Strolling down memory lane....

While I was saving some stuff on the computer tonight I stumbled upon some old pictures and videos of Caleb when he was a baby and I had to post a few. It's amazing how fast time flies and how lucky I am to have been blessed with such a beautiful child!









I used to love watching him kick his legs like crazy!


He and Avery have been buds since the beginning.

Scary Skeletons

I took Caleb to Walgreen's last week and there were some Halloween things out behind the counter that really scared him. He didn't want to walk by them so I had to carry him and tell him to hide his face on me. Since then though, he's been obsessed with going back and seeing the scary skeletons. While I was working tonight, my folks took him to Walgreen's and this is the video of him telling me all about it when they got back.

So sweet

Caleb was following my dad down the hallway, which was dark, so my dad was being silly saying "Ooooo, so spooky. Caleb, will you protect me."

Caleb's response: "Don't worry Grandpa, God is always with you."

Needless to say, mommy was a little choked up. :-)

"Bye mom."

Well, it happened. I took Caleb to school today and when it was time for me to go I just said bye and I love you, then he replied, "bye mom," and waved. He was clinging to me a little at first, then his new best friend there, the other Caleb in his class, showed up and he was ready to go play with him. There was another little boy there too that was so excited when Caleb showed up. My boy is becoming very much the social butterfly. I'm really impressed since this is only his third day.

Latest....

I had another really precious morning with Caleb. We went to the park at Lake Hefner then went to check out a lighthouse. It was nothing super exciting, but we just had such a sweet time talking and playing. We were walking hand in hand and he was asking me all kinds of questions. We've definitely started the constant questions phase.

I've gotten three more invites for various job interviews. I'm only going to go to one though on Thursday for the FAA. I figure they're worth checking into, but I'm still pretty set on staying where I'm at and going back to school. At least that's how I feel this week. :-)

Jonah and the Big Fish...

So Caleb's favorite bible story to read before bed has been Jonah and the Big Fish. We've read it so many times, so last night I asked him to tell me the story. This is how it went: "Mommy, I'm gonna go on a big pirate ship then God is going to send a big thunderstorm then I'm going to go sit in time out in a fish for three days!" Nice summary huh?

Bike Ride

Caleb and I got up fairly early this morning and decided to head outside since it was so beautiful. He wanted to ride his bike so I grabbed mine too and we ended up going on the nicest bike ride together down to the little lake near us. It was so precious riding next to him. It's hard to believe how much he's growing up!

Vacation Bible School

Vacation bible school was a blast today. I was in charge of putting together some games and came up with wrapping the kids in toilet paper (which they loved) and doing some water bucket relays, which was also a big success.

A fire truck came and sprayed water on everyone. You should have seen the grin on Caleb's face when the truck drove up! He was dying to hear the siren so I asked one of the firemen if he'd turn it on for us, which he gladly did to everyone's delight. Let me warn you before you play that video though. It's REALLY, REALLY loud!

Waiting for things to get started.....

He loved this! Nice form don't you think?

Music time!

Me doing the Lazarus Wrap with the kids (that sounds like a sandwich doesn't it?)

Somehow I wound up filling a billion water balloons.

My mom led the music. You can see Caleb standing on the front pew clapping along. It was adorable.

This is the loud video.....

Preschool Day 2

Well, today Caleb wouldn't let go of my leg when I tried to drop him off at preschool. The teachers told me that it's easier to just go, so I left then heard him screaming. I waiting outside the door for awhile then the teacher came by the little window and gave me the thumbs up so I guess he settled down quickly. It's just the initial dropping off that's tricky. I can't wait for the day when he just runs in there and is like, "See ya mom!"

I did get an interview invitation for a probation and parole officer position with the state yesterday. The more I think about it though, I don't think I'll even bother. If it was just me I'd consider it, but I don't want to put myself in harms way when I'm all Caleb has now. I think that would be really selfish and stupid on my part. I'm really happy where I'm working now, and my position could even turn into a full-time one. Plus, if I go back to school, which I'm thinking now I'm gonna do for sure, they'll work with me and be flexible with my schedule.

He did great!

Preschool is a success! He had a ball today and the teachers said he did great. Just cried a little when I first left, but they gave him his blue blankie for a little bit and that did the trick.

I got there a little early to pick him up and waited outside the classroom. The teacher was doing a story about fire engines and I heard him asking all kinds of questions. Oh, and he said he found another Caleb to be his friend. I'm just so thrilled it went so well!

Go speed racers go.....

This happened a few weeks ago, but I didn't actually see that my dad got videos of it until a few days ago. Caleb and the other boys on the block were driving their power wheels around the circle on my parent's street and it was seriously too cute.

First Day of Preschool

I just finished dropping off Caleb for his first day of preschool, and I'm freaking out a little bit. He seemed to do fine when I first left, then as I was walking down the hall to leave I saw this bright orange shirt out of the corner of my eye and it was Caleb bolting out of the classroom. He wasn't the only kiddo doing that, which makes me feel a little better I guess.

My mom and I stood outside the door for just a minute and could hear him crying, so it was really hard to leave. I know this is normal, but uggghhhh! I'm just sticking by the phone waiting for them to call me. Luckily he's going to a church preschool that's only about 2 minutes down the street. Landon and Avery went to the same preschool and loved it, so I know he'll eventually love it too. His class is almost all boys!

No Fear!

Cohen's birthday part was really fun today. Caleb went swimming and refused to wear floaties. There was a diving board and he headed straight for it and just jumped in. He can't really swim yet, but he's got enough in him to make it up above the water and over to me before he starts to go under. He's going to be a fish just like me I think.

Long Interview....

My interview at the IRS this morning went great. It lasted almost an hour so I'm guessing they like me. All of my interviews have gone well though, so that doesn't mean much. Just glad it's over and God can open the door if He wants to. I really like my other job and where I work so I'm not itching to start another job unless it's really the right move.

Caleb is feeling so much better. We'll be going to his buddy Cohen's birthday party tomorrow which will be fun. It's an alien theme! Nanoo-nanoo... :-)

Woo-Hoo!

My google job is back! I reapplied about a week and a half ago for my google job since my 3 month-break was up, and since I didn't hear back right away I just assumed they decided not to hire me for another year. Today though I got an invitation for rehire in my email. I'm so happy about it! It's not like it's the most exciting job in the world, but it's a great paycheck every week for one more year. (It's a two-year job max.) I couldn't be anymore excited about it! Plus, I love having google on my resume.

Finally on the upswing...

So I took Caleb to his doctor yesterday, who I absolutely love by the way, and found out that Caleb does definitely have strep and a virus too. His doctor was amazed that after three days of antibiotics he still tested positive for strep, so he prescribed a different antibiotic. I swear that within one dose he was already feeling better.

Let me just say, "Thank God for Chris and Lainee!" I worked last night, and Caleb had such a good time playing over at their house even though he was sick. Lainee set up a big tent in the living room for all the kids to sleep in and Caleb passed out in it about 9. Lainee said whenever he woke up coughing Landon and Avery would hold him and rub his arms. When I got back to their place I found Caleb in Aunt Lainee's arms asleep. It was just so precious, and it means so much to me that he feels so safe and secure there. I don't know what I'd do without my family.

Another long day...

Caleb is still feeling lousy. I can tell his throat is killing him. I called in sick to work tonight so I could stay home with him. My folks are on their Florida getaway and, although they still offered, I didn't feel ok about letting him sleep over at my brother's house. I really hope he's doing better tomorrow. We're getting stir crazy. However, we did have some fun pretend trips today to the cousin's house. I let him sit in the driver's seat of the car and he'd pretend to drive me around telling me where we were going to go. It's seriously too cute. He'll wait until I put my seatbelt on, turn on the lights and the air conditioning, and we'll pretend to be off on a journey.

Oh, and the IRS gave me a call today. No, don't worry, it's just for another job interview Friday. I doubt I'll be what they're looking for, but what the heck. That's one organization that's not going anywhere so I love the idea of having that kind of job security.

What a weekend....

I've been fighting off some kind of chest cold or something this week, and then found out that Landon and Avery had strep, so I knew Caleb was doomed. Sure enough, he starts getting warm and developing a cough on Friday, and I ended up taking him to the doc Saturday. He's got a really bad croupie cough, runny nose, and fever.

The highlight of our weekend was Saturday night, well I guess Sunday morning, at about 2:00 a.m. when I heard Caleb start to cough then proceed to throw up on me. Now, that was fun! He's taken three baths today, which makes him feel better, and has been playing a lot on the computer and watching movies. Hopefully by tomorrow we'll be on the upswing.

He wanted to play with his medicine dropper in the tub.

He played a lot of Diego's dinosaur maze today.....

His poor nose!

Yet another interview and good news.....

I had another interview for a government job this morning at Tinker at the Defense Logistics Agency. I interviewed there once before, but this one went a lot better I think. I'm still open for a good government job, so we'll see if anything comes of this.

In other news, I got officially accepted into grad school at UCO today. My adviser wants to see me next week and get me enrolled so it really does look like I'll be able to start classes on the 18th if I want to. It's exciting and nerve racking.

Work is getting a lot more involved and busy, but it's going well. I gotta say, it looks like God is orchestrating things so well as far as scheduling goes. My work schedule will allow for me to stay home with Caleb all day. (Who ever heard of a teacher's assistant working from 7-midnight?!) On days when I have college classes, Caleb can go to preschool or possibly hang out with grandma or Aunt Lainee. If I do need my own health benefits again, this job will give me that, even with only 20 hours a week. When I finish up my degree and begin my internship, Caleb will be starting kindergarten so me working full-time will not be a big issue. I'm seeing a nice little chain reaction here..... From the beginning of all this I've been praying hard that God will help me find what I need to do to support us well, but not take me away from Caleb too much. I know things could still change, but it's amazing to see God working in this.

I'm tired....

My first week of work was great. It's so easy I almost feel guilty accepting the paycheck. Almost... I'm feeling the hours though. Most of you know that I'm an early to bed early to rise person so getting home at 12:30 a.m. then trying to key down and go to sleep is going to take some getting used to. I'm not trying to complain though. I think I'm really lucky to have gotten this schedule and the people I work with are great.

I talked to my college adviser and if I can finish my immunizations up and a couple other things I may still be able to enroll for classes this semester. Classes start on the 18th though so that's cutting it really close. I don't mind waiting till Spring term, but the sooner I start, the sooner I can finish and get a career going. After researching more into the school psychology profession, I think it fits me to a tee. I remember considering it before when I was working toward my special education credentials, but I was so gung-ho to be a teacher that I just let it go.

Caleb had fun this morning playing with his buddy Cohen. They are both major alpha males so most of the time they end up punching each other, but today they did really well and were actually sweet toward one another. If I am able to start college this fall, I'll try to get Caleb enrolled in a good preschool during the times I have class. I think he's really ready and it would be good for him to be in school with other kids some.