The Growing Caldwell Family

We are having a fabulous time down here! The weather couldn't be more gorgeous! You can sit and enjoy the beach without being hot! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

We are at the beach for a few days to relax. It is just the three of us here this trip. Love and Pops are on a trip of their own to Naples, Florida. Nay had to work and is kind to stay with Lucy. I found wi-fi service and thought i would post some. So far, we started our day at 5 after getting here around midnight, ate breakfast watching the waves on the deck (what we call Watusi), and baby girl is taking a long nap (daddy is getting a nap too). I am hoping we can go play in the sand when she wakes up. The weather is gorgeous now; cool, a few clouds, and a nice breeze. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad Location: Bluefish Dr,Ft Walton Bch,United States

First, if you have wondered why I didn't post a picture of Sarah Graves with the Easter Bunny, it's because we went to see him and she would have no part of sitting with him.  We couldn't get a picture of her happy even with me next to her, so we decided to move on without a photo.  This is what the Easter Bunny brought her to our house.  Lovie made the basket for her and it is just adorable!  She was able to fit her name on it and some colorful Easter eggs, too.  It is bright and cheery just like Sarah Graves.  In case you can't see in the picture, the bunny brought her a swimsuit, a cover up, a ball, a large bubble blower bucket that she can't spill, a new book, crayons shaped for a little hand, and the most fun of all, plastic Easter eggs.  The bunny gave Aunt Nay this pillow pet to bring to Sarah Graves.  She seems to like to cuddle it.  The Easter bunny gave Lovie and Pops several things to bring.  She loves the lift-the-flap book...

I made lunch for us on Sunday after church. Mom and Dad were there as well as our family friends, Ms. Janan and Ms. Pauline. I picked up the cutesy bunny breads at a local bakery and just loved how they looked on the table. I didn't get any pictures of the meal itself, but we had a good ham from Honey Baked Ham, sweet potato casserole, Emeril's mac'n cheese, my favorite salad with strawberries, garlic rolls, and for dessert we had several choices. Mom made strawberry pie, Ms. Janan made a strawberry cake, Aaron made vanilla ice cream, and I made cupcakes with Pioneer Woman's recipe for the tastiest frosting I have ever had . It is always a delicious meal when you have more desserts than side dishes! It was a really nice afternoon spent lingering at the table enjoying each other's company.

I am so excited to have a new photo of the three of us!  Lovie and Pops came to church with us and got this cute picture with SG. I think she's about the prettiest girl I know and definitely the sweetest! So sweet that I have to kiss those cheeks all the time.

I spoke with my league placement chair last week and she let me know that because I have completed everything for this league year, I can resign and still have the option to reinstate my membership at a later date.  That made my decision a lot easier.  Last night, Mom and I went to a meeting to discuss plans to build a birth center here in Atlanta.  InTown Midwifery, the care providers that I have so much respect for, have a vision to open a birth center here in Atlanta.  In order to accomplish this, they need lots of help, mostly with fundraising.  I believe in the value of a birth center so much and so desperately wanted that option when I was planning for Sarah Graves' birth, so it is easy for me to feel compelled to get involved with this mission in any capacity that I can.  A birth center is like giving birth in a home setting.  They have equipment to monitor baby if needed and their vision is for a center that is minutes from the hospital so a...

I decided to take my lunch to some tables we have in an outdoor courtyard rather than eating at my desk.  I was planning to look at facebook while I ate, but two guys from my department walked up looking for a table, so I suddenly had company.  You would never believe the topics of our lunch conversation, washing machines, detergents, and cleaning products.  Yep, these two guys were like a couple of old hens swapping laundry tips and ideas on stain fighters.  I chimed in since I was there, but I couldn't help but laugh at the conversation.  I rarely get together with women and chat about laundry or cleaning! After lunch I signed myself up for the gym here.  I have been thinking that I need to do some exercise, but keep finding an excuse.  To hold myself accountable, I signed up for several sessions of personal training.  I picked a trainer that I have heard is tough.  As much as I am going to hate it, I think I need someone to push me so tha...

Grancy sent a package and in it were these cute bunny ears!  She leaves them on for all of a second, but they sure are cute!  She wouldn't hold still for me to get a better shot of this dress, but it is so cute and bright for summer.  It was a prize that Maw Maw Vyvonne sent her.  Maw Maw also sent her this purse.  Maw Maw knows how girls like to have purses :)

Yesterday, Sarah Graves had her 15 month check-up. Her doctor said that she looks great! Here are her stats: weight is 23.6 pounds (34th percentile), height is 32 1/2 inches (88th percentile), and head circumference is 18 inches (13th percentile). The pediatrician really looks to see that she is following a trend in her growth and she seems to be. she is really growing taller and thinning out. I asked about her not wanting to drink milk from a cup and the doctor feels like if she gets a nursing a day, she gets the milk she needs. Veggies, yogurt, and cheese also give her the calcium she needs for growth. She doesn't think there is a need to give her a vitamin supplement, but wants us to continue giving her vitamin D. SG loves her vitamin D drop, so that is not a problem. I also asked about SG getting car sick now and then. She agreed that is likely all it is and babies do get car sick. She recommended benodryl for trips where we might expect her to get sick, but said ther...

Here is a picture of her enjoying her morning sleep.  SG is so sleepy in the mornings that after nursing she will continue to lay in our bed and sleep.  I feel terible having to get her up, but luckily all she has to do is be carried to the car.  Is there anything more angelic than a sleeping baby?

I knew that Sarah Graves would start to transition away from her morning nap about 15 months old, but this seems to be going a little differently than I imagined.  I know, what part of being a parent goes the way I imagined, right?  Last week she started resisting her afternoon nap some by laying in her bed and talking and playing most of her naptime.  She would get a little fussy at times, but never all out crying.  I referred to my helpful sleep book and read that at this age, if the morning nap is too long they will begin to resist the afternoon nap.  That made sense to me.  They need the afternoon nap because that is the deeper more restorative sleep and children typically give up their morning nap, but keep the afternoon nap.  The book offers several suggestions to help this situation.  One is to cut the morning nap short at about an hour (she would sleep for nearly 3).  Another suggestion is to move the morning nap back...

SG seems to get car sick on occasion. Last week they were stuck in traffic and she got sick losing the contents of her bottle. I felt awful for her having to ride home like that. She looked at me so pitiful as though she was begging for help to get out of all that gross mess. A bath and clean clothes made her quite happy and she eagerly ate all of her dinner. Aaron's car still doesn't smell right. The car smell was made worse when he stepped in dog poop while mowing Margaret's lawn on Saturday. We may have to get him a car detailing! We have made it to phase 3 of the 17 day diet and we are much happier. The lack of carbs and cheese left us struggling a bit, but we are happier now. The addition of Skinny Cow treats has helped as well. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad Location: Paces Ferry Rd SE,Atlanta,United States

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

We had a good day in the church nursery yesterday!  There was another little boy who was 15 months old staying so that helped.  I left a bag of craisins with the caregiver and asked her to offer them to Sarah Graves when I left.  I heard her start to cry when I walked away, but she stopped within a minute or so.  When I came back to get her she was having a good time playing with a toy that she doesn't have at home.  The caregivers said she had been a delight and that she was good at sharing.  I am starting to push her morning nap a little bit, so we went down to have breakfast and fellowship with everyone.  Sarah Graves had a wonderful time running around with a little girl who is 4 and just adores her.  They ran all around the parish hall and SG was just thrilled!  Aaron and I hope that she will grow up enjoying going to church.   

Saturday morning I started cooking lunch to take to one of our midwives, Margaret, who has had some really awful things happen to her lately; one of them being that she fell and broke her ankle leaving her unable to move around for the past month.  A care calendar was organized and I signed up to bring her lunch.  Part of her meal included some cinnamon muffins.  They were on the counter cooling and I guess SG helped herself to one (who knew she would reach up there and knock one off) because the next thing I saw was SG holding parts of a muffin and shoving it in her mouth as hard as she could go.  I couldn't scold her, so I put her in her high chair to enjoy the rest of it.  She was such a sweet girl while we visited with Margaret and Aaron cut her grass.  She showed her all her toys and most of her party tricks!  After we left Margaret's we made a trip to IKEA.  I had hoped that SG would fall asleep at the start of the journey, but instead she ...

She is such a turkey!  She won't leave a hat on for a second.  I can't believe that this sweet bonnet still fits.  She reminds of Little House on the Prairie in this bonnet.  I sure did love that book.

Gramma bought SG this dress last summer and I never dreamed that it would fit this spring!  It is cute as a button and I am so glad that she will get to wear it.

This was Saturday afternoon at our house.

My Mom told me about this segment on 20/20 that she saw about Independent Fundamental Baptist churches and some of the scandal that has been associated with them.  The church is a very rigid, literal interpretation of the Bible that places the husband as the leader and the wife in a submissive role.  From what was described in the program, the church isolates people from family and friends who are not part of this belief and that isolation creates opportunity for behavior to go unquestioned because everything the pastor does not agree with is considered against God or the person is made to feel ashamed for their behavior.  Part of the scandal being exposed involves the practice of spanking children to break their will and make them obedient.  I was alarmed when I watched the segment and heard one former member mention that parents were instructed to start spanking their babies as young as 2 weeks old!  Some believe that even babies that young are...

You know your life is completely changed when you spend a Friday night switching out toys.  Yes, she has so many toys that at Christmas I put half of them away and we are now switching them.  While going through the toys, I found Cailen's pants.  The scary thing is that I excitedly called out to Aaron in the other room that I found Cailen's pants.  The even scarier thing is that he excitedly responded back how great it was.  Yep, we are definitely settled into parenthood.

Baby Cailen was a Christmas gift from SG's Uncle Les and Aunt Barbara.  She loves this doll.  You can ask her at any moment to go get baby Cailen and she always knows where she is.  Cailen came with a shirt, pants, and a hat.  We have misplaced the pants and she loves to take the shirt and the hat off of her.  She is forever bringing me the shirt and hat to put back on Cailen.  She hugs her and kisses her.  It just tickles her for me to talk to Cailen and give her lots of kisses.  She is quite rambunctious, but she can be so sweet with Cailen!

This probably isn't the best picture of her, but she was just delighted in the bath.  She had more fun trying to grasp the water coming out of the faucet in her hand.  It was cute to watch her opening her little hand over and over trying to hold onto the water.  I have the hardest time helping her understand that she must sit down in the tub.  Sometimes after I tell her to sit down, she does and begins splashing water everywhere.  I think it is her attempt to annoy me, but I don't care, so I laugh and then she laughs. 

She is definitely a climber these days! She loves to play on the stairs. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I can't believe that she has outgrown these cute shoes!  The polk-a-dot Puddle Jumpers were a gift from my friends Michael and Melissa, and Lovie and Pops bought her the LSU shoes and the little black patent leather mary james.  They were all so cute and so tiny.  I get a little sentimental about these things.  Maybe there will be another little girl to wear these.  Aaron already said we can't dress a boy in any of them.  He's so picky.

We have tried multiple types of sippy cups before we found one that she likes.  It's a little like Goldilocks, I guess.  I didn't include the varieties with the straws that we tried in an effort to get her to drink from a cup.  Finally, we found this one by Nuby and she seems to like it.  She will pick it up and drink from it herself.  She will only take water out of it, but at least she's drinking!