Christmas Break 2008

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.

Who knew cribs could be so fun?!?

It's been a very busy week in the Sturm home. We have plenty of pictures and stories to share, which will hopefully come later today. For now, enjoy this video of our happy little guy having a blast in his crib. He is just FULL of fun and personality!

A visit with Santa!

The Christmas season is in full swing at the Sturm home. This past weekend, we had the fun experience of taking Caleb to meet Santa for the first time.

The day began with some fun playtime in Caleb's new winter pjs (thanks Grandma Leslie). As you can see Caleb was very excited when he found out he'd be meeting jolly old St. Nick in just a few short hours! Okay, he really had no clue, but it's fun to pretend!

We headed off to Odyssey Country Club (which is actually the same place where my prom was held) for a big buffet breakfast. Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie Tracy, Nana Pam (not in the pic), and Madelyn (also not in the pic) joined us. The breakfast was a benefit for a children's hospital in the Chicagoland area.

The moment finally came for Caleb to meet Santa. We really wondered how he'd react and imagined that he'd just stare right at him with his infamous look of curiosity. Sure enough, that was just what he did. We eventually got him to turn away and look towards the camera.

After hanging out with Santa, we sat down and enjoyed the huge breakfast they had. Caleb sat quietly and just enjoyed being surrounded by so many of his favorite people.
Overall, it was a very fun day! I'm sure our future encounters with St. Nick won't be so jolly. I've been warned of the toddler years when Santa can be quite frightening for youngsters!

Pajama Day

Today Daddy and Caleb got to spend a lot of quality time together. I had a "sprinkle" for my cousin out in Indiana, so Tyler was left in charge for the day. I was gone from about 10:00 until 4:00 and didn't hear from him until I called on the way home. I thought for sure we would've talked sooner! It turns out the two boys in my life had a lot of fun together. Apparently they were having so much fun that Daddy didn't have time to change Caleb out of his pjs! Tyler still hadn't showered and was also still wearing the same clothes he was when he woke up at 7 this morning.

I think it's funny how when a mom leaves her child with dad for the day, it's as if he's a "babysitter" and it's a special day. However, when a dad leaves his child with mom for the day, that's just a normal day. I guess I'm just lucky that my live in "babysitter" is such a great guy and a wonderful dad. I constantly surprise myself when it comes to how I am as a parent. Given my type A personality I would expect myself to be really particular about my child's routine, daily activities, and so forth. I'd think I would be a very overbearing and overprotective mom. I guess I've learned in my short time as a mom that being that way is just plain silly and I'm glad to have a child who is very go-with-the-flow and happy with just about anyone, anywhere!

Thankful

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. I love spending time with my awesome family and getting to enjoy the company of people who mean so much to me. It's always been fun to grow up with a big extended family. I look forward to the time we get to spend together. As a kid, I have so many great memories of traveling down to the lake with my mom's side of the family and spending the holiday there. As we got older, we spent our Thanksgivings here with my dad's side of the family. The memories I have with both of those sides are precious and are especially meaningful now that some of those family members are no longer with us. I think holidays can be hard in that sense because you just don't know how to accept the changes that come with families growing and changing over time. Fortunately, I know that the bonds within my family are strong enough to carry on generation after generation and I'm excited that Caleb (and any other future children) will be a part of that.

Aside from the time spent with family, Thanksgiving is also a great time to remember what we're thankful for. It actually hit me earlier this week when my coworker and I were showing a cartoon about the first Thanksgiving; we are so very blessed to have the lives that we have here in America. To think how this country started and what lengths those first pilgrims went to just for the freedom they longed for is amazing. It sounds cheesy, but I often wonder if I would be willing to give up so much of what I have and take a huge risk like they did. Although the story of the pilgrims and Native Americans seems to just be a lesson we talk about in elementary school, it is a true story nonetheless. We should reflect on where this holiday came from and what it means to us now.

On that note, I'd like to list off the top 10 things I've been thankful for this year:

1. I'm thankful for the home that we have. It's no mansion and compared to what most people in my generation seek out, it's a rather humble abode. But it's perfect for us and I love that I can call it home.

2. I'm thankful for having a healthy baby and surviving my first 8 months of motherhood! I can't believe how much I've learned in less than a year and how much joy one little child can bring to the world around him.

3. I'm thankful for a sister. I never truly valued that term like my mom always told me I would. She and her sister always grew up with the same relationship that my sister and I had. She always told me that one day my view would change and it certainly has. My sister is a friend that is built into my life forever. We don't have to work at our relationship or spend tons of time together to know that we mean a lot to each other. Despite our differences, we're still very similar and I love that she's part of my life.

4. I'm thankful for a dad and mom who would go to the ends of the earth and back for me, my husband, my child, and anyone else they love. There aren't enough words to describe how wonderful my parents are. I truly can say that they are the best parents a girl could ask for. From those days in childhood when I thought I had the meanest parents right up until now when I know I have the best ones, I know that everything they've done is out of love. They are the best!

5. I'm thankful for a husband who is the best husband I could ever ask for. Nobody will ever find the perfect guy or girl, but I've come pretty close to getting that in Tyler! He's an amazing husband and daddy. And even on those days when we just don't see eye to eye, he still manages to love me.

6. I'm thankful for a father, mother, and sister-in-law who aren't the nightmare ones you hear about from your girlfriends! I'm thankful that through their efforts, they've raised such a wonderful person for me to marry and raise a new generation with. I'm also thankful that despite the fact that they do live far away, it isn't too far (it may be a long drive, but at least a visit doesn't require plane tickets and a whole days worth of traveling).

7. I'm thankful for a job that I love and for finding my passion early in life. I've never had to doubt if my career choice was the right one for me. Working with young children is the most rewarding profession! To see smiling faces, get hugs on a daily basis, and see the light bulb turn on for a kid who's really been struggling is just an amazing feeling. I love what I do and I love the kids I grow attached to year after year.

8. I'm thankful for friends new and old. As life goes on you realize more and more how difficult it can be to stay in touch with everyone you ever develop a friendship with. The memories made though are still priceless and can keep that friendship special no matter how much you do or don't stay in touch. No matter what point I've been at in life, I've always had people to be right by my side and I'm incredibly thankful for that!

9. As dorky as it sounds, I'm thankful for my health. I'm so blessed to have the ability to wake up everyday and exercise. I don't have to overcome physical obstacles just to drive to work or walk through the grocery store. I'm also blessed to have had the chance to experience a healthy pregnancy as it seems like more and more girls I know are struggling to get that chance.

10. More than anything else, I am thankful for a God who has crafted my life in such a way that I have so much to be thankful for. The nine things I've listed above are in no part because of something I've done. God has given me all of these things and made everything work out in just the way He wanted it to. I think about how different my list of things would be if I had the final decision in everything instead of Him. We would be living in one of the first houses we put an offer on, which looking back would've been way too small and not practical at all. Without God, I honestly might not have survived my first few weeks of parenting as I felt major symptoms of the baby blues and my only hope at times was that God would get me through it. Without God's plan for my life, I could've ended up with a family that didn't give me all the love in the world, raise me to be who I am today, and still mean the world to me. In fact, I always wondered as a child how I ended up having the mom and dad I had and how it was that I grew to have the traits I did. Looking back, I know that God put me with all these people for a reason and I'm thankful for that. I also know that if it had been up to me instead of God, I wouldn't have been working as a full time classroom teacher this year. Thank God I am because the children I'm working with this year are amazing and I can't imagine never having met them. I could go on and on, but I know most readers of this blog are just interested in the pictures I post (which I haven't posted any of today). I just love to reflect sometimes on the awesomeness of a God who sees the whole picture when we just see a part of it...a God who knows what's best for us, even when it's not even close to what we think is good...and a God who gives us so much to be thankful for if we just take the time to really think about all the blessings He gives!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are reading this. Chances are if you're reading this blog, you've been a part of my life and in one way or another you fit into that list of things I'm thankful for!

Splish Splash

We officially have the world's biggest water baby! Caleb could be fussing for an hour before bathtime, but as soon as he hits the tub he's all smiles. This past weekend, we finally got a seat for him to use in the bathtub. Up until that point we had to hold his hand to keep him steady while he sat up in the slippery tub. Now he's safe, secure, and free to have endless fun!

Another busy weekend!

It seems like every weekend continues to get busier and busier. I always look forward to this time of the year when things usually slow down a bit more. The weather gets colder and for the most part we are stuck inside just relaxing and hanging out. Hopefully those days will be here soon, but for now we're just busier than ever!

This past weekend we had fun hanging out with the Watsons on Friday night. We used to live right around the corner from Justin and Suzanne in our townhouse and spent a ton of time together. We miss the random nights of getting together for dinner, dessert, or just hanging out and watching a movie. It seems like since we moved time has flown by and we haven't gotten a chance to see them nearly as much as we'd like. We finally decided that the first Friday of every month would be our night to hang out and catch up. So, this past Friday they came over for dinner and we had a lot of fun being together. Their son, Nolan, is a year older than Caleb and we have always looked forward to seeing our boys become friends. On Friday night they spent a little bit of time "playing" side by side. It'll probably be a few more years before they really get how to interact. For now, it's just fun to see them together! Shortly after Justin, Suzanne, and Nolan left we were joined for the weekend by Tyler's family. We had a lot of fun hanging out and Caleb really loved being with his Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Kalyn. It's always so special to see this side of the family with Caleb since they live so far away. We're just thankful they at least live within driving distance and not all the way across the country.
As you can see from the picture above, Caleb had his first trim given of course by his Grandma Sue. His hair has been growing like a weed and really needed to be cut. He isn't ready for a true haircut (which will most certainly be given by Grandma Sue). For now, he just had a little trim around the ears and in the front. It's amazing how different he looks though with such a little change. Our little boy is really growing up!

Dash William

Back in August one of my greatest friends, Brandy, had her first baby....Dash William McCarthy. Brandy is a wonderful friend and I was so excited on the day she told me she was pregnant. I was about four months pregnant with Caleb at the time. All I could think about were the days when our little babies would play together and grow up to be great friends just like their mommies. That excitement grew even larger when I found out she was having a boy. We would not only get to share in the joy of raising babies who are almost the same age, but we'd get to share the experience of raising little boys! After months of waiting, Dash was finally born and we brought Caleb over to meet his future best bud. It's been great getting to watch Dash grow over the past few months. I love watching all those stages go by that seemed to be such a blur when Caleb was going through them (probably thanks to the enormous lack of sleep)!

This past weekend, Dash had one of the most important moments in his life so far on Earth: his baptism. I am blessed to be Dash's Godmother and I am so honored to have this role in his life. I can't wait to watch him continue to grow throughout the coming months and years. It's awesome to have this special connection with a baby whose mom means so much to me. Brandy has been an awesome friend since the moment we met and now she, her baby, and the rest of her family will forever be connected to my family!

Halloween Fun!

After a VERY long week with excited 7 and 8 year olds, Halloween was finally here on Friday. I never thought I'd make it to the end of the week! It's tough having Halloween on a Friday for the simple fact that all week the kids are anticipating it. At the same time, it's nice to be able to have a whole weekend to let the excitement wear off after all the trick-or-treating. Hopefully they'll be nice and mellow by Monday since I have my first observation of the year with my principal. Anyhow, we had a very fun day at school. We even had a visit from a little pumpkin! My mom was nice enough to bring Caleb to school in his costume so that he could see my kids and march in the parade with them. By the end, he was one tired baby...he fell asleep in Grandma's arms before they even made it back to the car! On a side note, the wonderful teacher holding the baby was partially dressed as a red crayon (I added the rest of the costume later).

When I got home, I was so excited to see all the kids in the neighborhood coming out to trick-or-treat. In our townhouse, we had only a handful of trick-or-treators. It was great to finally have kids to hand candy out to! It was also nice to finally meet some of the neighbors we've seen out and about over the past few months since we moved in. Tyler and I have been meaning to stop by and introduce ourselves for awhile, but time just slipped away from us this summer. I decided that before the weather was so cold that nobody would be out, we'd finally go meet these residents of Lake Road. Having a kid to bring around for trick-or-treating gave us the perfect chance to do this. I, however, felt like it was silly to go knock on doors and get candy for a 7 month old. Instead, I decided to make little treat plates for the neighbors and deliver them with our little pumpkin!After about a half hour of going door to door we had a very tired boy who'd had enough of his first trick-or-treating experience. It was great to finally meet all of our neighbors though and we can't wait for the next Halloween when Caleb will hopefully be a little more excited about the entire experience!

Is October Really Over?

It's so hard to believe that this month is almost over! I can't believe how quickly the holiday season is approaching. This is definitely my most favorite time of the year...and it's even more exciting now that we're sharing it with a little one!

Life has been pretty busy around the Sturm home. Follow along with these pictures and you can hear a little bit about what we've been doing:

Tyler and I have been very busy at work, but are both enjoying our jobs a lot. Tyler is developing more relationships with old and new clients. If you've ever wanted to meet someone who truly loves meeting others and building relationships, it's definitely Tyler! This job is perfect for him (and certainly something I could never do). Work is going well for me, which is a good change from the stress of my class last year. I have 24 amazing students who are all huge teacher pleasers. I've always had at least one defiant kid in every class, but this is the first time I have a whole class of kids that really try to be good at all times! They are very energetic and keep my incredibly busy all day, but at least they're nice to work with! On the whole, we're both very happy at work...but we certainly love coming home at the end of the day and having time with our fun little guy.In the middle of October, we hosted a Fall gathering at our house. We had lots of friends over for food and fun. We asked everyone to bring chili or another dish to share and ended up with tons of yummy food and five different chili recipes to taste! After we ate we all hung out in the backyard around a warm and cozy fire. The night was perfect for a bonfire...not too cold, but just enough chill in the air to need a sweatshirt and a fire! It was awesome to have so many people over and catch up with old friends. Hopefully this will be the first of many backyard bashes!Caleb has grown and changed so much over the last month (well, he seems to do that every month)! This month he has grown into an even happier baby than he already was. This child laughs and smiles SO much. His babysitter on Tuesdays and Thursdays is always commenting on how easygoing and joyful he is. Grandma (who watches him the other days) often tells of how Caleb keeps her laughing and smiling all day. All around he's just a happy camper! Lately, he's added quite a few new sounds to his vocab of babbling. One of which is da-da-da-da (which Tyler is quite stoked about). We completely understand however that he has no clue what da-da really means when he says it, but it's exciting to think that one day those little sounds will be said with meaning! Caleb is also getting very close to being mobile. Right now, he can move just about anywhere...but he gets there by going backwards. We're working on encouraging him to crawl in the right direction, but aren't in too big of a hurry for that to happen. We know that once this kid starts moving, he probably won't stop!
This past weekend, we journeyed down to EIU to surprise Kalyn (Tyler's sister). She was going through her initiation into Alpha Phi, which was my sorority at UofI. I was able to surprise her by being there to pin her at the initiation. I am SO excited that Kalyn is joining this awesome sisterhood. My years in Alpha Phi were priceless and I gained so much from being in my sorority. I'm sure she will also have so many great memories! For now, it's just wonderful to know that she's adjusting to the college life and getting involved. It's hard to believe that when I met her, she was just a tiny little junior high girl. Now, she has blossomed into an amazing 19 year old who we both love a ton!

The rest of our weekend was spent in Champaign with my sister. We stayed in her awesome new apartment. It was fun to hang out and have some quality time with Auntie Tracy. She is truly an amazing aunt to Caleb and we can't wait until she moves back up here and can be around even more!Earlier this week, Caleb had his first experience with snow. Yes, it already got cold enough to snow in Chicago. Although it only snowed for about ten minutes, it was just enough time to get Caleb bundled up in his snowsuit. We took him outside to see how he'd react and he really didn't seem to care too much about the white stuff falling all around him. I'm sure with time he'll learn to love the snow...if not, he might need to be shipped down to Grandma and Grandpa Sturm's house for the winter (where an inch of snow shuts down the whole town)!

Last night we had fun carving pumpkins. My mom and dad came over and joined in on the fun. Grandma helped Caleb with his first pumpkin experience by letting him play in the "pumpkin guts" for a little while. He really seemed to love mushing it around in his hands. Meanwhile Tyler, my dad, and I carved the three pumpkins pictured above. We ended the night with a yummy pumpkin pie (something I wish I could bake all throughout the year, but wait patiently until the fall season to cook up several times).

That's about it for the latest events in our home. We hope everyone reading this is had a great October and is looking forward to November, December, and all the holidays just as much as we are!

A Busy Weekend

We had a very busy first weekend of October. Friday night began with a late shopping trip to Babies R Us to look at car seats. Caleb is getting much too big for his infant carrier (even though it's supposed to last up to 30 pounds). We decided it was about time to break down and buy a bigger seat for him. After a lot of looking around and weighing pros and cons, we chose a car seat. We took it home and left it aside until Saturday morning when Tyler attempted to put it together. It all came in one piece, but Tyler still spent a good hour trying to figure everything out (and that is not because he is challenged in that area...he's very good at assembling and following directions). At the same time, my dad was trying to figure out that same car seat at home (we had to get two since Caleb spends so many days during the week with Grandma). Anyhow, both men in both homes gave up. This picture below is how I found Caleb when I finished getting ready. He was waiting patiently for his dad to put together the car seat and get him dressed for our big trip to Champaign. Needless to say, Caleb was finally dressed and we made it to Champaign (in his old car seat)! Also needless to say, the car seat is back in the box and ready to be returned. We highly recommend not buying an Eddie Bauer car set to anyone ever looking for one! We finally made it to Champaign and starting off visiting Auntie Tracy's apartment. Afterwards we went out for a yummy lunch and then headed to Curtis Orchard. We used to spend many Fall afternoons there during college, so it was great to finally go back. Caleb had fun with the whole experience. I think his favorite part was the pumpkins!

When we left the orchard, we headed to campus to walk around and take in the scenery. It was great to reminisce about all the old places we went to, lived in, studied at, and so forth. Of course Caleb was told over and over about how much we can't wait for him to be there in 18 years and have all of his fun memories.

Overall, it was a very busy day and we had so much fun getting to go back to the place where it all started!

Breast Cancer Walk

Saturday was a beautiful day and we were lucky enough to spend it downtown doing the Race for a Cure. Although we were not racing we all got together to walk the 5K. The three of us walked with my dad, mom, sister, cousin, and cousin's girlfriend. It was a ton of fun walking together and enjoying the scenery of Chicago on a gorgeous Fall day. This was Tyler's first time doing the walk and as you can tell, he really got into the spirit of the event. Caleb was also a first time "stroller" and he pretty much slept the entire way.

It is really an awesome experience to do the walk. All around, you see people with various shirts and signs dedicated to all sorts of people. In some cases, you see signs where people are walking in memory of a loved one who lost the battle of breast cancer. When we were lining up to go, we saw a woman walking with her dog and she mentioned that she was walking in memory of her mother who just recently passed away. Along the walk, one of us noticed a sign of someone who was walking in memory of her best friend who just passed away within the last few weeks. It's heartbreaking to see the people who are walking in memory of a loved one, but also encouraging to know that they are making the most of a terrible loss and honoring someone else's life.

We are SO blessed to have walked in celebration, and not in memory, of my mom who had breast cancer 2 years ago. The lump was found completely by chance during surgery. If she hadn't had the surgery, there's no telling whether a mammogram would've detected it. The entire situation is one of those where we are completely reminded of God's awesome power and control over EVERYTHING! In one of my favorite all time verses, Jeremiah 29:11, it says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". In this case especially, the verse rings true. God had planned this to happen exactly the way it did. He knew the outcome of it long before my mom was ever even diagnosed. We are just eternally grateful that the outcome turned out the way it did and my mom was given a future that gave her more years here on Earth to be with us!