28

friday was my birthday and i officially turned 28. it's hard to believe that i'm 28 years old...i always used to think that grown-ups were 28...guess i was wrong. for anyone who knows me, they know that i really to celebrate my birthday. in fact, i claim the entire month as "my birthday." in keeping with that tradition, we ate at the cheesecake factory TWICE this weekend. i'm ashamed to admit it...not really...and yes, i had two pieces of cheesecake...all to myself-yummy!!! on to the important things...the presents! tom got me a new marmot fleece. i was really excited since it has been about two years since i've had one. my mom and dad got me an iron and ironing board. not too exciting, but very practical and very needed. i hate to iron, but since i'm a "grown-up," i kinda have to...tom and caleb's dress shirts look much better now! adam even got me a present (i like the fact that he has a job). he got me some perfume and the most excellent card. on the front, a little girl is feeding her baby brother a bottle telling him that after that, it was going to be time to eat dirt. adam was kind enough to add his own commentary in the card stating that maybe the sister should color on the table and blame it on the little brother next. i can't believe that he's still bitter about me getting him in trouble after all these years...j/k!!!! it was a great birthday and a big thanks to all who gave their best wishes!!!

best friends

although jack can sometimes drive me crazy, he really is the world's best dog. he is so sweet to let caleb crawl and bounce up and down on him. i snapped these pics during playtime this morning. they show just how much caleb has learned to love jack.

sippy cup and other big boy stuff

caleb has had quite the start to 2008. not only have we moved, but he now drinks from a sippy cup (mommy's personal favorite), likes the idea of using a spoon himself (he doesn't actually get anything in his mouth, but it's a start), waves bye-bye, can indicate more and mine ("muh, muh"), and no ("ne, ne, ne"). caleb also enjoys climbing...anything. right now, i take a few of the cushions off of the couch and he crawls all over them for awhile before he moves onto climbing onto the couch. he can reach where the cushions are missing. still no walking on his own, but he can. once he realizes that you have freed your hand from his, he takes 2 steps, and then sits down...funny little guy. we're just waiting for caleb to decide he wants to do it by himself. in the meantime, his favorite game will remain running after jack while pushing his lion. it's good clean fun for everyone, except jack.

no more boxes

i can't believe that we've been in nashville a whole week. i'm also proud to announce...drum roll, please...that we have no more boxes left to unpack...we just moved them into the empty family room!!! it's too cold for caleb to play in there, but it makes a lovely home for all of our extra stuff. tusculum hills baptist has really rolled out the red carpet for us. not only have they given us a house to live in (rent free, new carpet, and new appliances) for 3 months, they had our moving truck unloaded in under an hour! wow!!! we have made a fairly smooth transition. the first four nights caleb had trouble sleeping, but who can blame him? he had a new house to explore, a ton of new people to meet, and i had the audacity to take away his bottle. it's all sippy cup, all the time now :) however, not everything has changed. jack and caleb are still able to enjoy their favorite pass time of looking out the window and talking to whatever passes by.

mommy's little mover

during playtime, caleb loves to push things around the house. his lion...the kitchen chairs...his high chair...and most recently, the laundry basket. he really wants to walk by himself and these random objects help him get around...fast! if you need anything moved at your house, just let me know. caleb will be glad to come over and move it...as long as, it doesn't weigh more than he does (about 20 lbs.)!!! he can also turn light switches on and off, clear everything out of a cabinet, and open and close doors. that is, as long as the door isn't completely closed. the doorknobs are still too high for him. enjoy the pics of playtime :)

caleb's 1st birthday!!!

this year has been both the longest (middle of the night feedings, anyone?) and shortest of my life. tom and i cannot believe that caleb turned 1 today. for his first birthday dinner, we chose red robin. why? the balloons, of course. caleb had a blast bouncing a balloon off of his (and daddy's) head. while he didn't have a burger, he managed to snag a couple of french fries. the fun didn't stop at dinner though, we let him stay up until 8:00 p.m. a whole half-hour past his bedtime...party animal! on saturday, both of our families came for the birthday bash. our theme this year was tonka construction trucks...complete with dirt cake. caleb had his very own cupcake and absolutely LOVED the cream cheese frosting. he just couldn't resist grabbing it by the handful, squishing it around, and then cramming it into his little mouth. it turns out, he actually needed the sugar high to open the massive amount of presents that his grandparents brought. caleb had to try out his red wagon first. he liked it so much that he stayed there the rest of the afternoon. who could blame him when there were pretty girls to pull him around, and around, and around the house?!? caleb got some other cools toys like, a dump truck, a hammer that lights up and makes noise, and a puppy dog that talks and sings whenever you squeeze it. with his birthday so soon after christmas, i have had a very difficult time finding a place for all of his new toys. although i suppose that there are worse problems to have :) happy birthday baby boy! mommy and daddy love you very much!!!

nashville, or bust!

on the last day of 2007, tom accepted the student minister position at tusculum hills baptist church in nashville, tn. yay!!! what a great ending to what has proved to be a very challenging year for the agnew family. tom's first day on the job will be january 20th. with the day so soon upon us, we are in hurry up mode around the house...if we don't use it, we toss it. we will wait to bring the dreaded boxes into the house until after caleb's birthday party on saturday. while i love new places, i loathe packing...but, with this new beginning i think that i can find it within me to say, "praise the Lord...even for the boxes!"