Caleb's First Haircut

Caleb had his first haircut about a month and a half ago (really trying to catch up on blogging here). I figure I will do the vast majority of Caleb's haircuts growing up, so we wanted to make the first one special. We found a place in Wichita Falls that was specifically for kids. It was decorated as a jungle safari and Caleb got to sit in a Jeep for his cut. He sat very still and was very calm throughout the process. About halfway through, he realized that he had been holding a car in his hand under the cover and so pulled it out to check it out. After only about 5 minutes, our baby was transformed into a little boy.

Here's are the before and after pictures. Such a little gentleman!

Caleb's First Birthday Party

Caleb, you had a monkey-themed party for your first birthday party. We figured this was fitting because you certainly are our "little monkey", constantly climbing onto and into everything you possibly can.

We had your party a few days late, but on the morning of your actual birthday, you woke up to 12 balloons lying on the floor in the living room. You think balloons are balls and immediately started saying, "Ba ba ba" when you saw them. You were so excited. Later that day, your daddy and I took you to Walmart to pick out a present. You picked a fairly small orange rubber truck, which you still love to play with.

Here was your party invitation (with all personal info changed):



After your daddy prayed for your life and for the food, everyone dug in. The food was simple--hot dogs, chips, monkey bread and cake. I made the birthday cake that you ate in the shape of a monkey head with chocolate frosting and banana cake.

The Cautherns were so sweet to host this special event in their back yard. There were yard games (Ladder Golf, Washers and Croquet) for the older kids and adults and an inflatable pool filled with balls for the younger kids. (I must confess that I copied this idea from my friend, Kristi, who also did this for her son's birthday party.) You LOVE balls and were so excited to be surrounded by them.














After everyone ate, you got to experience your first birthday cake. To be honest, it was a little anti-climatic. Your daddy and I were half expecting you to dive in head first, not taking much of a break to breath. You, however, were very methodical and actually pretty neat as you ate. At one point, you did put your face in the cake, but I think it was only after your daddy prompted you to. You seemed to enjoy your sweet treat, but were pretty interested in the blow-up monkey that was sitting next to you too.

It took you so long to eat your cake that we ended up opening your presents another day.

It was a very special day, and we were grateful to celebrate your life with some of our family and so many new friends. We love you, little one!

Great Offer!

I’m not sure how familiar people are with Shutterfly, but I’m a big Shutterfly fan. I’ve used this website regularly to send out monthly pictures of Caleb. In the process, I’ve discovered many of the great promotions that Shutterfly does. They’ll often offer free prints, free shipping or even big discounts on their many products.

For Christmas this year, they’re doing a promotion where if you write a blog post about Shutterfly, you get 50 free Christmas cards! How great is that!? What a great way to save money during a more expensive time of year! Click here to find out more about it.

I haven’t even begun to think about Christmas (or even Thanksgiving for that matter : ) ), but as I looked through the Shutterfly website, I found these great cards.

I love the different color schemes and particularly love the option to put more than one picture on your Christmas card. Plus, there are so many great designs to choose from!

They also have really cute birth announcements that maybe we’ll use next time around.

Shutterfly also carries a variety of products from stationery to calendars to these Christmas ornaments.

I hope this offer and these ideas can help someone else too!

Two More Teeth

I have so much blogging to catch up on, but since this is short and easy, we'll post today's big news:

-Caleb had two teeth break through today (second bottom right one and second top left one)

-He was diagnosed with his first ear infection (left side) and will therefore be starting his first round of antibiotics :(

I was shocked to find out Caleb had an ear infection. He had been more clingy than normal but hasn't really been fussing much. I guess that's the (very small) downside to having such a happy baby.

Happy Monday from Graham!