Thanksgiving 2009

We had our Thanksgiving in our own home for the first time this year. Grandma and Granddaddy Wise made the trip from Hickory to spend it with us. We very much enjoyed not having to travel but missed the rest of our family. We bought a fried turkey from a fundraiser at church but did the rest of the sides ourselves. It was a great weekend - so much to be thankful for!

Mea Mea and Clara on Thanksgiving

Family Picture Take 1 - look how Caleb feels about it!

Take 2 was a little better!

Caleb wanted to hold hands during grace but he wasn't about to let go of his roll!

Clara's 6 Month Photos

Clara had her 6 month photo session. She did so good - so good that I used some of the photographer's dramatic headbands for props. Enjoy! Follow this link: http://brookekellyphotography.blogspot.com/2009/11/clara-6-months.html

Catching Up on Clara

Clara is such a delight and I am loving every minute of her babyhood. I don't know if it is that she is my second, she is a girl or that I think she is my last, but I really don't remember enjoying Caleb this much. I think I was too focused on what happens next - now I just want time to stop. It stresses me a bit that she still isn't on a real schedule but then I remember that I can barely keep a schedule for myself so I can't really ask her to eat, poop and sleep at the same times every day. She likes to be held a lot more than Caleb did - she's just needier in general. She loves her big brother and routinely goes after his hair, which makes Caleb think that she is trying to "get him." I think she is one of the most ticklish babies ever and I get a kick out of making her laugh on a daily basis.

I don't see any teeth popping through quite yet, but middle finger and index finger are pretty much attached to her mouth. She also enjoys trying to chew on my chin.

Her hair is starting to come in a bit - lighter brown, but brown just the same. Her eyes are brown as well. She may have her brother's eyelashes but she's our brown-eyed girl for sure.

Clara's still a Mama's girl, but I love how she lights up when she sees her daddy or her brother. Caleb loves it when she laughs at him. Seth thinks she is tough because she takes a lot of semi rough-housing by her brother.

We started rice cereal earlier this month. She LOVES it! Here she is before her first tasting.

Here she is during the first tasting.


And here's a video of her trying green beans for the first time. She obviously loves them :). I love how the video catches Caleb laughing at her facial expressions.

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Catching Up on Caleb

When did my bright-eyed baby Caleb become a little boy? Caleb is talking up a storm and I wonder daily where he comes up with the things he says. Today he woke up and said to his train table, "Good Morning, train tracks. You my best friend." He LOVES his trains and has decided that he is asking Santa for a Thomas train. Not sure which one since we have several but I guess Santa will have to find another one. Having the train table in his room has been perfect since he gets up most mornings and plays in his room by himself for a little while. The extra minutes of getting Clara settled before Hurricane Caleb comes through have proven to be beneficial on more than one occasion!

We haven't worked on potty training very much lately. I guess we are supposed to be but we aren't and I'm not ashamed. He just hasn't taken much of an interest at all and we don't have the time or energy to constantly nag him about it, so I'm just waiting a little while. Most people I talk to say it didn't truly click for their boys until around 3. I had hoped it would be sooner than that for us, but I'm not going to force the issue because I think it is just more trouble than it's worth. I also don't mind not having to ask him if he has to go potty every 5 minutes.

He still loves trucks and tractors and loves to point them out as we drive by. He says, "Ohh, look at the big tractor, Mama. See it?" He also loves to swing - that is where I find him most days when I pick him up from school. He can see the cars and trucks go by from the school swing, so I think he must be in 2-year-old-boy heaven.

Speaking of school, Caleb is very protective around his sister during drop-off and pick-up. The little girls like to come up and visit with Clara, but Caleb says "my baby sister" and tries to close the canopy on her car seat. I try to make it a teaching moment about sharing but can't help but find his actions endearing. I hope she'll be able to rely on his protection for years to come.

Seth calls Clara "Clara-bean" sometimes. Because of that, Caleb calls Clara "Clara-bean" almost all the time. I think he thinks that Clara is her nickname.

Trick-or-Treating

Our neighborhood was rocking on Halloween night! There were several fire pits going, and adults were pulling coolers of beer and wine in addition to toting their children around. We went over to our neighbor's house for hot dogs and s'mores before taking Caleb to a few houses to trick-or-treat.

Caleb was too excited to eat very much - he wanted to play basketball instead.

Ray and Anita were nice enough to bring out the exersaucer for Clara. She didn't stay out long - it got too cold!

Here's Caleb at his first candy stop. He wanted to go inside again this year, but we were able to stop him.

He made it to a couple of houses and then came home. He liked ringing our door bell and also got super excited when other trick-or-treaters rang it. His highlight was definitely handing out candy. Seth and I thought it was funny how freely he would give candy away; if only sharing was that easy all the time! Caleb ended the night by staying up a little late to watch the Vols with Daddy!

Dressing Up - Numerous Times

We had lots of events that required dressing up this year, and Caleb had a blast each time.

First stop was the Fall Festival at church. Caleb went as a ghost.

The Thursday and Friday before Halloween were pajama days at his school. Here he is with Mea Mea who dressed as Dorothy for her school events.

We just dressed Clara up once - on Halloween night. She went as an adorable ladybug.

On the actual Halloween, Caleb dressed up as a kangaroo. He was being extremely uncooperative about getting his picture taken.

Halloween Activities

We had loads of fun preparing for Halloween this year. Late last week, Caleb made cookies with me. It was just the slice and bake kind, but he had fun putting them on the pan and watching them bake. On Saturday morning, I attempted ghost pancakes. Some of them looked more like blobs, but they were yummy. Then Seth and Caleb got all the seeds out of our pumpkin and I made toasted pumpkin seeds. Seth carved a nervous pumpkin and then attached spiders all over it. (I had seen the idea in a magazine - no we aren't that creative.) The pumpkin was super cute, but it looked like a sad pumpkin all lit up in the dark. Our neighbors probably all think we are depressed now...