this week

On Wed. we went to the mall with Carrie and Mags to attempt to get some $1.50 cheesecake... We did not get some cheesecake but Cals did try out her new stroller.  Well, it is not actually new, it is the same one we used with the car seat... but this is the first time she has ridden in it like a big girl.

And when I got home from work today (Thursday) Caleigh was crawling everywhere, under the chair and the exersaucer even.  She is a busy little girl these days.

happy birthday karen!

My sister, Karen's, 22nd birthday was on Monday.  We met her and my parents at Maggiano's to celebrate.  

Karen got a Vera Bradley wallet to match her purse. My parent's entertained Caleigh after her first ever biter biscuit was gone. Classic Karen expression...

Note the gift - a mega buy!  Karen is absolutely obsessed with crafts even though each one only takes less than an hour to complete.  For the last 10 years she has always gotten some type of craft for every birthday and Christmas.

lake lure & milestones

a picture of us hanging out on the couch at lake lure

a photoshopped photo-op Caleigh was 8 months on Saturday and until now we haven't had much progress in the crawling department.  She is just a content baby - happy to stay in one place.  She is starting to show some signs of crawling though - mostly pulling herself forward with her arms, but here she is attempting to move ahead...

On both of these videos you can definitely hear Gammy in the background cheering Caleigh on... pretty hilarious :)  In this one she also gets a little distracted by Adam's hairy legs - pulling out his leg hair is actually one of her favorite pasttimes (seriously!).

So I definitely would not say that Caleigh is crawling by any means... but she is getting closer and closer.

lake lure putt-putt

On Saturday afternoon after the weather cleared up we went to play some putt-putt.  Caleigh got her own club and ball and thoroughly enjoyed chewing on them both (clearly I am not one of those germaphobe moms).  We were all pretty excited about Caleigh's first trip to the "golf" course.  Here she is being so cute and excited...

A pose with grandpa... Karen and Gammy... Caleigh manhandling her golf club this time, she looks like she actually might hit the ball :)

Mama and her Cals A big poopy mess needed a quick change on the golf course... while the grandmas tried to convince me to let them take Caleigh inside to the bathroom, I decided the putting green would be much faster and cleaner (seriously... bacteria grow where it is wet).  Not quite the golf etiquette Adam was hoping for. Gammy and Cals Pop-pop and Cals

lake lure boat trip

On Friday we spent the day relaxing - at the spa (for me and Vicki) and on the golf course again (for Adam and Kent).  On Saturday we headed out on a pontoon boat - unfortunately the weather was crappy and it rained a bunch but we still had a good time.  We brought Bales with us on vacation too - she had the best vacation ever because she got tons of attention and got to be outside a lot.  She loved being on the boat but wasn't going to get close to jumping in the water.

My parents drove up for the day too (only 95 miles from CLT).  Caleigh wasn't so fond of the boat.  She actually liked the wind in her face but really hated the life jacket.  Super sad face... Well, maybe the life jacket isn't so bad if I can chew on the buckles... Adam and I swam despite the 72 degree weather... unfortunately we didn't have a ladder so here is us trying to get back on the boat. My dad wanted to join in the swimming fun without a thought of how he would get back in the boat :)  

lake lure pool time

We just got back from a trip to Lake Lure.  We went up on Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Sunday with Adam's parents.  It was a really relaxing trip!  On Thursday we went golfing and then in the afternoon we headed down to the pool.  The pool is great - it has a lazy river and everything.  Caleigh loved the water once again.  Her new thing was kicking her feet in the water... we made a short video of it but I'm not sure if the average person (ie non-parent, non-grandparent) could tell that's what she was doing.

On Thursday night we had an all-American dinner of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and watermelon.  Caleigh enjoyed barley cereal, green beans, and her first taste of watermelon.

P.S. At the end of this video she isn't choking... don't worry :)

chapel hill and then home

Caleigh is sitting on a significant bench at UNC.  It is said that if a couple sits on this bench and kisses that they will get married.  Well Caleigh is clearly on this bench alone... (and hopefully for a long time)

Outtake #1... I didn't get out of this picture fast enough (you can see we wanted it to be us on the bench with her - well not really but we didn't want to leave her alone) Sleeping off the road trip... And a bath to wash off the busy days...

eliz. city part 2

For all those photographers I think we may have taken this from the wrong angle at the wrong time of day but it looks pretty cool.

And a short video of Caleigh working on some Cheerios while we eat dinner...

elizabeth city

Adam had an appointment last week for work in Elizabeth City (in northeastern NC) and Caleigh and I went with him and made a road trip out of it.  We thought Elizabeth City would be a cute little town on the water but it was more like a Durham, NC (armpit of NC) on some water.  We had a fun time though and Caleigh is a great traveler.

The 1 nice view in Elizabeth City.

Eating dinner. Mama and Cals on the dock (once again Caleigh is more interested in anything besides the camera - are you seeing a theme here?) Dad and Cals

more n. myrtle beach pix

Well, y'all know I forgot our camera when we went to the beach with Caleigh 2 weeks ago.  Since the pictures were not from our camera some of the were flipped sideways and I couldn't figure out how to flip them back.  Well I have finally figured it out and here are some that were missing from the 1st post.

Caleigh is splashing...

Daddy helping with Cals while I laid in the sun. Mommy and Cals One of the many shots that Caleigh is looking at the sand and water.  Unfortunately Adam wasn't fast enough to pull his hand away from the picture before I snapped this shot and clearly his fingers aren't as interesting as the sand. Beach toys and well-wishers.

just because

daddy, can't you see i don't want to be held right now...

no caleigh is not pulling up but she will stand there for a little bit if you put her there... but what she is doing: on last monday while i was at work, adam's mom (gammy) went in to get caleigh up from her first nap and she was on all fours.  she is not crawling yet but she is kindof moving backward and getting on all 4s from time to time.

more pictures of n. myrtle

Family picture

Caleigh and her daddy on Sunday morning at the beach.  We were joking about Caleigh going to the ocean because the noise that she listens on her noise machine to sleep is the ocean and waves crashing.  We were saying it would be funny if she got to the ocean and just passed out into a deep sleep.  That didn't happen of course... Like the 1 picture I have of her looking at the camera and she happens to have a giant sand toy in her mouth.  Go figure.  Alot of our pictures show us waving our hand in front of the camera or snapping our fingers and trying to get her to look at us.  She was way too interested in the beach to waste her time looking at a camera. Family picture.  Of course Caleigh is focused on her disappearing feet in the water and sand. In the midst of splashing and playing. The beach was fun with her but it was so hectic.  It didn't really feel much like a vacation for us because 1. we were sleeping in a tiny double bed when we were used to sleeping in a king at home, 2. everytime we went on the beach with Caleigh we had to come back in, rinse her off, put her in a regular diaper, put her in regular clothes, and put her down for a nap, etc.  I think vacation is just different when you have a baby than what you are used to.  We did have fun swimming in some pretty big waves for N. Myrtle while the grandparents played with Caleigh in the sand.  And we had a great time playing golf on Saturday.  All in all there are some good memories and it was a fun time.