7 Months Old

This time I am using the excuse that Ted was gone for 5 weeks, that is why I've had trouble keeping the blog up to date. Caleb and I have kept quite busy in the meantime! Granny Annie came for a visit, we celebrated Chase's 1st birthday, and we went to Tulsa, Ok to visit family, and Caleb has been working on trying to crawl (he's almost there). It has been quite the month! Here are the highlights...

Just click on the photo below and it will take you to an album of pictures. :)

6 months

Okay, so yes, this is a little late (by 2 weeks). But better late than never. Caleb turned 6 months on the 14th and I took a couple pics. His doctors appointment went well with the doctor. In fact the pediatrician said, "You should write a book on how to raise boys! He is doing well." I'm sure he said that to every mom, but it made me feel good. :)

Stats:

Weight: 17 lbs. 3 oz.

Length: 27 in.

Head Circumference: 42.5 cm.

Milestones:

Caleb can roll both ways and rolls and reaches across the floor. He loves to put toys and anything he can get his hands on, in his mouth. He can turn toys around, twist them, pass them from hand to hand, and his latest favorite...grab them from you. He enjoys bath time every night when dad sings to him and will watch Lullaby to go to sleep. He sleeps in his crib at night for about 8 hours and will take sporadic naps throughout the day ranging from 45 minutes to 3 hours. I wake up to him "talking" and rolling in his crib. :)

He has started on solids. He eats oatmeal cereal (rice doesn't agree with him) 2 times a day and has a veggie (peas, sweet potato, or carrots) and fruit (banana or apple) to go with it. And yes, I am making his baby food, with the exception of the cereal. He babbles frequently with facial expression. Caleb loves to make a "razzing" sound with his lips spewing spit everywhere! His favorite thing to do is watch or pet Coley. Coley is so patient with him as his hands fly all over her face. When I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle, Caleb's eyes get wide and he huffs in excitement. His latest feat is giving mommy "kisses". I say, "kisses" and smother him in kisses and then he grabs my face with both hands and opens his mouth wide (to give me a kiss) and shoves my chin in his mouth! It is so funny!

I am loving being a mom! It is so much fun to hear his noises, see his expressions, and watch how he learns new things daily. I love our little boy so much.

Here are some pictures of Caleb at 6 months with...you guessed it....Curious George.

Just hangin' out

We have been taking it easy around here since we got back from our Christmas marathon! Here are a few photos of the happenings in the Stefani house.

practicing sitting up and playing with his new driver

focused on playing with his new cups from Iggy

big smile with his new piano

yum peas!

happy in his high chair with monkey

snuggle time with mom

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Stefani family celebrated 3 Christmass' this year in Colorado Springs, Tulsa, and Beatty. We saw tons of family, flew on 6 flights and played in the desert sand and even some snow! We are one exhausted bunch! We started the whirlwind on the 22nd when Santa arrived at our house early. He must have know we would be away for Jesus's birthday and planned accordingly. Caleb loved opening his presents and checking out what came in his stocking. I think I already posted those pictures. Next we packed up and headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the annual Langenheim Christmas. It was so nice to see my family and have Caleb meet all his cousins, aunts and uncles, and great grandma. The weather was nicer to us this year than last when we had a blizzard. This year we only had little pellets of snow on Christmas day. No driveway shoveling for Ted! I met up with a good friend Jenni who used to live in the Springs. We were so engrossed in our conversation of catching up that neither of us took a picture to capture the moment! The morning after Christmas, we barely caught a plane to Las Vegas to meet Ted's mom and drive the 2 hours to Beatty, Nevada. I couldn't believe the TSA worker made Caleb take off his baby shoes before going through security! How silly! Once in Beatty we opened more presents and had a wonderful homemade lasagna! We played on the razor and drove to death valley for some sight seeing. New Year's Eve we once again jumped on a plane and headed back to cold 5 degree Colorado Springs! Caleb did really well on all the flights. What a wonderful holiday! It was so great to see everyone and spend the holiday together. Here are tons of pictures from the travels.

Just click on one of the pictures and it will take you to the pictures from that trip!

Christmas in Tulsa

Christmas in Beatty

Christmas Parties

Caleb and I got to attend many Christmas parties this year. I am so thankful to be involved in so many groups that allow us to make friends, get out of the house, and socialize. That was one of my concerns of being a stay at home mom, that I would be stuck inside constantly. Now that he is happier and not crying so much and his feeding times have stretched out a little, I am more confident in taking him more places. Like yesterday, we went to Barnes & Noble complete with a vanilla latte, browsed the store, drove to Walmart for some gifts and headed home and out to a party in the afternoon! It was the perfect day! He was so good, cooing in the car, falling asleep in the store. Watching me shop. This is what I hoped it would be. Busy, but good. My mom did share some advice with me that I need to remember, "Live for the moments." The good moments were few and far between the first four months of his life and I had to be happy with a moment of joy when he would smile or meet a milestone. Now there are more "moments" and I am sure there will be another challenging time with fewer moments.
Wow, I got side tracked. Back to the Christmas parties. Let's start with the Premier Army Lactation group. That party was the first one. This group was created by the lactation consultant I saw at the beginning of Caleb's life, Lori, as a support for breast feeding women. I love this group. They are so honest, friendly, and understand what you are going through. They all have children (most their first) under 1 year! We had 13 Moms at the party. Stephanie, the lead Mom, and Lori made the party such a success with handprint ornaments the babies made, a cookie exchange, a gift exchange for the babies, and baby handprints on a framed picture for Lori! It was a blast!
The next party we went to was put on by the Moms Club I am a part of. This is an international group ( I am part of the Northwest Colorado Springs section) of stay at home Moms who do many things (hiking, cooking, playgroups, fieldtrips, fundraisers,etc...). They did a wonderful job with a potluck of food, ornaments for toddlers to make, and even a visit from Santa.
The last party was yesterday. The lactation group (mentioned above) wanted to start a playgroup. So we go to the Air Force Academy and meet in a big room to do fun things with the babies. So far we have done baby sign language, baby massage, and sown "taggie" blankets (well, I didn't sew. A mom and one of the leaders sewed!). Yesterday we did an ornament exchange and let the babies play.
Christmas shopping is done. House needs to be cleaned, presents packed or wrapped, and Christmas cards mailed. Whew! I am excited to share Caleb's first Christmas here in Colorado. We have snow outside and are all cozy next to our fireplace! Here are some pictures from the parties!

Christmas Parties

Sneaky Sneaky

My friend Sarah wrote on her blog of how her daughter would roll over while her Mom turned her back for just a second. I thought this was hilarious to read and sure enough my little guy did the same thing. We have been working on rolling over from back to tummy for a while now and I have been waiting anxiously for the moment. Ted and I both have been so encouraging and anticipating the first time he does it without assistance. Apparently he needed his space to do it on his own! That is definitely MY kid... "I can do it myself" I can hear him saying! Whew, it's going to be a long (but adventurous and exciting) road this parenting thing.

I set him down on his activity mat on his back and went to eat my cereal and check my email. He did his usual grunting/working hard noises. I looked over and he was on his tummy! It's the weirdest thing. So I praised him and rolled him back over, walked to the kitchen to get my cereal and keep an eye on him to hopefully catch it this time, looked over and .... he was on his tummy!! Okay, I was going to beat him at his game. I went to get my camera/video camera and set it on the couch, turned him over to his back, pressed play and walked away. This time not taking my eye off of him. After a long almost 2 minutes.....He did it!!!!!! I praised him, turned him over and then got it on camera in 15 seconds. :0

The first video is long (the one where I walked away). The second video is only 15 seconds. If he could talk, I am sure he would say, "That was easy! Now how do I crawl once I am here?"

Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

Wow, I can't believe it is already December!! Caleb has already been to his first Christmas party and I still have to post about Thanksgiving! Okay, here it goes.

So for Thanksgiving Ted's Mom, Stepdad, Dad, and my Mom came to visit. They all came last year along with Ted's Great Uncle and Ted's Brother and Sister in Law and her Mom. This year Rick and Lisa are celebrating Thanksgiving in their hometown of Phoenix with their new little bundle of joy, Riley! We missed them and missed meeting my first niece, but will see them around Christmas time. So we assembled all the troops and went shopping for food, which included 2 grocery stores, Costco, and a liquor store! Gotta love it! When we throw a feast, we throw a FEAST!!! Then we picked everyone up from shuttles and airports and settled in for a few days of family, food, and fun! Caleb was overjoyed to see all of his Grandparents.

Grandma Ann made a WONDERFUL turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pies, mashed potatoes. My Mom helped and also added green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole. YUM!! The men watched football and played with Caleb. :) The next day we took a drive up to Pikes Peak. It was gorgeous day, but at the top the wind was so bad, they closed the doors to the summit house on one side! It was sooooo cold. Caleb and I didn't even get out of the car. People were running to their cars it was so bitter cold. That night was the best! Ted and I went on our first date since Caleb was born!!! He took me to the Melting Pot and we left Caleb with all the Grandparents! We had such a great time! It was nice to still be so in love after a baby. :)

On Saturday we drove Mom and Ted's Dad to the airport and then hit the outlets at Castle Rock for a speedy shopping trip. And tai food for dinner.

What a great holiday! It is so nice to have family fill your home! And they spoil us rotten by paying for the food, cooking it, and buying Caleb tons of clothes!! Thank you Grandparents!

I will put a bunch of pics on picasa for you to look at. Just click on the picture below to see more.

Thanksgiving 2010

Teething

Yes, that's right, my almost 4 month old has what looks like teeth pushing through his gums! That might account for some of the screaming that was so unbearable. Probably nothing compared to the pain he might be feeling. :( Oh, and for the record, Iggy (my Mom) mentioned a few days ago that he might be teething! Good job Mom! These pictures look horrible, but they get the point across and show his teeth. He didn't seem to mind the photo shoot.

Caleb's First Snow

Caleb got to experience his first snow in Colorado today. Now my last post was about weather in the upper 60's (we even hit 70's) within the last week, and last night it started to snow. Gotta love Colorado weather. This morning I woke up to see snow out the window and bolted out of bed. I had a lot to do to get to that snow. I had to feed Caleb, change him, dress him, put him in a snowsuit (for the first time), take a picture with his Daddy before Ted left for work, take a shower, get dressed, bundle Caleb up again and finally take him outside in the snow. Whew! All before 7:30 in the morning! Let's just say I am not bored! The reason I wanted to get out there in the snow, was so I could get pictures before it possibly melted. Like I said, Colorado weather, you never know.

So all was accomplished and here are the photos.

The best snow angel I have ever made....Caleb!

Making a snow angel

Mom took away my hands, so I will eat the snow suit instead! I think his expression is hilarious!

Picture with Daddy before he heads to work.

View outside our front window. There are very few things that will happily get me out of my warm cozy bed in the morning and snow is one of them!

Hike with Grandma Ann

Ted's Mom came to visit last week since she had a conference in Denver and we decided to take a walk in the park next to our house. It was in the upper 60's and we were hot in our jeans. We took Coley and headed out. We took the upper ridge trail and soon found out our walk was going to be a hike! It was beautiful and we had so much fun! Caleb would sigh when the wind would blow by him and then he fell asleep as we walked. Coley went off leash and met lots of doggy friends along the way.