Caleb and Zachary

We went to visit Zachary last week and we can't believe how big he is! Also....he's a very very GOOD baby! He's got such a nice sweet spirit about him and he just seems as content and happy as can be....which is very probably a direct reflection on the parenting skills of Heather and Brandon.

Pretty soon, Caleb will be wearing Zachary's hand me downs!

More Pictures at the Park

Here are some more pictures of Caleb at the park.

Caleb & Elmo on the Swings

Caleb takes his Elmo everywhere we go now. The first thing he says when he gets home is "Elmo?" which I take to mean either "Where's my Elmo?" or "Why isn't my Elmo tape playing?"

We purchased this particular Elmo at the kids exchange at the State Fair grounds in January and they've been inseparable ever since.

Gung Hei Fat Choi

Happy Chinese New Year to everybody! Gung Hei Fat Choi!!! May the coming year bless us all with lots of luck, laughter, joy and prosperity.

We're going to splurge and pick up some Chinese food on the way home from work and have our little New Year's celebration at home tonight.

River

We went to the park last weekend (just Caleb and me since Daddy was at work) and we found this river that Caleb just loved to sit and stare at. I think that this may become our new favourite place to be. We're thinking of hitting it again this weekend if it's not too cold. I took LOTS of pics here but I haven't had a chance to load them yet so I'll post them at a later date..

Caleb had a ball looking at everything, playing on the huge playground but I really think that the river was his favourite part.....or maybe it was just MY favourite part.

We're working on being able to take him camping later on this year when it warms up. NC's such a beautiful place and we really haven't explored it much. Now that Caleb is older (and Daddy's had a few years to forget the army field days), they are much more amendable to camping outdoors and having a chance to get Caleb really see the stars. Neither of us camped as a family when we were young. I had Girl Guides camp for a week every year....I really think that camping would be fun as a family. So....we need what?....some sleeping bags, a tent....and a ton of bug spray right?

Toon and Team Sports

Here are some pictures taken with Uncle Toon on Caleb's birthday. Since the running joke between him and Earnest is that Earnest isn't really much of a team player when it comes to sports (preferring running and swimming over football and basketball), Toon has decided that he'll try to remedy that for Caleb.

I on the other hand also wasn't much of a team sports player although I wish I was. My sister was and look how she turned out! ;) My 'sports' of choice were ballet, ice-skating, swimming....and, during high school/college, Tae Kwon Do....Not sure that cheerleading counted much as a team sport for me but that was as close as I got. I didn't do volleyball, basketball, running (ick), soccer, field hockey or even ultimate frisbee (which I kind of liked but never fully understood what exactly was going on other than throwing the frisbee around).

Hopefully Caleb will take his cues from both us AND the Godfather (Toon) & Godmother (my sister) and have a happy combination of team sports and solitary sports. Not sure if I'm ready to do the soccer mom thing but it would be SOOOO cute to see Caleb play on a team of some kind a few years from now. We shall see.

Caleb Talking....How Are You?

Favourite Foods

Caleb has gotten so good with speaking. Everyday I can see him learning and repeating a few words here and there. He makes us laugh every day and is starting to imitate anything he sees on TV that catches his interest. His favourite things are still anything to do with Sesame Street. Since he's been scratching up the DVDs, we have hauled out our VHS player and got him a dozen or so VHS tapes from a thrift store and he happily yanks them in and out and knows how to turn it on and then press play.

Potty training and come seemingly to a standstill. He still loves to flush the toilet whenever we let him and will sit on the potty before his bath but we still have not seen any 'action' apart from the first day we got the potty which was almost 3 months ago. We bought the Elmo goes Potty DVD and it's the only Sesame Street thing that doesn't hold his interest.

He's still very much a 'Daddy's Boy' which means that whenever Daddy's home I could disappear for hours without him noticing. If Daddy were to close the door for a few minutes, there would be the inevitable howling of Caleb right outside the door begging Daddy to "open door!!"....

He's still very much the cuddler and loves to jump around and he still LOVES his milk. Slowly, (very slowly), he's been eating a bit more here and there and has definately started examining the approaching bowl or forkful very carefully before deciding whether it meets the Caleb standard and allows it into his mouth. After the first bite, if he doesn't like it, there's no way of coercing him to open his mouth again. If he DOES like it, he'll whine if we pretend to take it away. Favourite foods (still) include: white rice, canned peaches & pears, macaroni and cheese (only certain brands), oatmeal (sometimes), and pound cake. Yogurt, grapes and fresh sliced apples occasionly make the hit list as well as peanut butter sandwiches, graham crackers and surprisingly my chicken & shrimp jambalaya.....oh....and sometimes some plain boiled (home-made) wontons that have been cut up into bite size peices.

Monster Truck Jam

We went to Monster Truck Jam at the RBC center this past weekend with Nicki and her kids and Tina and her family. Caleb was mesmerized by all the trucks and could hardly tear his eyes away long enough for us to get a picture.

I'm excited because it means that he's finally old enough to go to things like this!

Welcome Baby Wyatt

Here's some pics from our visit to the Spears family. Wyatt is a beautiful new addition to their family and I feel very lucky to have been able to be there to meet him!

For more pics (and I mean many many more), see the link to Sandy & Justin's website.

Visit with Kellie

Here's our visit with Kellie. During our visit up to DC we got a chance to hang out with Kellie who was in VA for training. It was great to see a Vancouverite and a familiar face after all these years 'down south'.

DC

Here we are in DC on our quick sighseeing tour with a crash course on American history given by Nicki. We were up there to visit Nicki's brother and his wife and their newest addition, Wyatt Liem.

Hugs from Gabi

One day we'll look back and see the beginnings of toddler romance. Gabi was giving Caleb a hug and looking so sly while doing so.

Caleb Talking....Le Ho Mah?

Caleb Talking...I'm so excited that he's starting to really talk! From what I see, there's a lot of learning done from the ages of 2 and 3 in regards to speaking and language development.

My big boy here loves to climb right into the front seat and make himself comfortable even though I tell him that we can't go anywhere until he gets out, gets into his carseat and buckles in. I couldn't resist a picture so that I can show him on the day he goes into take his drivers permit test. :)

Before and After

My before and after pics of my haircut.

Mommy's Hair Cut

I finally got my hair cut....it was long over due...