The Joys of Gift Cards

I always ask for gift cards for Christmas and usually get them. Well, apparently, I got some last year that I put in my wallet and forgot about so this Christmas I had some extra balances left to spend. Here's a breakdown of what I got:

Belk - two cable nit sweaters (I have a few already but I really like them), a new, firmer king-size pillow, a cute purse, a metallic wallet, some silver earrings, and a cream colored scarf ~ $90

Ann Taylor Loft - a jewel toned pink sweater, a pair of casual dark jeans, a pair of nice jeans, a pair of light gray work pants, and a pair of black tights ~ $110

Borders - to be determined

I ended up spending $20 of my own money because one of my gift cards for $25 only had $13 on it. Otherwise I would have only spent $10.

Christmas Past and Present

Last Christmas we were trying to get Kaleb to turn over. He just layed around while we opened his presents (that were more for us - diapers, diaper genie, etc) and we put bows on his head for fun.

This Christmas he was so active! He crawled up on the fireplace to sit and open his presents. He was more interested in opening the present than the gift itself. Except for the slide. He LOVES his slide. It's amazing how much he has changed in only a year. He's saying new words each day and discovering new things left and right. I can only imagine how much fun next Christmas will be. We may even have a little bundle in the works by then. Who knows?

My Thankful List

I've been watching snippits of Sixteen and Pregnant and Teen Mom. While they got me through some unsure times when I was pregnant, (because I figured that if they could do it then I could do it) I feel sorry for the babies in the show because most of them grow up without two parents and around so much negativity and stupidity. In this post I'm going to make a top ten thankful list for Kaleb and everything to do with his life.

1. He is a perfectly healthy baby. I've read blogs and heard stories of other babies who are born with deformities and painful conditions and it breaks my heart. I know that those mothers and fathers love their children as much as I love Kaleb, and to think that my child could have a condition where he is in constant pain is too much to bear.
2. He is an easy-going and altogether happy baby. I know I probably won't be as lucky with the next child, so I'm trying to take in all of the amazing personality traits Kaleb has.
3. I love this stage he's at when he runs away laughing as you chase him. So far I've loved every stage more than the last and missed every stage that has passed. I loved being able to hold him while he was sleeping, watch him roll over, hear his first words, encourage him to crawl, etc... but this stage is the stage people think of with toddlers. He's running around, laughing, getting into everything, and being mischievous. It's so heart-warming and cute.
4. He loves books. I was really hoping he would like books and he does. He can even say brown bear when he wants to read Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?. Right now his two favorite books are Brown Bear and Goodnight Gorilla. We got him a lot of books for Christmas so I can't wait to see if any of them become his new favorite. My mom said she read lots of books to me every day and I've always done well in school, so I hope the same is true for Kaleb.
5. He's saying more and more words every day. I love hearing him say new words and it seems to be more and more frequent that a new words pops out. Pretty soon I'll be able to have conversations with him. That is so hard to imagine, but even now he can respond to commands and questions using the words he already knows. I'm pretty sure he understands more than what he can say.
6. He has two parents who love and adore him and would do anything in the world for him. One of the biggest things I'm thankful for is that he has a mother and a father who think he hung the moon. There are so many kids out there who only have one involved, loving parent and so many that have none. Kaleb is blessed to have two parents who talk about him and adore his every move.
7. He has other family (aunts, uncles, grandparents) who couldn't live without him. Not only does he have a loving immediate family, but he has other family members who love him as well. I'm so thankful that he will always be surrounded by love and support.
8. He's stinking adorable. I know every parent thinks her child is the cutest, but there are some unfortunate looking kids out there. I'm so glad that he's so cute. Of course, that probably means he'll also be bad.
9. He's growing up in church. I grew up and church and it was never really an option whether we went to church each Sunday. I want this for Kaleb. I'm so glad he's growing up in a church where the adults love him and he's hearing about God. I know that we'll be leaving Waynesboro in another year (going who knows where) and that we'll have to find another church home wherever we end up, but for now he's in a great place.
10. He has his whole future ahead of him. He can be anything he wants to be and we'll support him. I'm thankful that he will always be told that he is loved and smart and accepted.

Kaleb's Checkup

Kaleb had his 15 month checkup 3 days before his 16 month birthday. We've had to reschedule a couple times and almost had to reschedule again but it got worked out.
Height: 32"
Weight 24 lbs
He's in the 75th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. He's making me nervous because he won't eat meat. I've done some looking online and it says that as long as he's getting protein through milk, cheese, and yogurt he should be okay. He loves fruit and all types of milk products. We're going to try to give him fruit as snacks instead of always goldfish and MumMums. He's pointing to his nose and sometimes hair, he can identify balls around the house, makes the car noise when he sees a car, and is starting to say "Ho ho ho!". Dr. Pujari said she was very impressed with his wordage.

New Series Entry 1 (2-3)

I've been trying to figure out some sort of series that I could blog about at least semi-consistently. I've read other blogs where each day they focus on something. I'm not going to say that I'm going to blog every day or even every Thursday about my new topic, but as it feels right. Okay, my new blog topic: Proverbs 31 - The Biblical Woman. I'm going to take a few verses at a time. Maybe, if one verse is really loaded, I'll do a single verse. I'm not really going to constrain myself. I'm going to let what comes come.

Proverbs 31: 2-3
"O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows, do not waste your strength on women, on those who ruin kings."
Let me start off by saying that these two verses aren't actually in the series I want to do. That technically starts in verse 10 with the characteristics of a noble wife. That being said, I included this because it is something I want to teach Kaleb. My modern day translation would go something like this:
"Kaleb, my son, you mean more to me than you know. I've been bonded with you on different levels since the day you were conceived. Your father and I love each other very much and from our love you were born. A word of advice: don't chase after girls (or girls who chase after you). Chase after God. There will be plenty of time to worry about women and dating and all of the things that go along with it. Before you reach that point in your life when you start thinking about finding someone to love, be sure you are well grounded in the Lord. Women and relationships (emotional and physical) can cause you to be so wrapped up in them that you neglect what's truly important. You can be manipulated and deceived when you rush into things. Please take care of your heart and the hearts of the ones you're with."

Realizations

I've always wondered when I would truly feel like a mom. After 15 months with Kaleb it's still so odd to think that I am responsible for this child's upbringing. He will be my responsibility for the next 18 or so years. He's going to scream "I hate you!" to me one day because I'm going to have to ground him. But today I had one of those mom moments. His hair is getting ridiculously long in the back and verging on the side of mullet. Eric's been talking about it the last few days (ahem, weeks) so after his bath tonight I trimmed the back of it. Now, this may not seem like much, but when I was growing up, my mom trimmed our hair and I always thought of it as a true "mom thing" as much as some people think about licking your finger to get a smudge off a face. And today I got to do it. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.

On a similar note, I remember when I first felt like an adult. It was the first time I was able to cut wrapping paper by sliding the scissors down the line instead of having to cut each time. Sounds simple, I know, but I remember thinking that when I was able to do that I'd be ready for the secrets of womanhood.

On a non-mom yet somewhat related note, today I felt, for one of the first times since moving to kindergarten, that maybe I wasn't cut out for teaching. I hate having to paddle kids, and I had to paddle one on his birthday. It's true that the kids act crazy and can be rude, defiant, disobedient, and just downright mean, but how should I react to it? Should a hoop and holler? Should I paddle? Should I call parents? Should I take them outside and talk to them? I've done all of these things and so much more. Even though I tell myself "they're just kids" some part of me also says "but they should know not to talk back to an adult." There's just such a discrepency on how kids are raised and what they are taught to do and not to do. I know I would have died before back talking my teacher, but some of these kids straight up tell me that they won't do their work and I can't tell them what to do. A friend of mine was talking to a couple teachers in our district about homeschooling her child (not even one yet) because so many teachers complain about their jobs and she wouldn't want her child going to someone that hates what they do. That really hit me because she is SO right. I wouldn't want to send Kaleb to a teacher who didn't want to be there and didn't care about the kids. (Honestly that would be me some days) My goal as a teacher these next seven school days is to stop and think "What would I do if this were Kaleb?" and "Do I love what I do? Why?"

Weekend Update

Kaleb's had a hard week. He started off early in the week with a fever and some kind of virus. Then it turned into a snotty, coughy mess (which he still has). It makes it really hard for him to suck his fingers when he's going to sleep because he can't breathe through his nose. This has resulted in a lot of rocking so he can sleep in a semi-sitting up position. Then at church today he fell down while he was running and bit the tip of his tongue. It bled a lot and his Sunday shirt was covered in blood. I took him home and he had a very fitful nap. He'd sleep for five minutes then wake up and need to be rocked. Even now he's not sleeping. It hurts him to eat, drink, and suck his fingers.
In unrelated news, we finally got our Christmas tree up. Well, Eric got it up while I slept yesterday morning. I put up about 10 ornaments at the very top so Kaleb can't get to them. His newest game is to throw his ball into the tree and then duck under it to get it. I've wrapped a few presents (footballs are really hard to wrap) and tried to put them under the tree, but Kaleb tried to rip them open so that's not going to work. I'm pretty excited because we've gotten a lot of our Christmas shopping done and the stuff that's not done is at least planned. We're still going to end up broke as a joke.
Kaleb points to his nose now.

Kaleb is sick. He's been sleeping most of the day and is super cuddly, but he obviously doesn't feel well. He basically spent the day rocking and sleeping. We went to the doctor, but other than that he hasn't been out of his room. He hasn't eaten anything except a Mum Mum and hasn't had anything to drink except a little watered down juice. Eric's picking up some Pedialyte because I know we have to keep him hydrated, but he hasn't been awake lon enough to drink anything.
I just finished The Help. It was...a little disappointing at the end. Didn't end quite like I thought it would. It didn't really seem to end at all. I'm curious to see how the movie will turn out. I guess I'll start my next book sometime tomorrow. Since I'm staying home with Kaleb tomorrow I have a few goals that I didn't quite get to today.

1. Finish my chapter questions.
2. Do all of the laundry.
3. Clean up so we can put the tree up.