Caleb 10 Months

Our big boy playing under the table

I can hardly believe my baby boy is 10 months. He is growing so fast. He just loves life and I pray that will continue. He is so happy. He still is not totally crawling. He rolls and goes backwards. When he is sitting up he scoots on his bum to get around. Kyle and I laugh but he knows how to get around on his own. He is enjoying some formula now days. I am trying to decrease the breastfeeding. I am just done with all that. I still feed him in the morning and I hope to do that until he is one. I also still pump at noon so he will still have breast milk for another month. He is just thriving. He is eating a lot more solids as well. He knows how to chew his food up so we are able to feed him more of our food. He loves chicken, carrots, sweet potatoes, kiwi, bananas, squash, blueberries and peas. Today I tried some baby yogurt on him. He seemed to enjoy it but we will see how his tummy takes it. I don't want my kids to have the food allergies I have so I spread out his foods every 4 days. He loves to smash his food on his tray and he really loves to throw his food on the floor. It must be a boy thing because Allison never did that. Caleb continues to babble and laugh. We are excited to take him to Cannon Beach in a week. I hope he enjoys the beach as much as his sister does.

Weekend Fun

Monkey Bars

Spinning Chair.

This weekend just flew by. Friday we went out to dinner and just hung out. Saturday Allison and I kicked our day off at Gymnastics. After gymnastics Allison and I enjoyed watching the Woodinville Parade. It was such a great sunny day for a parade. Last year Allison was in this parade. This year we watched some of our old teachers and friends walk in it. It was a fun day together. After the parade we headed out to a date. I took Allison on a little lunch date. I had such a good time with her. I look forward to Saturdays with her because during the week I have a hard time playing with both kids. I get torn between the two and I feel I am always saying no to Allison. Our time on Saturdays makes up for it. We got home and picked up Daddy and Caleb. We then headed down to Mulkiteo Beach. We have not been to the Beach in a long time. They had toys for the kids to play on. Now i don't have to drive to Edmonds all the time. I love the Edmonds beach but Mulkiteo has some great food right by the ferry and it is a little closer drive for us. After some fun time at the park we came home for some down time. Then we headed back out to meet Grandma and Grandpa Hutchison for church and dinner. We had such a great time at dinner with them. Caleb was really good being up way past his bed time. Allison too but I don't worry about her so much. It was a great day.

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Walking Toy

Today I bought Caleb a sit and walk toy. We do not have one because we borrowed it from friends when Allison was learning. No, Caleb is not learning to walk. Although he does love to stand up and hold onto stuff. He loves his new toy. He loved sitting on it and standing while holding on. Allison enjoyed it too. She wanted to be in the pictures too. Caleb continues to roll around and go backwards. As you can tell in these pictures he is very happy. I would say this is Caleb 99% of the time in front of the camera. He loves his picture taken.

Dedication

Our sweet boy was dedicated to the Lord. It was so great to have Chris dedicate him as he did Allison 3 years ago. We had our family and some close friends at church with us. I got a little teary eyed when Chris talked about those who came for us. Kyle and I are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends in our life. I cant believe how God continues to bless us with such love. I know our kids will be loved and will have others always praying for them. The great part of this day was Caleb. He was such a ham. He kept waving at the crowd and shaking his head. He was laughing and I would say he stole the show. He is such a happy boy and he showed that to everyone on this great day. I love you son and I pray you will use your joy for Gods kingdom.

Happy Anniversary

Getting ready to get on the ferry


Holy cow I made it to Langley on my new bike. Isn't is just lovely?

My present from my awesome husband

One of the many views from Langley

Kyle and I have been married 6 years. Although I feel it has been a lot longer. This year we did not really want to go out and do the typical dinner and movie or go away for the night. I told Kyle if the weather is nice I wanted to go for a ride on my new bike. 6 years ago on this day we got married. The weather was nice like this 6 years ago too. Kyle picked out a route for us. He told me its only about 7 miles to the Langley from the ferry. I knew their would be hills but I did not realize how big some are. I also did not realize that after I got up one and went down it there would be another one and another one. Getting there was tough for me but I really enjoyed being with Kyle. He is so patient with me. I truly love him and appreciate him for that. We arrived in Langley about an 1hr and 1/2 later and we enjoyed our time walking around the town, on the beach and having coffee. I think the best part for me was sitting on the bench over looking the ocean and praying to God. We are so thankful that God gave us each other. He truly picked the perfect man for me.

On our ride one thing I realized is the how quiet the Island is. I would turn my music off and just listen to the wind and take in the sun. God reminded me how much I need to have quiet moments in my life. I have been sharing with Kyle about how I have felt over whelmed with the kids, the house and just life. I don't give God much of my time and I need him deeply. I have been feeling very anxious trying to balance my life with family, church and friends. It truly has been one of the hardest things for me. I miss my friends but I know they understand this is where my life is right now. My husband and kids need me more these days then I realized. Allison is always following me around and wants to help me with cleaning. Its her way of spending time with me. I try to play with her as much as I can. Having two kids is hard. One way I spend time with her is we have quiet time together with God. I love it and so does she. The other day I asked her how i can be a better mommy. Allison said, "pray." I thought that was a great answer. Allison said she would pray for me not to yell and I can pray for her to obey. God is working in her life.

Caleb is growing up so fast too. He is constantly wanting me around as well. He does better playing on his own then Allison did at this age but he still likes to have me near him. Sometimes I will sit on the floor with him and read a magazine or just play with him. He loves to laugh a lot and loves to be tickled. Allison is really good at making him laugh. He is finally good at getting around by rolling or crawling backwards. He loves to stand a lot.

Anyways, my life continues to be busy but I am enjoying every moment I can with my kids. They are a gift from God and I am so thankful for them. They continue to mold and shape me as a mommy. Don't you just love how God uses the kids to do that?

Gymnastics

The gymnastic Girl

Trying a back flip with her coach.

I officially signed Allison up for gymnastics. I have been wanting to do this for the last year. Allison has loved tumbling and jumping so I thought gymnastics would be perfect for her. My friend Shannon signed both of her girls up, I decided to get on the ball and sign Allison up to, Allison loved it. We got to do a trial class just to see if she would enjoy it. They do different things each time. She is learning to stretch, the balance beam, trampolines and so much more. I even bought her a outfit for the class. I let her pick it out at a consignment store. I will have to take some pictures next time. I am so glad she is enjoying it and I hope she will want to stay with it for awhile. It is helping her build confidence and burn energy. here is Allison right after she jumped off the trampoline.

Date Night

I surprised Kyle with a date on Friday. Usually Kyle is the one who always is surprising me. Not this time. I finally surprised him again and it felt good. If you know my record of trying to surprise my husband with dates, I can count it on one hand. He always finds out what I am planning. It was hard to keep it a secret but I did it. I ended up going to the Comcast Arena and I purchased the tickets there. I kept them hidden and then I planned to have Tai Dinner as well. We had such a great time. It was so good for us to get out and enjoy each other. We had a great dinner and wonderful conversation. After dinner we headed across the street and into the arena. It was so crazy there. Kyle was like a big kid. I purchased second row tickets so we could see all the action up close. Kyle loved it and so did I. He also enjoyed the time he got to watch the warm up. I tried talking to him but he was completely focused on the warm up. I did not mind because this date was all about him. The best part is Everett Won, yahoo. Thank you honey for allowing me to spoil you. I hope to do it in the future.

Bath Time

Caleb got some new goggles for swimming class. We tried them out in the bath tonight. Here are some pics and a video.

Caleb and Allison

Caleb is now 9 months and finally start to be more active. He is such a happy baby. I am overjoyed to have 2 such amazing kids. Caleb's new things are crawling backwards, rolling and laughing at is his sister. We have been going to the park on the past few days and Caleb loves to swing. He giggles the whole time. He is finally over his ear infection and sleeping a lot better at night. Kyle gets up with him in the middle of the night about once and then I wake up with him around 4 am for a morning feeding. He is doing really well and he just love to laugh and play. Another funny thing he does is when music is playing he rocks with it. I wonder if he will be into music when he gets older? Caleb is also enjoying swimming classes at the club. We are going to continue to have him in classes for awhile because he loves the water so much. He is complete opposite of his sister. Allison enjoys the water but does not like going underwater. He has 4 teeth on the bottom and his two side teeth on the top. I call him Dracula because he is missing his front top teeth. I can not believe he is 9 months. Time is going by so fast.

Allison is going to be 4 this summer. The other night I went in her room to pray over her like I do every night while the kids are asleep. I just looked at her and I could not believe how big she is getting. It just seems like yesterday she was learning to walk and say "momma." Now she says "mommy" all the time. She loves school and has learned so much. She comes home with memorized scripture, songs and prayers. Her imagination is wonderful. This weekend Allison and I are going out to visit a gymnastics club. She has not been involved in any sort of sport since summer. Plus I want to find something for her to do with Mommy. They have mommy and kids classes or separate ones for kids only. We will see what she likes best. She usually wants me at new places for the first time then she has me leave. I just want to have some alone time with her because the weeks get so crazy I am unable to spend quality time with her. Allison's new thing now is, "can we go to Haley's house and play?" Our neighbor has a 5 year old that Allison loves to play with. The hard part is she wants to play with her every day. I wish we had more kids around for her to play with.

Gluten Free

Morning Breakfast Kyle made for me. It has gluten-free meat balls (trader-Joe's), turkey bacon (trader Joe's), tomatoes, peppers and asparagus.

As most of you know Over the past year and a half I had to change my eating habits. At first it was really easy but I was also pregnant. During my pregnancy it got a little harder. I was craving things I could not eat. I found out during my pregnancy with Caleb the wheat didn't bother me. So I ate all that I could. This year I have been trying to get back on track. One because we think Caleb had a small sensitivity to dairy and I also was getting stomach aches again. Caleb did a lot better since I stopped eating yogurt but my stomach issue was still bad. With my husband's help we got back on track. The hardest part about being gluten and wheat free is going out to eat. I have found that a lot of restaurants do serve gluten free stuff or I just have to ask for no bun or bread. I have also given up sweets for Lent. I have done this before but never really put it into practice where I rely on God for help. I found that I am pretty weak and craving a lot of unhealthy eating. When that kicks in I do pray and I have found strength to redirect my eating habits. This is not easy for me because I love all kinds of food. I am not a big vegetable eater either. I have found better ways do eat vegetables, like dipping it into humus or grilling it for breakfast with my gluten-free meatballs. Here are a couple of dishes that Kyle made me for breakfast and I made for dinner. They are truly yummy.

Chicken stuffed with cheese and Asparagus. It has lemon, salt, pepper and some gluten-free breadcrumbs on top. Most of you know I am not much of a cook. Being allergic to stuff has made me cook from home a lot more.