Here is a 9 month pic

Spotlight on CALEB!!

Today Caleb is 9 months old. Where has the time gone? I am going to give a quick update as to what he is up to so that I don't forget anything.....

He is a very happy baby. Even when he isn't feeling good (like today-getting another cold, complete with a VERY runny nose and cough...blah!) he is still happy. He follows Payton around where ever she goes. This includes, the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and family room. He gets around rather quickly and now has begun to furniture walk with ease. He has started to be able to bend down and pick up an object with one hand while holding onto something else with the other hand. In other words, his balance is greatly improving. I found an entire basket of matchbox cars at work and brought them home for him to play with. He automatically took one to the kitchen floor and began to push it around...must be a natural boy instinct. He is curious about everything. In fact, we went outside yesterday to enjoy the nice weather and he couldn't stop putting helicopters in his mouth. Not kidding!! =(

He is an eating machine. He still gets about 5 bottles a day of formula and is still eating 3 meals a day. He has been increasing his intake of solids to a jar and 1/2 for lunch and dinner. I have started him on a sippy cup but he doesn't have a clue how to use it yet. It is more of a chew toy right now. I have tried giving him small pieces of "real" bananas and he seemed to like those.

Sleeping is still going good. He sleeps from 9-11ish in the morning, 1:30-4ish in the afternoon, and is in bed by 7pm for the night. He is awake in the morning anywhere from 6:30-7am. He goes down for naps and bedtime very easily without any trouble at all.

I just started bathing him with Payton. Boy is that an experience. He is not afraid of the water. He crawls to get the toys while in the tub and is very interested in the faucet. He especially likes to splash is sister with water. She, in turn, likes to pour water on his head.

I can't believe that he is almost a year old already. It seems as though I just had him. I have been truly blessed with two AMAZING children!!! Thank you God! =)

Slacker

Okay so I have been a bit of a blog slacker lately. I have been busy with the kids (aren't we all), and work and it seems as though I have something to do just about every weekend. So that leaves very little time for me to write about what has been happening in the Berger household. Here is a quick recap:

We traveled to Columbus to visit with the Guinthers. It is always nice to spend time with them and Max just gets cuter each time we see him. We took the kids to Boo at the Zoo. A good portion of the zoo was closed but it was still a good time. Payton had a great time looking at all the interesting animals they have there and Caleb was content the entire time.

On Halloween, Shane had to work so Nana and Poppy came over to help me with the kids, candy, etc. In the morning I took the kids to our school district's pancake breakfast. The third grade students were performing so I got to see their performance while we were there. After dinner, I got the kids in their costumes and took Payton up the street for trick-or-treat. Caleb went to one house and then Nana put him to bed. Poppy was in charge of passing out the candy (except we had to take shifts because it was sooooooo cold.) Overall, it was a fun night.

Caleb is almost nine months old. He is growing more and more everyday. He is officially crawling and pulling himself up. He follows Payton wherever she goes. I constantly have to check on what they are doing because all I hear is giggling. He is eating like crazy (three meals a day) and is sleeping great! He takes two naps a day and sleeps from 7pm-7am every night. He had the surgery on his ear and did a great job recovering. I only had to give him Tylenol once since there was very minimal pain. The site looks amazing. The only problem we had was that he got a secondary infection from the anesthetic which caused him to be on two different antibiotics. He recently had the flu (which he kindly shared with me) but recovered very quickly. Other than that he is a very happy, easy baby.

Payton is quite the character these days. We have thrown ourselves fully into the "terrible twos." She throws tantrums just about every day and sometimes they are over absolutely nothing. She is often put in time out to cool down because she is so worked up. She is extremely verbal and knows exactly what she wants. She loves Caleb. I have to keep an eye on her because she likes to pull him around the house by his clothing. She likes to put things on his head and push him around (literally). Payton often needs reminded to share, as she takes Caleb's toys and puts them places he can't reach. Overall, these are trying times with her but she is learning and growing everyday too. She makes me laugh more each day with her silly statements and contagious laugh.

The last thing that is new with us is that we have purchased 2.72 acres of land in Granger Twp. Is is a 40 lot development where each lot has to be at least 2 acres. We wheeled and dealed with the seller for a few weeks and finally came to an agreement on price. We go to closing at the end of November. The next step will be to get our house sold (not going to start that until after the first of the year) and then meet with builders to start the house building process. As I am very overwhelmed with the idea of building, I am excited to start this new chapter of our lives. I am ready to move out of this neighborhood and set the foundation to where my children will be living and spending the rest of their childhood! Here are recent pictures of all our adventures.

Canfield Fair 2010

We took the kids to the Canfield Fair over the weekend. They had a great time. Payton and Kiera rode a lot of rides together and had a ball. The only ride Payton did not like was the dragon rollercoaster. I think she would have liked it has she not hit her face on the bar when it went around the first bend. They had to stop the ride so that she could get off since she was crying. Oh well, maybe next year. Caleb was great all afternoon. He napped a little in the stroller and was pleasant all day. We saw lots of animals and ate lots of greasy food. Overall, it was a great day. Here are some pictures.

First Haircut

I had Payton's hair trimmed last weekend because it was out of control. It is not long by any means but it was all different lengths so it needed to be trimmed up. My sister-in-law cuts hair for a living so we did it at her house. Here are some pictures of this adventure.

Catch up

Okay, so I have been a slacker lately. I have been busy getting back into the routine of a "working mom." I have been teaching for three weeks now and am just now starting to feel like we are back into our daily grind. Here is what has been happening at our house.

Caleb: He will be 7 months old in four days. He is the happiest baby on the planet. There is very few times that he cries and it usually means that he is tired or hungry. At his 6 month appointment he was 16.1 pounds and was 27.5 inches tall. He is a great eater. He takes 4-5 six ounce bottles a day and is eating two meals a day. He loves veggies and some fruit. He has started to get up on his hands and knees already and rock back and forth. He has also figured out that rolling gets him places. We often find him in the toy shelf trying to get at anything. Many times he has pulled one of the buckets off the shelf. He is not ready to sit up yet but we are working on it. Caleb absolutely LOVES Payton. Whenever she is around, he constantly has his eyes on her and is often laughing at her. He is an amazing sleeper. Two naps a day and sleeping 12+ hours at night. He is a WONDERFUL baby!!



Payton: So much to say, so little space. She is a riot these days. Most everything that comes out of her mouth leaves me in stitches. She loves watching Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears. She has just recently gotten into the movie "Follow that Bird." For those of you who don't know what that it, it is a 1983Sesame Street movie about Big Bird. She is very bossy, so we are working on using our manners when asking for something. It is getting better but we still have some work to do. The potty isn't as interesting as it was a few weeks ago. She will suggest when she wants to sit on the potty and other than that, it is off limits. Her imagination has begun to take off. She often asks me to play pretend with her. She can sing Twinkle, Twinkle, and knows her abc's. She is good at knock-knock jokes. Payton has also taken more of an interest in Caleb. She has tried to pick him up and loves to make him laugh! She is the light of my life!

Self-directed

in potty training of course.....only in my household would this be the case. When we first got Payton's potty she was really interested in using it. I think we had one actual success during that time. Then she decided it would be more fun to put the adapter (for lack of better words) on the big potty and use it that way. We had two successful attempts. Then she became completely disinterested in using the potty altogether. That is, until yesterday. She was pretending to use the potty on Monday. Sitting on it with her clothes on and even pretending to wipe herself with toilet paper. Yesterday she sat on the potty for Shane and actually urinated. Then at night she went on the potty for me. So that brings us to today (and the self directed part.) I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty when I got home from work and she said no. So I left it alone. I was in the kitchen, feeding Caleb when I hear the sounds of a diaper being removed. I went to see what she was doing and there she was taking off her diaper, lifting up her shirt and sitting on the potty. It was a successful attempt!!! About 2 hours later, she was watching Beauty and the Beast and did the exact same thing. Again, we had another successful attempt! So I guess if this continues, we will officially be potty training. My baby girl isn't such a baby anymore. I think that will really hit me when I no longer have to buy diapers for her. =(