End of May

It has been awhile since my last post. But I am not sorry, because it was not due to laziness or carelessness. Caleb, Josh and I have been with family and rarely home. When home, we've been trying to grab some sleep or grab things needed for the next outing. My grandma Norma passed away May 21st. I was VERY close to her and will miss her terribly. She was 96.5 years old on May 17. On May 20th she was diagnosed with lymphoma. We visited her in the hospital that day and she was able to hold and kiss Caleb one last time. We didn't take a picture that day, but there are many other pictures of Grandma and Caleb together. So glad she got to meet him! In fact, Grandma said so herself on Friday. After giving him a kiss she whispered, "So glad I got to meet him!"

Grandma Norma

But Caleb has done some serious growing, so here's the update:

*Caleb is strong! He has great control of his head. He is also a champ at tummy time. He's kicking his legs and ready to crawl with the bottom half. Now he just has to get his hands and head to be as coordinated.  
*Caleb is smiling for real! He has smiled at his family! He's got some very long "happy" moments. So fun to see him respond!

The flash makes him dull the smile, but he's got it!

*Caleb is a reader. He studies pictures in the book very intensely. He's so smart!
*He likes his baths now!

*Caleb is growing by feeding! During the day Caleb is pretty consistent at every 2 hours, but he knows when to give me a break. At night we get an average of 3.5 to 4 hours in a row between feedings. Last night it was 5 hours and I was ready to feed him, regardless if he wanted to eat or not:)

Here's to being one month old (plus)!

Caleb is one month!

WE LOVE YOU CALEB! SO GLAD YOU'RE IN OUR FAMILY!

4 Weeks Old!

Time flies when you're a newborn! I can't believe that my baby is so big! His arms are starting to have folds in the skin...he's chunking up!

Caleb and his buddy Woody! 4 Weeks

On Friday the 13th Caleb went to Daddy's work. He slept through the whole thing. He just snuggled into Daddy as Josh showed him off. That afternoon we had our last shower with school colleagues. Peggy hosted it out at her house and it was a wonderful time with friends. Caleb was alert for the whole thing. Everyone fell in love with him, at least from my perspective. He got lots of books from all those teachers!

While I still firmly believe we have the best baby, he's shown us his fussy personality at night now. We haven't had hours after hours of crying, but he has well developed lungs. Luckily he responds well to the "Tricks." He calms well when being swaddled. He loves the Brahms Lullaby as well...but mostly when his mommy or Oma sing it:)

4 weeks have flown. The official 1 month is just two days away and I can't wait to celebrate with him:)

Mother's Day Weekend

Friday, May 6th:
Today was a busy day. My parents are gone this weekend for my brother's graduation from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, so they needed to get some Caleb time this morning in between work and errands. It wasn't more than 15 minutes, but they got their kisses in to last them until Monday. P.S. Congrats to Garrett Monson for achieving his civil engineering degree in 4 outstanding years at SDSMT.

Then we went to school. We walked. It was a beautiful, calm, and sunny day. Caleb loved the stroller ride. My students were VERY excited to meet Caleb. They all wanted to hold him, but we'll wait until he's a bit older. They had some great questions and had lots of fun ooohing and awwwing. Caleb slept through the whole thing.

We got home and took a short nap before my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Albert Lea came to see Caleb. My aunt and uncle are both doctors so we had some good medical conversations. Not just about Caleb and my health, but also health care as a system. Shocking how education and health care are so similar with the terms they use: standardization, individualization, etc. We almost solved the world's problems, but ran out of time. Sorry...another day.

Saturday, May 7:
We got up early. It was the first morning we actually had to be up and out of the house before 10:00. I fed Caleb shortly before 6:00 and then showered and got ready for the day. Of course I still forgot things, but we got on the road on time. We attended the Bernadotte Mother Daughter Banquet. We got there early and he slept through the brunch portion. I got to eat uninterrupted! Caleb got a plant for being the most adorable one there, even though he was a boy. It helps that he is just 18 days old and everyone loves a newborn:) Great Grandma Norma also got a plant for being the most mature attender. Gotta love the Monson Family for representing and winning prizes!!

Great Grandma Norma

Sunday, May 8: Mother's Day!
Caleb got breakfast in bed this morning:) We were going to maybe get up and go shopping before lunch, but decided to have some family cuddle time in bed. Caleb was happy to oblige and be adorable:) I got my first real smile from him. That melted my heart. I say it was a real smile even though two minutes later he gave a good toot.

We spent most of the day at Nana and Papa Miller's house to celebrate with family. We had Josh's favorite meal (lasagne) in honor of a belated birthday celebration. We had Better Than Anything Cake and Pistachio Cake in honor of my belated birthday.

Sunday even we had more family snuggle time. It's my favorite. A very nice, first mother's day!

2 Weeks!

Two weeks! While he's still a peanut I see how "BIG" Caleb is getting. He's already growing out of outfits and socks! The bassinets are even getting a little short for him. He'll be in his crib in no time!

Notice the heel of the sock doesn't match the Caleb's heel

Went to Nana's work this morning so she could properly brag to her office co-workers:) She loves him so much!

 

This afternoon Caleb got to meet Dani, one of my dearest friends! She just returned from a year abroad and was happy to hold Caleb for the afternoon.


Tonight Caleb was a little fussy, but nothing that a little tummy rub, rocking, and swaddling by Daddy couldn't fix. I think I need to cut back the amount of chocolate I eat. I suspect it was the Mini Reeses and chocolate birthday cake that made him a bit irritable.

Two weeks has flown by and I know that time will continue to speed up as he grows. I'm excited to see who Caleb becomes each and every day! He's growing into the promise God has over his life and I'm excited for the adventure of his life unfolding!

Mommy's Birthday

Monday was a leisure day with lots of snuggle time. Caleb slept in which gave me some time to eat breakfast near breakfast time...first gift of the day! After we both got up, cleaned, and dressed for the day we went to school. We made a visit to Roosevelt to see my friends. Caleb loved Miss Betty's squeals in the office. Like Betty said, "Oh Bri! All your dreams came true!" And she is so right. I started teaching at Roosevelt while dating Josh. Then Josh and I got married and dreamed of having a family. We got a puppy to love while we waited for God's timing. April 19th God gave me the greatest gift. He made me a mom! May 2nd was my first birthday as a mommy, and it was wonderful.

Mommy's Little Man

My mom dropped off a cake and stopped by to give a few kisses to Caleb. Gene, my step-dad, stopped by for some snuggle time with Caleb as well. There were a couple phone calls with the Happy Birthday song and many Facebook messages. I felt very special on my birthday.