Getting big!

I can't believe my little man will be 9 months old tomorrow! That is just crazy! Time is flying by. We are already starting to dream up ideas for his 1st birthday party! It is going to be so much fun!!

So anyways, Cale is doing all kinds of fun new things. He can crawl really fast but prefers to walk with Mommy or Daddy's help. He gets really mad if we are walking and we try and make him sit down. You stand him back up and he is instantly happy again. Little Turkey! He'll be walking on his own soon. He can pull up on furniture and loves to cruise around holding on to things. He is starting to learn what "no no" means. He loves going for the dog's food and water bowls but if I tell him "no no" he usually sits back down and looks at me. We still haven't baby proofed the house. We probably won't do much... just the necessities. I want to try to teach him what he can and cannot get into. Maybe that is unrealistic but why not give it a shot?! Cale can now wave and say "hi". Last night we went to Target and I had him facing out in the Moby wrap. He was waving to everyone and saying "hi". It was so cute!

I love bath time too! I love splashing and making a big mess but Mommy doesn't mind!

Big boy!

So I keep meaning to post but I have been so busy with my photography. (which is GREAT!) Any free time that I have, I am editing pictures. I have 3 sessions to finish editing now and I have a newborn session this afternoon. Jonny and I made a back drop stand out of PVC pipe yesterday and it is awesome!!! I think it is going to work great! I will try it out this afternoon. Enough about me...

Cale is doing so many new things! He is crawling now. Sometimes he can only go forward a few times before he falls down but he just hops right back up on those knees and tries again. We call him our little froggy! :) It is amazing us how much he improves every day. Yesterday Cale and I were hanging out with Julie and Chloe at her house and Cale liked the wood floor. He was crawling all over it! Oh he loves Chloe a lot too. I think she likes him also. She stares at him and just smiles. It is so cute! He even grabbed her butt yesterday! hehe.

Cale is eating 3 meals a day now. They consist of fruit and veggies right now but we will add in meat soon. We have been mixing in a little cinnamon here and there. He seems like he is getting more patient with his food. He likes to look around in between bites instead of gobbling all of his food down super fast. I think that will make it easier if we go out to eat.

He is also saying Dada! It is so cute!!! He has said Mama before but I don't think it was intentional. He says Dada ALL the time now! Daddy loves it! Heck, I love it too!

Cale just woke up from his nap. Whenever I bounced him to sleep he was holding his toy moose(a.k.a. Mortimer) so when I put him down I took it away and set it at the foot of his crib. I am in here typing this and I hear jingle jingle. I wait a couple minutes to make sure it is what I think it is. Sure enough! He is playing with Mortimer. I go in there and he is all crunched up at the foot of his bed playing with Mortimer. He got so excited to see me! He started laughing and reached his arms out for me! That boy melts my heart!

I have been trying really hard lately to savor every moment that we have together. I know that he won't be little for long and I want to enjoy it! Before I know it he will want to go hang out with his friends instead of me. *tear* So when it takes me 30 minutes to bounce him to sleep instead of 5, I try to enjoy it. I love looking at his eyes batting slowly in the dark. His tiny hands reaching up for kisses. Oh my gosh... I didn't know this kind of love existed. It is so amazing! I absolutely love my life!!!

It's been a long time comin'

I can't believe I am so behind.... I haven't posted in over a month!

Here is a quick run down of everything that happened in the last month:

Jonny got sick and was out from work on a Thursday and Friday. We think he had food poisoning or something. He started feeling better by Saturday but then Cale got sick. He had a fever and was just plain uncomfortable. It was really sad but I could handle it... until I got sick too. Same thing, fever, sore throat, coughing. Ugh, it was no fun. Next day, Jonny gets sick AGAIN! Now he has what we have. Well, a sick mommy and daddy can't do a very good job at taking care of a sick baby that is up all night so we finally called my mom to come stay up with him. We had tried everything at that point. I put him in the moby wrap and walked around until he fell asleep then climbed into bed with him attached to me. Well I was just so uncomfortable so that didn't work. Let's just say that was a VERY long week! We used echinacea with elderberry for Cale and he didn't get nearly as sick as we were. It is a liquid all natural immune system booster. It worked great! Anyways, we were finally all feeling better and I was out working in the yard the first chance I got!

Hmm... what else?! Oh yes, Jonny's birthday party! He turned 25 so we had a party for him and Julie at our house. He wanted a bounce house so of course, we got a bounce house. It was a lot of fun. After the party, Candace, Kyla, and Trevor came over with Megan and Lane. That LOVED the bounce house. It was the cutest thing ever! We decided we are going to have to rent one for the neighborhood every once in a while just for fun!

The day of the party Cale cut 2 more teeth! It was his top front left tooth and the one on the outside of that. He has since gotten his other top tooth also! He has 5 teeth!!! I am pretty sure I see 3 more coming in too.

Okay, I can't think of anything else that interesting that has happened so fast forward to recently...

Starting on Saturday Cale was coughing and his nose was pouring snot. eeeeew. I am pretty sure his worst enemy is the nasal aspirator. So Monday morning I call the doctor and tell them that I think it is allergies because he doesn't have a fever or anything. They wanted me to bring him in so I did. Mommy was right! Allergies. His ears and throat looked clear and no fever. We have been giving him the echinacea again plus colloidal silver also. I hope he feels better soon. He seems to be doing better today. He was SOOO clingy yesterday. I had to hold him while I got dressed and brushed my teeth. Yes, it was extremely difficult. That's love. :) Anyways, he weighed 17 pounds and was 27 inches long. He is growing so fast. Last night when I was rocking him to sleep Jonny said, "He is huge!". hehe.

We watched The Cove last night with Julie and Steven. It was really good but also very sad. I cried. Save the dolphins!

I will try to not wait a month before the next blog...

For now, I am off to work on dinner.

Busy Busy Bee!

I have been so so busy lately! I haven't worked at the hospital at all the last week but I kept busy with my photography business! On Wednesday I had a maternity shoot and then was called out to photograph her birth the next morning at 3:30! Talk about good timing, huh?! The pictures all look great! I can't wait to show them all to her! Here is a sneak peak at the birth pictures:

I can't wait to do her newborn pictures in a few days! Such a sweet baby girl! The birth was such an awesome experience and I hope to do it again in the future! Thank you Trisha for passing my name along! I loved working with you!

So I left the hospital around 7:15 and headed home for a short nap(30 minutes) then went to do Chloe's photo shoot. She did not want to cooperate! She is just so darn cute though... we still got lots of great pictures! I hope to do some with mom and dad soon! Apparently I can only upload 3 pictures per blog so if you want to see a few head over to my facebook page.

Okay, Let's talk about Cale!!! My favorite subject! hehe! On Thursday he started being able to sit up a little longer, maybe 15 seconds at a time. Friday he could sit up for 30 seconds to a minute. Starting yesterday, he can sit up all by himself for as long as he wants! He will still fall over every once in a while but 90% of the time, he just hangs out! It is so cute! I cannot believe how big he is getting. I know he is going to be crawling before we know it. Then walking and talking... oh my! What happened to my squishy little baby?! I love you little man! We are going to try giving him solids in about 2 weeks. I wasn't really looking forward to it but now I can't wait. I am anxious to see how he will react and what foods he will like and which ones he won't. Messy food pictures are sure to follow!

Well, I better go. Cale just went down for a nap and Jonny love is waiting for me to come watch a movie. :) I am loving lazy Sunday!

LOVE THIS...

I remember...

the first time I heard your heartbeat

I remember...

the first time I touched your skin

I remember...

the first time I heard you giggle

These are the moments that are...

priceless

Remember the little things...

for one day you may realize they

were BIG

text from www.kimberlywylie.com

Pediatrician appointment

So Cale got his first shot today and he did great! I started getting really nervous about it but it ended up being no big deal. He let out one little cry when the needle went in then just looked around and was fine again. He was already super tired too so I was really proud of him!

When we first got there he was making friends with the lady at the front desk and another patient. He was smiling at them and reacting to what they are saying. That is the first time that he has really interacted with strangers. Everyone thought he was soooo cute! duh! ;)

Anyways, I love LOVE love our pediatrician! We were talking about vaccines and he said, "I am your cheerleader, not your coach." I thought that was pretty cool. They gave us a copy of his vaccination record as we were leaving and it has them all listed next to the recommended age that they receive them. It was pretty crazy. If we had gone by that Cale would have already gotten 10 vaccines! That is insane! That is way too many chemicals to be pumping into my little baby's body.

Towards the end of the appointment, Dr. L handed Cale a little toy and Cale automatically reached out, grabbed it and put it in his mouth. (Don't worry, it had been cleaned) Dr. L was pretty impressed and said that most babies can't do that until they are 9 months old!!! Wow, good job baby! Speaking of being 9 months old, he doesn't want to see us back until then. That seems like so far away but I know it will be here before we know it!

By the way, Cale weighed 15 pounds 12 ounces and was 26 1/2 inches long today! Big boy!

Keep telling yourself, "Happy thoughts, happy thoughts..."

I have wanted to write in here the past few days but I just don't have the words. How do you express how bad you hurt for your best friend when you know that the pain they are feeling is a gazillion times worse? Please be thinking about them and their journey to find their perfect baby through adoption. Cale needs a new friend! We have already decided that they will be bestfriends... They don't have a say!!! ;)

Okay...

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts!

Today was my last day of training at my new job. It is going great! Today I photographed a baby and sold a $100 CD all within 30 minutes on my first try! Too bad I was still in training and didn't get the commission. I also sold 2 other CD's as well. Oh, maybe I should explain more... you can buy prints or you can buy the CD and the rights to the pictures for $100. They were saying it usually takes newbies an hour to do the entire session and you work your way down to 30. If I started at 30 does that mean I can get it down to 15? Wishful thinking, huh?!

Let's talk about little man!

We had a little impromptu photo shoot the other day and this is one of the shots. He is just so darn cute. I am pretty sure I say that in every post! He is though, you know it too! He has a pediatrician appointment tomorrow and he is getting his first vaccine. (We chose to delay vaccines and even eliminate some. Feel free to ask questions!) I am so not looking forward to that! I have heard horror stories of babies just looking up at their mom and then bursting into tears. Maybe he will be good like his cousin, Eva, and just laugh when it happens! That would be awesome! So this afternoon, right as I was walking in the door he decided to show off a new trick for Daddy. He took his paci out of his mouth put it back in, then took it out again. Daddy asked if he could have it and held out his hand. Cale put it in his hand and let go! Jonny held it back out in front of him and he grabbed it and put it back in his mouth. Wow! Way to go Cale! You are almost 5 months old and you are getting way too big! I love you today, tomorrow, and always!

Good night!

Okay, so we just got back from sushi and finished packing for the most part. I am so ready to come home! I miss my puppies and being in my own home. I think Cale misses his Nana and Papa too! We are ready to get back in the swing of things at home. Cale's schedule has been kind of wacky since being here. Friday will be my last "official" day at LVI. (I will still be helping out until my replacement is trained) It is bittersweet. I don't think it has hit me yet. I really did enjoy working there, just not being away from my family so much. I am so excited about what the future holds though. I am going to be able to spend more time with my family and potentially be making more money. I have a few photography jobs of my own lined up as well. We are planning to go get my business license in the next few weeks as well. Then it will be official! I am just so excited!!!

So back to Cale. He fell asleep on our way to the sushi restaurant but woke up not long after we got there. He was pretty much cranky the entire time that we were there. I just knew he would fall asleep as soon as we got going in the car. Nope. He thought I was hilarious for some reason! I started singing him a song while everyone was loading in the cars and he was laughing at me. I thought it was cute so I told Jonny. I told Cale he better go to sleep and he starting cracking up! It was hilarious. He laughed non-stop for about 5 minutes, snorting and all. (He gets that from his Mommy) ;) I started laughing so hard that I was crying. It was the cutest thing ever!!!! Oh my gosh, I love this little guy so much! Another significant milestone that he hit while he was here was passing a toy from hand to hand. His hand-eye coordination is getting so much better!

Sorry to have another short, meaningless post but I just wanted to 'write' these things down before I forget!

Good night Florida. Texas, we can't wait to see you tomorrow!

Sitting up in Florida!

Quick post before heading out to sushi....

We have been in Florida since Saturday and Cale has had a lot of first. He saw the beach for the first time and played in the sand. He LOVED the sand! I will add a picture once we get home. Today he hit a big milestone... He is sitting up by himself!!! He can only do it for about a minute at a time right now but still, that is so awesome! He is getting so big! Where is time going?!

Anyways, we are going out for sushi for our last Florida dinner. I will write all about our trip when we get back.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

I usually hate birthdays. For some reasons I get semi-depressed at Christmas and my birthday. I have no idea why... maybe I build it up too much and then it doesn't live up to my expectations?! This year I had a great birthday! I just woke up this morning and decided to go into it without any expectations and enjoy the day. It started off with my gift from Jonny, Cale, and the puppies. It was a beautiful sapphire(Cale's birthstone) and diamond necklace. I love it! Jonny made us breakfast and we just hung out most of the morning. Jonny and I snuggled and took a 30 minute nap before we had to head over to my parent's house. He never takes naps with me, but I made him! It's my birthday and I get what I want! haha. ;) I love him!

On our way to my parent's house we had to stop at World Market to get a gift. We picked out a bird house that was $24.99, grabbed a bow and a few cards and headed to the register. The bird house rang up $2.49! The lady called the manager over and she said it was a mistake but she had to sell it for that much and told us to have a nice day! Not only that but I had a $10 birthday certificate to use. Our total ended up being 77 cents!!! Wow!

So we went to my parent's house and Cale slept maybe 15 minutes on the way over there. When we got there, he was still groggy but he was ready to play before long. He was smiling, laughing, and "talking" for everyone. At one point I tried to lay him down on my parent's bed for a nap but he just wanted to hang out. I joined him in bed for some mommy snuggles. Before long, all the girls were crowded around playing with him! He is such a lady's man!

We didn't stay for long since Cale didn't sleep the entire time so we thought he was on the verge of a breakdown. He fell asleep in the car and then slept in his car seat for about 20-30 minutes once we got to Jonny's parent's house. While we were there, Cale figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy! Way to go Cale!!! Him and Daddy have been practicing the past few days but that was the first time he did it on his own. He was actually scooting himself in a circle too!

Wow, is my baby really becoming mobile? Why won't he listen when I tell him to stay little forever?! I miss my squishy little baby but I am so excited to see the world through his eyes and watch him grow! Maybe that is why this birthday was different. He fills every ounce of me with happiness! I love him so much!

Jonny had to take Cale to the pediatrician on Friday because he started coughing a lot. She said everything looked and sounded normal. Thank goodness! He weighed 15 pounds and was 25 1/2 inches long! What a big boy!!!

Okay, I think this post was long enough. I do have some other VERY exciting news to share but I need to wait until tomorrow. Goodnight moon.

Giggle Box

Cale got a new book for Daddy to read to him! It is super cute!

Career Goals

So I thought I would share my career goals for the next year or so. I want to hold myself accountable and what better way to do that than write it down for everyone to see?! This may not seem like it has much to do with Cale, but is has EVERYTHING to do with him. Everything I do, I do for him now. Even though I love my job, I hate leaving him every day. He is growing so fast and I don't want to spend half of his childhood away from him. I am hoping with every ounce of me that this photography thing works out. I want to be doing something I am passionate about SO bad! This is it! I can do this. How awesome is it that something I am so passionate about could allow me to spend more time with my family?!

So my goal is to be able to quit my job by the end of the year. Eek!

Something else I am going to work towards is becoming a doula. (Click here if you want to know what a doula is!) I had such an amazing birth experience and I want to help other moms achieve that! I will probably get started with that in the next few months. I am so thankful to have Jonny's aunt to help me find my way!

So let me tell you something cute that Cale did today... Jonny usually takes him and picks him up from daycare because it is on his way to work. Today I got off early so I picked him up and he actually got excited to see me! He was sooooo sleepy when I got there but he started smiling when he saw me. YAY! He was asleep when we got home so I left him in his car seat on the coffee table and went into the office. (I can see him from my desk) I heard him make a noise and saw he was awake so I went in there. As soon as he saw me coming he started smiling again! Aww, he loves me!!!! That is the best feeling in the world!

Speaking of.... Master Cale is calling his mommy right now!

Hello Blog!

So I decided I needed a place to keep track of all of Cale's milestones and other exciting news that is going on in the Gipson household. This is mainly for me to look back on but you are welcome to come along!

So last night I was giving Cale a bath and I decided to feel his gums. He has been sucking on his hands a lot lately but I never thought it was because he was cutting TWO TEETH! Geez, kid... You are only 3 1/2 months old. Could we slow down for a minute please??? Jonny didn't believe me when I told him so I made him feel too. We hurried up and got him out of the bath to look and sure enough... there they are! Both of his bottom two teeth have already broken through and we barely even noticed him acting any different. He hasn't been sleeping as well but that is it! He was doing really well sleeping through the night then all of the sudden he started waking up a few times in the night. Hopefully teething is the cause for that! Mama needs her sleep!

Cale has also discovered that he can talk... A LOT in the last few days. He loves having "conversations" with mommy and daddy! He will say something then wait for us, we will ask him a question then wait for him. It is so much fun! Did you know that I am madly in love with this little guy?

Okay, now for the most exciting news of all... Our best friends have been matched with a birth mom and their baby is due February 23rd!!!! They started the adoption process about a year ago and it was starting to feel like it was never going to happen. Then BAM, you have a baby! We are SO SO SO excited for them! I can't even put into words how thrilled I am! I am pretty sure I have cried 3 or 4 times since finding out. They are going to be amazing parents and I cannot wait to meet Baby S!!!! (Cale is pretty excited too!)

One last thing. My photography business is in full swing! My website is new and improved and I have a wedding booked for June. I am so excited! I am offering some really good deals until I get my portfolio fully stocked so let me know if you are interested!

Until next time, good night blog!