Adventures with Caleb

Life is going so well here. I am busy with Caleb and housekeeping, Patrick is busy with school and work, and Caleb is busy sleeping, eating, and growing. Since being a full-time mom, I have tons more respect for all mothers everywhere. It is way more work than I ever really conceived of. I pictured having a lot more free time, but there isn't as much of it as I imagined there would be, and when I have free time, it doesn't seem to go uninterrupted for long. Lack of free time doesn't matter when Caleb is awake and happy . . . especially since he recently has started smiling at us, but it is a little more difficult to deal with when he's upset.

I have decided that most of the time when he's screaming and upset and I have cared for his needs in every way I can think of, he is just tired and wants to sleep. I'm amazed to see him looking drowsy sometimes but fighting to stay awake. I remember hating sleep when I was a kid because there was just so much to do in the world, but I didn't imagine that started when kids were so little. At two months, he's already recognized how much there is to see and hear and do, so he tries to stay awake. We think for this reason and others, that our little boy is pretty advanced for his age.

Of course, his major early achievement (i.e. rolling over) has not been repeated for some time now, so I'm wondering if it was easier to manage when his body was smaller. He has grown so much that it's almost like he has to relearn it over again. (Perhaps the most fun of being a parent is trying to figure him out and guessing at what is going on in his world. Since I spend more time with him than anybody who's to say I'm wrong. I may not be an expert at anything else in the world, but Caleb I am an expert on . . . until he's a teenager, at least.)

On the topic of being a mom and the difficulties involved in that, I have some thoughts which I have been discussing via Facebook with another stay-at-home mom, a friend from my stake in Wisconsin when I was growing up. I have found that it is a lonely situation. I try to talk to Caleb because I know it's good for him, but by the time Patrick comes home everyday I am hungry for adult conversation. While Patrick is technically an adult and he does sometimes satisfy this need, those of you who know him will not be surprised to learn that engaging in adult conversation at the end of the day isn't his idea of a really satisfying past time. He would much rather play. Considering that Caleb isn't old enough to really do that, Patrick's playfulness satisfies certain needs as well, so I'm grateful for that.

I am also fascinated by the intelligence required to be a mom. It's definitely there. It takes certain creativity to try to understand this little person who can't communicate and to satisfy his needs. However, it uses a different part of my brain than school and work did, and I can't help missing some of that stimulation. I have read books to satisfy those needs -- so far, one called Crashing Through and one called Raising Cain -- but still it's not the same as the almost full-time demands on my brain required from my previous occupations. I was so delighted when my friend Michelle asked me to edit a one-page paper for her that I pulled out my dictionary and did quite a thorough job on the thing. Later, I almost jumped at a request from her husband to edit his paperwork for graduate school applications.

A funny experience related to my stay-at-homedness (new word) occurred yesterday. I was on a walk with Caleb (a pasttime I am going to have to find a way to maintain into the winter to keep my sanity) and two older women from our neighborhood were outside talking to each other. They greeted me and were so sweet and friendly. One of them told me again and again how lucky Caleb is to have me as a mom and he doesn't even know it yet. Then she asked me if I get lonely at the house by myself and I admitted that, yes, I do sometimes and that it is much different than when I was working and in school. I thought this might be followed up by an offer to come by and visit sometime or an invitation to come over to their houses to visit. Instead they patted my arm and said kindly, "Well, you'll be blessed for staying home with him. Someday, you'll look back on this and be so glad you did it." I'm happy to know that I'll be blessed and was grateful for their reassurance, but I sure could have used a little more proactive approach to my situation. It was a funny experience.

Anyway, pictures of our sweet baby follow below. His latest developments include smiling at us and making sweet gurgling noises-- both of which we absolutely love. It's so fun to just talk to him when he's in a contented smiley mood. Both of us love it.

Here's our sweet baby in one of his Halloween outfits. He's sleeping on a quilt Grandma Taylor made for Patrick. She later sent us a matching one for him. We love them both.

This is me on a Sunday with him. We do polo onesies for him on Sundays so he's a little dressier than the rest of the week. He doesn't look all that pleased about it in this photo. In any case, I am happy to say the shirt I'm wearing in the picture is from pre-pregnancy and it's fairly flattering on me again now. Yay!

Patrick and Caleb both looking very classy.

Patrick goofing around by himself.

Patrick goofing around with Caleb.

Our October camping trip. He's dressed in three layers here taking a nap in my arms.

This is the next morning. It was a very, very cold night. I originally didn't want to broadcast the fact that we were taking our six-week-old baby on a camping trip in October when some people don't even take their kids out of the house for three to six months. However, now that we've all come out of the adventure healthy, well, and a little wiser, I don't mind saying that we had a good time and he was great for his first camping trip.

The Curtises went on the camping trip with us and then agreed to hang out with us the next day. We went for a beautiful walk, then returned to their place and ate chips and salsa while playing Risk.

This was Patrick's first time napping with Caleb. I do it way more often than he does, but I thought they looked so cute, so I took a picture.

Patrick's family sent us a Halloween box with new outfits for Caleb. This was one of them. The socks are a little big, but they are pretty cute.

And here he is in his Halloween outfit . . . smiling. Isn't he adorable!
A more full view is just below, but I love his face in this picture.

Here he is with our pumpkins. We carved them on Monday for Family Home Evening. The one in the middle is Caleb's: Patrick insisted everyone in the family needed one. Patrick's is on the left and mine is on the right.

That's all for now. Check back again soon and you can see him keep on growing.