Canyon Drive

Today we went for a drive up the Provo Canyon. The leaves have already begun to change color, so it was really beautiful. Caleb fell asleep on the windy roads, so we drove around for a while in order to let him get a halfway decent nap. I was so antsy to get out of the car and take his picture though. Finally, we stopped and woke the baby up. Totally worth it. Yes, he's been cranky all day, but he was cranky the whole day, not just since we woke him up early to take his picture. And you've got to admit, they are such super cute pictures. I actually took over a hundred pictures, but that would take a really long time to upload. So instead, you just get a few.

Okay, this first picture is included simply because it proves that my baby actually has hair. I know he tends to look bald in pictures, but look -- he really does have hair (you might have to look closely). In fact, lately I've taken to spiking it up (not with gel or anything, just after a bath before it dries and then it stays that way for a really long time. Days even). It makes him look like he has hair.


Then you get a super cute picture of Caleb.


This next one I thought was really funny. About ten yards from where we were taking all our fall pictures was this patch of snow. My camera stopped working while we were attempting to begin our winter picture collection, so this is the best you get. I don't know what's wrong with my camera. Sometimes it says Error 2 and the picture I just took will say Corrupted Data (or file). It annoys the heck out of me. (But maybe that's good cuz who wants heck in them to start with?)


And lastly, just a pretty picture of the mountains. Happy Autumn everyone!

California Cousins

It seemed like a good idea at the time. We were in California. I really like my family. Naturally, the next step was we should visit them. And while visiting, why not let the cousins play together?

Maybe Nora was right when she said, "Mom can you please pick up Sara?" But I was having too much fun taking pictures. And who can blame me? Look how sweet that little Sara face is.

But here's what actually happened.

It really seemed like a good idea. Cousins playing together.


After all, Sara only wanted to see Caleb's fun toy. It is one of Caleb's favorite toys, so who can blame her for being curious?


Caleb's still not sure we should trust her. Or maybe he just doesn't like sharing.


See? Innocent love.


Sara just wanted to know what it felt like to be a baby without hair.


Or maybe taste what it was like.


Innocent, I tell you. (Can you see her fingers digging into his head?)


Poor little baby Caleb.


He definitely thought twice about letting her near him again. Or even his cousin Trevor later that day. Oh well. I guess it's fair to say that not all my ideas are absolute genius. I'm sure one day they'll actually have fun together.

It's About Time!!

Ever since we got back from California, our wireless internet (which we "borrow" from the condos behind us) hasn't been working. Apparently, everyone in the condos gets free cable and internet as part of their association dues, but if they don't pay their dues, the association pulls the plug on their free goodies. Which means our free goodies too. But, hallelujah, the people we normally piggyback off of have decided to start paying their dues again, which means that we have internet again.

Of course, this is after we signed an agreement yesterday to have fiber optic internet installed in our house. But I think it'll still be worth it for us to have our own, once that finally gets installed, since it'll make uploading all the cute pictures of our baby so much easier.

And, speaking of our cute baby, Laura asked how I get such cute pictures of him (for those who don't read the comments, I figured I'd post the answer here instead). Usually, I see a location that I love and tell Brandon to put the baby there. Our baby doesn't move much (except to fall over), so he's pretty cooperative. Then I tell Brandon to make the baby smile. Several clicks later, I usually end up with at least one picture that I like. But that also means, I have a TON of pics that I don't like or post because the baby isn't always being cute. And sometimes I get two pictures that are so similar I have to stare at them both a really long time before I pick which one I like the best. Occasionally, I do tweak the pictures a little bit in iPhoto, but not very often since I'm not all that computer savvy.

Anyway, great to be back up and running. I had a dream the other night that I was trying to hack into someone's computer (which means that I might have also broken into their house, but I don't remember that part) because I was so desperate to get back on blogger. I got caught, but the people just logged in for me. I guess they understood the addiction.

Here's a photo from our drive back to Utah from California. Caleb was a great sport about it all. We're still hit and miss on sleeping through the night from our Hawaii trip. Although, last night was a total hit -- from 9 pm till 8 am. Cross your fingers tonight goes as well.

Play date

We had some friends come over tonight for dinner. Caleb had so much fun that he wouldn't go to bed when I tried to put him down. Instead he stayed up and watched us all play the Wii together. He was being good, so it didn't bother me that he wasn't sleeping. But once they left, the tears began. (Okay, maybe no tears but definitely fussing.) It's a shame play dates can't last forever. But hopefully my kid will go to sleep now.

We finally figured out a way to keep our baby quiet.

(That's a sock in his mouth, in case you couldn't tell. And for the record, he put it there himself.)

Chad and Leah's Wedding

Brandon's brother Chad got married today. I was their "official photographer." I took 251 pictures. Well, that's not true. Brandon took some of those. But I still took over 200. Digital cameras are seriously the best invention in the world. Can you imagine paying to get all those developed if they were on film?

Even though it was Chad and Leah's wedding, I'm just going to post pictures of Caleb for now. Because, well, he's my baby and I think he's cute. And there are 251 pictures to sort through to find something decent of everyone else that was there. Plus, I don't think any of Brandon's family check our blog. So you get Caleb. I'll try and post some other pictures later, but considering I still haven't finished posting pictures of our Hawaii trip (though I'm getting close to having all the best ones on here), it might take me a while.

Anyway, for those that don't know, the above photo is of Caleb (obviously) with his cousin Trevor. Trevor turned one in June, so that makes him...15 months? I think these two boys are just so cute -- and they look so much alike. It's because they both take after their daddies. (Trevor's dad is Brandon's brother, Nathan, for those of you who truly care to know.)

The next one here is of Caleb. He's being held by his cousin Mark. Caleb is the 17th grandkid on Brandon's side. Mark might be the second.



Here's my cute turtle baby. (Notice the turtle fountain in the background.)



And lastly, not a super cute picture of Caleb, but he can get away with that. I thought it was a good picture of me and Virginia though. And after the huge outpouring of support the last time I posted a picture of me (well, Brandon and Jill), I thought I'd try another.

Caleb loves carrots!

Six Months

Caleb's six months old now. As you can see, he's a pretty good sitter. He can also roll over from his tummy to his back. He blows raspberries and bubbles all the time. He mostly squeals but sometimes babbles. He'd much rather play with people than with toys. I love to see his smile and hear his laugh.

Tonight we got together with some of my family and went out to dinner at Vince's (which is by far the best spaghetti place in the country). I gave my niece Nora a zerbert, so then she gave me one back. Then she started doing it to Caleb and he just laughed and laughed and laughed. It may have been his best laughs ever. And he laughed every time she did it, which I thought was quite impressive. And oh so very cute.

(Check out Nora's blog for some cute pictures of her and Sara eating spaghetti!)

Messing the kid up more

We drove down to California last night. Caleb did exceptionally well on this trip. I was really worried about him going on such a long drive because after all the driving we did in Hawaii, he's grown to hate being in his carseat. He's entered that phase of arching his back and screaming when we put him in the car.

But he did so good on the way down here. He even fell asleep once it got dark out. It makes you wonder if we should quit our job and become truck drivers, just so our baby will go to bed at night.

Then, we get to my dad's house. Caleb wakes up once the car stops. He's so fascinated at being in a new place. And there's so much cool stuff to look at. Our room upstairs is beyond exciting for a baby. Lots of bright colors on the walls, tons of stuffed animals everywhere, and then this lamp that the baby just couldn't get enough of.

An hour later, I've got clean sheets on the bed. The baby's diapers been changed and he's now in his pajamas. He's been swaddled, fed, and even rocked. But he's still wide awake. Brandon and I are so exhausted that neither of us can possibly stay awake much longer. So we put Caleb in bed with us. He poked at my face for a while till I managed to roll just far enough away that he couldn't reach me anymore (hard to do on a full size bed with three people in it). I assume he went to sleep eventually because he didn't start crying for several hours.

Now he's been up for four hours already this morning without a nap (he used to go back to sleep after being awake for two hours). There's just too much to look at here...

Hawaii Luau pictures

My child is driving me nuts. It's crazy the way you want a baby so bad, and then once you get one, life is just a nightmare at times. Brandon's been really great today in taking the baby as much as possible so that I can get a break -- or at least as close to a break as is possible with a baby that is still breastfed all the time.

But I've complained a lot lately about the insanity our child is putting us through. So I'll let you have a break too and instead show you these cute pictures of when my child was happy and pleasant. (Can you believe that was only a week ago?)

We went to a luau while we were in Hawaii. Caleb absolutely loved it. He thought it was all just so fascinating. He loved watching the hula dancers. Perhaps even more than he likes watching tv. The last dance was a fire dance and Caleb just thought it was spectacular. He only got scared one time all night, and that was because Brandon yelled really loud while holding the baby. Caleb started to cry and the guy sitting next to Brandon was so apologetic, thinking he had yelled too loud and scared the baby. But it was Brandon -- we think. Other than that, Caleb did great. He even took a nap for a little while despite all the noise.

Brandon's parents bought us all matching outfits, which made for really cute family portraits. I didn't like the way the shirts fit, so I got a skirt instead. And Caleb just looked so cute in his little Hawaiian outfit, that I had to take a million pictures of him. The top picture I took while we were waiting in line (actually all these were taken then) and so everyone in line was watching Caleb sitting there. They were all smiling at him, so he decided he'd smile back. Behind me, I hear this huge collective "ah" as he smiles. People just love this kid.

Food News

Peas or no peas, our baby refuses to sleep. Last night was the same as the one before. We put him to bed, half an hour later he's up and screaming. The rest of the night follows the same pattern. And that was after a day without peas.

Today, Caleb got to eat the peas. I actually went out and bought him new peas (and some carrots too), but got the stage one kind since the ones we had before were stage two and I thought maybe it'd make a difference. He did great with the stage one peas today. He still seems to prefer his rice cereal, so I just alternated between the two and he ate really good.

I think everything I know about parenting I learned from watching my brother with Nora or from watching Jocelyn with LT and Teak. Sadly, I guess I didn't get to see this sleep terror stage, because I have no idea what to do. Tonight's the third night in a row now that the baby just won't sleep and he won't stop crying. Brandon and I are both going out of our minds.

In other food related news, my mom used to make me this super delicious cake for my birthday. It was a chocolate cake with vanilla pudding and fresh strawberries in the middle and then whipped cream for frosting. Well, I tried to make it today, but with a few differences since I was really craving chocolate. I might have gone a little overboard on the chocolate actually. But I think I must have gone wrong somewhere else too, because, as you can see, my cake looks disastrous. Still tastes good though. And I'm going to be needing a chocolate overdose if (and hopefully when) we finally get our baby to sleep.

To Pea or Not to Pea

Last night, the baby got his first taste of realish food: pureed peas. I really wanted to start him out with carrots, but it turns out I don't have any. One of the other wives in Texas had given us a box of baby food and the box said there were carrots inside, but there weren't. She had just put a bunch of food in that box. So Caleb got to eat peas instead. He didn't like them.

I don't know if it was just a coincidence or what, but after having had peas (followed by rice cereal since he didn't eat much of the peas) for dinner, Caleb did not want to go to bed. We put him down at eight and he was completely asleep. That only lasted for half an hour. It wasn't until 2 a.m. that we got him to finally stay asleep, after several short half an hour or less naps and many long hours of cranky wakefulness.

So tonight we'll be skipping the peas and seeing if the baby sleeps. Brandon thinks he's probably still messed up from Hawaii and the time change. Depending on how things go tonight, maybe we'll try peas again tomorrow. Or maybe I'll go buy some carrots.

Caleb's First Concert

To celebrate our return home, Caleb's nana took him (and us) to his very first concert. We went and saw Colors perform at the Sandy amphitheater. They've been out of circuit for the last several years and got back together for their one night reunion tour. I'm not sure if they'll be performing more in the future or not, but it sure was fun to get to go see them again last night.

Caleb really enjoyed the concert. We were sitting up on the grass on a blanket, so he had plenty of room to be wherever he wanted to be. He loved looking at all the people sitting around us. And once the concert started, he thought it was absolutely fascinating: all the different lights and such, not to mention the musicians themselves.

There were a lot of other babies there. We could hear them all crying throughout the night. Caleb, however, had his fill of fun and then promptly fell asleep in Brandon's lap. I swear it's like having your own personal sandman at times. Then Brandon put the baby down in his carseat (where he miraculously stayed asleep) and we were able to enjoy the rest of the concert without him. A rare treat, that is.

We all had a really great time. Thanks again Mom for taking us!

Home Again

A few notes on my previous rant on flying with a baby. We flew home from Hawaii -- three plane rides this time: Kona to Honolulu, Honolulu to LAX, LAX to Salt Lake. Caleb did great on two out of three flights. We woke up at 3:30 a.m. because that's when Caleb thought we needed to be awake. An hour or so later we left for the airport. (Oh, funny thing -- if you're running late to catch a plane, don't try passing a cop on a two-lane road in the middle of nowhere. Especially if the cop is going the speed limit.) We check in, put our bags through the agricultural inspection, then have to go through security. I can't remember if I mentioned this before. But to go through security, you have to take your sleeping baby out of his carseat and run the carseat through the x-ray machine, while you walk through with your baby. After that, it's all down hill.

It was on our third flight that I heard another baby crying. She was probably two months or so and flying with her daddy, who didn't seem to know how to calm her down. Caleb, on the other hand, was fast asleep in my arms. I looked down at him, marveling at what a good baby he is. A part of me wanted to offer to take the little girl from her daddy and put her to sleep too.

A short time later, however, Caleb was awake and screaming. The pressure on the plane was so bad, I thought my head was going to explode. And this was just flying, not even descending. A kind woman sitting in front of us turned to Brandon, who was trying in vain to get the baby to go back to sleep, and told us not to worry, she'd been there before and knew what it was like. Still, Caleb spent most of that flight nursing. I guess that's what I get for judging.

I'm just glad that we're home again and don't have to get on another plane anytime soon. In fact, I'm even rethinking whether we really want to go to Cancun for our anniversary (in March) because I hated flying that much. And not just because it's hard with a baby, but because the cabin pressure was too much for even me to handle.

Day Four

Today we went on a helicopter ride to see the Kohala Coast. It's "the most spectacular scenery on the Big Island" according to the brochure. There are these deep, green valleys will really long waterfalls. The waterfalls are not that big, but they're really long. It was all quite beautiful.

Caleb had to wear his own little life jacket and headset. Before we got on the helicopter, he didn't think they were too bad. Just something new to play with. Once we were on the helicopter, the vibrations lulled him to sleep. But then, after a while, he woke up and was so upset. He wouldn't stop crying and we couldn't really cuddle him since we all had headsets on too. Oh well. Maybe he'll like it better next time.

Here are some photos taken from my window in the helicopter.

Day Three

Today we drove down to Kona for church. The best thing about church, for me, was the mother's lounge. While the LDS church is the same every where you go, the buildings are all different and the way they do the mother's lounge is even more bizarre. In Texas, the only spot to nurse a baby was the size of a closet. They had one small rocking chair in there and a bench type thing that was really just a polished piece of wood stuck to the wall. Try putting three nursing women in a closet with their squirmy babies. We don't fit so good.

But here in Hawaii, they had turned one of the rooms into the mother's lounge and had two rocking armchairs in there with lots of extra space. It was nice to have some breathing room while I fed Caleb. The only downside to it was that when a third lady came in to breastfeed her baby, there weren't any more chairs left. It was still nice for me though, since I was already in a chair.

Next to the church building is the Kona Hawaii temple. It's one of the new small ones dedicated back in 2000. We didn't look around much; I assume the gates were all locked, but we didn't actually try. They just usually are on Sundays. But we did take lots of pictures out front. My camera did something super funky though and half the pictures aren't there anymore. It's a digital camera and usually works so super good for me, but not today. We were starting to drive away when I noticed that the pictures weren't there, although ones that I took after the missing ones were. So Brandon had his parents turn the car around and we took some more. Good thing cuz look how cute our baby is!

The rest of the day has been pretty lazy. It's Brandon's birthday today so we had a delicious steak and potato dinner here at the timeshare. Now we're going to go play Canasta, which I love, and his parents love, but Brandon doesn't love so much. I guess the birthday boy doesn't always get his way. :)

Day Two

We went to this sales pitch, "let us help you plan your vacation" type thing in the morning. It's at 8 in the morning. One lady introduces different people who then get up and give their speal on why you should spend your money on their company. We're staying at a timeshare about an hour north of Kona, on the big island. So basically, all the other people in this meeting are old people. At 8 in the morning. And these sales people are talking so fast that I can barely understand a word that they are saying. I was trying so hard to listen too, but it was just too hard for my brain to process information that quickly that early (although I'd been up since 5:30 that morning). I couldn't help but wonder, "If I can't comprehend a single thing these people are saying, how are the old people supposed to understand anything?" Brandon thought that the old people just responded to the enthusiasm and didn't really care what they were spending their money on.

Caleb's sleep schedule is so out of whack. He doesn't know when he's supposed to be sleeping and when he's supposed to be awake. And honestly, I have no idea any more either. He took a three hour morning nap. Normally he only naps for three hours total in a day. But then he also took a half hour nap later and then a two hour evening nap before finally wanting to go to bed for the night. Or maybe I just wanted to go to bed for the night that he didn't have much of a choice.

Hawaii: Day One

Have you ever been on a plane with a screaming baby and wondered why in the world the kid’s parents don’t just make the kid shut up? What kind of crappy parents are they anyway with a baby screaming like that?

If only…

For me, the dread of getting on an airplane with my baby started months ago. By the time Caleb was about three months old and no longer sleeping whenever I wanted him to, I realized that an airplane ride of any length, let alone a five hour flight to Hawaii, would not go over well.

We didn’t just have the five hour flight to Hawaii. We also had an extra two hours from Salt Lake to San Francisco. Which means two take-offs, two landings, plus an extra hour and a half in between flights just hanging out in the airport.

Days before we left, I started telling Caleb all about our upcoming travels. Not that he understands anything I say. I wanted to buy him a new toy for the airplane. Something he’d never seen before so he’d be super excited to play with it and the newness of it would entertain him for the endless hours we’d be on the plane. As indecisive as ever, we ended up with two new toys instead of one. I contemplated saving one for the flight home, resulting in two perfect days of travel, but then just tossed them both into the diaper bag.

We’d been trying all week to move Caleb’s bedtime back so that the time change wouldn’t kill him. I don’t know if it’s possible to prepare a baby for such a long journey. But if it is possible, I definitely tried everything I could think to do to prepare.

Then comes the dreaded travel day. Six minutes after I wanted to leave our house, the baby is still in his crib napping and I haven’t packed anything. I’m dreading the airplane ride so much that it isn’t till this very moment, when there’s no more time to waste, that I finally decide we really are going to Hawaii.

Brandon goes into the baby’s room to wake him up. He’s sleeping so cute; Brandon calls me in to see. With both of us standing over the crib gazing adoringly at our little boy, Caleb wakes up. He smiles, though still mostly asleep.

While I feed the baby, Brandon speed packs all my stuff. Every now and again, I call out items for him to pack. I have no idea what ends up in the bag, but hopefully we have everything we need. At least I packed the baby’s bag the night before, so he has more than he could possibly need in a week.

With all the stuff packed in the car, Brandon speed drives to the airport so we’ll make it on time, while I desperately try to keep the baby awake. The theory being that if we kept him awake now, he’ll sleep on the plane.

At the self-check counter, I swipe our credit card. There’s no record of us flying. I try our Delta confirmation number. No luck. The flight number. Are we going to Grand Rapids? No, I don’t think so.

So it’s out of that line and into the regular one where someone smarter than our computer can find our flight for us. Once she does, it turns out our departure time is half an hour later than Orbitz said it was. Oh well. At least now we can stop worrying about leaving our house so late.

As we sit waiting to board our plane, Caleb decides to let out a massive poop, but not in his diaper. At all. Somehow, in the process of Brandon changing his still mostly clean diaper and wiping the rest off his back, Caleb manages to spread the poop everywhere. On his front side. His arms. His face. A little white baby covered in green. Beyond disgusting.

At last comes the dreaded airplane ride. We’re sitting in the last row, right in front of the lavatory. By now, Caleb’s more than ready to go down for a nap. But before naptime comes cry time and the people around us are already staring as we try in vain to get the baby to sleep. We abandon that idea for nursing the baby during take-off. Only the pilot comes on over the intercom and announces that San Francisco has our wheels up time twenty-two minutes after we were scheduled to leave, so we’re just gonna sit for a bit before we take off.

Caleb does finally fall asleep nursing. And eventually, we do take off for California. But once we are up in the air and I take the baby off of his favorite spot to be, he wakes up. At least, he’s happy for a bit now. Brandon plays with him as much as the tiny space allows. Caleb thinks the old man sitting across from him is fascinating and spends some time staring at him. I save the new toys for later. The baby’s doing great.

Only, it doesn’t last. Halfway through the flight (did I mention yet it was only a two hour trip?) Caleb thinks he’s had enough. He’s overtired and the plane sucks. He can’t do anything except sit on Dad’s lap and stare at an old man. And when I try to give him his fancy new toys, he thinks they are lame. Nothing will make this baby happy now. The crying begins again.

Brandon and I take turns trying to rock/bounce the baby to sleep. I even threw in a nursing attempt in the vain hope that he’d fall asleep for that. Yeah, I don’t know what we were thinking even getting on this plane in the first place. By now, I’ve concluded that we should always fly Jet Blue or some other airline that gives out free headphones so that people can halfway tune out our child. Without fail, just when we’re about to achieve success in the sleeping department, the pilot gets on the intercom again. What was the point in even trying?

But then suddenly, he’s happy again. No more crying. Quite the delight. We found the magic button. Only, we didn’t do anything. In fact, everything we tried has failed. Meanwhile, we’re both totally stressed out at having tried to get the baby to sleep. Caleb is delighted by his triumph and proceeds to shout about it to the rest of the plane. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him be so loud. At least he’s not crying this time.

Then comes time to land the plane. It’s the whole crying routine all over again. Except that this time, the sinus cold that I’ve had all week transforms into an ice pick that splits my skull open and I double over in excruciating pain. But the baby needs help too because he’s too little to figure out how to get his ears to pop on his own. I try nursing him again. Brandon has to hold me up so I can do it.

Finally, we land. We’re in San Francisco. A short break and we get to do it all over again. Only this time, we’re flying United and they’ve given everyone headphones. The universe is listening after all.

Little Baby

We took Caleb to the doctor on Tuesday when he was exactly 5 and a half months old. He weighed in at 15 lbs 4 oz and was 25 or so inches long. Which puts him in the 25th percentile for both. There was a while there that I thought my baby was just getting so big every day. Lately though, I think he's just a wee little thing. Apparently the doctor agrees.

Bedtime Story

A dull blue pierces the darkness. I squint at the faint light made all too bright by my unwillingness to awaken. 3:22 a.m. Rain falls outside my bedroom window. In the distance, a train sounds its horn. A low rumbling thunder tries to make it's way to my ears. But all I can hear is my child screaming.

It's not a "I'm starving hungry and think my stomach may implode any second from lack of food" cry. It's not a "I'm awake and want you to come get me but you're still lying in bed foolish enough to think I'll go back to sleep" fuss. No, it's all out screaming. A "kidnapper tried to steal me and I narrowly escaped him through my amazing lung power" scream. A "something large and heavy just landed on my foot and I may have to have it amputated if you don't get here quick" scream. A "there's never been anything more wrong with the world than there is right now" scream.

Wide awake now, I still can't bring myself to leave the comfort of my bed in order to investigate what is causing my child so much pain and anguish. It is, after all, a Simmons Beautyrest with the ultra plush pillow top. Ultra plush.

Instead, I gently nudge my husband. He doesn't stir. I shake him a little harder. Still nothing. Apparently he has developed the amazing ability to tune all things non-sleep related out at this moment. I try again.

"The baby's crying. He shouldn't need to eat right now. Will you go check on him?"

With his eyes still closed, my husband auto-pilots out of bed and into the baby's room. The screaming continues, drowning out my husband's voice. Nothing will calm that child.

Moments later, they both appear in the bedroom: my now awake husband and a child that thinks crying has become an Olympic sport and won't settle for anything less than a gold medal.

I take the baby. After all, I am his mother and mother's are supposed to have some sort of magic touch that makes all wrongs right again, that heals all wounds, and that somehow fixes even the unfixable.

I guess nobody told the baby about this magic power of mine. He keeps on screaming.

I cave. Perhaps the baby's magic is stronger than mommy magic. The ability to get your parents to give in to your every whim despite the fact that they are deadset against it.

We go back into his room. Seated as comfortably as possible in the rocking chair with the boppy on my lap, I nurse the little baby. Instantly, his cries stop. He eats as if it will make all the monsters disappear. Not even ten minutes later, he's done. He pulls off on his own and looks around his dark room. The room is more interesting than it has ever been with all these shadows dancing around it. Sleep is no longer on the agenda.

Except that sleep is the only agenda I still remember. We return to the ultra plush pillow top, where Daddy is already sleeping. I set the baby next to him in hopes that he'll wake him up and the boys can have an all nighter together. Do manly stuff. No girls allowed.

The next hour or so drift in and out of consciousness. The baby lies happily in bed, eating his blanket. The only interruption to the peaceful, extremely awake evening is a noise that erupts from the baby's bum that rivals the thunderstorm outside. The baby thinks this is the funniest thing that's happened all night. And given how non-funny it is that we're even awake at this hour, he's probably right.

Five a.m. A clean baby is finally ready to return to sleep. Too tired to give any more at this moment, I once again awaken my husband. I hand him the baby and he willingly gets out of bed to work his baby whisperer mojo. Perhaps the best kind of magic we've got in our house.

At last. Two and a half hours of sleep. Then the baby will awaken once again...

A rose by any other name

Right after I first got married, my mom and I went to the bookstore and bought a bunch of baby name books. We did it under the pretense that they were for school (it helps to have a big book of names when making up stories). Really, I think it was because my sister was pregnant at the time and we didn't like her choice in baby names. Actually, I don't think we knew yet that she was pregnant, but still weren't excited about the names she was planning for her future babies.

We bought this one book called What Not to Name Your Baby mainly because it had the name Agnes in it. Under the name Agnes it reads, "Old and wrinkly one. Along with Zelpha and Vera, a name that should not have been used after the nineteenth century." Anyone who has met my niece Agnes knows that this isn't true at all. She is one of the most adorable little girls in the world. Even if you think the name Agnes is ugly, she makes it so super cute. It's hard to picture her with any other name.

Well, I was looking at the book the other day and it pretty much has my child's full name in it. Granted, it doesn't have Collinwood, but it comes pretty close.

CALEB -- Biblical, yes, but in this day and age, very soap opera-ish. Also, a waxy chocolate substitute.

BENJAMIN -- Action of Rastafarian after inhaling the sensimilla.

COLIN (notice the spelling isn't quite the same, but the pronunciation is according to this book) -- A cancer-prone part of the body near the rectum made famous by Katie Couric.

WOODY -- (okay, I don't think I actually need to type the guy's reasoning on why this one makes a bad name for a child.)

Oh well. Too late now. Although at least I didn't name my baby Lemonjello or Orangejello.

Along the way

We finally made it to Utah! Hooray!! It's so wonderful to be back in our home. We got here around 11:30 or so last night. Caleb woke up as we pulled up into our driveway. I brought him into the house and he was so fascinated. He loved all the new sights to see. He especially loved seeing pictures of him and of us already up on our walls. I doubt he remembers having lived here before, but it's possible I suppose.

As for me, I am so very glad to be home again. It just feels so good. Not to mention our fabulous bed. Brandon said he woke up this morning (at seven, mind you, since the baby needed attention) and felt like he'd finally had a good night's rest. I woke up an hour later (as well as at seven, and at six, and...no I don't think the baby woke up other than that, it's so hard to remember though) and felt happy -- not something I normally feel in the early morning. Usually I'm just beyond tired. It's amazing the power a bed can have on you. (No, that's not a picture of Caleb on the world's most comfortable bed -- that's him sleeping in his very own bed at the hotel in Colorado. He just looked so cute and little laying there all by himself.)

I think Caleb's glad to be home. He struggled with all the different ideas I came up with on how to feed him. The picture is him at the hotel, surrounded by towels so as not to get anything too dirty. That feeding went okay. It was all the car ones that he wasn't a fan of.

The only downside to being home is trying to rethink bedtime. Caleb was going to bed at eight each night in Houston. Like clock work. But Houston's central time and Utah's on mountain. I think we'd just let him go to bed at seven except that we're going to Hawaii for a week and it'd be 3 o'clock there when he decided he needed to be in bed. The poor little guy is so tired that now he can't sleep.

Tengo sed

The drive from Houston, Texas to Grand Junction, Colorado seemed to last forever. Actually, perhaps a smidgen less than forever because the drive from Utah to Houston felt a million times longer. Perhaps the drive down there was longer was because we only stopped to sleep for about an hour and a half. This time we stopped to sleep for like two and half, almost three hours. It totally makes a difference.

Around noon, Brandon and I were getting hungry. We decided to stop and get something to eat at the next fast food place. Over four hours later, we pulled into Subway in Gunnison, Colorado. As usual, Caleb absolutely wanted our food. He kept trying to pull Brandon's water bottle out of his hands. Brandon was going to give Caleb some, but has a little bit of a cold and decided he shouldn't share.

Instead, I got Caleb a cup of his own and filled it with a little bit of water. He eagerly took it from Brandon and chugged it down (or took a baby sip -- it all depends on whose mouth you measure by). At last, his very first taste of something that Mommy and Daddy actually eat/drink. He was so excited. After one little taste, he made the above face, much to our delight.

It only took a couple seconds before he eagerly reached out for more. Although, he did make that sour face again after his next drink too. When you look at the face he made eating the rose (posted below), maybe I was wrong thinking he didn't like the flower. In his defense, the Subway water was extremely cold. So not only was it his first drink of water, it was also his first try at something cold.

A couple more weeks and maybe we'll finally expand his culinary experiences to include something more tasty than what he's been getting. I'm thinking maybe carrots. Not that I like carrots myself, but I do really like orange. That should make them mighty fun to feed to the baby.