These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Well, Caleb's favorite things anyways! (and it helps if you sing the title...anyone know where it's from???)

Here are some videos of Caleb doing what he does best! He loves music (this bear is down stairs, it's a definite pick-me-up for those unhappy moments) and climbing over (and through) any obstacle in his way! He'd much rather go straight for something than go around!







Thanks Lindsey for passing on the singing bear to Caleb! It is seriously one of his favorite things! He regularly tries to make it play on his own, just can't quite figure it out yet!

Caleb's 1st Haircut

Caleb can see again! For the past few weeks his hair has been creeping into his eyes, but we took care of that this afternoon. Caleb has now had his first haircut!

I must say, I was a little worried about how he would handle it! I brought along his favorite toy, his lovey and snacks... I was even prepared to sit in a chair and hold him while he got his hair cut. We didn't need anything! Jonathan put him into the little car at CoolCuts and he sat calmly while he got his trim! The lady that cut his hair put Cars on the tv and Caleb occasionally focused on that, but mostly looked around and watched other people. There was also a mirror in front of him and he looked in that for quite a while.

Now that his hair has been cut he looks a little older to this momma! He's slowly looking more like a little boy and less like a baby. Crazy how one haircut can make him look so different! Here are some pictures of our cute little boy!

Starting Bottles

It's been a different week here in the Lutz household. We found out last weekend that I was not producing enough for Caleb, so we realized we'd have to start giving him bottles. He has been refusing bottles since January, outright skipping bottles knowing he would get to nurse at the next feeding. All weekend I dreaded making this change, so I waited to talk to the doctor on Monday before switching. After a helpful conversation with Caleb's doctor, we agreed to stop nursing and only feed him formula. I put off the change as long as I could til Tuesday morning. Well, he did great! I really worried for several days thinking he'd refuse several bottles before he drank one and feared the tears and tantrums we'd face... he took that first bottle like it was something he did every morning! He's done great ever since. We're still figuring out how much he needs, but that's something we'll figure out with a little time.

We've been home a lot this week as Texas is really living up to a typical July summer. It's gotten to the point that it's ridiculously hot in the car if we've been in a store for more than 15 minutes. I hate to have Caleb in and out of that! I do hope that we can get back to the YMCA this week, I've enjoyed working out and Caleb has gotten very comfortable in the nursery there.

Below are some very random pictures from the week. He seems so much bigger this week... is it possible that the formula is plumping him up already?

Weeds

I decided to start off my day in the Texas heat, surrounded by mosquitos as I pulled what seemed like a million weeds from my front flowerbed this morning. I feel like this is a continuous job, every few weeks I spend far too long out there, on my knees, killing myself to get rid of those pesky plants! At one point, the heat of the sun overcame me and I sat in the middle of the weeds, closed my eyes, and breathed. It was in that moment, that God found me.

Amazing, how He finds me when I don't even know I'm missing Him! He showed me how my reading of his word is much like how I deal with the weeds. Every few weeks, I open my bible to see what His words can show me, teach me. That's not to say that I'm not actively seeking him the other days, but there is something significant about opening my bible and letting God lead me to something I need to know. Bible studies, books and Sunday sermons are great (and needed), but I'm called to open my bible daily to give God that chance to reach me. If I were to read my bible diligently, maybe the weeds of life wouldn't seem to overwhelm me until I had to go open my bible; rather, the things I learn daily would help keep the weeds down. Of course, life's weeds can get overgrown even when I'm reading my bible daily, but God helps prepare my heart with His words so that I have the tools to conquer them!

If I spend 5, maybe 10 minutes in His word daily, it could be that the right verse or one of God's promises to us will pop into my head as the weeds take over instead of me looking for what I need while they climb over me.

Of course, maybe that will work with the weeds in my garden too, 5 minutes a day pulling the little weeds sounds a lot better than an hour or two pulling the forest every few weeks. The key though, is to be mindful of taking that time, because neither bible reading or weeding pulling will happen on their own!

Family Time

Sunday afternoon, Jonathan and I spent quite a bit of time with Caleb upstairs in the playroom just having fun as a family. I managed to get a few pictures of our time together. I love when we can enjoy being together without having other scheduled things going on!


Eating snack to prepare for playtime!


Cute little man!


Playing a NASA computer game with Daddy.


He really wanted to play with the cats... they weren't so interested at the moment : )


Wow, Mommy looks tired!

9 Months Old

Caleb turned 9 months on Saturday...CRAZY! I just can't believe how quickly time has gone by! We had his check up this morning and he is doing great! He didn't even cry when they pricked his finger for a blood test! Wow, every sentence so far has had an exclamation point...can you tell I'm excited and amazed? Hehe...

Height: 25 1/2 inches (.06%)

Weight: 14 lbs 5.5 oz (.03%)

Favorite Food: Meals with chicken, bread, puffs, yogurt melts (he's a pretty good eater, he'll eat just about anything I give him!) Drinks water from his sippy cup

Fun Things to Do: Crawls everywhere, walks with his walker, "walks" while holding onto furniture, crawling up the stairs, puts toys in his mouth to hold onto them while crawling

Talking: Says "Dada" when he's playing or excited, "Momma" when he's upset and "hihhy" when he sees the cats (kitty)

What amazes me: How well he does when we're out. He sits well in the basket of store shopping carts and looks around, very rarely fusses. When we're out to eat he lasts quite a while in the high chair while we eat. Don't get me wrong, he amazes me almost constantly, but I'm most amazed at how well behaved he is when we're out of the house.

There's plenty more I could say about our amazing little man. But that's most of the highlights for this month. I'm so grateful that we have a healthy, developing little boy that's such a delight to others. His personality has nothing to do with us and everything to do with his Maker. Thank you Father God for trusting us with this little blessing!

Problem Solver

Caleb has now figured out how to carry things around while crawling and walking....by putting them in his mouth, of course! It's been funny to watch him try different things before realizing his mouth would work best and it's now pretty typical for him to have something stored there for use whenever he gets to his eventual destination. We took some pictures and a video this evening, the entire monster foot is in his mouth! Such a goof : )

4th of July Family Reunion

Happy 4th of July! Every independence day weekend the Mullinnix family gets together for a family reunion. This includes my Dad's family, his parents and his brother's family. My grandparents live in a rural community sort of in the middle of nowhere southeast of Austin. They have a community center there that is perfect for our family to gather at. This year Grandpa put some meat on the grill (it's been a while since he's been well enough to do that) and we all brought sides and drinks to share! It was a great day! Even though we're disappointed that all the cousins couldn't be there, it was nice that all four of my grandparent's great-grandchildren were there. Of course, getting them all to smile at the same time for a picture wasn't going to happen, but it was great that they were all together!

After we cleaned up the community center, Jonathan and I headed over to my grandparent's farm to spend the night. It was nice getting that extra time with them. We weren't sure how Caleb would do for the night because the three of us were sharing a room, but he was fine! I heard him stir twice through the night, but he never cried and having us in the room didn't seem to bother him. We don't get to spend nearly as much time with my dad's parents as we do with my mom's parents, so it was so nice to have so much good time together. They've also inspired me to do some different things with my garden next year... so many ideas and I have to wait til next spring to get them started : )

Here are some pictures from the weekend - I think they share a lot more about our events than anything I could type out!

Early in the day



Grandpa helped Caleb fall asleep for a nap before everyone else arrived.


Jonathan and my brother, Thomas


My Uncle and his family


Thomas, Kristen and I with the boys


Family picture minus Katy : (


All four of the great-grandchildren


Boys will be boys...


At the farm after the reunion and Sunday morning