Almost Crawling

Cael is getting closer to crawling every day.  I took these pictures on Friday and he's already moving twice as fast today.  He pushes himself up on his arms and then pushes off from his toes to launch himself forward.  It's too funny!  So here's some cute pics (and a short video) of his progress.

Cael has been doing this thing with his tongue all of the time lately.  I think he enjoys feeling his one tooth on the bottom.

COUSINS!

My cute Cael is one lucky kiddo.  His cousin Ayden is so sweet to him.  They seem to have lots of fun together, and have since day one.  A couple of weeks ago, Chelsea and Kipp came over to play some ping pong.  It was getting late and I needed to get Cael to bed, so I decided to get him in the bath.  As soon as Ayden saw the bath water running, he started trying to climb in fully-clothed.  So, Chelsea and I said "why not" and let the boys both get in the tub together.  It was hilarious!  Our bathtub doesn't have any anti-slip coating on it and Ayden was slip sliding all over the place.  At first it scared him, but then he figured things out and was having the time of his life.  I kept trying to get some video of the bathtub antics, but kept missing all of the funny things Ayden kept doing.  Cael was just thoroughly entertained and didn't even seem to mind all of the splashing!  Thanks for coming to play with us Ayden!

Last Weekend's Nightmare

Last weekend, Shaun finished up his last couple days at his old job and wasn't going to be starting his new job until Monday so he thought he'd spend a couple of days in the yard and get lots done.  Well, as is usually the case with Shaun's projects (love you, honey!), he underestimated the amount of time it would take him to accomplish the things he had planned. 

On Monday, he had someone come and dig the trenches for the sprinklers.  Then he spent the next several evenings cleaning out those trenches and digging a couple more.  Thursday morning, we had a couple of dump trucks full of top soil delivered and then Shaun went to the sprinkler supply store.  A couple hours (and several hundred dollars) later, he had what he needed to get started with the sprinklers.  Shaun's dad and brother came over for a few hours on Thursday evening, but we got stuck when we thought we were missing a few things (turns out we had everything we needed).  Friday morning someone delivered the sod while Shaun and I marked where each of the sprinkler heads would go.  Then things got serious--we started installing the sprinkling system.  

By Friday evening we had made some good progress.  And then we ran into a bit of a snag.  We needed to run a line under the sidewalk into the parking strip.  My cute mom and dad had come over to assist us and boy, did we have a good time! :0)  After consulting with Dale at Home Depot, we decided to run a larger pipe under the sidewalk and then use that as a sleeve to place the sprinkler pipe in.  Well, we got the larger pipe in, but it was so full of the cement that is our yard that we couldn't get the sprinkler pipe in.  We spent hours getting more and more things stuck under the sidewalk--pieces of wood, rebar, you name it!  Finally, after about 2-3 hours of fun, we gave up.  The next day, thanks to a generous neighbor and his power washer, we got through.  My brother, Shaun's brother and I were all muddy messes by the end, but by golly, we got through!

Saturday Shaun was out in the yard by 6:00.  I'll spare you all the details, and will say only that it was one of the longest and most exhausting days of my life!  We're still not done, but I've finally convinced Shaun that Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will our yard.

A Few Firsts . . . .

Cael's been trying a lot of new things lately!  Here are just a few.

For awhile, he was constantly sucking on his lower lip.  He seems to have moved past this phase, but wasn't it cute?!?

After Cael's awesome babysitter Sheri informed us that Cael was enjoying the jumper at her house, we decided to invest.  It's been worth every penny!  Cael keeps plenty entertained with this thing.  He still hasn't figured out the piano, but he really loves chewing on and playing with the flowers you can see as well as a frog you can't see.  He loves to jump up and down and although he's often content to just play by himself, he really enjoys it when someone else joins in the fun.

(On a side note, my sister also has one of these and when she was watching Cael a week or so ago, Ayden climbed right in with Cael--it was too cute!)

This is a picture of Cael's first time eating rice cereal.  I don't know how kids eat that stuff!  I licked my finger off while feeding him one time and just about gagged.  That stuff is TERRIBLE!  Fortunately for us, Cael seems to like it.

Here, Cael's trying his sippy cup for the first time.  Alright, the only time.  I've been a little lazy and haven't pulled it out since then.  Let's just say that the first time Cael was more interested in biting the sippy part that in drinking what came out of it.

The first vegetable we tried with Cael was peas.  It took him a minute, but he LOVES them now.  He's also tried green beans and sweet potatoes and loves them all.  I think he's going to take after his dad.  When you feed him, he leans forward to reach the spoon faster until he's almost doubled over.  Cute boy!

Graduation!!!

Shaun graduated this weekend!  I'm so proud of him and his many accomplishments.  It's been a bit of a long road, but Shaun never even thought about giving up and finished with a pretty awesome GPA.  I think he even surprised himself a few times!  Here's to making it through a few years of late nights in class, PHYSICS and the University of Utah.

I bought Shaun a blue tie to wear to graduation--didn't want him to look like too big a Ute.

Congratulations Sweetheart--

I love you!