Our Headbanging Baby

Over the past two weeks, it has been incredible to see how much more Caleb likes to walk instead of crawling - which is mostly a good thing. I say mostly a good thing because he definitely hasn't mastered that whole balance thing quite yet. Sharon says that he reminds her a little bit of E.T. when he got drunk while Elliot was away at school (and I don't know how she still remembers that scene). His walking style reminds me a bit of Frankenstein, which I guess isn't so much of a complimentary comparison either. I know that babies heads are supposed to be pretty sturdy - but after bonking his head 4 or 5 times today, I'm seriously considering making him wear his bike helmet all day. I am pretty impressed that he doesn't seem to have developed any sort of negative association with walking and the frequently resulting banging of his head off the ground, furniture, or both. I'm hoping that this persistence on the walking front means he will soon be running and out on the soccer field by spring.

As far as our house, we're still painting slowly but surely. I've included a picture of Caleb's bedroom as it was a huge victory to get at least one room done. We're inching closer to having the kitchen almost completely finished - though the cabinets may be another few months since we are removing and repainting all the doors. It has been nice to be able to host people at our house already - as a Bible study at our new church has started meeting here every week. It's been a good way to start getting connected with the community and the ministry going on here - though we're trying not to get too involved until we are a little more settled into our house. In response to our last blog post - we already have had two painters visitors take us up our offer to escape the frozen north for some good old Georgia sunshine. Our seminary friends Bill and Alice drove down from Pennsylvania and we had a great two and a half days of painting, playing games, and enjoying the southern weather. As I write that sentence - I realize I've already turned into one of those obnoxious people who always gloats about their weather. Remind me of that in July and August when I can't leave the air conditioning before nightfall for fear that I will get instantaneous heat stroke. Well, since Sharon is currently painting by herself, I guess I should end this post and commence dribbling paint all over our new kitchen hardwood floor.


Caleb and Mommy putting on their game faces before the AFC Championship

Caleb's bedroom (and the only completely done room in the house)

Just like his daddy, Caleb can even be tickled by "remote control"

Here's some video of our drunk E.T./Frankenstein walking

Look Who's Walking!

There's so much that's gone on in the past couple of weeks that I don't really know where to begin. As you can see by the title - Caleb has officially hit the authentic walking stage. I always thought that we would get a great video of Caleb's first steps, but I honestly don't even know when that would be since he has been taking a step or two for the last several weeks. After taking about ten steps on his own several times this evening - I'm ready to classify Caleb as a bona fide toddler. The video below shows some of his baby steps from two nights ago - but it is amazing how much more confident he has gotten on his feet in just the last two days. It's also great to see how much hair he grew during his time up north over the holidays. Although he has yet to be mistaken for Sasquatch, it was a great achievement for him when he was able to experience the first bed-head of his life a few weeks ago.

In addition to walking and growing hair, Caleb really enjoys exploring his new home. He loves crawling and toddling around the house and finding new things around every corner. We're just a little paranoid that some of those new things may be rusty nails that the contractor left behind - so we still have to keep a real close eye on him. However, Sharon loves the fact that she can be cooking dinner while watching him play in the family room - something that I appreciate as well since it means meal prep is much less stressful :)

As far as the work on the house - it still seems to me like an endless mountain of painting and moving that we still have to climb. However, it was exciting to finish painting our pantry so we at least have a place to store food now. We're on the verge of finishing painting Caleb's room so it will be really nice to have at least one room in the house completely finished. However, if anybody has a real love for painting, we still have plenty of work left to do and really would love to have free labor visitors. Especially for those of you suffering in the frigid Northeast and Midwest - why not take a vacation down to Georgia and enjoy our balmy above-freezing (barely) temperatures. To show you our appreciation for the free labor visit, we would even offer free room and board! Anyways, I hope you enjoy the following long-overdue pictures and I'll try not to let all the work on the house completely steal away my blogging time.

Caleb acting calm while in his high chair...a very rare sight.


Caleb's first Christmas present (which was bought by Grandma and Grandpa Maynard when Caleb was all of two days old)


As you can see, it took Caleb a while to get used to sharing the spotlight with his cousins...


Though we finally got him to pose with his cousin Nora


Caleb's first birthday cake made by his mommy



As you probably guessed, he really enjoyed it.


His Nama thankfully got him a winter hat to protect his bald head fom the Pennsylvania weather


Caleb had a blast riding with his cousin Isaac on the way to the airport


Caleb is definitely a vocal little guy


Some of Caleb's first steps

Christmas Highlights

As usual, the Christmas season just seemed to fly right by this year. We were so focused on closing and moving into our new home that we never really felt like we had the time to prepare for Christmas. Before we knew it, it was Christmas eve and we were scrambling to get everything ready for our Christmas day flight to Pennsylvania. We did enjoy our time with Sharon's family on Christmas morning and were also excited to have one of our boys from BFA join us as well for a few days. On Christmas afternoon we flew up to Pittsburgh and then drove one of my brother's car over to Clearfield.

We arrived in Clearfield late Christmas night and had a few days with the entire family. Caleb was a bit overwhelmed by all the kids running around, but he was starting to feel a little more comfortable after a day or two. Just as much of the family was leaving and things were starting to quiet down at my parents' house, the stomach flu decided to pay me a visit. I had one of the most miserable nights of my life on Monday night - but I will spare you the gory details of that experience :) In true Christmas spirit, I shared this "gift" with Caleb so that he got to experience his first sickness of this type. The only upside of it all is that I now feel like a real parent after going through the experience of having my son puke on me. Sharon also got the illness - but she handled it much than me of course. We actually have all sorts of fun pictures from the last few weeks (though thankfully none of the illnesses), but we unfortunately left our camera connector cord in Atlanta, so we can't get them posted. All the more to post next time...