It has been a very busy and eventful Christmas break thus far. It began on Friday with a very sick 9 month old baby. He had some tummy issues since Wednesday and they only seemed to get worse as the days went on. By Saturday, Caleb was almost entirely refusing to eat and hardly kept anything in his system. We were so worried that we ended up at the ER for a few hours on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, everyone else he came in contact with during that week, except for Tyler, managed to get sick as well.
By the early part of the following week, Caleb was doing much better and he enjoyed spending some quality time at home with his Mommy. We spent some of our time cooking and baking in preparation for Christmas. Caleb loves to hang out in the kitchen at watch what's going on.
On Christmas Eve, we joined the Bloom family (Nana Pam, Ed, and their two daughters) for dinner at my parents' house. It was fun to hang out and open gifts together. Caleb got a bunch of fun stuff from the Bloom family and Tyler and I were also lucky enough to get a gift card to hopefully use on a date night in the near future!
On Christmas morning, Caleb woke up at saw his three presents from Santa. The three presents are a tradition we plan to continue on for the rest of his (and any other siblings) childhood. We want all of our children to not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. I'm sure there will be years when that won't be the "popular" thing to do, but hopefully our children will not see it as a bad thing.
After opening his presents from Santa, we were joined by Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Tracy. Once again, Caleb got a ton of cool stuff.
Tyler and I were also spoiled on Christmas morning with lots of great gifts.
Tyler was very excited to put together all of the fun gifts and Caleb was happy to try them all out. Our favorite reaction was to this gift that Auntie Tracy bought him. He has a ton of fun playing with the monkey, hippo, and elephant on this toy.
After a lazy Christmas morning, we switched into work mode as we prepared to host our first Christmas dinner for my dad's whole family. It was so fun to have almost 20 people here to eat and enjoy the day. The night ended with a very fun game of Balderdash. The Lamont's tend to get pretty serious when it comes to games (as you can tell from my Uncle Jim's face in the picture).
The day after Christmas we were joined by Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie
Kalyn. Once again, we opened tons of great presents. Caleb might have more toys that he can ever possibly play with!
One of his favorite toys is a singing cow that his wonderful Great Aunt Denise bought and sent from North Carolina. At first the cow was a little creepy looking, but with time it kind of grows on you. Now our whole family keeps singing "Don't Worry, Be Happy" over and over again with this little cow!
Another highlight of the break is Caleb's sudden interest in moving everywhere and anywhere he can. He no longer likes being stationary and wants to be on the go at all times. I knew this would be a tough transition since we got so used to being able to leave him in one place without worrying about where he'd end up. Since we have so many stairs and places to get into trouble, we knew we'd have to do some major
babyproofing. We decided the easiest option was to buy a "cage" (as we like to call it). Really it's a big playpen for him to hang out in and move all around. It's kind of an eyesore in the family room, but it is so practical for those times when we just need to set him down and let him play without worrying about what he's going to get into. So far, it's been great and he has a lot of fun playing in his own space with all his new toys.
The next part of the weekend was spent enjoying my 27th birthday. Although my parents were gone in Mexico, I was lucky to have my in-laws still in town. We had a relaxing, yet very rainy, day and then went out for a yummy dinner. We had cake and then finished the evening playing games with some of our friends. Altogether it was a very nice birthday. It was great to have people around since it was on a weekend. In the past, I've been off of work, but everyone else I know is at work so it makes for a rather lonely birthday. This year was much better though!
It's amazing to think about what a busy week it has been. I'm really enjoying being off from school and home with Caleb. I'm already dreading how fast this next week will probably go by. Hopefully it won't be quite as hectic as the first week and we'll find time to just relax and enjoy being together at home.
