My Baby Is One . . .

Caleb J. turned 1 today, November 16th.  (We had his party on Sunday, which is why I'm all set with this journal entry today. :)  

What a year it has been . . . but more on that later.  First, enjoy some pictures! 

So, you may have gathered that I like to plan birthdays for my kids.  It's not necessarily time consuming, and is never pricey, but I like to plan them out (like Anna's cute/fancy picnic in the woods in August :).  Well, despite that, we keep it pretty low key for one year old birthdays around here . . . just family (although, even with just family we had 20 or so people there), finger food (including frozen pizza, hehe), cake (my mom made Caleb's cute cakes with a blue number one and polka dots - thanks mom!), and simple decorations (we don't really do a theme when our babies turn one, and these few decorations were left over from Ben's first birthday).  They are so oblivious at this age, that I just can't bring myself to put much thought or time into the party.  To me, the high-light of a one year old's party is when they eat the cake . . . and Cabers did not disappoint.  hehe

Oh, and the picture above is my favorite from the whole bunch.  I am a sucker for my baby's profile . . . the cheeks, the squishy lips, the chubby arms, the little button nose, the soft wavy baby hair. LOVE it!

Party hats and blowers (left over from Benjamin's one year old party); the CAKES my talented momma made; Caleb enjoying his birthday dinner.  Yum!

Cabers really liked being sung to. . .

Anna helped blow out the candle; Caleb tentatively starts to try the cake; and it makes him HAPPY.  hehe.

Handsome, blue-eyed boy.  "This is really good cake, mama."

Group shot of serving up cake;  People chatting and mingling in the kitchen;  And Rebecca and Rachel - super cute sisters!  (We had the party at Chuck and Melissa's house.  We always have Sunday dinner over there . . . we just invited the rest of our family along for Caleb's birthday this past Sunday.  Thanks for having ALL of us!)

Party hats! Caleb was not a fan of the party hat, surprise, surprise.  I didn't get a pic of everyone who chose to try the party hats, but thanks for being good sports.  :)

Love this pic of Cabers standing up next to his happy birthday sign. Cutie pie!  He much preferred to try to grab the balloons than open his birthday presents.

Anna and Benjamin "helped" Caleb J. open his presents.  As in, they did it for him.  He got some cute, sweet gifts.  Thanks everyone!

Okay, and one last photo - below - of my adorable, chubbers.  You can see that he finished almost all of his cupcake.  Not surprising.  hehe.

Now, let me reflect for a bit on my baby boy . . . he's come so far.  I know it's only been a year, but all the complications from his birth and six week NICU stay seem like FOREVER ago.  Almost like a dream.  And although we're still dealing with some lasting effects from the chronic lung disease/asthma (that he may still grow out of in a few more years), Caleb just seems SO much healthier now. 

It's hard to remember that he started out like these pictures below . . .

Doesn't he look so different?!  (That second picture is especially gooney looking - I think he was going potty :)  Medical Update - When he's not sick with a cold, of which he's had a few his first year, Caleb takes only one medicine through an inhaler twice a day.  It takes less than a minute to give it to him and he doesn't usually mind.  Not too bad, when you're used to so much more.  If he has a cold, then he'll usually do another medicine through the inhaler - as needed - to help with wheezing and retracting, and sometimes he'll need some liquid steroids - decreases lung inflammation, and an antibiotic if the doctor suspects pneumonia or an ear infection (which he develops easier than most).  Also, when Caleb is totally healthy, for him, he may sometimes use an additional inhaler medicine if he's wheezing or showing other breathing symptoms, as his doctor suspects he may have allergies.  So, although I feel like Caleb's first year was pretty good, healthy, etc, (he only had a couple colds - not bad when you have two germy older siblings :)  and that I'm on top of his medical stuff, I'm still SUPER nervous going in to this winter season.  We'll just hope for the best!

Okay, enough about Caleb's health situation.  Other tid-bits about my Cabers:  He walks when he's holding on to something.  He can stand on his own for a few seconds before falling.  I'd guess he's still two months away from walking, which is not unusual for our kids who have had to hold up lots of chub and very large heads.  :)  (Anna was 14 months when she walked.)  He is a power crawler, and is always on the go.  He loves to be sung to and tries to do hand motions to some of his favorite songs.  He loves to snuggle and give kisses.  He loves to look out the window.  He loves to be in "the know" and right in the middle of everything.  Caleb does not like to be alone, he needs people around him.  He loves his nuki and blankie . . . it's so adorable seeing him look for his blankie, crawl across the room for it, then snuggle it up to his cheek with a content, sleepy look on his face. 

Caleb loves to eat, and is ready to try almost anything from bananas to pesto salmon.  He eats three meals a day with a sippy cup of water.  He has three bottles of milk a day too.  (We try to get him to drink the sippy cup himself, but Ethan and I like to give him his bottles of milk for extra bonding/snuggle time . . . usually until our babies are two.)  Caleb says "dada" and lots of baby babbling, but no other real words that we can tell.  He has the biggest, brightest smile - it's as simple as seeing someone he loves, and he'll get a big smile on his face.  Sweetness!  Caleb usually takes just one nap a day for two to three hours.  He also sleeps from about 7pm to 7am for the night - give or take, straight through.  (I know, we were blessed with three very good, scheduled sleepers.  My sister Beth is envious.  :) 

Hmm. what else?  Some days have been hard and overwhelming with Cabers this year (especially when he's been on steroids!), but his cuteness, and chubbiness, and sweetness, and snuggles, and smiles, and laughing make up for it.  We love him to pieces, and we're so grateful Caleb was sent to our family.  He's such a little smoo.    

Happy Birthday Caleb Jones Rayhorn!