Reminders for the Future

I read an older blog the other day and was reminded that Caleb didn't like peaches at first. It was the first baby food he turned his head from. I was pretty persistent, though, and now he eats little Dole cups of peaches on a regular basis.

I had forgotten, though, until I read that blog that Caleb didn't like peaches right away. And I thought, "Thanks, blog! You sure are handy for helping me remember a few of the millions of details that slip away!"

So in that vein of thought, here are a few of my favorite things that Caleb is up to these days.


1. Finger-pushing. As an avid crawler, Caleb spends a lot of time with his hands on the floor. So he finds a lot of things to push. Anything from toys to dog dishes to pieces of trash. But he pushes them all with just his index finger. Whatever it is, he'll slowly push that booger along for ages just with his little pointy finger. So cute!

2. The Gorilla Lunge. If Caleb is sitting up on the floor and decides he's ready to crawl, he indicates so by launching himself into the crawling position. This involves quickly bringing his hands up above his head and thrusting them out in front of him so his body weight follows and then landing on his hands. It's hard to describe and even harder to catch on video, but it's so funny. He really looks like a little Gorilla.


3. Waving. I know, I know. All kids do this. But Caleb's so selective about when he'll wave. He'll go days without waiving and then have a fit of waving. On the way out of his 1 year baby vaccination appointment during which he was stuck with a needle four times and spent the whole time howling, he left with tears in his eyes and waving at everyone we met in the hallway. Or perhaps he was trying to get their attention to say, "See what this lady does to me?! Save me!"


4. Dropping. This is not my favorite thing, because Caleb drops everything, especially food, and especially if the dogs are around. He loves to feed the dogs. But it cracks me up to see him perched at the baby gate at the top of the stairs dropping his blocks, one by one, down the stairs. This won't be so funny when I trip on one and crack my head open. But it's fun to watch.

5. Opera hand. This is something he's been doing for months. I think it was a precursor to pointing. He raises one hand up in the air very theatrically for an unexplained reason. It's so dramatic and priceless! Lately it means he's looking at a light or a ceiling fan. Initially I have no idea what it meant.

6. Dancing. Ohhhh, I've been waiting for this day ever since I felt him kick while listening to Beyonce. I knew my son had a little boogie in him. Just recently he started responding to music just by bouncing up and down or, if he's on his hands and knees, pushing back and forth. It's subtle, but it's oh so cool.

7. Clapping. This is nothing new, but it kills me when he claps along with a TV audience. It reminds me of when the dogs bark at dogs on TV. Caleb particularly loves the English version of Deal or No Deal. (I like it, too, to be honest! It's so different than the American version. Very no-frills. And the presenter is so endearing!)

8. "Didi." Didi is what Caleb says for "doggy." Anytime Zeus and Zoey come in the room, Caleb gives a very emphatic, "Didi!" While my parents were in town we were wandering around a town called Ely and a lady passed by with a black lab. Caleb promptly pointed out "Didi!" which, of course, indicates he's a little genius! :) Since then "Didi" has also come to mean "ducky" and "birdy." I love that he's recognizing things and trying to label them!


9. Trying to walk. Caleb isn't all that interested in walking, although he made five very unsteady but purposeful steps tonight. Go Caleb! Usually, though, when we release his hands to encourage him to walk, he tries to do so not by moving his feet, but by leaning forward, hoping his feet will catch up with his head. They don't, so we have to be there to catch him, which he thinks is great fun.

He's such a fun little booger, and it seems like he gets more and more fun as time goes by. I can't wait to see what this year holds for him!

A Grand Reunion

We had a tragic loss in our family on Saturday.

We lost a brand new Nike tennis-shoe that my in-laws had sent Caleb for his birthday. He hadn't even owned the shoes a full 24 hours when one of them went AWOL in London.

My mother and I spotted a lonely sock just before we were getting ready to get on the tube to go back home. Mom promptly went back up the stairs to search back to Starbucks and in the general vicinity for the lost footwear. She returned empty handed.

With tears in my eyes, I back tracked the same territory and a little further, around the outside of Harrods. Harrods is a gigantic, upscale department store in downtown London. I've been asked if it's comparable to Macy's. Having never been to a Macy's, I can't say. The only comparison I can make is to a posh Midwestern department store. So for my Omaha friends, imagine Von Maur. But probably about five times bigger. And five times posher. Selling diamonds the size of my eyeballs. And children's jackets that cost about $500.

Anyway, a lengthy search outside the store did not turn up the lost shoe. I would have gone back in Harrods, but that would have taken hours. Even with a store map, mom and I had gotten lost numerous times while we were in there. So I returned to the Knightsbridge tube station broken hearted.

This wasn't just a shoe. It was a very generous gift from my mother- and father-in-law. Now I wouldn't necessarily call Ed and Linda "name brand people." There are things that are important in life, and for Ed and Linda name brands just aren't as important as loving people and making great sweet tea. But they knew their son. Tommy had infected his younger brother and sister with an affinity for name brands. Tommy was the first name brand snob in his family, and it was contagious. Ed and Linda's gift was also a gesture. It was their way of infecting our son early to make sure we'd have to go through years of "But I HAVE to have it"s to make up for the damage Tommy did to his brother and sister.

And now that gift was gone. Or so I thought.

I contacted Harrods the next day on the off chance that someone had found it. Lo and behold, the lost Nike was in possession of the Lost Property department! After a little finagling, they agreed to mail the shoe back to us.

Today we received not only the lost shoe, but a lovely hand-written note from Suresh who had mailed the shoe and an adorable miniature teddy bear for Caleb. It was a grand reunion between the shoes! I'm so happy to have that shoe back, I can't begin to tell you.

Welcome back, shoe!

This Time Last Year...

This time last year, I had just been admited to the base hospital to be induced into labor. I was so nervous and scared and so very, very glad that my mom was with me since my husband was still in Iraq.

Tonight, we'll celebrate Caleb's first birthday a day early with some friends and my mom and dad, who flew in from the states last week. I expected to be sentimental and emotional today, but I supposed I'm too busy making sure I remember to bring everything for his party.

My baby's not a baby anymore. He's a near-walking, babbling, laughing, playing little guy with no time for naps and no patience for eating.

Happy Birthday, baby boy.

The Incredible Baby

Dude. My brother is awesome. But do me a favor, and don't tell him that. He'll just get a big head.

This is Stephen's Hulk rendition of Caleb getting his hair cut. I love it!

Caleb's First Haircut

My husband has been trying to talk me into getting Caleb's hair cut for a little while now. I finally felt ready to part with those sweet, curling baby locks today. So we went down to the base barber to get Caleb's first hair cut.

Here's a picture of him before. His hair isn't attrociously long. It wasn't in his eyes yet. It was just getting really shaggy around the ears and the collar. I guess I just wanted to clean it up before his birthday.

Here he is settling into the barber's chair and trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

This is my favorite picture from the day. I think he's trying to channel his inner Hulk so he can explode with righteous rage and jump out of the chair to take us all on. If I was good with Photoshop, I would turn him green just to make me laugh.

This is the moment he realized what was going on and began to have a full meltdown. I had just put a Gerber Yogurt Melt in his mouth, which is what is showing here. No amount of singing, clapping or bribery with baby snacks could convince him that this was a good idea.

And here he is after his traumatic experience, enjoying Burger King for lunch, complete with a drop of apple juice on his chin. I actually have tried all day to get a better picture of him post-haircut, but in a move that clearly cries, "Stick it to 'em!" he's avoided my camera all day. Sly dude.

It's shorter than I imagined it would be, which is a lesson to take him off base next time. Military barbers cut military hair, regardless of client, I guess! :) There are also a few spots that are a bit shorter than others, but considering how much he was fussing and squirming, I'm just glad he didn't lose an ear. All in all, I'm pleased with the haircut and can't beleive how much older it makes him look!

Third Eye Obvious

Oh, by the way, I'm 15 again. Need proof? Witness the ginormous zit that currently occupies most of my forehead.



I'm nearing thirty and battling the type of acne that was the bane of my adolescent existence. I'm no stranger to adult acne, but I haven't had a Mount Vesuvius like this in ages. This is no small "spot," as they call them here in England. It might as well be my third eye.


That's right, I've got a third eye. And yes, as a matter of fact, it can read your mind, and it knows you're thinking wicked, judgemental thoughts towards it. Be careful, though. You can see by the above evidence that it's already angry. Angry and reading your mind. If you're not cautious with your thoughts, it will smite you.


My third eye will smite you!


Or perhaps the inflammation will recede at least a little bit over night.


Seriously. It's simply not right to be 29 and battling this kind of embarrassment. Thank goodness for bangs.

Just a blog

Sometimes I get caught up in writing what I think you'd like to read instead of just writing what I think about. Then I remember this is just a blog. Just a blog a few friends and my mom read. Nothing fancy, nothing published. Just a blog.

So the long and short of the last two weeks is that I finished my fifth graduate class. Hooray! It's going very quickly. This one was Group Counseling. And I actually learned a lot about myself in it.

First and foremost, I am a procrastinator. This is nothing new. If you know me, you know this. But I put off so much about this class till the last minute that I freaked out right before class started. Not normal stressing out. FREAKED out. Really. Good and formal Freakage with a capital F. As usual, this ended up being for no good reason. It was a great class with a great professor. The class and professor both were much more intimating on paper (the syllabus) than in real life. And it was not only enjoyable, but I feel as if I really learned a lot in this class.

I'm in an online class now, which is going well. It's with a professor I had in an on-site course. It's probably not common to know your online professors, so I like that she remembers me and I'm already familiar with her teaching and grading styles.

We now interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to announce that printer paper jams are the freakin' devil! It's never as simple as pulling one sheet of paper out. It's a process of pulling, shoving, muttering, opening, closing, "pressing OK" and repeating this process at least three times to rid the printer of its demons. It's a paper exorcism! ARRGGHH!

Okay, the printer is working again. Back to our regularly schedule blogging.

That's really about all that's going on here. So I'll finish by sharing a few pics.

Caleb has starting actually watching the TV, but seems to think it's necessary to be right up against the TV to enjoy it. He's watching Shrek here.

Caleb thinks it's hilarious to wear his shorts on his head. He might just think it's funny because I laugh the entire time. Seriously! Is there anything cuter?!

"As a matter of fact, I'm not ready for my close up!" This is the kind of picture he'll kill me for not deleting some day, but it cracks me up! This was my attempt to get his "shorts on the head" routine the first time. Clearly this was unsuccessful. And normally I have no problem deleting bad pictures, but something about his expression in this one just kills me!

Back Home

Whenever I travel, a saying of my father's always comes to mind. "Be it ever so humble, there's no toilet like home." What can I say? When he's right, he's right.

So I've been pretty quiet here for the last month, and that's because we took a last minute trip to the states. We decided to try and catch a hop home, and it worked. To catch hop, for my non-mil friends, is to fly "Space Available" on a pre-scheduled military cargo flight. The advantage to flying Space-A is that it's free. Yeah. We flew from the UK to the US and it cost us under $20 just to buy a few box lunches.


The biggest disadvantage to catching a hop is that the mission comes first and you come last. That means there are no guarantees you'll get on a flight, no guarantees the flight that is SUPPOSED to be flying back to England will actuall go to England. (Our flight was diverted to a tiny base in Spain), and no guarantees that if it does go to the orignial destination that it will leave or arrive when it is scheduled to.

Anyway, this blog isn't about catching hops. (There will be a blog to that effect. But not today. It's just not in me today.) I just wanted to post something to say we had a blast in the US, were sad we missed meeting up with some people, and are so glad to be back "home."

It's strange calling England home. It's weird to feel more comfortable getting back to driving on the left side of the road. It's hard to describe how odd it is to go "home" to Omaha and to miss our little townhouse in East Anglia. But I'm so glad to be unpacking for the last time. I'm actually looking forward to doing dishes tonight. Isn't that sad? But it's nice to do dishes "my way" in my sink with my stuff.

And I can't WAIT to sleep in my own bed tonight.

I brought home a completely different baby than I left with. Caleb has grown up so much in the last three weeks! He's pulling himself up like an expert, and finally figured out how to let himself back down. He's figured out how to drink from a straw. He's climibg stairs as if he's been doing it all his short life. He FINALLY decided to start holding his own bottle! (Insert chorus of angels here.) AND he occassionally feeds himself crackers and small bits of food! I know, he's so slow in the eating department. I think even at nearly eleven months old he'd still be perfectly content to feed from an umbilical chord. But we're making some progress! Slowly, but surely.

He was also the BEST BABY EVER while traveling! He hardly fussed on any of the planes and slept almost the whole time of every flight. I was so worried about the trans-Atlantic flights, but he was an angel. I'm glad that we traveled when we did, because I'm sure he woudln't have been this angelic if he was at a walking age!

Unfortunately, I came back to mountains of homework and papers to tend to. So I'll probably disappear again for a few weeks until the middle of the month when one of these classes is over. Then my parents will be here at the end of the month! Hooray!

It was a wonderful trip (except for the attempts to get back home), but I'm glad it's over and I get back back to normal life. :)

The End of the World as I Know It

Oh, man. Life is about to change for good.

I've known that the easy days of infanthood were rapidly coming to a close. Caleb turned 10 months old on Sunday, and the last month has been full of accomplishments for him. He's figured out how to wave (although he's very selective about excuting the action), and he learned to pull himself up. I knew things were going to get more challenging, as far as his safety is concerned, as he began to acheive more phsyical milestones.

But today, things got interesting.

Caleb had been crawling up and down the hall while I was cleaning up the kitchen and living room. I had just gone to the living room to get something and as I came back into the hallway, Caleb was kneeling on the first step of the stairs. In the few seconds I was in the living room, he had pulled himself up to a standing position and then climbed up his very first step.

Holy crap. I'm about to have a toddler on my hands.

Caleb Climbs the Stairs from Kelly on Vimeo.

(In other news, this is my 100th Blogger post!)

Don't Bother Me, I'm Teething.

Man, people are not kidding when they say teething sucks! Caleb has been a bear this week--waking up randomly at night to cry, bursting into tears when nothing appears to be wrong, and constantly trying to eat his crib. I can see that another one of his top teeth is trying to cut the gums, but it's taking its precious time making an appearance! In the mean time, poor bubs is just miserable. Here's a picture of Caleb sucking on his fingers while he naps. He's not a thumb sucker, he needs more than one finger! (His shirt, by the way, says "Super Cool Dude" and was only one pound at Tesco!)




Caleb and I attended Azariah's birthday party last night. It was a gorgeous night for an outdoor party. I made the mistake of giving Caleb a bit of frosting from my cake. I do mean a bit. If he got a half a teaspoon total, I'd be surprised. He's had frosting before, but never that late (it was about 6:30 or later when we had cake.) Well, that monkey buns would not sleep last night! He's normally down by 9, but he was up and ready to party until 11:30. I was so tired. To top off his wakefulness, he was so crabby about his teeth! I was exhausted when I finally hit the sheets.

Other than the teething, though, he's doing really well! I'm trying to make him hang around Maddux more often because Maddux can feed himself. Caleb is so uninterested in feeding himself! He's almost 10 months old and refuses to hold his bottle or feed himself even small foods like crackers and Gerber Puffs. He loves to eat, but has no interest in working for his food.

Hmm, why does that sound so famliar? Oh, right! Failed attempts at nursing!

Eh, he'll catch on some day...right?!