Pieces of Us

Caleb TimeLine

Remember this?  

 

And then on December 12, 2005 I went out for a nice big Prime Rib dinner while I was in active labor? I've always been a little nuts! After a few hours of labor and zero pain meds. He was here.

And Gabby helped me through the whole ordeal with that big grin on her face the entire time and I was so so tired.

And Ginny became a big sister but look, just look, how little she was!

And he was just growing and growing every day.

And what's with that big ol noggin' anyway?

His chub became legendary...

The baby started to grow into a little man.

He was a total little hipster.

He turned one, much to my chagrin.

His chub was still legendary...

Did I mention his chub?

But who could resist this little rockstar?

Oh and his chub? Legendary.

He grew some more. And wouldn't stop it.

I tried to convince him to stay 'yittle'.

But he wasn't going to be the baby anymore.

He tested his toddler limits.

 

Again and again and again.

And he kept on growing.

And the chub...was not so legendary anymore.

Where had my baby gone?

Who was this new little man?

And who the heck was THIS little man?

With a new baby in town, Caleb stepped into his new role as big brother.

While still enjoying his role as little brother too.

Because he was still my baby too.

Even if he was just so big.

Stop growing little boy, Stop!

 

Little Baby Man where are you?

Who is this dude? K-Bob?

Little baby who clings to mama is gone. In his place is this daredevil child.

So handsome and not chub.

Oh my little man, look at you now!

How handsome you've grown.

And how proud we are of you, for all you've become so far.

SIX!

    Yesterday my baby boy turned 6.  Her may not be the baby of the family but he is still my babyist boy. To top it off he lost a front tooth at the end of the day making his babyish face suddenly look years older.

    We took our wee little big boy to Disneyland for his first time ever and we braved the cold and rain all day, sloshing down mainstreet and all the lands in our wet socks but loving it just the same.

 

We started off with delicious Chocolate croissants. YUMMY!

The two birthdays boys!

Heading to It's a Small World.  It's different at Christmastime.  All decorated and medleys of the original song plus Christmas tunes.  I LOVED it.  This was our first time at Disney at Christmastime.

]

Hot chocolate and popcorn helped to keep us warm. :)

Me and my big boy.

Poor little wet feet,  but he wouldn't even complain so we'd know they were wet. He was having too much fun.  He went on every big ride at Disneyland, even the ones that were scary to him.

Look! I'm wearing a hat!  Jess and I were getting really wet hair which is no bueno so we bought hats.  I actually don't mind the way I look in it for once!

We baptized Caleb by fire by putting him on Space Mountain first. Poor baby, he cried and cried after and said it was "The worst ride of my YIFE!" Until much later when he realized he had bragging rights now. He also wanted to go on Indiana Jones so badly so we took him on that which also scared him a lot.  But even still, he went on them and never chickened out. He absolutely loved the Matterhorn and the Haunted Mansion which is all tricked out for Christmas and not near as spooky as the normal one.  I likes it much better at Christmas. Pirates was also a big favorite as well as Buzz Lightyear.

I think it was a very memorable trip for him, not just because of the rain but that certainly helped.  Now if only we hadn't had a  2.5 hour there and a 3 hour drive back. YIKES!

Little Boys are not just made of snips and snails

    I'm human.  Sometimes I struggle with my body image.  OK, I struggle with it a lot.  Especially after the toll of 6 babies and the ever present sagging twin skin that is my tummy.  The other day I was commenting within Caleb's earshot that I was really unhappy with the appearance of my stomach.  Caleb looked at me with his twinkly, adoring eyes and said,

"I yove your tummy...because I yived in it!"

    So thank you Caleb for giving me an entirely different perspective on my body.  I love that you 'yived' in it too!

What's your full name?

 

I overheard Caleb playing with Jillian in the girls' room.

"What's your name Jillian? he asked.

"Jillian Clementine Munoz." She replied.

"My name is Caleb Allen Treherne Munoz" he said.

    I cracked up.  Treherne isn't really one of his names. One of Mike's favorite movies is El Dorado.  In the movie there is a character played by James Caan named Alan Bourdillion Treherne. Ever since Caleb was little Mike would all to him when he wanted his attention, "Caleb Allen Bourdillion Treherne..."  Apparently Caleb truly thinks that Treherne is one of his legal names. We've decided not to convince him otherwise for the time being.

The tooth fairy may build a permanent residence here

    Just 2 days after his 5th birthday Caleb has a very loose tooth and I already see the new tooth has come through. Never before have we had a kid lose a tooth this early.  I guess he is an overachiever.

Our 'yittle' boy is FIVE!

Happy Birthday to our little man Caleb!  I can't believe he is 5 today. He woke up early and went out for a Pancake breakfast with his daddy. After that he came home and played WII, followed by a movie and then riding his bike around the cul-de-sac. We had burgers for dinner and now we are heading out to Grammy and Papa's for our Quadruple birthday party (Caleb, Mike,Papa and Ahma).  I made an R2D2 cake for our Star Wars themed party and it came out really nice.  Pics to come!

 

For now I leave you with some 'memory lane' moments.

 

 

Ginny waiting for he Baby Brother to be born.

All Fresh and New

First Christmas

Getting Bigger

Cloth Baby

King!

MoO!

Brothers.

Bathtime

Super Chubby Legs

'Tis the Season

    Jillian and Caleb have been role playing a lot today.  I was able to be a fly on the wall for one of their games and I could not stop laughing.

Jillian: Caleb, you know you can ask Santa for a present for Christmas and you will get it!

Caleb: "Yeah, like a Baby Sister, a brand new one!"

Jillian: "Yeah, Put it on your list, put it on your list!!"

    Jillian began mimicing Santa in her own Santa voice.

    "Ho Ho Ho, You want a baby sister? Ok!"

    Caleb decided he should be Santa.

    "Jillian, I'll be Santa and you can sit on my yap ok?"

    Jillian sat on his lap and asked for a Baby Sister. Then she decided to bring in all of her baby dolls to make the same plea.

    "Twila wants a baby sister and so does Twinkle."

    (On a side note, I know I am biased but I think it's a little bit advanced that my 2.5 year old names her babies TWinkle and TWila because they are TWins.)

    Watching the two youngest play is always entertaining.  Although just now as I am typing this I heard Jillian yelling at her pony, "Stupid horse! Get in the stroller."  I tried to tell her not to call him stupid but she maintained that he was.

    "He IS a stupid horse, I named him Flower Power."

    KIDS!

 

I do not know how they survive, honestly.

    I have managed to be a parent for 12 years to 6 children and never had a child pull over a piece of furniture.  Now in the last week Caleb pulled over his dresser and today Jillian pulled over her dresser.  She managed to survive. Honestly, what is going on with these children?  I am going to have a heart attack. I was out in our trailer working on some Christmas present sorting and Jilly was inside 'napping'.  Next thing I know Ginny is knocking on the outside of the trailer door.

    'Mama, we heard a CRASH and Loulee is crying!"

    So of course I fly to the back bedroom and my amazingly responsible girls had already lifted the dresser back up and were cradling Jillian in my bedroom.  Amazingly, miraculously and by the grace of God Jillian also was spared in the same way Caleb was.  Apparently she was trying to reach her kitty which was on the dresser. She  opened all the drawers and stood on the bottom one.  The dresser tipped but because the bottom drawer was open it caught against the carpet and didn't topple all the way over.  The force threw Jilly back and the girls big jewelry box fell on her but the dresser did not. Praise God!

    Ironically I had just tested the dresser to see how stable it was after Caleb had knocked his over (it's the same dresser style) and it seemed so sturdy. I am going to anchor them both today. At least Jillian came out of it with her dignity intact...she was fully clothes unlike her brother.

Close Call

Yesterday as we were getting ready for church we heard a loud crash from the boys' room. I raced back there only to collide with a stark naked Caleb who came flying out of the bedroom sobbing. I peeked through the open door and saw his large dresser lying completely flat on the floor. If anything could start my heart pounding it's that sight! I shudder to think how narrowly it missed crushing his sweet little body. I honestly do not know how he leaped back in time to avoid being slammed down. It's truly a miracle in every sense of the word. The drawer or edge of the dresser grazed his nose but didn't even leave a mark. Apparently he was trying to get his chonies out of the top drawer and there wasn't enough weight in the bottom of the dresser to keep it stable. So I am thankful that my little boys life was spared or at the very least that he avoided any serious injury. It sure made him think twice about tying to get into the top drawer.

Lessons Learned

    Caleb has been moody lately.  I miss his spunky, jovial self but I know this is part of his transition into a young boy vs. a little boy. 

    Tonight he yelled at Maddy, or rather he screamed for her to stop singing.  It was rude and I couldn't let it slide.  She was not singing to annoy him. I sent him to his room to think for awhile and to calm down and I stood just out of his sight range listening to him.

    He was slamming his feet down on his bed and repeatedly making a 'hmpf!" sound loudly and with much emphasis on his irritation. I didn't stop him because I feel that what he does in his room to vent his frustrations is totally up to him.  I certainly need to vent at times and go off in my room to do so.

    He caught me however.

    "Why are you watching me?" he said with his arms crossed his demeanor taking a more sullen route.

    "You were throwing a little bit of a fit.", I said, sitting down on the edge of his bed. I hugged him close and he was losing that preschooler indignation that is so prevalent these days.

    "Yeah," he said, "I just lost control of myself."

    "What does that mean?" I asked.

    "That I really shouldn't have done that."

    We hugged some more and within minutes he was back to playing with his siblings, sweet as pie again. Sometimes taking a little break, even from those we love is warranted. Even a few minutes away from them reminded him that it's a lot more fun to be a part of the party than to be the party pooper.

    "