The Party

We had a killer Halloween party last night. We invited a bunch of people we know that have little babies too young for trick or treating. Amazingly, everyone came. It was total chaos for about an hour, then the babies started getting cranky. One by one, families started leaving to put their babies to bed. But for that hour, it was extremely intense.

In preparation, I spent most of the day cooking, while Brandon cleaned and decorated the house. Caleb spent most of the day crying because he wasn't being held enough, but it was impossible to get anything done otherwise. Then, once the party people started arriving, he was so happy. He just loves having a party.

For the main course, I made a stew in a pumpkin. People absolutely loved it. It was extremely tasty, and not at all hard. It just has to cook for a really long time. I was worried that it would be gross and super pumpkiny, but you couldn't taste the pumpkin at all. Maye a hint of squash flavor. It was beyond delicious and the first thing we ran out of. (Despite the fact that it was an eleven pound pumpkin filled to the brim.)

The second main course was this pizza sandwich shaped like a snake. So super cute. I didn't actually try it (since I filled up on stew), but everyone else said it was really good. Mostly I just liked how cute and fancy it looked without being too hard.

And since this was a party, I thought it the most appropriate place to debut my party fountain (which I got for Christmas last year). The punch tasted great. The only downside to the fountain is that it doesn't handle carbonation well, and will stop working if you pour too much soda into it. We also got to use our fancy Halloween glasses for the first time (which I got last year). They looked awesome, but only held about two swallows of punch in them. One of the older kids at the party just camped out next to the fountain so he could constantly refill his goblet.

For dessert, I made these spider cupcakes. I thought they looked absolutely fantastic (but didn't actually taste them). Just regular cupcakes with regular frosting. Sprinkles on top for a hairy look. Skittles for eyes. Twizzler legs (which was the hardest part).

A spooktacular party!

I'm not THAT old!

I was just in the bathroom, looking at my reflection, and what did I behold? WHITE HAIR!!! And not just that my hair has turned white. But the tiny two inch long hairs that have grown in since I had the baby are bright white.

How old am I?

I came back into the bedroom and told my husband the terrible news. He says to me, "That's why we got married. To grow old together." What a sweet boy. I think that's why we got married -- to love each other no matter what.

But I'm not old yet!!

Learning to Eat

We're trying to teach Caleb how to feed himself. Yesterday, I cut up a little bit of banana and put it on his tray after I finished feeding him his baby food. He did really good at picking it up in his hand, but then he'd clamp his fist shut and couldn't figure out how to get the food into his mouth. I think he ate maybe two bites -- the ones we put in his mouth for him.

I bought him some of those Gerber finger food snacks (can't think what they're actually called). I got him the sweet potato variety since that is one of the two vegetables that he'll actually eat. I figured we'd save them for church and other occasions when he has to sit quietly in our laps and behave.

Today was church, so Caleb got to have his new treat. At first, he did the whole fist thing again, making it impossible to get the food in his mouth. He just slobbered a lot on his hand, which made the food start to dissolve inside his little fist (not the prettiest picture).

I started holding the food between my first finger and thumb (instead of laying it on my open hand for him to pick up) and he was able to grab it at the top of his fist and then feed himself.

But then he figured out that if he just grabbed my hand, instead of grabbing the food, that it was a lot easier to get into his mouth.

From there we progressed to Caleb simply leaning forward with his mouth open till the food managed to find his mouth. Very cute, but not quite what I was hoping for when I bought it.

Oh well. At least he liked it. Maybe next week he'll do a little better.

Shy Smile

When Nathan and his family were here, Caleb started to do his shy smile more. It's a super cute smile and he tucks his head into my body while he does it. Today, however, my mom came down and he was doing it for her when nobody was even holding him. So instead of tucking his head into my body, he was simply tilting his head to the side. He then proceeded to do it for almost everyone that looked at him the rest of the day today.

He doesn't do it for us, though, which makes me feel like he knows we're his parents. Or at least he's used to seeing us all the time. We do get other cute smiles. I think the shy one is precious when I'm holding him, since he cuddles more. But when nobody is holding him...it's just silly.

My mom was the one trying to get him to smile for today's photo shoot. So I ended up with several pictures of the crooked head tilt. I wonder what he'd be like if I took him to get professional photos.

Cornbellies -- Days Ago

A long, long time ago (Tuesday actually), we took Caleb to his first corn maze/pumpkin patch festival place up at Thanksgiving Point. It was so freezing cold. He hated it. I had brought his biggest and warmest coat for him to wear, but then we ended up wrapping him in his blanket too. He was still freezing. Eventually, Brandon zipped him up inside his jacket. It was really cute to see Caleb all bundled up against his daddy's chest. He fell asleep like that for a while because he was just too overwhelmed with the cold.

Before that though, we went on this fun cow ride together. It wasn't actually fun. It was so super bumpy and uncomfortable. What I didn't realize when I got in the little cow bucket was that there were two different sizes and the one I climbed into was meant for little kids, not adults.

Once the baby was asleep, the adults were able to have a little more fun. We went through the corn maze, as well as a couple other little mazes with special rules. There was a hay ride that was way cool because they had all these jack o'lanterns lit up that were intensely amazing.

Mirra, who's two, had a lot more fun than Caleb did, which makes me look forward to the days when Caleb is a little bigger and able to play more.

Applying for the Position of Tyrant

When I first thought about writing this post today, I only had one thing to say. Now that the baby is in bed and I can finally write, there's a whole list. I figure that I should apply for a position as a tyrant since I would be great at the job. And if it's the kind of job that requires a nomination, I think Caleb would be more than willing to nominate me.

The original reason I thought I could make a good tyrant is that I forced Caleb to eat an entire jar (stage one size) of green beans. He cried with every bite. I kept doing silly things to get him to smile and hence open his mouth, and then I'd shove another spoonful into his mouth. He did manage (against his will) to eat the entire jar and afterwards, I let him eat a thing of apricots with mixed fruit (apples, pears, and bananas). He really liked the apricots.

Yesterday, the neighbor's kids made Caleb cry (although in their defense, he was already really cranky and so it didn't take much to make him cry -- and the older three were actually trying to make him smile; the baby however, probably just thought he looked tasty and was hoping for a sample). Then today, we were sitting outside in our backyard and the kids were peering over at us, so I invited them into our yard to play. The 2 year old wanted to hold Caleb (he didn't like that). She also wanted to feed him (since I had a bottle of juice out there with us) and in the process, got juice all over him, including in his hair.

While it meant that Caleb had a great spiky hairdo the rest of the day, it also meant that he needed a bath. We don't bathe him very often. Usually, when we do finally break down and bathe him, I hand him to Brandon while he's already in the shower. Not tonight. Tonight, Caleb got to take a bath like a big boy. And he hated it. Cried pretty much the entire time.

Then, when I put Caleb in bed, after he fell asleep nursing, he woke up and started crying. But I just left him there to cry. Last night, about thirty minutes after I put the baby to bed, he woke up crying. I checked on him to make sure he was okay, but then left him to cry. An hour later, he went to sleep. Tonight he only cried for a few minutes, but still... Normally, Brandon feels responsible for Caleb sleeping and will rush in to put him back to sleep when he cries. But Nathan came up to help him on the kitchen, so he's been too busy to deal with the baby. So Caleb's gone back to the cry it out method that worked so well for us in Texas.

Regardless of the reasons for my tyranny, I still feel bad about it. It's been a hard and stressful day, can you tell?

Tagged Again

This time Jocelyn tagged me wanting to know six facts/habits about me. That's kind of vague. I'm not good with vague. So instead, you get six things I love (besides my kid, since everyone already knows that about me).

1. Butterflies -- I love the symbolism of butterflies. The whole transformation thing. Becoming more than you are. I think that each of us has our own butterfly hidden down inside of us, yearning to be free. We're all capable of so much more, but often limit ourselves to the life of a caterpillar.

2. Clocks -- I think every wall of every room could use a clock. I always need to know what time it is and like to be able to see a clock no matter what direction I am facing. I have no idea where my addiction to time comes from, but it's definitely there.

3. Candles -- There is something so soothing about candlelight. Sometimes when I'm stressed out or feeling down, Brandon will light a bunch of candles and it always calms my soul and makes me feel better. I also love watching the smoke curl up and vanish into the air when you blow a candle out. Plus, I think candles are beautiful even when not lit and I love using them just as decoration.

4. Books -- I love to read young adult novels. This is also my favorite genre to write. Something about teeny boppers falling in love... it makes me happy. There have been times in my life when I would go to the library and check out as many young adult novels as I could carry, read them all in a week and then go back for more. That's a lot harder to do now that I have Caleb, since I try to pay him attention whenever he's awake. I don't think I have a favorite book, although I can read the Harry Potter books over and over again. This summer, after Brandon bought me the 5th and 6th books, I read them and the then reread the 7th even though I had just finished the 7th book only a week or two before that. (And all when Caleb was sleeping, but he used to sleep more than he does now.)

5. Journals -- I don't actually like writing in journals, but I just love having blank journals. Once they're written in (even one page), I don't like them as much. I have tons of blank journals though. Sometimes I try really hard to write in a journal and will do good for a little while, then won't write for a really long time. Then, when I talk myself back into writing, I always want to start writing in a new journal, since I'm in a new and different place in my life. I guess that's one reason I love blogging so much; it's a much easier way of journaling. Plus, I don't have to write in any of my journals and they can all stay perfectly blank.

6. Picture Frames -- Even before I had such a cute baby to take pictures of, I loved picture frames. I own so many picture frames, yet they are still one of my favorite things to buy. They're coming in handy now, however, since I have so many cute pictures of Caleb that I want to hang up in my house. I don't actually have enough wall or shelf space for the amount of picture frames I own, but that doesn't stop me from finding new and cuter frames at the store that I just have to own. And it certainly doesn't help that everything at Kohl's is always on sale, especially the picture frames.

Now you know a little bit more about me. And something you may already know, if you read my post the last time I was tagged, I'm not good at the pass it on part of chain letters. So, as tempting as it would be to now tag Shannon six times, I'll pass. (Though if anyone wanted to write more about them on their blog, I'd love to read it. And you can consider yourself tagged, if you need a tagging in order to do it.)