Unabridged

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Bordering on ridiculous? Oh no, we're not bordering here, we definitely surpassed ridiculous a while ago. What can I say? I have no moderation for such cuteness. LOL























I am having a filter--less moment. How in the world am I going to narrow this down??
I am trying to share the photos w/fam, etc. on shutterfly. I click on share. I box pops up and says :
You have no pictures selected. Would you like to share all the pictures in this album ?
(Click 'No' to go back and select only some of the pictures)

Ha! As if they KNOW that I would select all 40 to share! And I totally would! Moms are irrational about some things. And six month photos are one of them!

Since I am planning to print out another blog book this year, this is a great way for me to store the pics, without getting them all printed... Allthough I found a cool, inexpensive site that prints professional photos super cheep. I used them in CR, and they worked great. (PE Photo.)

By the way, I DID select ALL of the pics. And they only went out to Grandparents. Other fam and friends, let me know if you would like for me to e-mail you the album link, too. We are not sending out a mail out of 6 mo pics this year. But if you really want one, you can order one. I think Shutterfly has pretty good prices, and they do a good job with the finish, according to my photographer.

Which brings me to my next point: a HUGE thanks to my friend Kristy! (I'll keep her last name private, in case she doesn't want over exposure.). If any of you need a recommendation, I recommend her. She is great! THANKS AGAIN!

The vault is closing

OK, so the title is a little overly dramatic. Caleb's six month birthday is Monday! I can hardly believe that he is almost half a year old. I feel like people say stuff like that all the time (I can't believe my baby is _________ ). But none of us can help it, you know? Everyone was right about time flying by! Caleb has really changed in the past few days. He is starting to make noises other than just fussing. " D D" or "M M" comes out a lot. He blows bubbles more. In general, he is sailing one step further away from infancy towards the childhood world of his big brothers. There's not much infant left on this sweet, squeezable baby. I find myself trying to remember to soak it all up! It's more painful now when I hear him cry if I have decided it's time for him to sleep. It sounds like he is actually trying to say something to me like "Mom, how could you leave me?" So, again, a little overly dramatic. He actually does great putting himself to sleep more times than not. Unfortunately, he has struggled at night w/waking up too much. The past two nights have been good though. Thank you, Lord! One of his pass times is most definitely watching his brothers play wii:

Here is what my five, almost six month old looks like now. I mean, I know I'm biased, but come on. Don't you just wanna pinch those little cheeks!?



And my heart melts when I see this expression. Come to think of it, just about everything about Caleb Thomas Caulley makes my heart melt!!

He loves people. Especially Mommy, Daddy, Jon David and Luke. But he has a very ready smile. When the ladies at Jon David's school see him in the stroller while I'm waiting, they can't resist coming over to make faces at him. He loves it!


Ha! That one makes me laugh. ;) He was probably on the verge of getting fussy and tired of me taking his pic. Less flashing, more holding, please Mom!
He LOVES his Daddy. And his Daddy LOVES him!


His cheeks are very red. I think it's because of the heat in the house and the dryness, maybe? Luke's cheeks used to look like that too.


For the Jon David and Luke updates, well, Luke said something worthy of being recorded the other day: "Mom, Candy Land is just like Chutes and Ladders. Except it doesn't have any chutes. Or any ladders." Ha! The past two days have been glorious here. The sun has come out, and temps have risen above freezing! Yay! I actually took all three boys to Kohl's yesterday b/c Caleb was asleep when I picked Luke up from school, so why not? Love the post-winter sale. It didn't go perfectly --JD and Luke asked for toys many times. But hey, we did it! And I need to say that I am really enjoying all of my children right now. Oddly, I think the snow days were actually good for us. I don't get to spend extended time w/Jon David much when he is in school. So I enjoyed having him at home for a while. It was like a second winter break. He played wii a lot, but we also read some, played games, did crafts, and other randomness. It is often during times like these that I am able to catch a glimpse into his sweet heart and reassess how he is doing. He is growing up before my very eyes. And he is handling it very well. God has blessed Jon David to mature past some things this year, such as excessive temper tantrums, escalating anger, and general beligerance. Not to say that we never struggle anymore. Major *ha*! We still struggle for sure. But Don and I feel more peaceful in how the struggles play out. We have discovered new ways to handle him. Thank you, Lord! He is so precious. I am so proud that he is my son. He was invited to a friend's house this week. It was someone from school. I hung out with him for a while with Luke and Caleb and talked to the mom. It was so interesting to see him interact and have big boy reactions. When his other friend comes over three afternoons a week, I also get a chance to watch his social skills. He has learned to be OK with not always being the best in certain areas. He seems peaceful. Again, thank you, Lord! He is such a good boy. One day, a certain classmate that he really likes said that he didn't really want to sit by him in music class. Jon David said that it made him really sad. This broke my heart. Don handles things like this so well. He just encouraged him to befriend other kids in his class. And much to our pleasure and righteous pride (if there is such a thing) he did! He tells me about a different friend often. Sometimes I think about his name and the friendship that it symbolizes in the bible.
As I drove away from his friend's house (he was to spend the afternoon there), I again had this fleeting of time feeling. Jon David is no longer the preschooler that I have to hover over when we go somewhere. I drove Luke, Caleb and myself back to Wilmore for a playdate for Luke. I feel truly blessed. Luke hit it off with his friend. They played game after game. It was great to see! And then his mom brought him home to me an hour or two later. What a blessing!
Luke... what else shall I chose to say about Luke? I was commenting to Don about how the past couple of days had gone really well. ( I want to be sure to blog about lots of positive things, too! Sometimes I tend to focus on the negative. So hopefully, this is a positive memory post!) He reminded me that one reason I am able to handle things decently on some days is because of sweet Luke Jamer. He is one of the sweetest, most easy going children you will ever meet. He is so precious with Caleb, he loves to play, read, tag along. By the way, he is starting to read! He read a beginner book to me today called "Biscuit goes to school." I could hardly believe it! He can also read Hop on Pop --by Dr. Seuss. (Again, some of this is for journaling purposes. Hopefully by putting it at the end of two or three long paragraphs, it won't appear to be too braggy and maybe won't even be read much!) This morning, I took Jon David to school. Unfortunately, Don was in bed with a head ache. He usually takes Jon David to school EVERY morning! I know, huge blessing. Anyway, Luke slept in, so didn't wake up until it was time to leave. I told him he could watch TV while I was gone, and that Daddy was in bed. He does this a lot when Don is trying to let me sleep in btw. Great kid.
Well, I think that's it for now. I have felt like a new person today and yesterday with the sun out. Yay! I think more snow is coming Sunday or Monday though... maybe the sun will be back out soon. I hope so! I think I'm getting ready for Spring. Oh dear.

Here is a clip of Caleb Thomas Caulley from today. Enjoy!

A word about Valentine's Day

First of all, let me expose my husband's romantic side with evidence of him buying me flowers last week, out of the blue. Love it! I was so completely surprised. To me, this means a lot.

As I read about St. Valentine on Wikipedia, I realized that basically, not much is known about him. An old text reveals that Saint Valentine was a Christian martyr who tried to convert the Roman Emperor Claudius II, and before he (Valentine) was executed, he (supposedly) healed the blind daughter of his jailer. Since this bit of information was not romantic enough, people pretty much made up some story about him writing a note to the young girl that he healed. And this, my friends, was the first valentine. Wow. Is humanity addicted to a good story? Or romance? Or both... Our society seems to have elevated romantic love to an inappropriately high level.

On a totally different note, it seems like jewelry companies rev up their engines around Christmas time, and don't slow down much until Valentine's Day is over. I would seriously like to know if there is someone out there who is genuinely swayed by the syrupy one liners they come up with:
"I don't recognize this place..."
"You will"

"What is a four word phrase that means a marriage proposal?"
"He went to Jared"

Please. What is a three letter word that depicts a NORMAL human reaction to such cheese: gag!

I would be one of the first to admit that I like a good "chick flick". However, in my old age *wink, wink* my tolerance for some of the content has gone down. I have a really hard time watching prolonged kissing scenes anymore. I can't stand the kissing noises. Ugh.
OK, Pride and Prejudice: a classic. I think most chick flick fans would have to agree. I love this movie! But the last scene: "Mrs. Darcy"... kiss on the head... "Mrs. Darcy"... kiss on the eyes "Mrs. Darcy"... kiss on the mouth. Yuck! I can hardly watch it without getting the willies! Is this b/c I'm a mommy of boys? Am I losing it?
The only worse scenario might be cartoons kissing. Don't you hate that? I remember watching the Lion King, and seeing the part when Nala and Simba are grown, and since they're lions, well, they couldn't exactly make them kiss, but their funky little romantic dance thing was just as disturbing... Guess what, with the new star wars lego wii, sometimes they show little miniature imitation lego scenes from the movies... and yes! They make lego Leah kiss lego Hahn! No joke... The boys just watched it this evening. Jon David turned his head away. We all said EW GROSS!! together.

While we're on the subject, I might as well open up a huge can and just say that I have a pretty big problem with the movie "The Notebook." It takes every opportunity to throw sex in your face. It takes a wrong situation and makes it seem so right. I know, I know, it's precious how the husband pursues his wife over and over again at the end of their lives. I'll grant you that. And you're right: that, in my opinion, is the one redeeming factor. That is pretty cool. But how depressing is the last scene, when she asks him if he thinks that their love can carry them away together or something like that?... Sorry, I'm sure that I'm butchering this for those of you who are die hard fans... I just remember thinking, wow, they have way over-glorified romantic love, to the point that it had become their god of sorts. It was what they believed in, you know?

Anyway, I think that our society has become addicted to romantic love, right along with materialism, and quite a few others I'm sure... Because of this, the everydayness of love, the wonderfulness, the design that God had in mind, gets overlooked. Flashy replaces good. Perhaps Valentine's Day is a symptom of this problem.

However, just as you can choose to celebrate a number of holidays in the wrong or right spirit, I believe that Valentine's Day is no exception. It's a good reminder to celebrate the godly relationship between you and whoever God has given you. Don and I had a date last night thanks to the seminary providing childcare. What a blessing! We love to go out on dates.

With all of this in mind, I have loved watching my own children celebrate this day. They bring an innocence to the table. They celebrate friends, moms and dad, and candy of course! I enjoy helping them prepare their valentines, watching them receive valentines, and I love it when they give me a card!

This one is from Jon David.
Well, that's it for now. Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

My five month old

If I don't go ahead and blog now, he'll be six months old already!!! Sweet Caleb Thomas. He is such a precious addition to our family. He is rolling over quite a bit now. Still loves to squeak. That has become somewhat of a trademark--whether we like it or not! ;) A lot of times, it sounds like he is just trying to communicate. It is so sweet how he quiets down, or becomes less fussy when Jon David and/or Luke come and talk to him. Each one of them have their own unique way of talking to him. I love to hear them.
One of my favorite things to do with Caleb is to hold him high up above me so that he can see my face from up top. He reaches down and smiles--sometimes giggles, too--and grabs my face and then buries his face into my neck when I lower him down. It is sooo cute! I love my little guy so much!
He can see a toy and get a hold of it now. He has even reached for my cell phone, and various other things that I sometimes hold while I'm holding him. Also, he is getting heavy! I noticed that my back is hurting some now. He is growing out of his 3 to 6 month clothes. Most of the time, he sleeps well, waking up once or twice in the night to eat, and napping pretty well too. Tonight, though, he had a really hard time. Even though Don and I both tried to soothe him, he cried himself to sleep. We have sleep trained him some, and he normally does really well with it. But tonight seemed different. He was a little extra upset. I tried nursing him once or twice. Sometimes, I guess they just have to cry. :( We love you, little guy! We now call him Cale Cale, Caleb Thomas, or Cale Thom.
He loves to eat, still. And the pooping is going ok. I almost cried yesterday, though. He was in the exersaucer--which he really likes right now. And when he tried to poop, I could tell it was super hard for him. His face got very red, and he strained so hard! I wanted with all of my heart to help him... He finally got it out. I hope he grows out of this very soon!

I wrote the above on Feb. 9th, but didn't have the heart to post it without any pictures! Must take more pics... ASAP.

And now for the pics. The boys have snow days yesterday and the day before. This gave me plenty of time to get pics of them! Jon David was making Caleb laugh out loud yesterday! I wish I could have captured it. But I guess not everything can be recorded. ;) Sometimes, I gotta just let life happen and enjoy. Anyway, here is what I did get:

Above: Jon David making Caleb laugh. He loves to laugh. And we love to try to get him to!
(Caleb @ 5 months in these pics: above and below)






Our sweet little thumb sucker. He does this from time to time to soothe himself, and to put himself to sleep. So cute... We'll eventually have to break him of it. Jon David used to do this, too. Oh well! It's kinda helpful for now.

Hmmm. There is definitely a theme of sucking going on here. I think he is majorly teething!

Who's the sucka now?

In my former life--pre-kids, that is--I used to teach. I remember having moments of arrogance towards both students and parents. The parent who was always trying to do the absolute best at all times for their child was very annoying to me. Come on, they should know better than to spoil their children like that. Mmmm mmm mmm. It's always different when the shoe's on the other foot. I think I might be a slightly more humble teacher now-- in my new life as a mom, that is.
Today was a snow day for Jon David and Luke. We tried to come up with activities besides playing wii. In the afternoon, my friend called me up and asked us to join them at the seminary gym to let our boys run around. Well, I think several others had the same idea on this cabin fever kind of a day. It was not a bundle up and go build a snow man kind of a day. It was bitterly cold and windy. So off we set. As soon as we arrived at the gym, we saw that many of the other boys had brought their light sabers. Uh oh. Guess who didn't have theirs? And guess who begged their mother to go and get them (Jon David). And guess who didn't just act like a normal in-charge mother and promptly tell him to make due, but asked a friend to watch all three of my children while I did the irrational: loaded myself right back into our green mazda minivan, and drove home to get the light sabers. Now in my defense, my house is 3 minutes away... but still!! I am officially a sucker. Just like everyone that I used to mentally criticize. Not only that, but did I really just post this right after admitting that we need to try and back off of our Star Wars mentality?
Ok, so as not to make this day out to be a total blunder: this morning was really great. The boys accepted the limits I set on the wii, we played Chutes and Ladders together; prepared their Valentine cards for their school; at least made one attempt to go outside (too cold); they played with their star wars legos for a long time; and at breakfast, we talked a little bit about what they had learned in church on Sunday.
As for me? Well, I kept trying to get something accomplished, but basically it came down to getting one load of laundry done, cleaning up the kitchen, getting dressed :) and taking care of Caleb. I ended up assisting with the Valentine card making, and preparing meals of course.

A little backtracking:
Don cut the boys' hair last week. They look so handsome! Luke wasn't having such a good day, however. He is usually very compliant. But he has his moments! And this was one of them. Don't miss the big ole tear coming down his right cheek on the left side of these pics... You may have to click on the picture to enlarge them. Poor guy.