looooong break....again

i'll have to make this post quick b/c i'm at panera, tom wants the computer back (since when does "our" translate into "mine"), and caleb is about done with his "nak" (snack). we got back from the beach and guess what??? stilll no internet at the house...go figure. a few fast facts, tom and i celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on august 6th (awwwwwww) and i attended my 10 year high school reunion (go hornets!). hopefully, i'll get to do a full-fledged post one day soon, complete with pictures. hey, a girl can dream. until then, i'll miss you internet....sigh...

caleb at 19 months

caleb turns 19 months old on wednesday, so i thought that i'd share a few of his favorite things. he is still fascinated with his crocs, especially since his nana bought him 2 jibits to put in them. he has a dump truck and an excavator--nana can find the best things--and is busying himself trying to figure out how to put them on/take them off. he also loooooooooooooves the water. we were a little worried that he may not like the ocean, a perfectly reasonable fear if you are only 31" tall and weigh a whopping 22 lbs., but he loved it...at least for the first 30 minutes. i think he just got too hot and too overwhelmed. however, he can spend almost 2 hours in a pool before he (and i) gets tired. he has a few new tricks in his vocabulary this month. he really enjoys the long "e" sound and will add it to just about everything: momeeeee, dadeeee, naneeee (we think it's nana, but we're still not sure), jakeeeeeee (jack). he's also become much better at pronouncing his "s" and "th" sounds so that bus and bath are discernable to everyone. and i am most proud of the fact that he will repeat thank you when i ask him to. it's so cute to hear "tan ouuuuuu" after i hand him more crackers. this week, caleb has been more adventurous in his diet. yesterday he ate soy sausage, bacon, and grilled chicken...all in the same day!!!! i'm still not convinced that bacon and chicken will be permanent additions, but it was nice to see him branch out a little. as far as discipline goes, it's all typical toddler stuff. he will protest, quite loudly, when he has to quit an activity before he wants to, or gets told "no." i will quickly remove him from the situation, or smack the little hand if need be, to end the protest. he also has the wonderful habit of smacking at things and people (namely mommy, daddy, and jack) when he is frustrated. however, it only takes a stern "no hitting!" and time out in the crib for caleb to decide not to smack anymore...at least for that day. all in all, he's a readily compliant child with a normal amount of defiant outbursts. and given his gene pool, that's a blessing!!!

road trip **now with pictures**

so how does an almost 19 month old keep busy on a 7 1/2 hour drive from nashville to hilton head??? glad you asked...since the portable dvd player wouldn't load any of the discs, i reached into my mary poppins inspired bag and found 2 strands of beads, a purse-sized lint roller, plastic spoons, a singing frog, coloring book, colored pencils, 2 lift-the-flap books from the target dollar bins (yay!), a calculator (shhhh, caleb thinks it's a cell phone), 2 tonka trucks, a travel size maga doodle, bubbles, a pinwheel, and a partridge in a pear tree--whew!!! if you currently do not have a toddler, or it's been a couple of years, the contents may sound strange, but trust me, those $2 strands of beads that i bought off of a street vendor at a ut football game have paid for themselves a thousand times over. they completely fulfill caleb's need to put on/take off/do-it-myself...they were good for at least 30 mins. of content riding. i took a couple of cute pics of caleb in the truck (think sticking plastic spoon in the holes of his crocs), but left the usb cable to my camera at home. i know that you're thinking, "WHY DIDN'T SHE JUST PUT IT IN THAT STUPID BAG OF HERS?!?", but when you're trying to out think a 19 month old sometimes you just forget the obvious...now if i could only find my other blue flipflop...

still here and kickin'

it's been a loooooooooooong time since i've been on the internet, let alone made a blog entry. in the past 2 1/2 weeks we have been to x-fuge in panama city beach, florida, moved into a new house, and are currently in hilton head, sc for a much needed vacation. hopefully this week i will be able to catch up on entries. oh internet, how i have missed you!!!

yum!

since we were supposed to go to k-town this afternoon and i was a good little housewife and didn't buy a ton of groceries, i am left to eat cool whip for lunch...no wait, kroger brand whipped topping. it may be a little gross, but at least it's "lite."

18 months old

caleb turned 18 months old on july 6th and we went for his regularly scheduled well-check this morning. his stats now are 21 lbs. and 13 oz.!!! i was so excited, he's in the 10th percentile for weight, and hasn't slacked off in his rate of weight gain...yay! he's 30 and 1/8'' tall (50th percentile) and his head is in the 60th percentile for circumference. and he's doing all of the things that 18 month old little boys do...running, climbing, scraping his knees, throwing balls, scribbling on paper, chatting up a storm, and oh yeah, pitching fits. thus far, he has only shown his temper to me and daddy, but this past wednesday night, the nursery workers at church were all commenting on how well behaved caleb is, so i'm really hoping he doesn't prove them wrong. a few of caleb's favorite foods are frozen blueberries, soy sausage, grapes, cheesey crackers, spaghetti, mandarin oranges, banana/pumpkin muffins, and baked organic french fries w/ketchup. he uses quite a few words and occasionally drops one (right now it's momma--what the heck?!?) to use a new one. his current favorites are uh-oh, no no, Da-dee, bye-bye, shewsh (shoes), door, mo (more), ma (mine), ball, and ja-kee (jack is our dog and we affectionately refer to him as jacky). he's pretty laid back in public, but at home he's a regular wild man. his absolute favorite game is to be chased. tom or i will usually chase him around the dividing wall between the living and dining room, suddenly change directions, and meet caleb face-to-face. caleb screams and then laughs his head off. he also likes it when tom hides behind the bathroom door and pops out to surprise him. he has a couple of other cute tricks...he loves to give high-fives, carry my keys to the car, and show people his teeth (his face is priceless). he can also tell you what sounds a dog, a firetruck, and a motorcycle (a couple of the neighbors have them) make. all in all, we're lovin' life with an 18 month old!

4th of July

caleb showing off his "shewsh" we were pretty low key in our celebration today. we started out by sleeping in until almost 7:00...that's a whole half-hour later than usual :) later in the morning, we went to the mall and picked up a couple of things that we will be needing for the beach. i got a way cute floppy straw hat (only $12 at gap!) and we splurged and bought caleb a pair of crocs. totally unlike tom to approve such a purchase, but i had looked at super wal-mart and super target and found no croc knock-offs in his size or his color (don't think pink or purple would work). after caleb's nap, we filled up his pool and put the crocs to good use. we spent an hour under the shade tree in the front yard splashin' and watchin' the world pass by. and as of 10:30, we're enjoying a free fireworks show courtesy of our neighbors...awesome, as long as caleb stays asleep! love that face!!!