Santa- Keep Away From Me!

We went to see Santa this year at Cabella's (Mommy ran out of time and didn't want to battle all of the people in line at the mall) with Auntie Katie and Mia. Daddy took the pictures while Kate and I tried to have the kids sit on Santa's lap.


Mr. Cool while waiting in line!

"Stranger Danger" has set in!

They were both so upset. Santa said it would be best for me and Kate to sit on his lap and not the kids!

Poor Mia didn't even realize who's lap she was on until it was too late!

Cookies!

I made Calvin is 1st home made cookie the other day. He loves them to say the least and begs to have more. They smell great but leave you with a different after taste but Calvin doesn't know any better so it's great!

Eating on our own!

Eating is a very serious job and takes a lot of concentration. Then there are the joys of accomplishing something that makes me such a proud mommy! He loves trying to eat with his spoon. Here are some pictures of Calvin learning how to eat with his spoon!

I don't know where he learned to eat like this?!

All done!
Now time for a bath!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Please check out our photo montage of our recent trip to Disneyland. Calvin had a wonderful time! I think he danced half of the time we were there. He loved all of the music, rides, and characters.

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A work in progress...

Here are a few photos of the house right after they painted. I will post more once the boxes are unpacked and there are things hung on the wall!

Huge backyard. Bryon did winter grass for Calvin to play in.

Laundry room

Master bedroom

Den/ Scrapbook room

Entry way... formal dining room and sitting area

Hall bathroom

Calvin's room

Kitchen

Living room

Happy Halloween

Calvin was going to be a cheeseburger this year for Halloween but ended up with a stomach bug that has lasted three days! I put on his costume for a picture then quickly took it off so I could return it. He enjoyed seeing the kids come to the door and was happy until we had to change his diaper. He is all smiles even when sick. The best part about his costume- both times we put it on him he tried to eat it!

Calvin and allergies

We went to the allergist last week and had Calvin tested for food allergies. We knew going into it that he had some allergies, but his reactions were getting faster and his welts were getting larger so we decided to be safe and go in. They did a scratch test on his back of 47 items! There were no needles involved so it wasn't painful. We learned that Calvin is allergic to milk, eggs, peanut, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and we think he is soy intolerant. He is on an allergy medicine for 1 month to see if we can get his eczema under control. He has had eczema since he was a few months old and now we are learning that eczema is related to food allergies! We also got an epi pen for him. He does not weigh enough for it so it is truly life or death situations. I pray that we will never have to use it on him.

Hopefully Calvin will out grow all of the food allergies. I am doing research of foods and food recipes I can make that will be safe for Calvin. There is a lot of change going on in our house.

This is the beginning of a reaction he had when we gave him eggs. It happened within minutes and he was so mad when I took away the eggs.

(I took the picture after I gave him Benadryl)

Race for the Cure

Last weekend we did our annual Race for the Cure 5K walk. My mom, Katie, Mia, and of course Bryon , and Calvin were there to help support breast cancer awareness. It was so neat getting to share all of the excitement and energy with Calvin and Mia. Mia and I were on the news- in the background while they were doing the weather. (Calvin was eating of course so he couldn't share in the spot light.) We made a little 30 second video and got our scarfs. My favorite give away of the event.Calvin loved all of the music. He would clap is hands and dance in his stroller. After the race we went and ate lunch at Rumbi's.

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Videos of Calvin

Blowing out the candle- Grandma Bewley loves having Calvin do this :)

eating oatmeal

dancing- Katy Perry "California Gurls"

brushing teeth and pointing to nose

Photo Class

Here are a few of my favorites I took at my photo class! All shot on manual!! Mia you are a cutie! Thanks for being my model.

My 50th post!

I can't believe I have done 50 posts! It feels like I haven't posted in a while. Things have been crazy around here. This is our first Saturday in over a month that we don't have anything planned! Calvin and I have been busy catching up on laundry and I hope to get in a post and come cleaning while he naps. We have been looking at homes and found one that we could raise our family in. We put in an offer and after counter offers and all of that fun negotiating, I think we have reached an agreement. We hope to start escrow by Monday if our fabulous realtor didn't already start it Friday.

I have ventured into photography...we will see how that goes but I had a great time taking pictures of Bryon's cousins, Tawnya and Marlena, who are expecting less than two week apart. (I thought Katie and I were close with 6 weeks.) I took some pictures of both of them and then last weekend I got to take some more of Tawnya and her family.
I had my first official substitute job on Thursday. I had a blast roving around the different grade levels. It was a great way of seeing if I could handle a certain grade level all day long. I loved seeing my old coworkers. It brought back a lot of memories but I am so happy I don't have to work full time.

Bryon is enjoying his new area and getting to know where things are. They are serving search warrants and watching drug houses. He is getting held over a few times a week it seems like lately. On the extra money side it is great... on the having Calvin all day long, not so great.
It is football season so Bryon is happy. He loves the Cardinals and gets so frustrated when they prove to be "the Cardinals." I think he even has my dad rooting for the Cardinals -of course only when the Steelers aren't playing.

And Calvin- I left him last that way you had to read about me and Bryon (hehehe) Calvin is great! We went to the Neurosurgeon and his head measured a little larger than they hoped, so we may have to do an MRI the next time we see him. But it wasn't something that was urgent so that was good. (We go back in December). We also saw the GI doctor and all checked out with him. We were going to slowly introduce soy to see how is body reacted to it but we recently found out he also has an egg allergy! Poor Calvin can't catch a break. Now we are going to see an allergist because the flu shot has egg in it and the pediatrician's office won't give it to him. It has to be in a controlled setting. We go Oct. 13th for that.
Calvin is walking every where now. He learned how to stand up on his own in the middle of the floor. Nothing can stop him now. He also learned how to point to his nose! The foods that he can eat he absolutely loves!

It was a crazy September to say the least! Hopefully we will get to have a more relaxing and stress free October.

Cleaning and Eating

Calvin is into everyting!! I thought he was before but it's official now. He is walking almost every where and trying to stand up in the middle of the floor on his own. While I was trying to clean up the mess he made from eating he became memorized by the broom. ( Yes-he has seen me clean before) He played and played with the broom, trying to take it with him all over the house.

He is eating mostly "big people" food. We stocked up on baby food right before he started to refuse eating it so we are still in the process of finishing off what we have. We are trying new foods. He loves hamburgers pattties- he ate half a hamburger in one sitting! He is having reactions to oranges so that is out for a while. He ate his first scrambled egg at Mimi's the other morning and loved all of the attention from the waiting staff.

Nice and relaxed while eating.

Spaghetti for the first time.

We can't leave out his first shiner! His music table got in his way.

Maybe I should have known the day was coming. This is how he walks around the house some times.

The Joys of Tupperware

We had to break down and put cabinet locks on the cabinets through out the house. Calvin of course loved the cabinet that had the trash the most. We decided to keep one cabinet open so Calvin can play with the tupperware. He loves pulling every thing out and spreads it out all over the kitchen floor. He had me laughing so hard the other day when he put the salad spinner bowl on his head. Here are a few pictures of Calvin enjoying the tupperware cabinet!

(This is the one that had me laughing)

Leap of Faith

We are debating back and forth whether we should rent out our house and move to a home that we can raise a family in. We decided to look for a new home before we rent out the house to make sure there is a home we want to live in for the next 30 years. We looked at some used homes and we weren't thrilled but we found a new build that is beautiful! We actually like a couple of the models they offer. Bryon has been looking at the floor plans over and over while crunching numbers to see if we can afford the risk of not having renters. Calvin of course wanted to be right in the middle of things...right when I put the camera away he threw all of the papers on the floor.

What a big helper!

Our little number cruncher!

He's so cute- I couldn't resist!

Here are a few pictures of Calvin on his actual birthday. Bryon went with my dad to the Cardinals Training Camp so we stayed the night at my parents and spent the day with Katie and Mia. Calvin had a really rough day, but he did manage to smile a few times. He is walking like crazy and is so proud of himself. Calvin of course invaded Mia's personal space, but she didn't complain when Calvin took her for a ride in her highchair. Mia would wave to us as Calvin pushed her around the kitchen. Uncle Kevin made one of his shirts into a tank top so Calvin and Mia got the honors of wear the sleeves on their heads.

Calvin the "ologist" strikes again

Well, here we go again...just when we thought we were done with all of the specialists, Calvin's doctor wants to send him to a GI doctor. Poor Calvin is still having stomach issues. He was tested for Celiac's disease and that came back negative, which is great news because there isn't a cure only treatment. He isn't allowed to have dairy yet but has been eating some baby foods that have soy in them so we aren't sure if that is playing a factor with his stomach issues. We hate to have to put him through any more tests, but at the same time we need to figure out what is causing his pain. We are creating a food log for Calvin to see if we can spot a pattern. We will keep everyone posted! We hope to get a call the next few days to schedule our appointment.

Happy Birthday Calvin!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone.

We celebrated Calvin's birthday a few weeks ago so all of the family could be there (Calvin has very busy grandparents). Calvin loves Mickey Mouse so we had a Mickey themed party for him. We purchased a Mickey at the beach cupcake cake and Bryon made Calvin a very special Mickey cake for him to eat. Calvin had a deer in the head lights look the whole time we sang "Happy Birthday". Not even a glimpse of a smile appeared. He surprised us all and did not dig into his cake. He tried reaching for the cake when the candle was lit and we told him no, so I don't know if that played a factor or not. Once everyone stopped looking at him he would put his fingers in it and try a lick here and there but nothing big.
It has been a crazy month for us. We welcomed a new cousin the end of June, went to the beach, back and forth to the doctor, cut two teeth and a molar is on its way, and he walked!

Fun facts about our one year old:
* switched to forward facing in the car..and still doesn't enjoy being in the car
*doesn't like it when we walk away from him
*points to things that he wants
*says mama (he used to only say it when he cried but know says it all the time)
*doesn't like the drill- we had to put cabinet locks on all of the cabinets because someone figured out how to open them
* he will cuddle with you if you are laying on the floor
*loves to give kisses (and headbutts thanks to Mia)
*has 8 teeth and one molar on its way

*loves emptying out this books and toy tub- and any laundry left in the basket

*weighs 25 lbs 5 oz (that was around 11 months) and wear 18 month clothes
*still loves to dance and wiggle
*still loves books

We go back to Dr. Adelson in September and hope we continue to get great news. We also go Aug. 16 for his year well check. Depending on what the doctor advises we want to try to introduce dairy and see if he still has the protein allergy.He has to get some shots, but I am anxious to see his height and weight. We pray every day that he continues to grow big and strong...I would just like to keep in the same size clothes for a little bit.

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Calvin's Walking!!

Calvin has been cruising the furniture for quite some time now. We thought he would walk before we went to the beach but he just wanted to crawl everywhere. He wanted to go at his own pace. Yesterday Calvin took 1 step and we were so excited. Today he took four steps and I called Bryon to tell him the good news. Well...when Bryon got home today he decided to show off his new skill! He still crawls to get places but I think it will be very soon that he will walk everywhere he goes.
Here is the progression of Calvin walking:



Take 1: We were still trying to get the camera set up but that didn't stop Calvin. Showing off how proud he is.



Take 2: Walking again but with more steps


Take 3: Walked to the coffee table all by himself! About 14 steps! Calvin now throws himself backwards when he gets excited. (A habit we will quickly break)

Family Pictures

We got the chance to have our pictures taken at the beach by my mom's friend Mary, who is a wonderful photographer. (She also took Calvin's newborn pictures.) My mom really wanted the pictures taken because Kevin is joining the Air Force and will be leaving us for a few years. He gets sworn in on Wednesday! Here are a few of my favorite pictures that Mary took!

Beach Life Part 2

The week flew by of course but we had so much fun! I took over three hundred pictures and we got some great video of Calvin. Don't worry you won't see all of them in the montage. Combining my pictures with my mom and sister's we took a grand total of over 1,000 pictures! They did take a photo class so it wasn't just all of us at the beach.

Here is our week recap:
*relaxed on the beach!
*Got up early and looked for sand dollars and seashells
*Walked to the pier to get breakfast (only one way though we wimped out and got a ride back) It was 2.5 miles one way and Calvin didn't want to sit in the stroller...need I say more :)
*My mom celebrated her 50th birthday and we had a big party at the beach house to celebrate!
*Spent the afternoon in Coronado Island to see Dana and Scotty
*Calvin go to find his first sand dollar, hold a crab, find clams, eat seaweed and sand, and meet his California cousins for the first time!
*went to La Jolla to see the tide pools

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Beach Life

This is the life! One happy family :) We are enjoying our time in San Diego and still have the whole week to go. Calvin is having a blast playing in the sand. He is getting better about not eating the seaweed and sand or Bryon and I are just getting better at catching him before he tries to put it in his mouth.



Tomorrow (July 13) is my mom's 50th birthday. The main reason we are all here at the beach. We are going to have a little party for her tomorrow evening. A lot of her friends and our family are actually here this week so they are going to come down to celebrate. We were out on a walk when my dad spotted this sign and of course we had to take a picture.



Cutest Beach Bum around!!! He plays everywhere but on the blanket. I am so glad he is not army crawling his way through the sand.

Morning walk with my parents and Calvin while Bryon slept in. Everyone was enjoying their morning drink. :)

I will post more pictures later. This is just a glimpse of how much fun we are having!