"Hello?"

I just love this baby! He has been chatting away on the phone like crazy the last few weeks. He just babbles and laughs like he's really carrying on a conversation. He used to just carry the phone around and hold it up to his face, but now he seems to finally have figured things out. He still isn't really saying any words, but he certainly understands more and more. Every night when I ask him if he wants to take a bath he runs straight over to the bathroom door and starts banging on it. He knows where his bellybutton is and especially likes to check out daddy's bellybutton. He also understands the words "kiss," "car," "blanket," "binky," "bottle,""bye-bye," "daddy," and "mommy." We've also taught him how to give five recently. He's learning and growing so fast these days and I wish I could slow it down, but I guess I'll just enjoy it instead.

Pasta-Holic

"Hi, my name is Cael and I'm a Pasta-Holic."

This baby loves pasta--of any kind. He'll eat ramen (thanks to his daddy who thinks that is a nutritious and well-balanced meal), thai noodles, curry noodles, spaghetti, ravioli--you name it! I think that this particular evening we were having lemon-basil pasta. I'm not sure what it is that he loves so much, but it doesn't matter what kind of pasta it is, he can't get enough.

OK, maybe I do know what it is that he loves--it's pasta, what's not to love!

A Kleenex Christmas

Cael still didn't understand the concept of Christmas this year, but he thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless! He enjoyed the wrapping paper, the boxes, his cousin's presents and the Kleenex. "The Kleenex?" you ask? Why yes, the Kleenex. One of my friends gave me a great idea for a Christmas present for Cael--a box of Kleenex. As it turns out, it was a hit with Cael and his cousin Ayden. Cael enjoyed pulling them out of the box and shredding them, while Ayden got a kick out of throwing them up, at, or on people. I think it was probably Cael's favorite present this year!

Anyway, here are some pics from our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning celebrations this year. Hope you enjoy them as much as Cael enjoyed the box of Kleenex. :)

Cael and Shaun opening their Christmas pajamas.

A family portrait in our new Christmas pajamas.

And a few of Christmas morning with the Carlisle clan . . . .

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like . . .

CHRISTMAS!!!

I just love this time of year! I love the music, the shopping, the planning, the surprises, the stories, the parties, the family and most of all the giving. I love how generous people become and how people start looking beyond themselves to others around them in need.

In honor of the Christmas season, we've been busy with a few things around here . . .

A trip to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights with my parents and little sis (thanks guys for coming along).

Putting some Christmas lights up on our own house (and it only took Shaun about 32 hours to get them up due to a few technical difficulties--gotta love him!).

Putting up the Christmas tree and requisite child-proof gate (ignore the fact that the tree has no decorations on it--we're still working on that part).

And getting our holiday cards designed and ordered. So let me know if you would like a card and I'll be sure to send you one. So much to look forward to, I know the suspense is killing you! :0)

Cael's First Birthday Party!

Cael finally got to celebrate his first birthday and I think I can safely say that everyone had a great time (or at least I hope they did)! Pizza, a pinata, presents, and some birthday cupcakes all made for a good time. Here are some pics from our celebration.

Cael's picture face

Grandpa Rex and Cael-Bear

Eating some pizza with Grandma Sue

You can't tell by the look on his face, but he loved this cake!

See!

Using your hands just slows you down.

How sweet is this face?!?

Delicious! We finally had to take it away--but Cael could have kept eating all afternoon. Definitely his daddy's boy!

May I just say how much we love this little boy! I love getting him out of bed in the morning because he's so happy to see me. Or coming home from work, he runs to the door to see me (and if I can hold his attention long enough, to give me a hug)! He's so happy and is interested in everything around him. We gave him cow's milk for the first time the other day and he chugged it down. Even after the bottle was empty he didn't want to give it up and kept trying to get some more out.

He's also turning into a climber. Some favorite climbing locales . . . the kitchen drawer where we keep his bowls, spoons and bottles, the dishwasher, his toy baskets, his Lightning McQueen car, and the gate at the top of our stairs. I can tell we're going to have a serious adventurer on our hands.

Cael also knows how and where to find trouble--we have an artificial plant in our living room that he loves to play with. On most days it's surrounded by our kitchen chairs, but he still manages to work his little arm in there. He gets the biggest smile and just giggles when he gets caught. In retrospect, it's actually pretty funny! He's actually developing quite the stubborn little personality as well and is working really hard at teaching me patience.

Finally, Cael has found his voice. He used to come up to you and say "ma" when he wanted something. Now he's decided that he gets better results if he just yells. I'm thinking that I might start teaching him sign language after all. Clearly, he has lots he wants to communicate. :)

Shhh, Don't Tell . . . .

Don't tell Cael, but it was his birthday today! He turned one year old. Due to the lovely virus/cold/whatever that has been plaguing us this last week or two, we decided to postpone his birthday party. Consequently, he had a rather uneventful day.

I made the mistake of making his one-year well child appointment for today. He got four vaccinations--two in each leg. Not exactly the best birthday present ever. I'll have to remember in the future not to do that again.

Later, we ran some errands and purchased a couple of toys for his birthday (which we have not yet given him).

As we had him in the bath I realized that he hadn't had any birthday present, birthday cake or even a picture to memorialize his first birthday. So, Shaun ran to the grocery store and picked up a few cupcakes so that we could have a mini-party. We got Cael out of the tub and put him in his high chair for his par-tay! I've included some pictures so all y'all can see how much he enjoyed his birthday cake.

Our Little Monkey

Our Halloween celebrations this year were pretty non-existent (thanks to the nasty flu bug that has attacked me this week). But we did at least dress Cael up in his costume and Shaun took him to see the grandparents. He sure looked cute and didn't mind his costume one bit--he left it on all night.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed some Happy Haunting and that I'll be able to rejoin the living sometime soon!