Little Things...

I love little surprises. Today was no exception. I was walking back to my office in the hot Georgia sun. All of the sudden, I heard a little voice that sounded just like Caleb, along with some other little toddler voices. Sure enough, as I rounded the corner, I found Caleb and his classmates out on a walk with their teachers! (This is an older picture, but I thought it would do!) They were so cute and were all talking about the church bells that had been ringing. I decided to take a quick break and walk a little way with Caleb back to the daycare. He held Ms. Tamira's hand with his right hand and my hand with his left hand and we walked. We looked at the cars that drove by and at the plants. It was hot, so his tiny, sweaty hand would slip off my finger every now and then, but he would quickly reach back up, give me a smile and grab ahold of my index finger. Such a sweet boy that I have! Our walk today made my day and reminded me that even when it is hot outside and I can't wait to get back to my office in the air conditioning, taking the long way isn't always such a bad thing! It is times like this that I love working here at Brenau....the beautiful campus, the friendly staff and little surprise impromptu walks with my favorite boy!

Happy Father's Day!

"Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Daddy" - Anne Geddes

Caleb is one lucky little boy! He has a DADDY that loves him and cares for him with his whole heart. He may not realize it growing up, but one day, maybe when he has a child of his own, Caleb will look back on his childhood and have memories of playing, learning and laughing with his daddy and realize how lucky he is. Some of my favorite moments occur when Stephen and Caleb don't know that I am watching them. It might be when Stephen is giving Caleb a bath, and I can hear him singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with Caleb, or it might be when Stephen is outside giving Caleb wagon rides...which is always better than a wagon ride from Mommy. These wagon rides make special noises, go faster and always have surprises. My words cannot explain what a good Daddy Stephen is, so I thought I would make this blog more about pictures of my two favorite boys, and some quotes that I have found that really suit the two men in my life. I guess I should also say, that Caleb isn't the only lucky one....I am too! I love you, Stephen. Have a Happy Father's Day!

“I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.” -Sigmund Freud

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” -Jim Valvano

A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. - Knights of Pythagoras

It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father. - Pope John XXIII

One night a father overheard his son pray: Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is. Later that night, the Father prayed, Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants me to be. - Unknown

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father! - Lydia M. Child, Philothea: A Romance, 1836

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” -David O. McKay

Thank you for loving me, Stephen!

Ladies Man...

Caleb always makes us laugh. The one "theme" that has really gotten chuckles from mom and dad lately has been Caleb's way with the girls. We should have known he would be a ladies man when his first word was "Emma" one of his classmates. This was back when both of them were in the Infant room. They are still together now in the Toddler Room, and will be moving up to the Two Year old room together in August. She is a couple months older than Caleb, but one of the youngest of his "girlfriends"...Caleb tends to like the older women. So, in addition to Emma, here is a countdown of Caleb's crushes and a little story to go with each of them...

5. Dora...as in "Dora The Explorer". Caleb cannot get enough "Dora" or "Abba" as he fondly calls her. They spend many evenings together after dinner, always with Boots the Monkey and the cute purple backpack. I picked Caleb up from daycare yesterday and the kids were all sitting inside (it was horribly hot outside, so they came in to wind down and cool off) watching an episode of Dora. The teachers said they had all been cracking up as Caleb watched the show, yelled "Maaaaappppp!!!" every time the map came on and told Swiper to stop swiping (and being so shocked when Swiper the Fox actually took Dora's stuff!). Dora is usually one of the first things Caleb says when we get home in the evenings. I bought Caleb a can of corn a couple weeks ago with her picture on it and now when ever I get a can of vegetables out, Caleb asks to hold the can and scans it over to see if his girl's face is on the can.

4. Miss Addie Frye. Caleb doesn't actually "know" her yet, but he has seen her picture and certainly approves of the arranged marriage his mom and her friend have set up for the future. Addie is one of the twin daugthers of one of my friends, Steph. She was born just a couple weeks before Caleb. I certainly hope that the two week age difference will be enough when he grows up - you know since he likes older women. Don't worry, Addie's twin sister, Kara, also has an arranged marriage, and they both have given the approval of their future husbands! :)

3. Emma in the three year old room. Yep. Another Emma from Caleb's daycare. She is in the three year old room and Caleb thinks she is one of the greatest things ever. Sometimes I will get to daycare and watch Caleb play on the playground when he isn't looking. Usually, he is playing with her. One time they were walking to the slide, hand in hand. Yesterday during the Dora movie, the two were sitting side by side and sweet Emma let Caleb know his mommy had arrived when I walked into the room. Many times when we pass the three year old room, Caleb will stop at their entrance and look inside for her, smile and wave, before heading over to his own classroom.

2. Ms. Heather. Ms. Heather was one of Caleb's first crushes. She is the Director of the Daycare and Caleb adores her! Even when Caleb was a tiny baby, he always gave Ms. Heather sweet smiles and would give her a shy look when she walked in the room. He became a master at the "eye cut" as I like to call it. He will get a shy grin on his face, scrunch up his shoulders and cut his eyes away, sort of like saying "Awe shucks!" Most days when we leave daycare, he will walk by her office and stop to see if she will walk out. He always has big hugs for her and sometimes I think he might just rather go home with her than me!

1. Miss Melinda. Oh goodness, we cannot even say Miss Melinda's name without Caleb turning to goo! He loves her. He definitely gives her the "eye cut" as well, and literally every time I say her name, Caleb gets big eyes and a huge smile! She is out on vacation this week, but every morning Caleb walks in the room and looks around...and I know she is who he is looking for! For a while, Caleb went through a phase where he would "flirt" with her. She would be standing up, he would walk over, tap her on the leg and when she turned around, he would run away screaming and laughing! She is definitely Caleb's main squeeze right now! Here they are on the playground....can't you see that he just loves her!?

Well, there it is - the list of Caleb's top five favorite women...other than yours truely of course! (and I didn't even mention the fact that every time we go to a restaurant, he will pick out one girl/woman and flirt with her the whole meal!!) He is a cute boy, so all those women should consider themselves very lucky ladies to have the affection of Master Caleb!

Ouch!

Well, I had the inevitable phone call from daycare today. Nothing major at all, but it was my first "injury phone call" from daycare. They have called before (usually because Caleb had a fever) but I always get butterflies when I hear his teacher on the other end of the line. This morning, Caleb apparently bit the dust. He smacked his lip on the floor. At first, the teacher thought it was pretty deep but, thankfully, it stopped bleeding and he stopped crying pretty fast. Glad it was nothing major and they just wanted to let me know. It took a lot, but I didn't fly over there to check on him. He is in good hands there. They love him and he loves them right back.

A taste of Vacation...

Because of my work schedule, long vacations during June and July are not possible for us. We take the first week of August for our annual beach trip and every summer it seems to take forever to get here! Last week, Stephen and I decided we were long over due for a trip down to Savannah to visit family. We decided to leave on Friday afternoon and stay until Sunday afternoon.

Being spontaneous with a toddler is not an easy task! Before Caleb, we could pack for a weekend trip in an hour....this time it took a few hours and lots of lists to make sure we wouldn't forget anything!! We got to Savannah late Friday night around midnight and crashed right away...which was a good thing because when Caleb woke up at 5:45 Saturday morning, he was extremely confused about where he was, and must have also been confused about the fact that normally he wakes up two hours later. Needless to say, he was taking a nap at 8:30. Stephen and I didn't mind one bit that we had to wake up early. With a view like this, who could complain?

We headed out to Tybee (apparently we were not the only people with that idea, as there was traffic and more people than we expected. Could have been the pretty weather or the fact that Miley Cyrus was filming a movie on the island and everyone wanted to meet her!?) Last summer, Caleb refused to put his feet (or any other body part, for that matter!) in the sand, so we were not sure how the beach trip would go this year. Don't forget my child will NOT get his head wet, either! Well, he showed us that he is a big boy now! He played for hours in the sand and even sat in a little bit of water and played with daddy! He loved the beach - still doesn't like to get all the way in the waves, but we definitely made progress. After the beach, we headed to the Yacht Club to meet Stephen's cousin and his two boys. We warned his cousin in advance that Caleb would cry in the pool. Well, once again, Caleb wanted to prove us wrong! He loved the pool! He laughed, he smiled, he splashed AND kept signing "more" when his Daddy would throw him in the air and catch him in the water! Who would have thought "Mr. I hate bath time" would have been such a little fishy this weekend?!? He has not done well at our local pool either, but now I am thinking it is because of all the water slides and fountains in our hometown pool. It does make us feel better - Stephen and I both were wondering how two people who love the water so much could produce a little boy who wouldn't go near it!

With all the fun at the pool and beach, we did have a scare with Caleb's food allergies. He accidentally stuck his hand in some melted ice cream at the pool and immediately got covered in hives on his hand, arm, side, back and even a few on his face. All from just skin contact! Poor guy. We made a benedryl run and before even giving him any his hives were gone. We gave him some as a precaution, but it has taught me to be more diligent about always making sure we have his Benedryl and Epi-pen with us at all times! Food allergies really stink!

Caleb got to play with his other cousins, Addison and Elliot, Saturday night and fell in love with them - and I think they fell in love right back! Before we left on Sunday morning, he kept giving them hugs and kisses!

It was a wonderful weekend and I sure do hope the few hours out on the beach in Tybee will hold me over for our week long vacation in Daytona in August!

Well, here goes....

So, I have decided to write a blog...you know...since I have time to spare?!? (If someone who has a child under the age of 18 has spare time, I would love to know how you have found it...) I always enjoy reading my friend's blogs and for the past few days little things have happened that I feel would be good to record "on paper." I am sure that most of my blogs will be about Caleb, since my whole world revolves around him, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't say that I am the best writer, and I can assure you there will be spelling and punctuation errors, so I will go ahead now and thank anyone who reads this in advance. :)

I figure my first should most certainly have a picture of the little dude that I will be writing about on a daily basis...so here he is....Master Caleb Lee. (Isn't he the most precious thing you have ever seen? His Daddy is pretty cute, too, huh!?!)

So, what is Caleb up to these days, you ask?!? Well, just this morning as we were riding to work I looked in the back seat and Caleb was ever so proudly looking at his sweet little hand with his index and middle fingers pointed straight in the air, and the other three fingers in a fist. He looked at me with a smile, looked back down to his fingers, and then said "TOOOOOO!" Yep -Caleb can now count to two on his fingers with ease. If given some help he can make it to four. "Un, TOOOO, EEEEE, FOOOOO!" Any time he learns a new trick, he gets very tickled with himself and will laugh about it...so I am sure we will be getting some more giggles out of his new trick the next few days. It is fun hearing new words come out of his mouth. I am sure that I am the only one who can understand most of these words, but they are "words" none the less....and I am proud of him for it!

At 20 months old, Caleb also enjoys dancing, watching Dora the Explorer, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Little Einsteins, and going down the "Fide" (slide) at either the park, daycare or at home. His best friend is Lucy, our black kitty and he has recently started to try and pick her up...she isn't too sure about his new found strength, but still comes by Caleb every now and then to rub on his legs - which always ends with him squealing and the kitty making a mad dash for the next room.

Oh, and I guess I should also clear the air. So many of my friends have started up a blog when they find out they are pregnant. NO - not pregnant! We may add a fourth SOME day, but not yet. :)

Thanks to those who have read the first post of what I hope to be many in the "Happy-Lee Ever After" series!