and we hope that they had fun at Caleb's party. Being able to throw a party for Caleb is something that I think that we'll be looking forward to every year. It was so much fun and presumeably, this will be the only year where the party was really for Mommy and not really for Caleb since he really had no idea that the party was for him anyways.

We wish that Auntie Michelle was here since today is also her birthday (Happy Birthday Lil' Sis!) and we look forward to seeing her soon in the new year.

We are visiting Vancouver for a few days in January but we're not advertising that we're coming since our stay is so short, we won't be doing much other than letting Great Grandma hang out with her great-grandson (whom she's never met yet) and other family type stuff. I apologize to everybody else but we're working on another trip soon (hopefully longer stay) where we'll be able to visit with everybody.

Happy Belated Birthday Daddy...

It was Daddy's birthday on Monday! (No! I didn't forget,....I just didn't post a blog about it)...with Caleb going to the doctors and him having to work (he's usually off on Mondays), it just blew by.

He'll be sharing Caleb's birthday cake on Sunday when we celebrate Caleb's 1st birthday.

Pediacare Decongestant Plus Cough??

Yesterday Caleb went to the Doctors again since he kept us up all night whimpering and whining and wouldn't go to sleep. He appeared to be really congested and I was worried about another ear infection episode.

Turns out he had a viral something or other and he's on Albuterol (for his airways) again as well as an inhalation steroid and a oral steroid for his lungs.

Also, the doctor suggested "Pediacare Decongestant" (in the little orange box) and the pharmacist informed me that the no longer make that formula? Pediacare now only makes "Decongestant Plus Cough"??....I've searched the internet but have found no information on this. Anybody else know anything about this? From what I've read from before, the formulas are quite different and I thought that it was better (or safer?) to use just the Decongestant and not the one with the "Plus Cough"...??

The doctor assures me that babies who are 9-12 months in the winter time often do get sick a lot since this is the time in their lives where they lose all of the immunities they gained while they were in the womb as well as what they gained through nursing.

It just seems like he's always sick with something or the other. I just hope that he outgrows this stage soon.

Anybody have any tips on keeping him sick-free?

Who Me? I Wasn't Doing ANYTHING!

The Thomas Collection Begins...

I just can't believe that in 14 days, he'll be a year old. This year has flown by! That footed sleeper that he's wearing in these pics is an 18-month size! He just loves this little car thing that his Uncle Mattias let him have. Daddy pushes him in it all over the house and he just thinks that it's the best thing there is.

Right now, we're in the process of moving some of the things that he's outgrown (like the baby swing) into the guest room and we're starting to fix up his baby room to be more suited to a toddler.

We've also decided on his Christmas and Birthday presents. Over the weekend, we went to Target and got the Thomas take along tracks & some trains for his birthday....and for Christmas, we got another set of 'elevation' tracks and some more trains. All we need now is a train table and he'll be set. Thanks to my boss Stan's educational & extensive discussion on Thomas stuff, he was the one that told me the difference between 'take-a-long' Thomas and the regular Thomas.

From what I've seen in the stores, the take-a-long Thomas stuff is a little smaller and the tracks are a little narrower. It also appears to be much cheaper than the metal die-cast full size Thomas trains as well, which is a bonus. On the box, it says "exclusively for Target".....does that mean that from now on, we can only shop at Target to buy these trains? If so, that's a great marketing gimmick since new parents are the ones that are inclined (or have to) buy new toys for their toddlers since we don't have anybody to hand me down any toys.

Seeing the amount of stuff available for Thomas train collectors at Target, this will give us something easy to choose for all future presents until he figures out what he really likes and what he's really into. (At least that's what I'm hoping ...)

All The Way Across the Living Room!

Caleb walked his first steps today! He walked across the living room from Daddy all the way to me!! And he was smiling the whole way!

No Picture to Post but Small Updates

I can't remember if I posted this in an earlier blog....but Caleb's got 4 teeth on the top that came in all at once! He won't really let me get a good picture of it....but now he's got 6 teeth total! I caught him making a weird noise last week and I said to myself 'how can he be grinding if he's only got 2 teeth on the bottom'? Well, he's now got 6.

Florice also alerted me to a new skill that he's learned. He now knows how to blog 'spit-bubbles'. It's cute and kind've gross at the same time since he slobbers all down his chin when he does it. It seems that he needs to be in a zone to be able to do it.

We're also trying to teach him - "give me 5"....and he's done it a couple of times....but each time, I'm not sure whether he just got it by accident or he actually knows what I'm asking.

The walking is also getting better. He can now 'toddle' over to you (so THAT's why they call them toddlers)....and while he's not super stable yet when he's taking steps, he IS attempting them when he doesn't have any hand holds left.

We also got a big box in the mail yesterday from Auntie Michelle, a present for Caleb's birthday (his first one-year birthday present) and while we've put the present under the tree until his birthday, Caleb had a grand ol' time playing in the box yesterday night. We even put him IN the box and he stayed there playing happily with just a spatula. (I don't know what it is with this boy and kitchen utensils - maybe he'll be a chef?)

Present Debate...& Other Misc Notes...

We've mainly been working on getting Caleb to 'self-feed'. He's really good at eating chunks of bananas and Cheerios (when he was going through his Cheerios phase). Currently, he's not a big fan of them. Instead, he's going through a Graham cracker phase. He loves holding on to a big cracker and just munch away on it.

He's also LOVES applesauce. Jay loves it too so I just buy the big jars from Wal-Mart and they go to town on it.

He's taken is first steps this past week, but I haven't seen him take more than 4 steps before he wobbles down to the floor. I'll give him another week and he'll be walking around wrecking havoc on our house.

The most fun thing so far is being able to plan his one year birthday party! We're trying to keep it small and simple, but we'll see.

There's also a debate going on with Jay & I. We don't really know what to get him for his birthday & Christmas! I was leaning towards something like a train set (Thomas is popular so I hear) since this may intrigue him well into his toddler years. Jay wants to get sports stuff (like a basketball hoop for babies thing). Then there's that educational VSmile gaming system for toddlers. Does anybody have it? What do you think?

Since it's only his first birthday and his first real Christmas (last year he was only 7 days old), I'm sure that he'll just be happy with the box and the wrappping paper. If he's lucky, he may even get nice sparkley ribbon to play with.

A Perforated Ear Drum

Here's Caleb wearing a Vancouver sweatshirt! Vicki (my 0ld PwC partner in NYC) had given this sweatshirt to me when I working in New Jersey last year and it's finally now fit him.

We've been out of commission at home. Caleb went to the doctors again since he wasn't feeling very well and had a low grade fever. It seems like his ear infection from the other week never went away and he now has a perforated ear drum (a hole or rupture in the eardrum, a thin membrane which separates the ear canal and the middle ear. The medical term for eardrum is tympanic membrane).

So now he's on some stronger antibiotics and medicated ear drops as well as needing the nebulizer to administer Albuterol for the slight wheezing in his chest.

My Sister's Bruno

Isn't this just the sweetest thing? My sister's dog, Bruno, is one of the "spokes-dogs" for this company called the K9 Biscuit Company.....Isn't he just so handsome??!! This just tickled me when I saw this.

Hey Michelle, could you mail us a sample so that I can have Bruno's picture on display in my cupboard?

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

I'm 28 today!!!

On A Serious Note

I rarely post anything that's truly serious on my blog but I am compelled today to send a message to the "B" family. They have just lost their son and brother, Ryan who was only in his twenties and according to his mom, he was only 2 weeks away from getting his GED. He leaves behind 2 young children who will carry his essence with them as they grow up.

This is extremely sad news that I heard from my old friends in Vancouver. After many different attempts at contacting his mother, I was successful after I found an old phone book of mine. Thankfully, she hadn't changed her number in the 5-6 years since I've called her last. This is the family of one of my old ex-boyfriends and we send our thoughts and prayers to their family after this terrible tragedy. I don't really communicate with anybody from that era in my life but I think of them fondly nevertheless. His mother is raising his two young kids with such courageousness and love that it just breaks my heart.

I also saw pictures of my Kit's '96 class reunion on shutterfly.com and I am again reminded of that no matter how far one thinks they've gone forward in life, we forget that we don't change as much as we think we do. Appearances may change and accomplishments may be gained, but how we think as people and how we care about the people that we call friends never really changes.

I'm fairly certain that few to none of Caleb's blog readers know this family personally or even know of this family but please think seriously of how short life can be and how we should appreciate everybody for who they are and tell your loved ones that we love them.

Cheerios and the 'Giggle-Monsters'

Cheerios!

Caleb's favourite food right now is Cheerios. Of course, this means that we now find Cheerios in the most unlikely of places. He's also developed quite a fine palate. We tried to purchase the no-name oat-O's and the little bugger can actually tell the difference. I guess we'll have to ante up the extra $1.50 a box to make him happy.

He's also very fond of graham crackers (especially if they're covered in cinnaman sugar) and those teddy-grahams also work very well.

He goes through phases. There are some days where he'll eat everything in sight and then other days where he only wants Cheerios and his bottle.

Can anybody believe that he's almost 11 months!!! That's so crazy to me.

The latest accomplishment is that he has learned to giggle. This makes for a very exhausting nighttime bedtime ritual since we just can't resist hearing him giggle so Jay and I turn into the 'tickle-monsters' and chase Caleb all around the house.

Caleb and the Pumpkin

There once was a boy named Caleb. Caleb loved look at his pumpkin...especially when it's all lit up with candles on the inside and smells of cinnaman and nutmeg.

Mommy Dressed Up Too!!

What's extra fun about Halloween? Now that we have Caleb, I now have an excuse to dress up for Hallween too! We dressed up and opened the door for trick or treaters. The most popular costumes of choice seemed to be super heros this year. We saw a couple supermans, spider mans...even a Captain America.

And!!! I got a really good picture of Caleb's first two teeth!! He's such a ham...