A New Adventure...the World of Food!

Caleb has begun his adventure in the world of food! We talked about waiting til 6 months, but lets face it - it's hard to wait that long! So, we changed our minds and decided 5 1/2 months would be ok : ) Last Wednesday we took the plunge and mixed up some rice cereal. Before I tell you how it went, I must say that Caleb has been very intently watching our food for weeks! It's like he's already obsessed with it! Anytime we crinkle a wrapper he turns his head and he watches the food go into our mouths! It's very cute.

So, back to Wednesday. That evening we put Caleb in his high chair and mixed up some runny rice cereal. I expected a fit quite honestly! He doesn't usually like being strapped in anywhere and this was extremely new, so I thought it would be a disaster. Ha! Was I wrong! He sat in his chair and wiggled his legs while letting Jonathan and I shovel in that cereal. Majority of it ended up on his bib, but that was to be expected! Toward the end I did hear some swallows and the food stayed in his mouth for longer periods of time. He seemed very content to feel the texture in his mouth. I was so glad things started off this well.

Well, Wednesday was great... Thursday was another thing all together. Ok, I admit, it's my fault. I thought it would be more convenient to mix his cereal with formula instead of my milk. He took one taste of the cereal and that was it, the gloves were off! He refused to open his mouth, fussed, squirmed to get out, and just was not happy! While Jonathan worked with him, I made a new bowl of cereal as I had the night before. We went from a spoonful of formula cereal and screaming to a pleasant boy eating his dinner with the first spoonful of Mommy cereal. I had NO IDEA this would be such a big deal for him! We'll see if I make that mistake again!

Since then things have gone pretty well. There have been a few nights that he really wasn't interested and a few that he ate the whole bowl full. We're still learning how to time his solid food with nursing and what works for him, but it hasn't been horrible so far! I plan on sticking with the rice cereal for a little while and then adding in veggies and fruits. It's the beginning of a new adventure, but I'm excited for this new step!

Cousins

Caleb is so blessed to live near two of his cousins! Lana lives less than 15 minutes away and Eli lives around an hour away. During these first few months we haven't done much visiting, but as the days get a little prettier we plan to do a lot of play dates. This week we had the chance to visit both cousins!

On Tuesday, my Mom (Grandma Deb) and I took Caleb to Spring where my brother and his family live. Of course, it had to be the one rainy, yucky day of this week, but we still had a great time visiting! Kristen has been great about bringing Eli down a lot since Caleb was born so that they get to visit often, but now that he does better in his car seat, we plan to switch off so neither of us is doing all the driving. It was fun to see Eli trying to share his toys with Caleb and both cousins watching each other so intently. We spent part of the morning and most of the afternoon there before heading home. Both boys took naps while the adults had the opportunity to catch up. Hopefully our next visit will allow us to enjoy some of the outdoor areas that Spring/The Woodlands have to offer. But if not, we can still enjoying watching the boys play in the living room!





On Friday, Caleb and I went to visit cousin Lana. Aunt Sarah was on Spring Break with school so we decided to get together in the afternoon. We were happy that Jonathan was able to get off work a little early to join us and Aunt Laura drove down from Tomball! Grandma Mal even joined in the fun. Even though Lana lives nearby, we haven't had many opportunities to see her lately. She is crawling and pulling up on her own. It's hard to believe all that she is able to do already!

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long because of our new routine in the evening with eating (wait... I haven't posted anything about that yet!) but we were able to enjoy some time together.

Big Boy in a High Chair!

I am regularly reminded of how quickly Caleb is growing! Last week, my mom came to visit and we decided to go to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. YUM! While we were ordering, we somehow started talking about the high chairs they have. Caleb had only been sitting up for a few days at that point, but we decided to try the high chair and see how he liked it. Of course, I was nervous about it, but figured worst case would be he hated it and I could get him out! We put him in it and then surrounded him with his blanket for some extra padding. He loved it! He could see things going on around him and watch us eat. He lasted until we had almost finished! I was so proud of my little boy!

The only problem was that I didn't have my camera with me! The diaper bag always seems so full and I hate putting extra things in it that I likely won't use. I need to learn to keep the camera with me though! Well, this gave Jonathan and I an excuse to go back to Chick-Fil-A this weekend and take pictures! When we were there Caleb kept putting his leg up on the front part of the high chair! Is it too early to start working on manners?!? He was incredibly cute though!

Bouncing!

Caleb has a new toy to play in! Our friends, the Perry's, let us borrow their doorway bouncer to see if Caleb would like it. I don't know why I had any doubts! The boy loves bouncing! Anyone that's held him more than a few minutes can tell you that he likes to bounce while we hold him.

Jonathan put up the bouncer on Saturday morning before we went to work on the yard and WOW, Caleb went to town! At first he wasn't really sure what to do. It wasn't that he didn't like it, he was fine just sitting in it. But it did take a few times until he realized he could bounce and stand in it.



I love that he now has another place to play and the fact that he can bounce without my arms wanting to fall off! The boy has some strength in him! Thanks Perry's for letting us borrow your bouncer, we'll be getting Caleb his own soon!

Working in the Front Yard

Wow! What a busy day here in the Lutz household! We have been out enjoying the fresh air and beautiful weather while working on the front yard. I planned that one of us would take care of Caleb while the other would work on the yard and we could trade off as needed through the day. Jonathan had other plans though! We brought Caleb's exersaucer onto the porch and let him play while we both worked during the morning.



He loved being outside and was happy playing with his toys while he watched Mommy and Daddy work. For his two naps, we let him sleep in his bouncer like he usually does for naps and brought the monitor outside with us so we could continue working.

During the afternoon, Grandma Deb and Grandpa Paul came over to visit. They knew we'd be working outside still. Of course, Grandma had no problem loving on Caleb while Jonathan and I kept working! We enjoyed having them around and both pulled a few weeds for us! While I was working, Grandma brought Caleb over to the grass and let him stand in it for a while. After he got comfortable with that we let him sit in the grass too. He really studied it and kept feeling it with his hands. I think he was trying to figure out the new texture!







We still need to add soil and mulch to the flower beds and plant some flowers, but we did get all the weeds pulled and bushes trimmed. We'll work on the front yard again next weekend and then move to the backyard after that. It's going to take us several weeks to get all of the gardening done, but we'll take it one weekend at a time.

New Videos

We've been taking lots of videos of the new things Caleb can do. Here are two of our favorites from this weekend.

Sitting, Scooting & Push-ups

Yes, that's right. Our sweet baby boy is sitting up; scooting, albeit backwards, but scooting none-the-less; and doing push ups! This week he has been growing and changing right before our eyes!

On Tuesday, Caleb had a follow-up appointment at the doctor's office just to check him over after he was sick last week. While there, we found out he is now 12 lbs 4.5 oz. I'm sure he's gained several ounces in the 4 days since then though, the boy is eating like crazy! At that time he wasn't sitting up or scooting on his own.

While we were home on Wednesday, I noticed that he was slightly moving backwards while on his quilt, nothing too significant. Within 24 hours he was scooting clear off his quilt. He has now successfully wedged himself under the coffee table (don't worry, tooshy got stuck before his head was under!) and I regularly have to put him back on the quilt after he moves himself off of it!



Sitting kind of happened the same way. We've been holding him up while he plays sitting up for quite a while now. We've gradually been able to support him less and today he suddenly got it! He's certainly not sturdy enough to leave alone while playing, but I let go of him for several minutes before he begins to get tired and fall over. I've even seen him start to fall over and rebalance himself a few times!




At some point this week Caleb also started doing push-ups! Well, sort of! While he's on his tummy he is great at pushing up with his arms. He randomly started lifting his knees occasionally this week. It looks like he's doing push ups!




So many new things in one week! I thought I'd sign off with a funny picture. I came home from shopping earlier today with a trunk full of groceries. My husband, in his infinite wisdom, decided to find an easier way to carry everything in. This is what he came up with!

Great Reminder

I'm trying to rest today as much so while Caleb has been napping, I've been reading some of my favorite blogs. The women at GirlTalk posted this quite a while ago, but it served as a great reminder for me today. I've been frustrated lately at not completing the never-ending to do list I keep for myself. They posted this quote from C.S. Lewis:

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it’s hard to remember it all the time.”

How true is it that "life" is what happens each day, not what we plan for. So Caleb being sick last Tuesday and me getting nothing done from Wednesday night through, well, some time after today. That's not an interruption in my life, but it IS my life.

GirlTalk closed with this verse and I think there's no better one to be reminded of every day.

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24