A Salvaged Day

Wow - two posts within 48 hours - amazing I know.
So, this day started out pretty rotten. There were set plans that all fell through. Jake was supposed to go home teaching (taking around the bread I stayed up until 1AM re-making) When he got home we had some people lined up to hang out with Kaleb while we went to the temple (been a long time, it's harder to do such things when you can't just up and go) I was, we both were, really needing the mental and physical recharge.
Jake gets a call about 8AM that things came up at work last night, blah blah blah. Jake was needed to fix stuff ASAP - needless to say, we were both really upset. Jake went in to work thinking he would be back in time so we could still go to the temple. Ha-ha-ha-things always take longer and are more complicated than originally assumed.
On a side note...I am always amazed how in-tune babies and children are to others emotions. I'm not one that cries very easily. I was just having a bad day...part of it might have been exhaustion since Kaleb decided the night before that I wanted to be up every hour. Jake called to say it was going to be an all day project after all. I just sat down on the couch and let it all out. I was holding Kaleb, he leaned back, stared at me so intently, then just placed his little hand on my cheek. He stayed like that for at least a good 5 minutes. Thanks for the comfort Kaleb, I guess it won't be so bad hanging out with you all day.
When Jake got home he had a brilliant plan...a family outing, we'll still make it to the temple, but, we'll take Kaleb also, his first time actually.

First we randomly stopped here...it smelled good...and it tasted good so we weren't disappointed. We shared a sandwich called 'The Mean One' - it had a lot of everything on it - and had really yummy sauce.


Our original stopping spot came next...an inexpensive but divinely yummy treat. Who can beat $1.50 for your choice of two homemade cookies, and a scoop of ice cream between.
It's a good thing we don't live closer, because I think we would frequent this place far more often than we should...(don't I look really excited to be eating my peanut butter and chocolate white chunk cookie with cookie dough ice-cream?)
Next came this place...thanks Auntie Shawna Willits for Kaleb's fabulous hat (mine too for that matter)
We got to see this...
all lit up with tons of...

Kaleb couldn't crane his head far enough or fast enough to see everything - he was so excited (until he got tired and super whiny)
So-okay - I'll admit - it ended up being a really fun day after all.

Life Goes On

While my second batch of cinnamon bread bakes (ask Jake what happened to the first 5 loaves) I thought I would take the time to do a quick bit of blogging. I realize we haven't posted anything in awhile. There hasn't been anything to write about. Life goes on, one day at a time. Jake has been busy at work and logging far more hours than his usual 50 - but, things need to get done. I'm amazed everyday how fast Kaleb is growing...I can't believe he is already half a year old! We're working on the eating food thing, and so far, so good. He hasn't really rejected anything...well, broccoli wasn't such a big hit, but he only got to try it one night. I love being able to make his food from fresh produce (some day my own garden instead of the Jewish market on the corner) yam, zucchini, and squash anyone? I've been buying vegetables I normally wouldn't eat or try (squash) so it has been interesting figuring out how to cook and slice different things. Kaleb hasn't figured out how to be mobile yet. He loathes being on his stomach so we'll see if he just skips crawling all together. Maybe he'll pull a Jake and I'll turn around to see him following us walking down the hallway. We still haven't figured out how to get Kaleb to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time, or nap more than 45 minutes. It's amazing what you can accomplish while in a dead zone sleepy funk. Kaleb is such a happy boy (most of the time) and is such a delight to have around the house. Nothing is better than hearing his laughter from the other room as Jake and Kaleb are playing and making faces at each other in the mirror. It's a whole new excitement to come home or just to walk in the room to get Kaleb up out of his crib. He has this smile that lights up his whole body and makes me realize I am the most tired but luckiest person in the world. Today Kaleb was laying on the floor as I was sitting nearby in a chair quilting. He then rolled and scooted himself over next to my chair and just laid there staring at me with his arms held up in the air towards me with a big smile on his face...how can you resist that?
We are so excited to go home to UT. in a week...even if it will be freezing...brrr...I'm excited for Kaleb to experience the wonder of cold snow.
Yes, I realize all these posts have been, and pretty much are centered around Kaleb, but, right now, what else is there to focus on in our lives?
I want to thank our friends Brent and Emily for the above picture. We commented that her homemade stockings were a bit on the large side. At least you can fit all the presents in them and you won't have to wrap any gifts. This idea of the stockings being rather large was proved by fitting a 6 month old in one. Kaleb seemed like he wasn't quite sure what to make of this idea, or what we were doing to him. Isn't that the best present ever to find in your stocking? I guess that means I was a good girl this year, no coal for me. (Quote from Jake "what's wrong with coal"?)

Kaleb's Growing

So - the title says it all - creative, I know.
We had Kaleb's 5 month doctor appointment today (we're a month behind). He is dead center average for his age. In two months he has gained 3 LBS and stretched 2 more inches, including 3 inches with his head (no wonder he cries so much!)
At 5 months old Kaleb weighs 16 pounds, is 26 inches tall and if you must know why he is so smart, his head circumference is 43 inches. Our baby is growing so fast!

So Thankful for Family

This week was all about food. Leave it up to the Americans to have holidays centered around food, like we need an excuse to eat more than we should.
Wednesday my sister Shawna, her husband Matt and daughter Sabine (3 weeks younger than Kaleb) came to hang out with us. Thursday was all about the food. We spent half the day making food and dirtying every dish we owned, and the other half eating it all. Only 4 of us and I think we had enough food for 10 people (at least)
~14 LB Turkey
~20 potatoes, mashed
~3 LBS green beans
~3 yams - baked and brown sugared
~1 dozen homemade wheat rolls
~Apple Salad
~Green Salad
~Grilled Mushrooms
~Cornbread Stuffing
~2 Bottles of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider
~2 Bottles of Martinelli's Sparkling Apple-Grape
~Pumpkin Pie
~Lemon Meringue Pie
and Chocolate Cream Pie
Using my favorite quote from Jake's sister Shawna (there are two of them, don't get confused here) we gobbled until we wobbled.
They brought their Wii gaming console and we battled it out for fame and glory - or just the last piece of pie, and Austrian chocolate that they so kindly brought us from their world travels.









Even the babies were very fascinated with the Wii (what are we doing to our poor children!?)


Friday we spent the day being lazy and wandering Glendale and the mall and shopping complexes...this is us white trash people - sitting on the sidewalk putting together a stroller. Sabine was getting too heavy to carry comfortably very much longer.

Saturday we made the drive to Santa Barbara and enjoyed the day wading in the ocean and wandering the town and pier. (aren't all you people that are freezing in Utah jealous?)













This was by far one of our better Thanksgivings in a while. This was the first time we've been with other family in the last 4 years. We had so much fun hanging out and are so grateful they came for a visit. I love family! This makes me even more excited and anxious for Christmas to get here when we get to be in UT. and see more of the family.

A Slice of Life

There isn't much new going on in our lives at the moment. Everyday is about the same.
Kaleb is growing so quickly. It seems he is doing something new every day. Today was one of those moments. Kaleb will sometimes roll from his stomach to his back but I've never seen him go the opposite. Today I laid him on his back and then I came in to see him on his stomach with a toy that had been a few feet away from where I had laid him down...how did he get that? I let him do his thing and just watched him from a distance. He ended up on his back again, and then rolled over to his stomach and started the army crawl...just a few scootches (that is now a word in my book), but enough to reach another toy. I wish I could have caught it on camera, but, I'll be ready next time! It's so fun and amazing to watch Kaleb grow and develop.
Our life right now is so predictably unpredictable.
Yesterday I was in the laundromat and a gentleman asked me if it was worth it to have kids. In more words or less I let him know it depended on the day but that parenting is the hardest job you will ever do, and the best. Some reasons why I think it's amazing is because they look up to you, and make you laugh. They make you remember what it was like to be that young, to have an endless fascination with a world that is completely brand new, and thanks to them we get to revisit that world every day with them. They remind us to have fun and make us realize that sometimes cloud watching IS more important than doing laundry. There’s no doubt that having kids changes your life forever, but I wouldn't change having Kaleb for anything in the world. Sometimes I do miss those selfish things, endless sleep whenever I wanted, me time whenever I wanted, leaving the house at the last minute with maybe just my drivers license in my pocket. But, having Kaleb has definitely changed my world for the better.
I enjoy being a mom. I do not always enjoy parenting, but I do enjoy being a mom.
P.S. - A huge CONGRATS to Jake's brother Daniel and his FIANCE Hannah- they are getting married in January - we are so excited for them!

A Babies Laugh is the best remedy

I have a few videos of Kaleb from a few days ago. I wish I would have come in at the beginning when he was really laughing, but, I got a piece of it. Jake made this random noise when commenting about something and Kaleb started laughing. We both looked around trying to figure out what he found so funny, and then realized, it was the noise Jake had just made. Of course, we had to try it again, Kaleb was laughing so hard he was choking. I've only ever heard Kaleb laugh one little 'Ha' not this full on gut laughing. Again, wish you could have seen the best part of it, but, here's what I got. A babies laugh is so infectious. A remedy for a cloudy day. Enjoy, and see if you can keep a straight face!

Finding our Mark in History.

I wanted to give a quick shout out to my mom and thank her for teaching me how to sew. Which means I guess that I thank grandma Gubler also because she probably taught my mom how to sew, and actually had a huge influence in teaching me since we're both left-handed. This is probably a weird thing to be grateful for but I am so grateful that I am able to take a much needed perfectly good pair of pants with a broken zipper and replace said zipper with a new one. Thank you to those patient ones who taught this backward left-handed girl a very valuable skill that has come in handy more than a few times.

"There is a moment, a simple moment, before history gets recorded.
Before it goes in the books.
Before it appears as a question on a game show.
Or on a midterm exam.
A moment right before the headline is written.
There is a moment when history lives in the present.
When we can watch it unfold in real time, right before our eyes.
When we can all assume our place in it."
-- Maria Elena Fernandez--

I assumed my place in history by casting my vote of unyielding hope for a better future for my children and grandchildren. This was the first year that I've cared enough to vote. This was the first time I took a moment to study all the issues. I felt so proud as I handed in my ballot to know, I did what I could to hope for a better tomorrow. We are so blessed to live in this land of choices and decisions.

Adventures of parenting...
We started on a new journey of parenting and introduced rice cereal to Kaleb's diet this morning. It was a rather messy adventure. He did pretty well and seemed to enjoy it. I do wonder how much he actually managed to swallow, but he didn't seem too hungry afterward so I guess he got enough. Now we just need to get him a highchair and baby sized spoons. I still can't believe Kaleb has grown so fast!

I figured out something about our camera...and I can post it! Cool!

Cuteness is his only saving grace

This is mostly pictures...Kaleb is so cute, I couldn't decide which one to post - so I posted a lot of them.
Thanks to some wonderful friends in our ward we got to go on our first date without Kaleb. We walked over after work to get a slice of pizza and then to share some Cold Stone Creamery Nutter Butter icecream - YUM! (Although they were out of the two mix-ins that we wanted, Oreo's and Reese's, is that what we get for going at 8:00 at night?)
The night before Halloween we decided to carve a pumpkin (maybe next year Kaleb will care and we'll do it before he goes to bed)



Jake designed the really cool eyes - we played nice and shared the knife. It's hard to get a picture of a glowing pumpkin! I got the duty of picking out all the seeds......and then I roasted them. They were a bit heavy on the salt but tasted pretty good after you rubbed them between your hands to get rid of the inch layer of salt. Not too bad for a first time trying roasted pumpkin seeds.

For Halloween we were invited to a friends party and trick-or-treating in their neighborhood afterward. Kaleb was having an ornery day so it just wasn't worth it to take him. Jake and Kaleb were going to go by themselves anyway since I had to work. I put him in his costume for some pictures and then sent him to bed. Who expects a first Halloween to be fun anyway?
Didn't Grandma Stevens pick out the cutest costume ever?

note to myself~
Kaleb can't quite sit up unsupported yet.

I hope this costume counts as scary...this is one scary bear huh?












And, just because Kaleb is cute...



And more, just because Kaleb looked like the cutest little man all ready for church today.

Life in General

I guess since the week is pretty much over I should update about the happenings last week. The most exciting thing was that mom and dad were able to come for a short visit (never long enough). Dad found a car that could use some help, and was drivable. They flew in on Thursday, rented a Mustang, then drove the salvaged car home Saturday morning. We didn't have any exciting plans, just lots of Kaleb squishing. Mom helped me make bread, actually, everyone had a hand in the bread making this time. We had Thai food delivered from our all time favorite restaurant (when one is craving Thai) Original Thai. We can't offer the greatest room and board, we at least have an air mattress and some living room floor space. We loved having them here though.

Kaleb couldn't get enough of Grandpa and his silly noises

Saturday evening we joined our Ward for Trunk-or-Treating, and chili cook-off. We got smelly with lots of bowls of yummy chili, and cornbread, and had a blast hanging out with our friends, on a very warm October night. (I must add, I miss fall in UT. it is October, it's not supposed to be ninety degrees outside!) Maybe it's because we're in the entertainment sector of Californians, but everyone was dressed up so awesome, even quite a lot of family themes (for more awesome pictures, since I forgot my camera, see some of our friend's blogs) Grandma brought Kaleb an adorable-I mean, scary costume, (Jake says there's no cute or funny in Halloween, it's only meant for scary) it was far too warm for it so I decided on a last minute humorous get-up for us both. (We're hoping for cooler weather on Halloween since he's going to wear his costume no matter what) I went in my pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers, and made Kaleb into an alarm clock...


As you can see, he looks so excited to be wearing it (I made him sit on his hands, which greatly bugged him) This picture was taken after it was all done, so by now he's sucked off a few of the numbers, including the silver clock hands that pointed to 2AM and one of the bells on his headband has fallen off, but, you get the gist of it. There was also a green circle on his back (for the back of the clock). Jake didn't dress up, he can't afford the pieces for costumes that he wants, he's too much into authenticity and all that fun-ness. Kaleb was so tired by the end of the night that he had a hard time sleeping (it probably didn't help that we messed up his schedule so much he didn't even get a bath) he woke up seven times that night, which I wasn't too thrilled about!
Oh yeah, that's the other great news from this past week. This nap schedule has really been helping Kaleb (at least, that's what we're attributing it too) He has been sleeping 4-5 hours at a time at night, which means, only waking up once a night now (usually - he still has some ornery nights) YEAH!!!
Jake is back to working days (I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago) so I'm going in for my 2 hours of receptionist duties at night. We've switched roles so Jake puts Kaleb down for bed now instead of getting up with him (I don't mind at all, since it also means that he usually is the one to cook dinner)

Oh yeah - and Kaleb found his thumb this week, he still really enjoys his fingers, but that thumb, oh, it's divine. I'm hoping he doesn't get addicted! (it's not something that's hereditary is it? If so, I'm sorry Kaleb!)