Dammen Family Visit

Over Labor Day weekend the Dammen family came to visit.  Emma and Caleb had a wrestle match.  She was kicking his butt!  Too funny!

The Carters.

Working together!

ALL of the boys "playing" Playstation. 

Drums

When we got back from Ben's birthday party a couple weeks ago Caleb put his backpack on his waist to resemble a drum.  He was marching around the living room playing his "boom-boom".  Again saying, When I bigger I play boom-booms.  So, we brought his drum upstairs and him and Carter began their band!

Caleb and Carter "jamming".

Gettin' into it!  Haha!

1,2,3,4, and 56789  He hears the band outside in the mornings and they start off sometimes couting off for the beat.  He just doesn't quite get when to stop!

Carter is getting really into the drums!  Or at least the stick.

Close up!  :)  Love him!

Pizza

A few weeks ago I attempted to reintroduce Caleb to pizza in the hopes that he will actually eat the stuff.  So we made him his own dough, let him spread the toppings on and I even cut it into circle shaped pieces with a cookie cutter.  He still didn't eat the stuff.  Whose kids is this??  Obviously not ours!  :)

Caleb's Soccer Game

It is kind of difficult to get good pictures since we didn't really want to go out onto the field. Also, the pictures are in backwards order... oh, well. Caleb was pretty spacey during the game. I am not sure if it is because he was sick, didn't nap, or what... There was a Caleb on the other team they were playing, so whenever the mom yelled for her son he was wondering why this lady knew him. At one point during the game he stopped and looked at the lady like- what do you want? All of the other children on his teaem are pretty experienced and were doing a great job! Caleb just followed behind the group not really sure if she should/could or wanted to get in the middle and "steal" the ball. He'll get the hang of it!

Caleb playing after the game was over. He did make a goal!!! It was just in the other teams net! Haha! He had no clue!
Kicking the ball back into the game.

Getting ready to throw the ball back in.

Doing his usual stance of lifting his shirt. With his teammates: Nick, Harbor and Lily.

Following the group. He doesn't have the confidence yet about what to do.

The coach showing the kids where their goal is...

Waiting on the sidelines for his turn to go back in.

During practice right before the game.

In his uniform before his first game. Check out those socks!

"I Steffy"

The other day Caleb wanted to play with the camera case. I took it away and told him that it was Mommy and Daddy's. He showed me that he wanted to put it on his shoulder to go bye-bye. I reminded him of his bags downstairs that he can play with, not mine. He came upstairs with a purse I got as a present from one of my families. It is a Michael Jackson red and black leather with silver studs... pretty stylin' - no wonder I gave it to Caleb to put in his toy box. Well, he came up with that purse on his shoulder saying "I Steffy". Stephanie was his babysitter last summer and she always brought a purse here with her. It was pretty cute until we had to go to day care... he wanted to bring it in to show his kids. I let him carry it in- but took it to the car the second he let it go. It has been in the car since so he won't carry it around anymore...

A couple days later he brings up the baby doll we gave him when I was pregnant with Carter. Yesterday he went downstairs to play and after hearing nothing for awhile I was pretty nervous. I snuck down and "caught" him sitting on the chair with a bunch of random items all around him, his baby on his lap and he was reading a book! I was flabbergasted! He was actually being "good" and he was reading to his baby! precious! When Caleb and I left to go to my kids' tackle football games yesterday he had daddy "babysit". Since Carter was napping his baby had to, too. Then this morning he had to set him baby up by the door when we left for day care. He has been keeping pretty close tabs on it this afternoon.

Caleb has his 2nd soccer game tonight, unless it gets rained out- which is a likely possibility. I will try to remember the camera this time and post some pictures if I get any good ones.

Sickies

Caleb and Carter started getting colds last week. I thought they were harmless normal colds, but then goo started oozing from Carter's eyes. Pretty nasty. Day care called and had me pick him up this afternoon. I took him right away to the doctor thinking he had pink eye. He actually has a really bad double ear infection. No wonder I was up half the night with him. :( I hate that I didn't catch it. The doctor gave him some strong antibiotics, hopefully it kicks in quickly. Caleb is doing better. His eye is kind of pink, so I am going to give him some drops we had leftover- just in case.

*******
Last Spring there was a pandemic across the United States. An outbreak of "Swine Flu", which is now renamed as H1N1. This flu spread like wild fire throughout the country infecting Iowa in a few counties. Last Spring there were a handful of cases around our neck of the woods, but not too many. The reason this flu is so "bad" is that we have no vaccine for it. (Yet, wait a couple weeks), so no one had any resistance to it. It is hitting my school I work in already. There was one confirmed case of the flu in a 5th grade classroom. Of course I have 2 kids in that very classroom, who were out sick at the end of last week. One had the flu for sure, but it wasn't "diagnosed" as H1N1. Most likely if he has the flu already in the season it is as one of my Kids said "the H1N1". ("Better wash your hands, you don't want to catch the H1N1.") lol. We are sanitizing hands and toys and tables like crazy. We will probably end up getting an epidemic of a sanitizer resistant something next...

Walking!?!?!?

So, Carter has started to get braver and braver in this whole "cruising" thing. After he stands up next to the couch he will raise his arms up in the air and the look on his face is soo full of excitement! He knows what he is doing is something so impressive. He would sometimes attempt to "walk" but, just fall flat on his face. Yesterday he actually was able to take a step or two before falling! He is sooo proud of himself, you can just see it in his eyes! I can't believe he is actually on his way to walking already. He has grown up so fast! *sniff*

yes, I realize I have written the word so, like sooooo many times!

Soccer!

Tonight was Caleb's first soccer game! He actually, I feel, did tremendously well for it being his very first game. He is the only one on his team that hasn't played on a soccer team, but he still stayed with the group and actually had a couple good kicks. He got to throw the ball in a couple times and kicked it off to start, too. They played 3 on 3 and there was one little boy on his team that we were teasing his parents, calling him a "ball hog"- we all laughed, it was a joke- but he would get the ball and just go... You could definitely tell he was the most experienced, this was his third year. They have soccer in the Spring, too so I am sure we will have Caleb do this again. He really seemed to enjoy himself. I took a picture of him before we left, then forgot to bring the camera to the game, so I will have to get pics next time. He has 2 little girls on his team that are really good too. Chris and I were impressed at how well Caleb did. There were some kids running in circles, crying, leaving the field and Caleb would every once in awhile ask for a drink, but other than that he was in there playing away. oh, yeah... his team color is black and they are the Iowa team- Go Hawks! :)

9 Month Update

Okay, so it is a couple weeks late, but his appointment was rescheduled and today was the earliest I could get in. Carter's appointment went really well. He was weighed, measured and probed... but left reasonably happy. He weighed 20 lbs and was 27" long. Caleb was 35 lbs and 39" tall (we snuck in his measurements while we were waiting for the doc.) Carter is doing really well. We are already starting to try to wean him off baby food- I am sick of all the darn jars! So, the main question I had was just a refresher on what he could and couldn't eat. No eggs, dairy, honey, peanut butter or choke worthy items. 2 1/2 more months of formula! Yes!!! Carter got 2 shots today and will have to go back in a month to get a "booster" flu shot. Caleb was able to get the flu mist today, too. He did really well with it. Didn't even back away from the nurse or anything. That's about it. Using lots of Tylenol and orajel lately because of teeth. He feels the pain much more than Caleb ever did! It is affecting his eating, too. :( He also wakes up several times in the night which is frustrating for the people wanting to sleep in the house- oh wait, that is EVERYONE! But, what are you gonna do?

Hawkeyes Vs. Cyclones

This weekend was the big rivalry game between University of Iowa and Iowa State University. Hawkeyes versus Cyclones. Well, it is especially really big around here since we live only 10 miles from ISU. So, Friday we dressed the kids in Hawkeye gear. Our neighbor kids go to day care with Caleb and Carter and I new they would be dressed in their Cyclone gear, so I brought the camera along for some pregame shots!

Caleb and Carter in their Hawkeye jerseys!

Carter and the neighbor girl, Morgan.

Caleb and the neighbor boy, Nolan.

Kiley, Caleb and Nolan.

Kathryn, Kiley, Donovan, Caleb and Nolan. Once the kids saw the camera, they all had to get in on the action!

Michelle, You will not want to read this!!!! WARNING!

I made waffles for Caleb this morning and as he was eating them he said, "Spider, in my mouth, I ate a spider". I was a little confused until I saw him like trying to pick something out of his mouth. It was like he was trying to pull out a hair. So I went over there and indeed there was a hair in his mouth somehow. It made me chuckle that he thought it was a spider! Where his mind goes I have no clue! :)

See Michelle, I told you not to read this! Are you gagging??? LOL!!!!

Soccer

Caleb's soccer coach called me last night. He has his first practice Sunday afternoon. Then for the next 6-7 weeks his games will be Monday nights at 5:30. I will have to figure out a way to get off work early, but hopefully it will work out.

Lots to Blog About

Where to start?

Friday: I took Friday afternoon off so we could go home early. We went to my parents house for supper and had a BBQ. We let the boys play outside until after dark. They were having a blast playing on the swing set and in the spacious yard. Caleb and Alex played for quite awhile together and pretty well. Caleb played Hide and Seek with Chris and I in the trees. He had a blast! He was hiding in the trees and you could see his legs and hear him giggling... Chris hid once and Caleb and I went hunting for him, Caleb couldn't quit laughing he was so excited to be playing.

Saturday: We got up pretty early Saturday morning since Carter doesn't seem to like sleeping in. I made breakfast for everyone and we just slowly started getting ready for the wedding. Mom and Chris helped me tie ribbons on the programs. We gave Caleb and Carter a tubby and after Carter's bath I asked him if he had any teefers yet and went in to feel his gums and lo and behold- let there be teeth! Finally! He has cut his 2 bottom teeth. He has been doing really well despite them. He doesn't seem any crankier than usual. We went to the wedding that afternoon. I was in charge of guest book- what fun! (not) Caleb did pretty well throughout the ceremony. After the bride walked down the aisle Caleb said, "The End". Then after a couple other things he would say it again. Carter ate puffies and "talked" through the ceremony. We went to the reception where there were a couple of funnies! First, there were balloons on the dance floor as pretties and for awhile they stayed on the floor, but after the 3rd, only certain people are allowed to dance, dance the kids began to grab up the balloons and run around hitting each other and getting in the way of the dancers. Chris' mom started walking around the dance floor popping the balloons with a pin! Caleb had a balloon so we called him over and told him to watch out for Grandma or she'll pop his balloon! We made him stay over by us and he was on my lap and I told him to keep and eye out for grandma... he had his arms wrapped around the balloon and he was looking around like he was ready to run... it was pretty humorous! Later, when other people were allowed to dance Chris and his siblings were doing the "alligator", when they were done and came over to the table Caleb says "That was awesome, daddy!" LOL! too funny! After the party was over we left to go home and Caleb was asleep before we even got out of town- and the town is really only about 4 blocks, he was tired.

Sunday: We cleaned the house a little on Sunday and then went to town to get groceries. We stopped by the mall to get Caleb's glasses readjusted and bought a pair of shoes for Carter. While at the mall we stopped by Game Stop and let Caleb play the Wii there. He played "bowing" and loved it! He did NOT want to leave. I really want to get him a Wii, but can't justify the cost quite yet. Then we went to Wal-Mart for groceries. When we got back, the Dammen family was at our house. We made homemade pizza for supper and watched the kids play. Caleb finally got a little wrestling action in. Emma whooped on him good! She had him in the biggest head lock, he still has a small pinch hicky type mark on his chest. We got most of it on a video, but it was like 10 minutes long, so I don't think I will be able to upload it. We sent the kids to bed and stayed up late chatting.

Monday: I got up fairly early and made everyone breakfast. Cleaned up the kitchen and fed the kids. Chris and Jason started to play playstation and Caleb had a controller that wasn't hooked up, but he of course thought he was in control of the game. He would say "My guy caught the ball, my guy running". Mindy and I decided to take the babies and go shopping. We went to Target in Ankeny first. Mindy is like the best clearance rack shopper. I got several things for Caleb and Carter. It is hard for me to look at the clearance racks and think ahead when there are so many cute things to buy for right now. But now that I have been introduced I think I am hooked! Too bad I have no money! We shopped at Target, Tuesday Morning, and TJ Maxx. Then came home and played with the kids outside. After awhile the Dammen's had to leave. We ended up going to Olive Garden for supper to celebrate my birthday. It was delicious, but we didn't have the greatest server. Our food came before I could even get salad in my bowl. :( Not impressed. Oh well. That was about it for the weekend. Back to work today, hopefully this week will go fast!