Bit of everything

So it feels like its been for-ever since I last posted on here, but its only been two weeks. That's actually how this last month has been, busy...but kinda slow. Jacob's parents came down to visit from the 16th - 19th, and we had a fun time with them as usual. It was short but we got to spend some good time together. Caleb did really well. Lately when other people have gone to hold him (even grandma who he sees everyday) he'll cry and fuss till I take him, so I was glad when he let them hold and play with him. They also got to see him crawl, which was perfect timing since he learned the day before they came. Jacob and his dad worked on his truck quite a bit and got it running, yay! While the girls {and Caleb} gabbed and went shopping. On Sunday we took lunches and after church we went to the park and ate an walked around, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. We miss them bunches!

So, let's see what else...Oh, more house work. Jacob has put up a new garage door, which the old one hasn't worked since we've been here, so that it really nice! I think next might be doing the bathroom downstairs (and just to clarify, there isn't currently one there).

And as far as Caleb well, wow can that child move! Its hard to believe he just learned how to crawl. I'll set him down and turn around and poof...he's gone! He's also now officially a cruiser. He moves from one piece of...I was going to say furniture but really anything...to the next. Today he crawled to a wall, stood up and cruised along it to the bedroom. We think he knows what dog is and is attempting to say it. His favorite is, of course, Da-da-da-da-da. Whenever I say ma-ma, he shouts back DA-DA-DA-DA. Boy is this kid fun!! Everything is entertaining and he's doing something new everyday it seems. Well, he's currently taking a nap (which is huge fiasco all over again, now that he's learned to stand up in his crib) so if I want to get anything else done, now is my chance...I was thinking you'd be able to get more done when they got older because they'd be more independent, but now I have to have an eye on him always!

Its hard not to compare...

...your baby to other babies. For the longest time I've said I love my son no matter what, he is unique in his own person and when he is ready for those fun milestones I'll be excited when he reaches them, when he's ready. But its still difficult when everyone asks things like, so he's crawling now, right? or when you read your baby should be doing this by this age. It creeps in the back of your mind...well should he be? is he behind? Anyways, what started this post today is...Caleb finally crawled!! For the longest time he's been getting on all four and then flopping onto his belly, or lunging himself forward. He sure can get to places just by rolling and he seemed perfectly content with it. But today Jacob and I were playing on the floor with him and he just got up on all four and took a few steps towards Jacob, and he's done it several times since. Yay! He still would much rather stand or walk holding on to your hands. That's what has been so odd, he loves to stand and tries to cruise the furniture and thinks he can walk (though he just falls on he face when he tries), but crawling...no interest. Maybe we'll have an early walker.

Since its been a little while since I've posted, here are some random tidbits of things that are going on. Caleb's eye is almost all healed, just in time for a mark on the other eye (not another black eye thank goodness). He's learned to stand in his crib, that surprised me. I went in to get him in the morning and there he was, hello mama! I've been sewing (and doing other crafts) a lot the last couple of weeks, I'll have to do a post later of all the neat stuff. I've also been cleaning and tidying up a bit because Jacob's parents are coming down tomorrow!! We're so excited, we miss family so much! And my Birthday is this Saturday! It will be a wonderful weekend. I'm sure I'll write about it ;)

The Black eye

Here are the pictures that I talked about in the last post about Caleb's black eye. It looked worse today, I hope it starts clearing up.

Baby Go Boom

Caleb got his first real booboo, and to be honest I probably cried more than he did. And of all the days it had to be on Easter, in his cute little outfit, on his face and just minutes before we left. I was getting his bag ready for church (as I said, minutes before we were heading out the door), and he fell on his bookshelf just as I was reaching for him :'( So here are some pictures of our Easter morning, Caleb in his cute outfit, and Caleb's first booboo.

Well, I tried to get some pictures of his eye and the flash washed out all the purple, so it doesn't look as bad in pictures as it really does. I got some pictures on my phone that turned out better (well I suppose worse would be the better word), I'll see if Jacob can show me how to get them on my computer and I'll post them later.

Good Finds

So I have this confession/hobby/craze/pursuit/delight in...yard sales. What? not as exciting as what you were thinking, I know, but it is what it is. This started about 6 months ago when Caleb was around 3 months. To make this more meaningful, I need to back up a bit farther...I was always one for putting on yard sales and occasionally shopping at some, but when it had been suggested that I buy things for my baby from a used store or yard sale, there was no way. This was until Caleb was about 3 months old and was growing so fast and when I realized how expensive it was going to be to buy new things (now I rarely bought things for full price, I most definitely went for the sales rack, but still it added up). So I found myself looking on craigslist for baby boy clothes, and was going to give yard sales a chance. I have since learned a major factor in going to yard sales, Location. The richier neighborhoods having yard sales are good for 3 reasons: 1) their clothes are usually name brand 2) they usually bought too many clothes so they are hardly worn (if at all, still w/tags) 3) they're main concern isn't making money but getting rid of it, so they sell cheap. Last fall I went to a few yard sales one day (in nice neighborhoods) and came home with Bags Full of name brand clothing and spent only $20-30 for things that would have cost hundreds.

Well, its time again that he is outgrowing all his clothes, those that I stocked up for last fall and I'm back on my mission of finding good yard sales. Today was a great find! I saw this musical table by leap frog at this yard sale and wasn't sure if was really a great deal. The lady said she bought it for her son this last Christmas, but he was too old for it and hardly played with it. I finally decided to get it. When I came home I looked it up online and found that its selling in stores for $40-45, and I got it practically brand new for $15! Caleb loves it! He's really into standing, so this is great for him:

So judge me if you may, but in the end my kid looks just as cute and I've got more money in my pocket :)

~Manda

Bugs Just Bug Me!

...and as a matter of fact so do people!

So I think I'm ready to discuss the story of the kitchen/dining room construction...maybe. It started last month when Jacob was getting anxious to do some work on the house. We aren't in a position right now where he can work on the downstairs, so he was going to settle with doing little projects upstairs (let me emphasis the little part), things that will eventually need to be done. Those of you who don't know, the people that were in our house before were...were...well, they didn't have very good taste. Our bathroom was painted a ridiculous blue and was done up in a fish theme (which we have redone and looks much better now). The downstairs, what little part was done, had cedar wood planks around the bottom half of the wall, and the upstairs kitchen/dining room had wood paneling up half the wall. To top it all off the entire upstairs was at one time wallpapered and has since been painted over a number of times. So this was going to be Jacob's little project, remove wallpaper a room at a time and repaint it. He decided to start with the kitchen/dining room area, which had the lovely wood paneling. This began last month, when babe went down to sleep Jacob worked on a bit at a time. The first of the month, on Jacob's day off he decided that he wanted to just finish the kitchen and dining room area so we could paint and he'd feel like he's gotten something done rather than drag it out. And so it began, taking off wallpaper and the wood paneling...until he found out why they put up the wood paneling {this is where the people bugging me part comes in}. They did it to hide the termite damage on the dry wall! Now we knew when we bought the house that there was some termite damage, but nothing too serious, and it had been treated so they were long gone. but this we didn't expect to find. As Jacob took off more wallpaper and paneling, the more he found. You can imagine how disappointing this was, with what was originally going to be a quick job and something to be finished that day turned into a very big job. So he called a few guys and they began working on it that night, within two days they had all the old drywall down, new 2 x 4's that needed replaced (due to termite damage) up, and the new drywall up. It took a couple of weeks and the dining room is finally done and the kitchen just needs paint. I think Jacob is going to be done with home projects for a bit :)

I wanted to post before and after pictures of the dining room, and I knew as I was searching for a picture (because of course I didn't think to take a before picture) the only one I would find would be of a messy table or have me in it looking a mess. Even better, a large messy me. So this is the ONLY picture I could find of the dining room before *sigh*

And now after!

Baby Sling

This would be the first time I've touched the sewing machine since Christmas (when I made my gifts), maybe I just needed a little break. I got the idea from my crafty friend Nicole, Thanks Nicole! She had found it from another blog and told me it was really easy. So, yesterday I was feeling ambitious and ran to JoAnns to get my material, came home {and thankfully Caleb took his nap then} and I was able to start right away! It took less then an hour to make. It holds him so well, that way my cuddly baby can still be near when I'm out and about or getting things done around home. I forgot how much I enjoy making things, and I've already started on a few more projects.