Date nights

John and I have been blessed to have a few date nights this past month. His younger sister had a tournament volleyball game that he had to drive bus for, so I ride along. Our awesome friends babysat and we took the bus to a cute restaurant for supper and watched the game together.

 

It doesn't get much better than riding in a school bus on date night :)

John got his parents to babysit last Friday and he took me out for supper to Olive Garden, to the mall to pick out new shoes and khaki pants, and to cold stone. I was one happy birthday girl.:)

Although date night doesn't happen as much as it used to, I definitely appreciate it more now!

Costume Party

On Saturday night our friends got together for a costume party. Although none of us are really in to Halloween, we though it would be fun to dress up. So we made the rule that you had to dress up but couldn't spend any money on your costume. We had a pretty fun week brainstorming ideas of what to wear, and finally settled on being Southwest basketball players with Caleb as our basketball. We borrowed some old jerseys from the school and found out from my mom that she actually wore those jerseys when she was in high school.

John and I with our little basketball.

The whole gang. 

After eating way too much good food for the first part of the night, we enjoyed some minute to win it games that the hosts of the party had planned. It was hilarious.

 Kirk & John stacking cups as fast as they could.

 We had to blow up a balloon and then knock over cups with the air--I struggled.

 Trying to get candy out of the bottom of panty-hoes without using your other arm to help--a struggle as well. :)

 Preparing to knock over water bottles with a ball in panty-hoes tied around your waist.

 Trying to eat a cracker by sliding it down your face.

John did slightly better than me at all of the games and got first over all. I came in somewhere slightly above last place. :) Even with my poor performances, it was still a lot of fun. The costumes definitely added to the entertainment. There is such a big group of young couples in Edgerton, and we have been so blessed by some great friendships since moving here. We know it can be hard to find couples where the husbands and wives both get along, and we are so thankful we have so many of those right in town.  Two of our friends are pregnant and we can't wait for Caleb to get to hang out with them. We decided this had to be an annual party, and we are already looking forward to next year. :)

Sleepy Baby

Caleb is a great sleeper. Ever since we took him home from the hospital, he has loved to sleep. In his first few weeks of life I would have to wake him up to feed him. He slept through the night at 8 weeks. He sleeps 10 1/2 hours at night and still loves his naps. We have learned that when he is tired and  wants to sleep, there is almost no stopping him. Pick him up, walk around, talk to him, turn on lights, he doesn't care. And I LOVE it. :) It makes him easy to take places because he will sleep almost anywhere. I have been taking pictures of all the random places he falls asleep so I could share them with you all...

 In the pack and play.

 In the bassinet.

 

On his stomach in the living room.

 Next to dad on the couch.

 On my legs.

 In the moby while I mow the lawn.

 In the carseat next to the beach.

 In my arms at the lake.

 In the car while driving.

 On the ground next to the lake.

 On our spare bed in front of the TV.

 In the middle of the living room floor.

 In  my arms on the couch.

 In the gym during bball open gym.

His favorite place of all...dad's chest.

We hope Caleb keeps sleeping like this for the rest of his childhood. And even if he doesn't, we sure are enjoying it right now. :)

Top Family Fishing

Saturday was a perfect fall day. It was warm, there was lots of sunshine, and there was hardly any wind. This type of day does not happen that frequently, so we decided to take advantage of it by...going to the lake of course. :) This fall has been great weather for fishing and I have loved getting to see the beauty in God's creation on all of our fishing trips. The colors this fall seem to stand out in a way that I don't remember from the past years.

 John's parents had his two nephews for the night, so all the grandsons got to go fishing with grandpa and grandma. Although Caleb and I did not catch any fish, the guys did get three keepers. We had a great time grilling, fishing, and just hanging out together outside.

 J.T. and his nephews Ethan. I can't wait until Caleb is old enough to fish with his dad.

 I have been begging for a fall family picture...so this is what I got. :) No pretty fall leaves or nice clothes, but we did get the lake and our fishing pole.

 John's little sister Tianna with Caleb. 

J.T., Ethan, and Andrew with their walleyes.

Grandma Top with her grandsons...Caleb is once again avoiding looking at the camera. :)

3 Months

It is hard to believe that Caleb John is three months old already. Everyone told me that he would grow up so fast, but I never quite believed them...until now. Before having Caleb I was hoping that the first few months would fly by because I was afraid about nursing and being up all night. But now that he is here and the first three month are gone already, I kind of wish I could get them back. I miss the way he would curl up in a little ball on our chest and sleep all day. I miss the way his newborn onesies were too big on his little stomach and legs.  I just miss how teeny tiny he was. But as much as I miss some parts of the little baby stage, there are definitely parts I don't miss. I don't miss him pooping 4-5 times a day. I don't miss getting up in the middle of the night to feed him. I don't miss his feedings taking over an hour and struggling with now knowing what I was doing. So I guess I'm a little sad to say my little baby is growing up, but I am also excited for the new developments he has every day. Who knew I would be one of those emotional moms who can't decide if she is happy or sad that her baby is growing up:)

It seems like daily he is growing, changing, and learning something new. It has been a lot of fun to have him interacting with us more and more. There isn't a much better feeling then walking into a room and having him hear your voice, turn his head, make eye contact with you, and give you a big smile. That little smile seems to make everything ok. And even when I mess up as a mom (which happens frequently), he just keeps on smiling up at me with those beautiful dark blue,gray eyes. Now that is something I know I am going to miss one day...  

Here is a slight overview of what Caleb is up to at three months:
-after trying to drop a feeding a few weeks ago and then going back to feeding every 3 hours, I think he has now settled in to eating about every 3-4 hours and feeding 5 times a day.
-it takes him about 20 minutes to eat (usually longer with a bottle)
-he has his last feeding around 8:45, is in bed around 9:15, and we wake him up around 7:45.
-he is eating anywhere from 5-6 1/2 ounces when he takes a bottle. he takes a bottle everyday at Becca's and still does very well with them.
-he can find toys and then reach out and grab them.
-he likes to look in the mirror and smile at himself.
-he is starting to yell (as you have seen in the videos) and is cooing more and more.
-his favorite thing is just to lay on a blanket on the floor and talk to John or I.
-he has a dirty diaper anywhere from three times a day to once in four days. (normally more like once a day or once every other day)
-he is starting to sit up by himself when we lean him against the couch.
-he doesn't cry during his bath, but doesn't really seem to enjoy it very much anymore either.
-he is very willing to be held by anyone (which is good because he gets passed around a lot!)
-we are still doing the eat, awake, sleep schedule so he is usually up anywhere from 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours and then sleeps until he eats again. he generally takes a 2 hour nap in the morning at Becca's and another hour and a half or 2 hour nap in the afternoon.
-he can fall asleep almost anywhere, including very loud gyms, but he wakes up more quickly now when transferring him to other people or from the house to the car.
-he seems to love to sleep in his carseat and almost always falls asleep in the car or when I am running with him in the jogging stroller
-he doesn't love tummy time, but he can lift his head up and move it around.
-he hardly ever cries, usually just when waking up from his nap, when he needs to burp, when he is very hungry, or when he gets scared by very loud noises.
-he is getting very fat. :)

Here are some of his three month pictures...he looks so old! 

Alumni Weekend

Dordt had their alumni weekend this past weekend and I got to play in the alumni volleyball game. We played younger alumni vs. older alumni, and it was a ton of fun. It was great to see some of my teammates who I haven't seen in awhile, and to get to play competitively again. I definitely miss playing volleyball, but there are just a lot more things in life that are more important right now. :)

All of the volleyball alumni before the match.

Caleb loved his first visit to Dordt College. I think being a Dordt Defender is in his future...just don't tell his dad. :) He did great as usual with the loud gym and being shown off to lots of people. My dad spoke at Dordt on Friday so they got to see Caleb as well which was nice. This was our first time of not putting him to bed in his crib, but he didn't seem to mind a bit. We stuck him in the carseat after the alumni game and he slept in the car and then fell right back asleep when we put him in the crib. We feel so blessed to have such a content little guy!

 

 It is crazy how much he has grown! 3 months today-I'll post his pictures soon!

Speaking Spanish

Caleb has officially found his voice this week. On Monday when I brought him home he started squealing and almost screaming at me. It has been so much fun listening to him and seeing him get all worked up like he has something really important to say. I have decided that he is beginning to speak Spanish, although his father might disagree. :)