Back to Work

Last Monday was my first day back to work. Erik, Caleb, and I are really lucky that both Grandmas are watching Caleb while I'm working part time. My Mom is with him on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Erik's Mom is with him on Fridays! Of course I miss Caleb when I'm at work, but I wasn't too emotional leaving him at home. We have an ideal situation! I'm not worried about him because he's with his Grandmas! They've been helping me with Caleb since he was born, so they're very familiar with his personality and his daily doings! Also, no matter how much I miss him at work, I know I get to spend the next day with him! Lastly, I'm always insanely busy, running around at work, that I barely have time to get sad thinking about missing him!

When I came home on Monday and hugged him, that's when I realized how much I missed him! My Mom wrote down everything Caleb did throughout the day so I wouldn't miss out on anything! Joy sent me pictures to my camera throughout the day so I could see how he was doing! They're awesome! Hopefully this arrangement of watching him will continue to work out. I still have him on the wait list at the daycare at my work, but I'd rather have him stay at home with his Grandmas!

My 29th birthday came and went on Friday! I had to work, so that's how most of my birthday was spent. I'm lucky to have some very sweet co-workers who gave me cards and gifts! My boss cracked me up when he came out of his office with an old gift basket, a bottle of rum, and a golf club...Happy Birthday! I said, "That's just crap that's been laying around in your office!" LOL! It was pretty funny! Erik picked up dinner and flowers for me, along with the sweetest card and a DVD! He got me Bolt, a Disney movie about a dog! He figured it would be one that Caleb will eventually like!

Saturday Caleb and I had a play date with Tess, Trisha, and her son Jamee! Caleb went into a swimming pool for the first time! He lasted for about 5 minutes, which was longer than I expected! He usually loves the water during his baths, but I think the pool was a little cooler than he would have liked!! He still did pretty well as we hung out by the pool for about 2 hours! Of course my camera's batteries died, so I don't have any pictures of his first time swimming! We'll have to take plenty water pictures in Hawaii! Hopefully he'll last a little bit longer in the water there!

Happy 1st Father's Day Erik!

Erik is such a great Daddy to Caleb and our puppies! He's become a lot more comfortable doing things with the babe on his own! I'm so very proud of him! Every morning, Erik is the first person Caleb sees! Erik takes him into his room to change him, and then brings him back to me so I can feed him. I love watching Erik talk to him! It's adorable watching Caleb put on his smile show for his Daddy! He even puts Caleb to bed all by himself! He gets his jammies on and reads to him! I know it's hard for Erik to be away from him with his long work days, so it's nice that he gets to work from home on Thursdays and Fridays! I really appreciate all of Erik's help! It makes things so much easier on me, and I feel like I can be a better Mommy! I love you Erik, and Happy 1st Father's Day!

How Could I Forget?!

June 5th was Erik’s Birthday! Kelsey and Hamilton were visiting us, and we had a fun day going downtown and to the Sox game! I was super excited because there were fireworks after the game! It was also the longest I’ve been away from Caleb since he was born! Grandma Joy came over and watched him all day! I did pretty well being away from him. I told Erik, “It’s nice getting out of the house, but I miss him!” Joy sent me pictures of Caleb to my phone, so I got to see that my little goober was having fun!

Erik came home with some really exciting news last week—he gets to work from home on Thursdays and Fridays!! Yeah!! He’s still in the basement office from 8am-6ishpm, but he’s able to come up and see Caleb for a few minutes throughout the day! It’ll be nice when I’m home on Thursdays if we can have lunch together! He loves it because he doesn’t have to deal with the construction traffic on 355!

Friday was the first World Cup game! Erik loves watching all the games! We bought Caleb an official ball, and decided that would be a cool collection to start for him…an official World Cup soccer ball every 4 years!

I'm very proud of my awesome husband! Without having to ask him, he took Caleb upstairs and put him to bed on Saturday and Sunday! I'm so impressed with how much more helpful he's become in the past week! It makes me so happy to work together as a team!

Caleb rolled from his stomach to his back today!! I helped him with rolling onto his tummy, but he rolled himself back over onto his back!! His personality grows more and more each day! He’s been babbling and smiling more, and will probably let out a giggle any day now! Of course I’ve been bonding with him even more, right before I have to go back to work! At least it’s part time…I have to keep reminding myself!

Places to Go, People to See

We have had a lot of fun the last two weeks introducing Caleb to more of our family and friends! Over Memorial Weekend we went to Indy for Cousin Melody's Graduation from High School! It was Caleb's first road trip, and he did great! He slept almost the whole drive there, and only fussed at the end because he got hungry! We had a lot of fun introducing him to Erik's family! Even Grandma and Grandpa drove up from Florida to hangout with the family!

Then we went to Wisconsin to visit my Great Auntie! She was thrilled to meet Caleb! She gave him a silver dollar and recited a special blessing for good health and happiness. We also drove to Lindenhurst to see my Uncle Terry, Auntie Ann, and cousin Christopher. "Uncle Chris" was so great with Caleb. When Caleb woke up from his nap, he was ready to eat, so I asked Chris if he wanted to give him his bottle. He did such a great job! Caleb was totally at ease with him! Chris said that Caleb was a Rock star! I couldn't agree more!

This past weekend, we had friends visiting from Alabama! My friend Kelsey from grad school and her boyfriend Hamilton flew up for the weekend to meet Caleb! We had so much fun hanging out and walking around downtown Naperville, grilling out and eating on the patio, and going to the Sox game!

Caleb's been doing really great sleeping through the night! For the past 2 weeks he's been going to bed between 8 and 9pm, and has slept till 6:30am! Now every night is not that awesome, but I'm not going to complain! Hopefully he'll keep to this schedule when I have to go back to work in two weeks. Yep, can you believe my leave is almost over? I can't! The first two months seemed to go by slowly, and I was pretty much in a fog! When I knew I had 1 month left, time started flying by at warp speed! I'm trying to soak in as much time with Caleb as I can!

Luckily my work and my boss are awesome, and I'll be going back part time!!! I'll be working Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and my Mom and Erik's Mom will be watching Caleb for us!! We're also on the wait list for the daycare at my work, but we're going to see how it goes with the Mom's watching him! We'd obviously rather have him stay at home with them!

Lastly, there may be a small chance that Caleb is starting to teethe already! His Daddy got his teeth at 3 months old, so we'll see if it's the same for Caleb! He's been drooling a lot more, and eating at his hand when he's obviously not hungry! I'll let you know if we start seeing any pearly whites anytime soon!