Christmas Recap

We had a very fun Christmas this year and really enjoyed seeing the magic of the holiday through our little boy's eyes. He was so excited about everything that has to do with Christmas...Santa, presents, cookies, snow, and most importantly Jesus :)

Caleb loved opening presents on Christmas morning.

He got to use his new shovel to help Daddy with the snow on the day after Christmas. He could've stayed out there all day. He was NOT a fan of sledding though. Maybe next time!
Caleb got plenty of fun Illini gear: a bat and ball, football outfit (note the helmet that he loves to wear), and a cute warm-up suit.

He is truly a little Illini. He is working very hard on clearly saying "Go Illini"...for now it just sounds like "Go Wini".

Caleb and Chesney are loving being home together all day. These two little monsters don't know what they're in for when their sister joins them. We're going in tomorrow to be induced and can't wait to meet our little girl. Let's hope our first two babies are as willing to accept her as we are!

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season....to be busy, busy, busy!!! Although we've been busy this past month, we've also managed to take time to stop and truly enjoy the special moments that are shared this time of year. We are loving seeing Christmas through the eyes of an almost two-year-old. It is such a blessing to have a child to share the magic of Christmas with!

Here's Caleb all dressed and ready for breakfast with Santa. He did just fine with sitting on Santa's lap, but that didn't surprise us given his incredibly outgoing personality!

Caleb loves putting on all his winter gear (and even enjoys dressing up in gear that doesn't belong to him). He has ventured out into the snow a few times and is still a little unsure of it all.

Caleb is still a huge snuggle bug. He loves to cuddle and watch Snoopy or Frosty. Although we aren't huge fans of plopping our kid in front of the tv, it is neat to see his attention span getting longer. His love for these movies will come in handy in another few weeks when we'll need something to distract him while we take care of a newborn!

Caleb has grown to love his frequent visits to the tennis club with Grandma. It's a great place for him to run around during these cold, winter months. At the club Christmas party a few weeks ago, we got to see him in action as a future tennis star. He loved "playing" tennis with Daddy. Mommy can't wait to really start teaching him the basics! We had fun with our yearly Lamont tradition of decorating cookies. This year was Caleb's first time joining the festivities. He quickly learned that it's much more fun to just eat the decorations than it is to actually put them on the cookies!

We celebrated Christmas a bit early with Nana Pam and the Bloom family. They came over for dessert the other night and we all had fun watching Caleb play with his new globe (thank you to the Blooms for sparking our child's interest in geography already)!

We hope everyone reading this has had an enjoyable Christmas season so far. It's hard to believe we're only two days away from Christmas. Time just keeps flying by. Next time we post, there could very well be another little Sturm in the world! We can't wait to meet our baby girl and we'll try to post pictures as soon as she's here!

Nearing the end of November?!?

Is it really only a couple days away from the end of November? Time just keeps flying by. This has been a very busy month, which we'll sum up with pictures more so than words. Hopefully now that we've gotten through a big part of our "nesting" to-do list, we'll have more time to relax and enjoy the last month as a threesome before our little girl gets here. We'll do our best to stay more updated in the blog world for those of you who enjoy staying in touch this way!

Below are a few pictures of Caleb just being himself around the house. We love that each day we seem to see more and more wonderful qualities in our little guy. He is such a fun kid and is very easy-going and lovable. He enjoys discovering and learning new things. Caleb continues to impress us each day with how much he is learning...he's counting from 1 to 10, beginning to recite the ABCs, saying tons of new words, singing a lot of songs, and the list goes on and on.

Christmas is in full swing in the Sturm home. Since the end of Halloween, Caleb hasn't stopped talking about Christmas. He's already gotten some awesome gifts from his Great Aunt Denise. He's also big fan of the reindeer that Auntie Tracy bought for him on one of their shopping trips. We're excited to experience this season through the eyes of a toddler. It's been so fun to decorate the house and watch his reaction to everything. Caleb and Daddy took a quick trip to Carmi. Daddy went hunting and Caleb spent some quality time with his Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Kalyn. It was the first time Mommy spent more than a night away from her sweet baby, but she managed to stay so busy that she didn't have time to think about how much she missed him. Thanks to the distraction-free weekend, we now have a freezer full of meals prepared for January/February, a nursery closet stocked with all kinds of pink and purple, and a to-do list that has only a few things left before the baby arrives!

Caleb's now a true "big boy" and is sleeping in his new bed. Grandpa Rob showed his artistic skills by painting an awesome tree mural on the wall. He managed to do the entire project in a day and it looks amazing. Caleb loves the tree and everything else about his new room. The transition went much smoother than we thought it would. It's such a relief to know that we can welcome our little girl home into her own room and crib.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Lamont side of the family along with a special visit from my aunt and uncle from Missouri. It's always so wonderful to hang out as a big family. We are so blessed to have such great people in our lives and our kids will be lucky to grow up with a family filled with so much love.

HAPPY (belated) HALLOWEEN

We hope everyone enjoyed Halloween 2009! After several days of what seemed like non-stop rain, we were lucky to at least have a dry day for Halloween. It was a bit chilly, but Caleb still had a ton of fun! It was a great end to a month of constantly talking about Halloween, pumpkins, ghosts, trick-or-treating, and candy. We've also watched the Charlie Brown Halloween movie about a thousand times and are eager to now move on to the next "Noopy" movie that focuses on Thanksgiving. The funny thing is that Caleb would be perfectly content to skip right past Thanksgiving and jump into the Christmas season (he is truly his mommy's kid)! Caleb is already talking about Christmas, Santa, Jesus, and is singing a 19-month-old's version of Happy Birthday (to Jesus). We've read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas each day for about a week now and I'm sure that'll just keep going well into the Christmas season!

carving pumpkins

watching Daddy and Grandpa

our little dinosaur (or dragon...we're still not sure)

ready for trick-or-treating

braving the cold with Daddy

just for laughs

(Caleb throwing a fit because he still wants to trick-or-treat)

Thanks Great Aunt D!!!

Caleb sure is lucky to have so many people in his life who love him from near and far. Perhaps the furthest of those people is his Great Aunt Denise, who lives all the way in North Carolina. She spoils him with love and gifts like he is her own child! Although they've only been able to be together in person a few times, Caleb knows a lot about his wonderful Great Aunt D and loves her very much.

Today, we came home to a huge box on the front doorstep. Once Daddy got home, we opened up the box to find a giant alphabet caterpillar! I'm pretty sure I was just as excited about it as Caleb (that's the teacher in me). He's already climbed all over it and practiced singing his ABCs several times. I'm not sure if he actually knows any of his letters, but he did point to a couple and say their names...it might just be a fluke, but maybe all that time with Grandma and Miss Linda is working wonders for our 19-month-old!

THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH!!!

Where is the time going?!?

It seems like just yesterday it was the end of August...and now we're just a few days away from October. This past month has been very busy, very tiring, but full of fun! School has been going well and Caleb is loving his time with Grandma and Miss Linda. He leaves every morning with a big smile on his face and a very confident "buh-bye" and "love you". This child is certainly not attached to anyone and manages to be happy no matter where he is and who he's with.

We've been attempting to soak up the last warm days before another long winter hits. Caleb loves to be outside and we're not sure how he'll handle the winter months in Chicago. He'll probably be like every other kid who grows up in the cold and he'll learn to really love snowpants and sledding. It's a good thing Grandpa Ron bought him a great snowsuit at the end of winter last year!

We also had a chance to take part in what is becoming an annual event with my side of the family. This was the 3rd year of walking in the Susan G. Komen breast cancer walk downtown. It's so neat to see so many people coming together for a great cause. Caleb had a lot of fun people watching and hanging out in the big city.

We hope everyone reading this is doing well and enjoying the start of Fall. It sure hit us today with the wind and cold weather. We're excited that with the change of seasons we're closer and closer to all of the fun holidays and the arrival of our little girl!

What We've Been Up To

These past few weeks have been pretty busy and hectic around the Sturm home. Summer break is now a thing of the past and we're back in full swing as two busy working parents with one very busy and energetic 17-month-old (wow...when did he get so old?!?). The end of summer was really great and we enjoyed the last moments of together time.

Helping with laundry...a favorite past time this summer.

Playing outside in the beautiful weather.

Hanging out with Nolan.

The first week of school was incredibly busy and tiring. Tyler had to work late several nights in a row, so the stress of it all definitely got the best of me. I ended up sick by the end of the week and spent the entire weekend feeling awful (without being able to take much besides Tylenol). Thankfully, I was well enough to be back at school so that I can save all those precious sick days for a maternity leave of 18 weeks that was just approved (yaaaaay...much better than the 8 I took with Caleb)! Anyhow, my class has been wonderful so far and it's helped make this week much easier considering I'm still not feeling 100% better. Unfortunately, Tyler now has just what I had. We're just crossing our fingers and praying that Caleb doesn't come down with this nasty cold too. He doesn't seem to be showing too many signs of illness considering the amount of energy he has each and every day.

He must play his little heart out with all the kids at Miss Linda's, because he was tired enough to fall asleep while eating tonight!

The final, and probably most exciting news of the recent weeks, is that we finally had our ultrasound for this increasingly active and ever-growing little baby #2! The ultrasound was great and everything looks just as healthy as can be (praise God). We're also excited to know that we are going to be blessed with a baby GIRL. We're both a little unsure of how we'll handle the ups and downs of "girlhood" and know that our little boy will probably be much easier to raise, but how can you not be excited about bows, dresses, tights, dolls, and the list goes on for miles!!!

A profile shot.

Looking at us and waving hello.

A view from above her head (she's pointing and letting us know she's #1).Another profile view with her arms and legs scrunched up.

Final Vacation of Summer

This past week, we took our last vacation before it's time to head back to school. This was a wonderful vacation because all three (and a half) of us were able to be there the whole time. We left for the Lake of the Ozarks on Sunday. On the way, we took a slight detour through St. Louis and stopped at the Budweiser factory for a tour. Tyler and I went last year, but we thought it would be fun to have my parents go this year. We were also lucky enough to have Tyler's family drive into St. Louis to join us for the afternoon. It was a great way to break up the long drive!

After our quick trip in St. Louis, we continued the long drive down to the lake. The weather was great for just about the entire week...hot, hot, hot, and perfect for swimming! We had fun relaxing and enjoying our time together as a family. Although I couldn't enjoy any of the motorized water sports, Tyler loved getting to go out on the wave runner and fishing boat. Caleb also enjoyed a few trips on the fishing boat as well. The biggest highlight was watching Caleb learn how to swim all on his own. This whole summer, we've kept him in floaties and worked a lot on kicking and blowing bubbles. We finally got brave enough to just let him loose and he is now a complete fish in the water!

Here is a video of Caleb's first moments swimming alone: