Birthday Fun

It's hard to believe our little guy is already ONE! This year flew by, but we are so thankful for the time the Lord has given us with Calvin. Some days it is hard to imagine our life without him. He really has opened our eyes to how much our heavenly Father loves us. So Happy Birthday sweet boy. We love you more than you'll ever know!

Here are some pictures of how we celebrated his big day!

Calvin is wearing his invitation to his birthday party. I found these at a garage sale and they were perfect for a zoo themed 1st birthday party!

Fridays we usually go to the library for nursery rhyme time, but he was so tired. I had him all ready to go when I spotted some eye rubbing action and decided since it was his birthday I wouldn't make him wait for his nap. It's a good thing I did since he slept 3 hours! I guess he was resting up for his party. He loves to hold one pacifier while he naps.

Friday night we had our good friends over for Marvin's birthday dinner and also to celebrate on Calvin's birthday. We had him open our presents and his basketball goal was a big hit. It's the first thing he goes to find in the mornings.

Since we had a busy Wednesday, we decided to have Marvin's cake on Calvin's birthday. We ended Calvin's busy birthday singing happy birthday then getting pjs on on into bed. He was out in a hurry.

Saturday we made our way to my parents for his party. We had a fun time seeing everyone and Calvin loved eating outside.

The wrapping paper and tissue paper were a big hit, and he figured out how to help open his presents. He was loved so much by some great toys and books. Thank you to everyone for making his day so special.

Here are his birthday cakes. This is my first attempt at cake decorating and it went better than I thought, but I didn't try anything too complicated.

Cake! He didn't really know what to do with it at first until we showed him he could eat it.

First bite!

I think he liked it!
It was a great day and he had a good nap after all the partying was over.

Here are some special 4 generation pictures we took after his party.

A busy birthday week

We are still trying to catch up from this weekend. It was a lot of fun, but this next weekend we're traveling again, so it makes this week feel like it is so short! It's hump day now which means I should be transitioning to get ready for next weekend and I've still have a pile of laundry which needs to be washed.

Today is Marvin's birthday as well as my grandpa's 80th birthday. We celebrated grandpa's birthday this weekend at the farm. Calvin had so much fun, he loves being outside so it was his dream day. He followed the dogs around, which is pretty hard because they move a lot faster than he does. His cousin had so much fun being motherly around him. He was in love with the tractor, he loves anything with wheels. We went on a short hay rack ride and even tapped on a pinata with a stick. He was exhausted at the end of that day. Then the next day we turned around and headed south to Oklahoma for a little reunion with a volunteer team who spent a summer with us while we were overseas. We had a blast catching up with them, but all that driving is tough on a little boy who hates his car seat.

We are bringing Marvin lunch today at work and we made him a nice birthday breakfast. I have AWANAs tonight so I wanted to be sure we did something special today. Friday we'll have a special dinner for him and semi-celebrate Calvin's birthday. His big party is on Saturday, which makes this one busy week. I am a bit nervous about his cake, but I think it will turn out okay. I bought some tips yesterday, I am not sure how to go about doing it. I am thankful for a great hubby who knows how to help me create those kind of things.

I've got to say Marvin is an amazing husband and father and I am so thankful for the opportunity to walk through life with him. We've had so many things happen to us this last year and I am thankful for his support and love through it all. Seeing him play with Calvin just melts my heart. It has been fun to see them wrestle now, which is just Marvin coming over and falling on top of Marvin. Calvin loves his daddy and knows exactly what games he plays with him. Last night Marvin was chasing him around the house while Calvin just giggled up a storm. I love it. It's moments like these that I just want to bottle up and never forget. So happy birthday honey, we love you so much!

He's a natural

Inspecting the tractor

1st hay rack ride

He has started to recognize his grandparents now and will go right to them.

We also visited the cemetery where my grandpa's family is buried. It is pretty neat to see the generations there. Grandpa's brothers and sister shared so many neat storied, I love listening to them talk about the past, every time I wish someone would record what they are saying. Calvin is helping us put flowers on grandpa's brother's grave who died in WWII.

Any suggestions?

I'm a bit tired of cleaning up exploding diapers. Today is day 5 of this little issue! I am thanking the Lord for the great deal I got on Febreeze plugins this week at Walgreens. It has certainly helped lessen the sickening smell of his diapers. I feel so bad for the poor guy. Every morning he wakes up to a nasty mess and instead of being held like he wants, instead he is whisked away to the bathtub or straight to his changing table staring straight up at a bright light! He has been extra snugly this week and I have soaked this up since this is out of character for him.

I just spoke to his doctor and they aren't too concerned, they think he's either cutting some molars or it's a virus, both things they can't do anything about. So we are limiting his dairy (only yogurt with active cultures) and no fruit for the next couple of days. I don't know what he'll eat since lately he won't eat anything but bananas and bread. I tried to sneak in some chicken in his lunch yesterday, but he immediately stuck his tongue out and reached in and took it out. Anyone have any ideas for things he will eat? So far I have tried chicken and noodles, scrambled eggs, and mashed potatoes and he refused all of it! Even favorite veggies like carrots, sweet potato, and peas he refuses to eat! Really if you have any ideas please pass them along, our great eater suddenly has become selective.

So we have been stuck at home since Monday, because I don't want to handle that mess in public and I don't know if he is contagious. I am very thankful it has been nice outside, at least we have played in the back yard, but even with this outdoor contact this mama's going a little stir crazy. We have a date night trade off with some good friends of ours, one week they'll have a date the next week is our turn, and this is our week for a date night, it would be nice to have the chance to get out of the house tonight, but I'm still unsure what to do. I had a great idea all planned for tonight, but it might be postponed, which will be the second time we've had to postpone this idea (the first time was due to rain). I don't want their little guy to get sick if this is a virus, it's a tough call.

I think we'll try to get out for a walk after lunch today. There are a couple of garage sales in our neighborhood that I'd love to check out. Last night at about 9:30 we heard this metal pounding sound and didn't know what was going on, we were relieved to know it was a lady pounding a garage sale sign in our yard and not a major plumbing problem. You have love living on the corner, it's nice just to look outside and see if there are any sales in our neighborhood, saves on the gas money. For the most part people are good at taking them down. I've only had to remove one!

I thought I'd add something that makes me smile. Last week Calvin's buddy came over to play and they helped Marvin water the grass he planted. They loved it!

One other positive thing about this week: we went to a Shane and Shane concert on Sunday and it was AWESOME, they are amazing musicians! It started at 8:00 p.m. and we thought Calvin would fall asleep, not a chance. He didn't fall asleep until the last song, this was about 10:15 p.m. I guess he wanted to see them in person too. He did really well and just sat in our laps the whole time. We were glad to have the chance to see them in person and can't wait for their Christmas Album to come out. We also got to see some friends from college at the concert. It was a fun laid back evening.

that Cherry Pepsi doesn't looks so great at 1:00 a.m.

I was so excited tonight when I spotted a nice COLD diet Cherry Pepsi in the fridge, yum! I am not a big fan of ice, I'd rather have my soda nice and cold and do without the ice (one exception is crushed ice, I love it), so I was so excited when I saw a cold Pepsi in the fridge. Well it's 1:00 a.m. and I am now remembering why I don't drink caffeine. UGH! After about an hour of just lying in bed wide awake I decided to be a bit more productive and clean up the kitchen and office area, now that that's done I thought I'd blog a bit.

Today was a bit rough on Calvin, two bruises within 5 minutes of each other. I just hate seeing him in pain. The second bruise is a big one and both are within inches of each other on his forehead. I think we need to rethink keeping our shoes at the front door because he likes to take them out of the basket and I am constantly correcting him, so maybe it's time to remove the problem because he isn't catching on. You see one of the bruises is directly correlated with the shoes he diligently pulled out of the basket. I guess our little outdoor photo shoot is cancelled tomorrow due to bruises.

On to some more random stuff about us:
-Tonight after Marvin finished his dinner I was still eating and I wanted some veggies, without even thinking or saying a word to Marvin I plopped some on his plate too! I guess my job as a mom is spilling over some boundaries, well it gave us a good laugh that's for sure.

-I have been using a tiny travel brush for well over a year! It wasn't until I announced this to my sister and mom that I thought that was a bit strange! That was almost two months ago and whelp, I'm still using my travel brush! One of these days I'll make the plunge and get a real brush!

-My least favorite chore is doing the dishes! I love to cook, but hate to clean up. I am thoroughly enjoying having a dishwasher now, such a blessing!

-Marvin usually puts jelly on his pancakes.

-It takes Marvin about 15 minutes (10 minutes if he is rushing) to bike to work. By the way I have an amazing husband who is willing to do this so Calvin and I can have the car during the day! (and yes it is possible to only have one car for your family, it just takes some planning.)

-Calvin loves to take off with the maple syrup that he snags from the fridge every time I open it!

-Here the cake I'm hoping the attempt for Calvin's 1st Birthday Party
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/monkey-cake
I'm new to cake decorating, but it looks easy enough, we'll see how it turns out. I am hoping to make a little personal cake in the shape of a banana for Calvin. I may be a bit ambitious, only time will tell. I can't believe he will be 1 year old in two weeks! Where has this year gone?

Whelp I better try the sleep thing again as it is approaching 2:00 a.m.

What Day Is It?

We got in late last night from an extended weekend with Marvin's family. It was a good time to see everyone, Calvin had a blast playing with his cousins. We even took in a couple football games, caught a birthday bash, and spoke at the grade school about our time overseas. Since we got home on a Monday evening I have been so confused about what day it was today, it did not feel like a Tuesday.

Thankfully we didn't have to rush our trip up and were able to stop at a park where Calvin could get out of his car seat and squirm. (It's a good thing we did because I left all the toys I had packed up for the road trip at home, eeks.) Our son loves to move so being in a car seat for over 3 hours was a border line torture for the poor guy.

It has been fun seeing how Calvin has warmed up to family every time we are around them. This time he had no problems going to aunts or uncles. He even lifted his hands for grandpa to pick him up. I am so glad we have these opportunities to spend with family. It's totally worth the schedule change to see him light up when his grandma comes into the room, or when he gives his aunt a nice little snuggle!


Grandma always has such fun toys for Calvin to play with. These bowls were quite the hit. They made the best sounds, and Marvin and I are very happy they are staying at Grandma's.


We even caught a JV game last night. Our nephew played really well, and it was a good game, unfortunately the other team caught up at the very end and won.

Getting lovin' from his Aunt and Uncle

Narwin & Alvin

While we lived in Turkey we found the Turkish had problems pronouncing Marvin's name. They tried we'll give them that, but it his name always ended up some form of Marwin! Hey it's pretty close, but still a little funny. So we thought that being back in America we wouldn't have any problems with his name being mispronounced. That was until we ordered Papa Johns. As I was fixing my plate I noticed the box and began laughing out of control when I read the word Narwin!





It doesn't stop there. I filled out some information to be a part of Parents as Teachers and a couple days later we recieved a letter from them addressed to Erica & Tim S! I am not sure where that name came from since it doesn't at all resemble Marvin. But apparently Calvin takes after his father, today we got a newsletter from Parents as Teachers and it listed the October bithdays. I quickly glanced and didn't see his name so I thought that since we were new it just didn't make it, no problem. Then I noticed a little boy named Alvin S with a birthday the same day as our Calvin S. Hmmmm.

Here's a picture of my "Narwin & Alvin" having fun together this weekend.

A Boy and His Box & Other Things that Make Me Smile

He has been playing with this box so much for the last week. He'll carry it around, bang on it, put stuff inside it, open and close the flaps. He loves this thing. I am thankful for the hours of entertainment this box has provided.



Here are a few other things that have rocked my world recently:

1. Calvin is feeding himself!!!! I can now load or unload the dishwasher without little hands helping me out!



2. Walgreens! Here's why:


I got all this stuff today for $3.81 cents. But the best part is I will get $6.00 back in rebates at the end of the month and I also got $2.00 store credit for my next visit. So they are basically paying me to shop there! (Marvin doesn't completely agree with me, but I'm working on him.)

3. Coupons! I have recently entered the world of couponing. (Yes there seriously is a world for this.) I always thought it would be cheaper to always buy the store brand or to shop at Aldi. But you can get amazing deals by cutting coupons and adding them with store sales. I get so excited as I look through the paper on Sunday and find ways to save our family money. Yes it is hard to try not to buy things just because they are free, but I have a great husband who gently reminds me of this every week.

4. Library. You can check out anything for FREE! We haven't rented a single DVD since we returned to the states because they are free at the library. Sure the collection isn't the most recent, but we've seen some good flicks for FREE! I will certainly miss it when we're back in CA.

5. Fall Weather. It is my favorite season. I love being able to put a sweater on in the morning and shed it during the afternoon.

6. Garage Sales & Craigslist. I have stocked up on Calvin's clothing through both of these and found some amazing deals in the process.

What a Great Weekend

Last week was filled to the brim. I will admit I was bit stressed at the thought of leaving Calvin overnight. It was the first time I have been away from him for more than 3 hours. I wondered how he would eat, sleep, etc., etc...... But he did great. It is nice to know that he will be fine without me around every second of his day.

This weekend truly was a great weekend to be around such sweet women. I am so thankful for the opportunity to share with so many about our work in Central Asia as well as share a few things that Father has impressed upon my heart. There was also such great teaching and they also loved me by giving me my own room! It was AWESOME to take a shower without having to worry about Calvin waking up, or worry about him waking up in the middle of the night. It was such a restful retreat.

My dad came down to watch Calvin while Marvin went to work on Friday. Calvin loves playing with grandpa and my dad quickly saw how much he loves to walk around. It's his favorite thing to do now.

In fact today he walked holding my hand all the way from our car to the front of Dillons. He got a little distracted by the bumpy side walk in the entrance so I had to pick him up and carry him the rest of the way. I am so excited about the hand holding phase of life. There is something sweet about holding a child's hand. I love being able to let him walk places when we aren't in a hurry. He was smiling so big today when I let him walk. I am thankful for this time of staying at home with him.

Right now we are praying about me going back to work. We aren't sure what kind of hours Marvin will get this winter and he would really like to take another intensive class in January, so we have to save up for that one. I would really love to continue to stay at home and ideally it would be great to watch another child. I say one because our car probably can't handle more than one other child, we love our Corolla but it's not made to transport lots of car seats. We'll see where God leads us in this endeavor.

My sister even came for a visit last week. Calvin loved playing with Aunt Natalie.

Wiped Out

We loved our 3 day Labor Day weekend and Calvin had such a fun time with his Daddy. I love watching them play together. We grilled tonight and every time Marvin went outside to check our steaks Calvin followed and had his face pressed up against the sliding door watching his every move. It was pretty sweet.

Last weekend Marvin's brother and family came down for a visit. Calvin loved playing with his cousins. The first day they were here it was amazing how little he played with his toys. I couldn't believe how clean the living room was. (Sometimes I think he gets a little bored playing with mama.) When he woke up on Sunday morning he was so happy to see that his cousins were here ready to play.

We went to the zoo on Sunday but unfortunately it rained while we were there so we had to wait out the rain in the gorilla exhibit, but the girls had fun playing peek-a-boo while we waited, thankfully the rain was short lived.

This week turned out to be pretty busy and exhausting as my allergies wiped me out. I had little motivation this week, and it took a lot to get me going in the mornings. We had something to do everyday, which would be great normally but with allergies it made for a long week. Despite allergies we really did have a fun week of getting together with some good friends. Calvin and I went to a really cool park with a friend of mine from college and her little girl. Calvin had a blast and it there were several things for him to do other than swing. Later that day Calvin’s buddy came by so his parents could go out on a date. He had so much fun on Thursday; it was filled with lots of giggles.

Friday I was able to catch up with a friend from High School who was in Kansas to visit her family. Who knew that our friendship that started in French class would continue to this day? Merry it was fun to see pictures of all your hard work on your house and meeting your kids and it would certainly be fun to visit you one day, we love France. Calvin had a blast playing with his new friends. I was a bit disappointed that it rained the entire time they were here. I had hoped to go to the zoo or park. The kids didn’t seem to mind though. Then Friday evening we tried to have a game night with one of Marvin's buddies from college and his wife, but we ended up talking the entire time.

So needless-to-say I was wiped out today. PTL Calvin slept in until 8:00, yep that is our new sleeping in time!!!! It’s no wonder why I crashed on the couch during Calvin's afternoon nap. I love naps on Saturday.

Walking

Well it has been a very busy week around our place. Calvin is growing up so quickly these days. He took his first steps over a week ago and has been tottering along and his balance is getting better every day. Today he successfully bent down, picked up a toy and stood back up without falling down. Marvin even commented that his facial expressions have changed to be more like a little boy and less babyish.

He certainly is a lot of fun right now, but he can certainly make a mess! He can now open the kitchen cabinets and has an unbelievable reach to get every last thing out of the cabinets. I have locks on the cabinets I don't want him in but occasionally I accidentally leave them unlocked and it's like he has a radar that tells him when to make a beeline for that unlocked cabinet. Before you know it all of the pots and pan are now an obstacle course in the kitchen. (Calvin has his own cabinet in the kitchen where he can get into, it's filled with some plastic things but he loves the pots and pans much better.) I learned very quickly that I better downsize the amount of things in his cabinet as I was picking up all day long. Oh I can't wait until he learns the art of cleaning up! We are trying but it seems like the second everything is put way he immediately starts taking them back out! Grrrrr.

Here is a video of our little man taken the day after he took his first steps. It's amazing how much sturdier he is now and it's only a week later. He crawled into the back room while I was loading the dishwasher and I could hear him making all sorts of noises so I grabbed the camera. It's so funny how excited he gets about going outside and the squirrels in the backyard.

A New Generation

Okay here's the scoop. We have tried to eat dinner together as a family, but the problem is Marvin sometimes doesn't get home until 6:00 and by the time he is ready for dinner it is usually 6:30. Now this doesn't sound too late until you realize that Calvin goes to bed at 7:30 which means he was Mr. Grumpy Gills every night at dinner. So I decided to feed him a little earlier and it has worked so much better. He will usually sit muching on cheese while we eat our dinner. Since this little shift occured we sometimes are finished at 6:30 and get the chance to watch Wheel of Fortune.

Now ever since I was little my grandfather watched Wheel of Fortune everyday. Everyone in our family knows not to call grandpa at 6:30 because "the wheel" is on. I think we have a new generation of wheel watchers in our family now, Calvin loves the show. Maybe it's the wheel spinning or the letters constantly turning over but he is glued when we watch it. He'll spend the commercials playing but the second it comes back on he immediately stops what he is doing. Here are some action pictures:

Projects! Projects!

I tend to get a little excited about ideas. I am an idea person and not so great at following through with them. Every now and then I actually complete something I start. But I decided there are a few things I actually want to accomplish while we are in the states. Here’s my list:

1. Calvin’s baby book. I’ve already finished several pages and try to get a page or two done every week. I even have a “scrapbook central”, in the corner of the play room. I thought this was a brilliant idea, but who knew you couldn’t get things done with a busy boy who loves attention in the room.
2. Our Scrapbook. Still haven’t finished 2007 and its 2008, better get moving on this. The good news is I finally got our wedding pictures into their album, so I am making a little progress.
3. Quilt. This project was started probably in 2005. I have all the rows finished I just need to piece them together. Like I said I’m really bad about finishing things.
4. Learn to Play the Guitar. I was inspired to learn during college and after much begging I received a guitar for my birthday shortly before my sophomore year in college. I haven’t picked it up since that summer. But I am determined to learn now as it will certainly be a blessing to our family worship time. I am thankful for the internet, because I have already taken a few lessons free online. So far I am working on transitioning between the following chords C, G, A, E, Em, D, and my least favorite F. My fingers are starting to get used to it, although they are a little sore. It’s been something I can do while Calvin is playing. He also likes to come over and strum a little. He quickly gets bored, so I am able to practice. Right now my goal is to practice at least 15 minutes everyday. I hope to get faster in a couple of weeks, so I can work on learning a few songs and then a few more chords.

I have a few other projects I have thought would be fun to do, but I decided to focus on these before jumping to a new one, plus I already have all the supplies on hand for these projects.

Scrapbook Central

Thoughts and pictures

We were laughing last night about how we must eat a lot differently than the rest of Marvin's family. Marvin grew up with lots of red meat in his diet, since his family raised cattle. Well since our budget is pretty tight, we only have red meat maybe once a week, this week it didn't make it in our menu. I try to have a couple of vegetarian dishes a week, but if we do have meat it's chicken and I've been using ground turkey as a substitute for ground beef (FYI since turkey doesn't have much flavor you need to add more seasoning). We are both trying to eat smarter and it has been fun trying new dishes. This week we had Greek chicken which was a little dry but with a few modification it could be great, and a chicken curry dish that was a mix of sweet potatoes, onions, chicken stock, garlic, OJ and curry. Yum!

Here are a few pictures I added to our computer this week:

Thanks for the Card Great Grandma.

Marvin's Grandmother is so amazing about sending cards. It is her gifting I believe and sure enough when Calvin had surgery what did he get? A card in the mail from Great grandma. He absolutely loves paper, so he had so much fun opening his letter.

This is where you will often find Calvin now that he learned how that the CD cabinet doors open. He is so fascinated by these doors. I love watching kids learn things. For a while every time he opened the door he looked at me with amazement and excitement as if he was saying, "Look at what I can do".

His other favorite game is playing ball. We have been working at passing back and forth with his big ball. If he finds one of his smaller balls he will throw it and crawl after it. It is so funny. I think he shares his daddy's love for sports already.

Calvin also loves books. He doesn't sit still very long to read very many, and he is still into grabbing the book that I am reading, so it makes it pretty tricky. But he loves taking his books out of his book box. I was cleaning up the kitchen and he crawled out of the kitchen and I couldn't hear him anymore so I went to find him and this is what I found: Him sitting in his room with two treasures, his pacifier and his Turkey books.

Calvin has been extra fussy with these teeth that are trying to pop through his gums and has really started to freak out when I leave. I needed to run to Target yesterday and I knew Calvin was tired, but it was now or never, so off I went leaving a screaming exhausted boy with Marvin. When I came back 15 minutes later Calvin was nestled up next to Marvin snoozing. He certainly loves being held lately.

Who needs toys?

Seriously these are Calvin's favorite toys:

-Remote that doesn't work

-Spoons

-Empty cottage cheese and yogurt containers

-Water Bottles

-Diaper cream tube, travel lotion bottles, or sunscreen bottle

-Paper (He goes crazy every Sunday when we let him play with a few ads.)

-Cups (He chews on the bottom)

-Paper Towel Rolls

-The dropper on the Tylenol bottle (think this soothed his swollen gums more than the Tylenol did)

I seriously think parents buy toys for us, I know I am guilty of it. When he had surgery they sent us a letter saying they would let him take his favorite toy into recovery. I think they would have been surprised if we showed up with one of the above.

Also Calvin has been pretty good at getting some nice bruises on his face. He is starting to become pretty confident in his ability to stand and reach for things, unfortunately he still falls a lot. Last week he had a bruise on both cheeks and his forehead all at the same time. Poor boy, but it hasn't slowed him down.

We had a great family weekend. Saturday was spent hanging out together. We had a coupon to a pizza place for BOGO buffet, which is ideal with a baby because you don't have to wait. It was such a family friendly little place and Calvin loved watching the kids. It is pretty cute because now he is starting to get a little shy. He'll smile and then lower his head if someone smiles at him, he kept doing this with a little boy sitting at a table near us. After lunch we headed to the zoo. Getting a zoo membership was such a smart investment, I've used it so many times already. Calvin is finally starting to look at the animals. He loved watching the baby monkey play with his friend, he just followed it everywhere it went. We also got a good look at the bears on Saturday. You just never know what you are going to see.

It's also fun to watch Calvin love on his papa (a.k.a. Daddy). The word for Dad in Nineveh is Papa, so we haven't quite decided what we are going with. Actually Marvin wants to be called Papa but for some reason I always say Daddy. I digressed....Calvin loves to give me nice and slobbery kisses. They are sweet and I love them even with the slobber, but he has started to lean in to bump Marvin's head, it's a man kiss. It's their game and is so sweet to watch. The other day Marvin was playing with him on the floor after dinner and Calvin crawled over to Marvin and leaned his head in to give him some lovin'. It's those moments you just don't want to forget.

I'll wrap up with a few pictures of Calvin at our family reunion in Oklahoma a few weekends ago. Here are a couple my sister took:

Calvin loves to feel wind hit his face. It was pretty hot so I had a cold water bottle close by the whole boat ride. He loved chewing on the end before he fell asleep.

Piddling

Well it's almost 8:45 and I put Calvin to bed an hour ago and still haven't been motivated to straighten up the kitchen and living room. Lately I feel like this is an endless job. Calvin loves to dump everything out of his toy boxes and the cabinet I let him play in the kitchen.

I have attempted having him help me pick up but it seems like he can pull stuff out quicker than I can put them back in. I guess we have a lot farther to go on that skill....until then I need to improve my speed. He loves to dump things out, not so much put stuff back in. This evening I almost had all his block in the tub and the next thing I know everything is on the floor.

Marvin is at class right now and the house is pretty quiet. It really is a strange feeling, it certainly is a blessing being married. For those of you who don't know Marvin has been trying to get some grad hours in, he really is looking forward to learning. I also get the perks of learning through him. I love it, he reads the books, attends the lectures and then shares the good stuff. It has been fun hearing what he is learning about.

Recently I decided to revamp some of my recipes. My goal is to have healthier meals around our house. I have put a lot of thought into Calvin's meals and have enjoyed making my own baby food, but now that he is starting to make the transition to table foods I thought now is as good of time as any to find new healthy meals and revamp others. It's harder than you think, especially on a tight budget, but I have already found a few good recipes. It would be fun to create a cookbook someday.

So to help me in this endeavor I headed the library and checked out all the books my bag could hold. I have a hefty list of recipes already to try and I am only through 1 1/2 cookbooks. I'm pumped. Marvin could eat the same thing every night and be okay with that, but I get bored. We rarely eat the same thing twice in a month and usually don't eat the same thing twice in two months. So if you have any healthy budget friendly recipes pass them on, I'd love to try them.

A Crazy Month

Life has been a bit hectic around our house the past month. We had several trips planned on top of VBS and then Calvin had surgery last week. So this didn't leave too much time to post anything.

We had a good trip to Virgina. It was fun to be around some good friends. Calvin did great during all of our travels. The Lord certainly gave us one excellent flyer. I flew home without Marvin, he stayed to take a class. Calvin caught a little cold bug from some of his new friends while we were in Virgina and so the last flight was a bit trying for him. The poor guy was so tired and his fever was climbing, and it didn't help that our flight was delayed. We were supposed to have a tight connection in Dallas and we also were delayed in leaving VA so when we got off of our first flight I checked the board and it said our flight was in final boarding and we still had to change terminals, eeks! After rushing to our gate the poor guy with American airlines had covered the screen with a piece of paper and shortly made an announcement that they were waiting on the plane. Whew that was close. After moaning through most of the last flight we finally were home. Calvin was very happy to get out of his car seat and it was so cute watching him crawl all over the living room. You could see the relief on his face when he saw all his toys.

Here are a few of my observations about flying with small children:
1. It is very hard packing light with a baby, he took up most of our suitcase. We miss the days when we could go somewhere and not have to check any luggage. It will be nice when he gets to the age of being able to carry his own things for the flight.

2. People are so willing to help, especially when I was flying alone. I had multiple people stop and ask me if I needed help. They were certainly very sweet as I was juggling a stroller, car seat and diaper bag and trying to entertain Calvin. I love how helpful people are in the Midwest.

3. It's much easier going through security when Calvin can sit up. When Calvin was in the rag doll stage it was hard getting his stroller and our bags on and off the x-ray machines.

4. It's pretty ridiculous that they make you take off your baby's shoes!

Through all this craziness Calvin has stopped sleeping through the night, which means he has two very tired parents. It started over a month ago when Calvin developed an ear infection, then he was held all week during VBS, so he thought he needed to sleep in someone's arms, then we were traveling and he was sleeping in a strange place, then he caught a cold, then he had surgery. We are hoping his sleep patterns return in the next couple of weeks, because this mama is tired. Thankfully Marvin let me take a couple of naps this weekend. My body was just exhausted.

Calvin's surgery went well and he is still a little uncomfortable but for the most part he is doing great. He is certainly more clingy and cries a lot more than normal. He has lost his appetite and it has been a battle getting him to take his medicine. I will be glad when I don't have to give him meds daily. He also is cutting a couple of teeth, or so I think. The poor guy is 10 months old and still not teeth.

Other developmental news: He is getting faster at crawling and has started standing without holding on to anything for a few seconds at a time. He can crawl up stairs and he can go down at least one. It's funny when we play in the play room he will go up then down, up then down, he just can't decide what he wants to do. He can also find the smallest morsel of food on the ground, which means I must sweep the floors after every meal, even if I don't think I dropped anything. Yesterday he almost ate a piece of onion, yum!

We have enjoyed the Olympics, but it seems like we were glued the the TV all weekend. It is so unusual for us to have it on all the time. I decided I needed a TV break today, but I am sure we will check it out tonight. Sometimes I think I get overstimulated.

Here's a few pictures of the last month:

At the petting zoo during the family carnival in Richmond. Calvin really like the baby ducks but he kept banging on the cage so rather than torture the poor little things we moved on. He wasn't too impressed with the other animals, if only they had a dog he would have been so excited.

Since our flight was delayed in Dallas we had time to play in a little play area there at the airport. It was perfect and gave him a little wiggle time. He LOVED it. Basically he crawling through a tunnel and following a little girl around the 15 minutes we spent there.

Mr. Sleepy Pants. He woke up one morning and his hair was everywhere. This particular night (the night after his surgery) he decided it was time to play at 2 am. I was up holding him until 4:00 when he finally caved in and fell asleep. Since Marvin had to work the next day I fell asleep with him in the living room. Apparently he was sweating a bit because what little hair he has was sticking straight up. It was pretty cute.

We want our Mamas! We briefly went out the car and when we came back to the door this is what we found, two boys waiting on their mommies to return. How sweet.

Calvin playing with his best buddy, who is now 1!!! Now that Calvin can crawl he just follows him everywhere, I think his pal gets tired of it from time to time. Calvin think he is so cool.