show some emotion

This is going to be difficult, but I at least have to try to describe the feeling I got from something that kind of caught me off guard today. When Caleb was spending time with his cousin Kayleigh, he actually showed a little personality. I brought him over to Jessica's house to visit, and after both babies were fed and several stories were swapped, we decided to get the kids together for a picture (they've photographed so well together in the past) but the result wasn't quite what we were looking for.

What happened was that Kayleigh got a little fussy and was crying her strong yet quiet, very lady-like cry. We plugged her up with a pacifier so we could get a decent shot, and she calmed down a bit, but all the while that she'd been letting loose beside him, Caleb was growing more and more restless. You can see the concern and unease building up on his face in the second picture (of course, it was better if you were there), then once Kayleigh's binky fell out and she started wailing again, Caleb up and joined right in. I didn't think to capture that exact moment because we moms promptly pulled the little ones apart and proceeded to comfort them.

I mean, it has to be confusing for someone who's totally oblivious of the existence of other infants, to hear one crying. I couldn't stop laughing at the predicament that it caused, and surely it's safe to assume that crying is simply contageous among babies. 'There must be some kind of disturbence; It's upsetting; I'd better cry.' Still, I was fascinated to see this child of mine that I've been staring at and talking to nonstop for seven weeks show me something completely new. Finally he's expressed some emotion while interacting with another person - I witnessed the spark of compassion in my son. *Sniff.*

Like I said, "Daddy's Little Dude" (as his shirt says) is seven weeks old tomorrow. No duckie in this picture, I just caught him posing on his changing table. I love how he looks in just a onesie.

Caleb's quilt

I've been staging Caleb's [almost] weekly photos (he's six weeks now) on the reverse side of his baby quilt, but I have yet to credit the maker of this gorgeous piece, my wonderful mother - or as we fondly call her, Gran. Here she is working on it back in December, while Michael and I were visiting home for Christmas, and the final result that she brought to us when Caleb was born back in February. Thank you so much for this incredible gift of time, effort, and affection in every stitch.

It says "I Love You" at the bottom.

I took a few extra shots because he was in a good mood, and was therefore very photogenic.

"LOVE"

so many smiles

Caleb had another visitor this weekend; Grandpa Erwin flew out here to Jacksonville for a few days to see the little runt.Of course as soon as he had him in his lap, we could hardly get him to stop smiling. We decided it's because the old man's so funny looking. Really though, you can't deny that he has a way with babies, and this one sure had a good time while he was around.

Friday afternoon the three of us drove up north to New Bern to see the Tyron Palace (which I'd never heard of) and took a guided tour through the whole thing. I guess it used to be the capital of North Carolina back when it was a colony, and then when it became a state. I could tell you all about everything we learned, but I'm sure it's a lot more interesting when you're actually there. Also, I realize that the only thing anyone reading this blog really cares about is that we have a happy baby, so here are more pictures of all the smiles in his repertoire.

P.S: hes starting to giggle too. More on that later.

buff kid

We'be been trying to get him to enjoy "tummy time," to help him develop his neck and back muscles. Unfortunately, any time we put him on the ground, he just lays there with his face smothered in the blanket, occasionally looking around in a confused way, and eventually getting upset that we abandoned him to soak in his own drool. I'm not sure what the situation was here, - I think I had to set him down so I could have both hands to do something, I don't know - but I'm glad I got a picture of it.



Also, our little man is now five weeks old. He's so strong sitting up all by himself (with the help of the ottoman behind him). We shot this just before he keeled over. What a doll.

could it be....

A smile?



He's been doing this on occasion for about a week, but I haven't been able to catch it on camera until now.

one month old

My, how quickly a month goes by when there's a newborn in the house. All the feedings and diaper changes just meshed together into one long day in the life of a mommy. But look how much he's grown!



He's a chubby dude, that's for sure, but that just means he's healthy. We actually had a volunteer from Visiting Nurses stop by today to assess his development, give me some tips for the first couple months, and answer any questions. She was kind enough to tell me how handsome and perfect he was, and to give me a bunch of awesome resources around the community. Plus, it was pretty neat that we got to have his weight and length measured right at the month marker.

He weighed 9lbs 5oz at birth and measured 20in, which I just found out is in the 91st and 62nd percentile for newborns. Now he 12lbs 3oz and 22-1/2in, which is 95th and 77th, respectively. Big boy!

family portraits

While we had the two newborns, all four parents, and both grandparents in the same town, we got portraits taken of the whole family for the first time. Pictured below are me and Michael, Ryan and Jessica Hutchison, Chris and Cindy Stover, and Caleb and Kayleigh.

Both babies were in really good moods... until about two seconds before the shoot began. Celeb was hungry and therefore crabby, so I volunteered the Hutchisons to go first, while I gave him a little 'snack' to hold him over. Kayleigh took some adorable pictures, all with her her eyes closed and her binky firmly in place. Then Chris and Cindy had a turn with both grandkids. After the big family picture, we did the Stover threesome, just the little man, and then the two cousins. Those are my favorite for sure.



It took a lot of effort from everyone there to get/keep the kids happy and alert enough to take a decent picture, but you can hardly tell that they weren't just naturally at ease the whole time.



Okay, how precious are these?



After an hour of juggling babies and setups (luckily there weren't any walk-ins during that time), we had 28 pretty nice pictures, 6 of which we're getting prints of and the rest are on a CD. I'd be happy to e-mail a few to anyone that wants them, just let me know.

hooded towel

Thank you Gran for making this awesome hooded towel!

We tried it out for the first time after Caleb's 4th real bath. He needed this one really badly after the daiper changing incident a while earlier, as well as several bouts of spit-up. Our little man is still getting used to the sensation of being submerged in warm water, so the last couple baths have been kind of upsetting to him. This time he didn't seem to mind so much, especially since he had this to wrap up in afterwards - along with some clean clothes.