8 Months- 10 Months

So once again, I've neglected to keep up with the blog. It's hard when you have a little one that you chase around the house all day. I did attempt to post a blog several weeks ago, but the internet was having issues and so I gave up. So... now you get to enjoy a LONG posting to catch up. Also, I have recently started a Shutterfly picture site that you are welcome to enjoy. Let me know and I'll add you as a member!

Alright so October (8 months) was another eventful month! On October 1st Caleb got his 3rd tooth, the upper Left medial incisor. Then just a few days later on the 6th he got the upper Rt medial incisor, for a total of 4 teeth! Then, of course, he turn 8 months on the 7th. On Oct 11th, Caleb was a "big boy" and went into the nursery at church for the first time. They said he was an angel and had fun playing with the other kids. No surprise there! Moving forward...on the 14th Caleb started "cruising" (walking while holding on to furniture) and also stood without holding on to anything for a few seconds. On the 16th he got ANOTHER tooth...man they are coming faster and faster now! This time it was the upper Left lateral incisor. On the 18th he had a taste of meat for the first time (turkey and sweet potato dinner) and then on the 19th he fell in love with avocado! The last major event of October... you guessed it, HALLOWEEN! Caleb actually dressed up twice. Once for a church event as a MONKEY and then for Halloween he was a TIGER!see the two new teeth?

one of my favorite new "toys"

picked out my very own pumpkin

went to a demolition derby...fun stuff

being a monkey with my friend Jackson

Caleb the monkey

just had to post this one!

Grr... I'm a tiger!

November, although a ton of fun, was not as "eventful" as some other months. Caleb turned 9 months old on the 7th. He had his 9 month check-up on the 12th. We found out at this visit, that Caleb had not grown very much since his 6 month visit, at least not in weight. The nurse seemed a bit concerned but the doctor was not since Caleb was SO big to begin with and Jess and I are not big people! At 6 months, Caleb was 27 1/4 inches and 21.1 pounds. At 9 months, he was 28 1/2 inches and only 21.8 pounds put him at about the 67th percentile instead of the 90th. We attribute this to the fact that he is now crawling like crazy and trying to walk, burning a lot more calories than when he was just sitting around and rolling over! Speaking of burning calories... on the 17th Caleb discovered and climbed the stairs, all 14 of them with out any hesitation! Time for another baby gate!!! November 23rd brought another tooth, the upper Right lateral incisor (rounding out at 6 teeth). Then on November 25th we took our first road trip with Caleb... 8 hours to Niles, Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with Nonnie and Poppie (Jess' parents). He did surprisingly well. He only fussed a little bit. Thank goodness Jeanna (Jess' sister) was with us and riding in the back. I am confident that she was a big part of why Caleb was so content sitting in his car seat for that long! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Caleb had a great time with his Nonnie and Poppie. We jogged/walked a 5K on Thanksgiving morning and Caleb slept the whole time while we pushed him in the jogging stroller. What a trooper!

loved Nonnie's rocker

downtown Niles when they turned on lights

Nonnie and Poppie

December has been a blast!! Caleb turned 10 months on the 7th...I can't beleive it! His birthday is just around the corner... On the 20th, we flew up to Massachusetts to spend Christmas with the my parents and brother on the Cape. The only thing that could have made Christmas with my family any better was snow... and BOY DID IT SNOW! There was a huge winter storm the night before and morning of our arrival. I think it totalled about 21 inches in all! Thankfully some friends of ours gave us their son's old snow suite which we took with us. Mom, Salli (my aunt) and I went out shopping and bought Caleb some snow boots so he could go out and play in the snow for the first time. He really liked it.

winter wonderland

walkway

fun in the snow

playing with uncle Johnny

Caleb loved spending time with my parents and my brother. He also loved my mom's cats. They would play with him and let him pet them. Our cats run from him most of the time! While we were there we went to Edaville, a big plot of land where they set up tons of lights and have a train that takes you around the property to see everything. Caleb sat on Santa's lap while we were there...but didn't really know what to think!
Caleb got to be Santa's little helper on Christmas day and passed out the stockings. Then he stole things from everyone's stocking and put them in Jess'...almost as if he was trained! :) He wasn't so sure what to do with the wrapped presents, but he liked playing with everything once I opened them. He got more presents than the rest of us combined, what a spoiled little guy right!

Edaville lights

picture with Santa... not to sure about this..

Santa's little helper

look at all my presents

So as you can see its been a great few months and we are looking forward to many more. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, how crazy! That means that Caleb's birthday is just a little over a month away. Time to start planning a party. What do you do at a 1 year old's party?