Sleepless in Texas

Caleb is 8 months old now. The time is flying by so fast. He is changing everyday and getting bigger by the second. I don't know why it suprises me that he is so polar opposite of Ethan when he was a baby...they couldn't be more different! Anyone who knew Ethan at this age knows that he was so calm and quiet. He could sit in his bouncy chair for hours, he had no desire to do anything else but stay where he was put...then Caleb came along. He is so busy! He has been crawling everywhere since last month. He's excellent at pulling up and will probably be walking soon. I was so worried when Ethan was not crawling at this age but boy did I have it easy! I just went out and bought two baby gates, one for the kitchen entry and one for the hallway so I can keep him confined in the living room and playroom. Toys are no fun anymore...he must go exploring! He loves to see his reflection in the kitchen trashcan and scoot it along the floor and laugh...gross, I know. He loves to play in the dog food. He doesn't eat it, just scatters it on the floor. He pulls up on the piano and tries to play. He opens drawers and shuts his fingers in them. Oh, the boy is busy.

He is eating everything too. He mainly gets baby food but if I happen to cook or we're out, he'll eat just about everything he can mash up in his mouth. He loves mashed potatoes, green beans, cake, pasta, you name it he'll eat it. He got his two bottom teeth at the end of last month and now they're all coming in. The top two are cut, there's one on the top side that's trying to cut through. His poor little mouth. Motrin and ice have been his friends.

My mom made a pallet at her house for the kids to lay on while they watched a movie. Caleb was only interested in uncovering Ethan and Ethan was getting so annoyed! He was yelling "Stop it Caleb!"

Now on to the sleeping...or lack of. He still is not sleeping through the night. He has been getting up around 11p or 12 and is wide awake. He's usually up for an hour or two, then goes back to sleep. Then repeats again around 4am or 5am. He doesn't want to eat, just awake for play time. I've tried rocking him, walking with him, putting him in our bed. Nothing works. He doesn't cry, only if you put him back in his bed or try to make him lay down. He plays with my hair, jabbers, pulls his pacifier in and out. I realize this is probably the time to start crying it out. But, this all happened while Ethan was sick and I sure wasn't going to let Caleb wake him up from all the crying...plus I'm a big softie and I don't know if I could stick with it. The last two nights have been better. He woke up once looking for his paci so I gave it to him, covered him up, then walked out. I had to go back in a couple of times and patted his head when he started to fuss but then it was back to sleep till 6am...then it was back to my bed where I fed him and he slept till 7:30a. I'm hoping it is all just a phase. Maybe he is waking up with his teeth then just staying awake. He doesn't seem to be in pain. I don't know but it sure is keeping me from wanting another baby! I may never sleep again!!!
He loves this bouncy swing. This is how I get my showers now. On this day, he was in it while I took a shower...and dried my hair. I looked over after I turned off the blow dryer and found him like this...and my blow dryer is loud! Maybe if he would sleep at night he wouldn't jump himself to sleep during the day!

Of course they both wouldn't look at the same time. Look at all those fat rolls!

This one cracks me up...you had to be there. See the concern in Ethan's face? He was freaking out saying, "Get him, he's gonna fall!" Don't worry, Mondo was in the pool with them waiting to catch him.


Crazy boy.

He will chew on anything! Look at mean Daddy about to splash him. :-)

That is actually a striped shirt...looks really weird in this picture.

He loves the player piano at my parent's house. He kept putting his hands on it and sqealing. I got a shot video below.