Month 18 - March 25

We can't believe we have a little boy that is a year and a half!! 6 more months and we will have a full-fledged toddler!! Where does the time go...chasing our little man everywhere. He is so much fun and enjoys having a good time (especially dancing to music with his Dadda)! The words for the month are stairs, cheese, and vacations.  From Puerto Rico at the beginning of the month to our trip to Austin, there wasn't much time in between.  Here are a few random pictures from the month:

A beautiful day at the Arboretum.  Out of all the gorgeous places to run and play Caleb loves the stairs!

The Petting Zoo at the Arboretum.  Caleb loves animals!

Our church had an Easter Egg Hunt.  We didn't know if Caleb would just stop and be mesmerized with just one egg, sit down and investigate the "ba-ball" but to our surprise he understood the concept of picking up the eggs and putting them in his basket.  He loved it!  More pictures to come after the Easter Weekend.

We know a whole new level of love.  We love our son more deeply and our love meter is truly overflowing every moment we get to spend him our little blessing. 

Austin Spring Break Trip

Spring was in the air, so Caleb and Mommy packed up and headed to Austin for a Spring Break extended weekend.  We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and left on a Tuesday afternoon.  It was great to see so many friends and family.  It is never long enough but we are grateful to be able to have the flexibility to take such a long vacation.  Below are a ton of pictures and a few sentences about what we were doing during our time in Austin (while it was snowing in Dallas).

We first stopped in Georgetown to meet Caleb's 10th cousin, Faith Isabelle, who was born on March 12th.  She was born at 2:09 am weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long.  At her two week appointment she weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and is an inch longer.  She is a beautiful addition to the family and she is dearly loved. 

Julie discovered that Caleb LOVES the sand and did not want to leave it.

Not sure how these two toddlers managed to switch without any tears but they are already learning to share with each other!!

Christalyn and TJ are riding their bikes so well!!

We then rushed to Mimi and Papa's to unpack and get Caleb down for the night.  Julie then ran off to have dinner with a high school friend, Molly.  She is the owner of Vanilla Orchid, an online cafe and catering service in Austin.  Molly has so much wisdom and has been a dear friend of Julie's for years.   

Friday morning, started with a fun walk around the Arboretum with Katherine, a sweet friend from our Newly Married group in Dallas.  Katherine is a soon-to-be momma of a little boy.  We are excited to meet the little guy the next trip to Austin.  Caleb was up and down the many stairs, enjoying the fountain, making new friends, and keeping the pregnant Ms. Katherine very busy.

We then had a play date with Vicki and her two little kids (Samantha almost 3 years and Chase 11 months).  Vicki is a friend of Julie's from Craig's business school days in California.  Caleb again enjoyed the stairs, new toys, and even waking Chase up so that he could play with him.

After a nice nap we met at an amazingly HUGE Sandbox with Kristen and Landon.  Kristen is a friend of Julie's from middle school and high school drill team.  Landon is such a cutie (the precious one actually looking at the camera) and could teach Caleb a thing or two about his colors and new words he speaks daily.

Saturday morning Caleb played with Mimi while Mommy was at dance practice.  Julie's dance studio where she learned the foundation of her dance is having their alumni come back and dance at their Troupe Show in a few weeks.  It was SO much fun to get the group together again to laugh, attempt to dance, and reminiscence on old times.

The proud Great-Mimi holding her 5th great grandchild.  Isn't she stunning at 89 years old!

An afternoon at the Garcia's house and dinner with Craig's parents, Julie's parents, Grandmother, and Uncle Willie.  Caleb had so much fun at Gloria's with both of his grandparents.

Sunday we went to church at Mimi and Papa's church, a relaxing day at home, and then dinner with Megan and Lori, Julie's best friends from high school.  Caleb was quite the handful at Aunt Lou's house with all her "no touch" things, therefore no pictures were taken.

Monday morning we went to visit Julie's childhood best friend, Amy, and her beautiful baby girl, Anabelle, who was born on March 2nd.  She looked so peaceful, like a little doll.  Just love the newborn stage, how quickly they grow up!

Then Julie, her mom, and Caleb went to see all the changes of Julie's second home in college, the Alpha Delta Pi house.  It brought back so many wonderful memories and the changes all looked wonderful.  Caleb loved the 2 sets of stairs and hated leaving them plus the pretty girls he ran into along the way.

During Caleb's nap on Monday afternoon, Julie ran over to Craig's parent's new home.  It is so beautiful and they are so happy to have their dream home in Austin!

After nap we had a play date with the Ezell's, one of Craig's 9th grade guys family that moved to Austin last summer.  They are such generous hosts to let Caleb play with all their toys and sending a toys and clothes home with him.  Luke (6 1/2 years old) is a great playmate for Caleb and was reading him a story.  Madeline is so good with Caleb and we were sad to have missed Jake.  What a sweet family that has blessed our family with their prayers, encouraging words, and love. 

Caleb loved the horsey and Mrs. Ezell!  He also remembered the basketball hoop from his last play date at the Ezell's House.

A group of Julie's friends from middle school/high school Sundancers and their mom's got together for a dinner.  The mom's get together once a month and they were kind enough to plan this month around when Julie was in town.  It was so fun to see old friends and to see the bond of friendship that the mom's have continued to form!

Tuesday morning, we had one more stop... to kiss Aunt Jen and Baby Faith bye before heading home to see our greatly missed Dadda!

This is a sweet new thing that Caleb has been doing.  It is so sweet to have a wet, open-mouth kiss!!!

We had a wonderful time and wished it could have been longer.  Thank you Mimi and Papa for hosting us and being flexible with our whirlwind of 6 days!

Craig's 35!

Craig turned 35 last weekend and it was a nice relaxing weekend after a fun vacation.  Caleb picked out a book for Dadda.  Craig has a many nicknames for our son, one of which is "Pookie." (Let's hope this nickname doesn't stick).  Caleb and Julie were at the store and saw a book called, Let's Dance, Little Pookie.  We had to get it for our Dadda!  Caleb wanted to wrap it in a special bag with balloons on it or as he calls it "ba-balls."

Not only did we have a relaxing weekend but Julie's parents came in town to help us celebrate.  They gave us a night out and watched Caleb for us.  Asl always thanks for your help Mimi and Papa! 

To the Love of My Life,

I am excited to celebrate your 35th year of life! 

Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and excellent Dadda to our son!  We love you!

Puerto Rico Vacation

On the afternoon of February 25th we left Dallas for our first family vacation with Caleb.  We boarded what we thought would be a 5 hour plane trip to Puerto Rico arriving at 8:20 pm but we sat in the airplane for about an hour and a half in Dallas before even departing.  We were definitely a little worried about how our very active 17 month old was going to do confined to a small area of a plane...Caleb did SO well on the plane and we could not have been more proud of him.  There was one time he threw a large lego over the seat and hit the lady in front of us.  Our sweet boy did not sleep one wink on the plane but still did so well.  We finally arrived to a very warm Puerto Rico at 9:45pm.

Fun with Dadda in the airport.  He loved the parked golf carts!

Some of our friends from Stanford live in Puerto Rico and graciously hosted us for part of our vacation.  Carrie and Juan Carlos have a beautiful home and cared for us well from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon.  They were quite the tour guides taking us to the beach, to a yummy Puerto Rican restaurant in Old San Juan, to their church, to a happy hour to meet their friends, to a park in their neighborhood, and to El Morro (which is a beautiful historical fort from the days of Spanish rule.) We attempted to fly a kite on the huge, hilly grassy areas surrounding it.

Carrie and Juan Carlos have two beautiful children, Carter (5) and Caroline (2.5).  They were so sweet to Caleb and I think by the end of the trip Caleb had "fallen" for an older girl, who was quite the flirt.  She affectionately called him Cable. 

We are at the park near Carrie and Juan Carlos house.  Caleb loved the park and was so tired of playing hard that he sat down for a little water break.

On Sunday afternoon we went to our hotel with our very shabby car seat for Caleb.  We prayed a ton for the safety of our child in the rental car seat and the reckless drivers of Puerto Rico.  We arrived safely to our BEAUTIFUL resort at Rio Mar and had an excellent room, a perfect spot for Caleb's crib, and great view of the pool/ocean.  We tried to cram in a quick swim in the pool and ocean before we called it a night.  Caleb loved the ocean, he would point and laugh as the waves would come and splash up on him.

El Morro

Caleb and Caroline playing a little tickle game

Craig is about to enjoy a Puerto Rican cuisine, Mofongo (mashed plantains, garlic, meat)

Monday morning we drove to El Yunque, the only rain forest in the U.S National Park system.  We saw some beautiful waterfalls but did not venture too far on to the trails since we didn't have a good stroller to "off-road." 

Caleb is so excited during his walk in the rainforest, especially when he sees the car.  Even on vacation there is a little time to play with the hazard button.

We then went to the pool at our resort and fed the iguanas.  At 11 am they have a special feeding for the iguanas where at least 25 iguanas came out of their "homes" and would chow down on lettuce.  The iguanas inhabited the pool area and the palm trees surrounding the pool.  It was pretty fun to be that close to huge lizards.  It didn't even phase Caleb.

Caleb had a great 3 hour nap and then enjoyed another afternoon of swimming, after driving to see a few sights outside of our resort.  We think Caleb's favorite part of the entire trip would have to be the hour we spent sliding down the water slide with him.  He loved it slightly more than his parents!!!

Above is the collage that shows a progression of pictures, but it just doesn't quite capture Caleb's pure excitement. 

We packed up and headed to the airport at 6 am in the morning.  Caleb did amazing on the trip home, with a little help of a tiny bit of benadryl he slept for 2 of the 6 hour flight home. 

A few pictures of our beautiful resort, the iguanas sun bathing, the pool/ocean view, and a picture at night.

Overall, it was a fabulous trip but very different having our little one with us.  We look forward to our next family vacation!!

Caleb loved playing on our bed, especially this giant tube pillow...Be Well!!