8 months & 80 years

Caleb turned 8 months and my Grandpa V.W. had his 80th birthday during March. I'm so glad that Caleb has gotten to have his grandparents and great-grandparents around for his 8 months of life, and I hope he gets to enjoy all of them for many more years to come!

 Happy 80th Birthday Grandpa!

 The whole gang celebrating at supper in Adrian.

Caleb has become much more mobile now that he is 8 months old, and we have had to put locks on the cupboards under the sink and lower his crib. I feel like he is now a small toddler instead of a baby! His 8 month pictures were also a little more difficult to take because he did not want to sit still for one second. He was one of the most relaxed babies I have ever heard about, but he is one active little guy now!

Helping dad put child protectors on the cupboards...he wasn't quite sure about the power tools.:)

 Clapping!

 This pretty much sums up how the picture taking went for the afternoon...:)

 Love that little tongue!

Here are some other facts about Caleb at 8 months:
-he sleeps from 8:00-7/7:30
-he still takes 3 naps a day 9:30-10:15, 12:30-2:00, 4:30-5:30
-he drinks 5 times a day and drinks anywhere from 7-9 oz.
-he hates oatmeal cereal so we switched to carrots. he ate that for about a week and now hates that and squash, and if we even make a motion of putting a spoon in his mouth
-he can crawl (but still does army crawl when he wants to go really fast)
-he can pull himself up onto his knees and just recently has begun pulling himself onto his feet (although he is fairly unstable doing this so it is slightly hazardous)
-he takes a bottle great and goes down for naps/bed great, except at other people's houses in which he screams bloody murder
-he is a lot more afraid of strangers and new places and is much more tight with his smiles and often cries when he goes to new people
-he loves being outside on walks and at night he likes to walk around the house with John
-he likes the bath
-no teeth but is still drooling and eating everything
-he is quite a chatter box and we love hearing all of his new noises
-he is extremely curious and still refuses to eat in front of other people
-he loves to give kisses and clap/do patty cake and they are both the cutest thing

 I love his kisses...they are slobbery and are more like him eating my face, but they are the best!

He is still one very happy boy and is providing lots of entertainment for his parents!:)

Warm Weather

The past few weeks we have had some beautiful weather in Minnesota! Lots of sunshine and unusually high temperatures...it has been wonderful! Sadly this week is a little different story. :( But because we know the weather can change very quickly here, we like to take advantage of any nice day we have by spending it outside!

 His first ride sitting up in the stroller...he loved it!

Family walk on a Sunday afternoon...despite Caleb's facial expression, he really did have a good time. :)

Laughter

I have decided my favorite thing to hear is my son laughing. There is nothing sweeter than the sound of his giggles and the huge smile on his face.

Endings and Beginnings

With the snow melting and winter (hopefully) coming to an end and the sun shining and spring (hopefully) beginning, it has made me think about some of the beginnings and endings going on in our lives and with some of our friends.

Basketball season came to an end for us this past week. The boys lost a very close game to Central Christian. They played hard, but it was definitely a disappointing loss for everyone. John's sister also lost, so basketball at SW is officially over for the year. It is always hard for the season to end, but it has been nice to have John come home after school the past few days.

 Caleb was very excited for the game!

 The two teams joined in prayer after the game.

 The SW team. They had a great season!

So proud of our awesome husband, father, and coach!

Big thanks to my mom who came up to help out the last week of the season! (tournament time is always a little crazy for the coach and his family. :))

We have also had some exciting new family beginnings for some of our friends. One of our friends had a baby boy in December, and I got to babysit him the other night. He doesn't seem to like me very much yet (he will learn), but we finally got some snuggle time when he came to visit.

He is precious!

Some of our other close friends just had a baby girl a week ago. We had the blessing of going to the hospital to meet their little girl, and it was hard to believe that Caleb was that small only 7 1/2 months ago. Wow the time really has flown by! They are also moving in to their new house(which happens to be right in our back yard) today. We are so excited for Caleb and Cora to become friends and play together, and I am excited to hopefully get lots of snuggle time with their little girl! :)

She was so tiny! (almost a pound smaller than Caleb when he was born)

We are loving the beginning of a new season and being able to enjoy some walks outside. What a blessing to have a God who controls the seasons and blesses us with warmth after the cold.

 

Caleb's 1st Blue Ribbon

I think this week is the perfect week to start off "March Madness" in the Top household. Between John coaching and his little sister Tianna playing, we have basketball games Friday, Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday with scouting on Saturday and Monday and a coaches' meeting on Wednesday. The tournament madness has begun, but so far it has been a lot of fun!

The guys have won three games and now are only one away from going to state! Two out of their three games have been extremely close and lots of fun for the fans to watch! Most of the fans seem quite nervous at the end of the games, but Caleb usually sleeps or is busy smiling away during the final seconds. He has been a trooper and even got to celebrate winning the sub-section final game with his dad on Friday. Now hopefully one more win Thursday night! Go Eagles!

 Cheering on John and his team in our SW gear.

 The team lined up after their win.

 Caleb cutting down the net with his dad.

 Caleb loving the big win.

Caleb's first blue ribbon. :)