All I want for Christmas is...my first tooth!

This past Sunday (Dec. 20), Caleb was a little fussy in the afternoon. That's not unusual on a Sunday afternoon after missing his morning nap, but he had been drooling even more than usual lately, so Joel did a little exploration. Lo and behold, Caleb has his first tooth! It is on the bottom left. One of my friends wanted me to get a picture of it, but I don't think that will be happening anytime soon. We can barely get his tongue out of the way long enough to get a glimpse of it ourselves. :) But it's there! Our baby boy is growing up so fast! We're enjoying all those gummy grins while we can.

Lots of Animals (a.k.a., I'm really behind!)

For the past several years, our friends the Hammers have come over to our house for Halloween. They even came last year when we were out of town! They help us set up some little games in our garage, and Joel and Shawn make balloon animals. While the kids are waiting for their balloons, Shawn hands the adults big hundred dollar bill tracts. One mother told me this year that her kids have remembered our house all year and asked repeatedly to come back! We are so grateful to the Hammers for helping us be a blessing to our neighbors. I didn't get any pictures of the actual event, but here are a few of Caleb's first Halloween and three out of the four adorable Hammer children.

two cute puppies!

Joel was a Rogaine model :)

coyote

On the Move

Well, it's official! Caleb has been crawling for a week now. We've thought for quite a while that he was getting close, and then last Tuesday (the day after he turned 9 months), he finally "got" it and has been moving ever since! We are charging the video camera so that we can capture some of the action, and I plan to post it on here if I can figure out how. :) We haven't been taking many pictures lately, but I do have a few I need to post soon. For now, it's time to sign in to work!

First Food

We delayed starting Caleb on solid foods until after we returned from our trip to SC, and so he was 7-1/2 months old before he had his first taste of anything from a spoon. It's been quite a battle! He's tried rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, and bananas. So far, the only thing he's eaten more than a spoonful of is applesauce. The first picture is the "Before" pic from the first day. After I uploaded the pictures, I realized that he's wearing a different shirt in the "After" picture, so that must be from the second day! Oh well! It takes so long to upload pics on here that I'm not going to worry about it. You get the idea!

Aw!

We enjoyed getting to see CJ and his oldest son, Cole. Sugar and the other kids weren't able to come, but Cole seems to be a great big brother! He and Caleb seemed to like each other a lot!

Mmm, that face tastes good!

Caleb and Kiddo

There were many people we would have liked to see during our visit to South Carolina, and we simply did not have time to see everyone. However, we were fortunate to be able to meet Lindsey for lunch. Joel was a big influence in her life when she was a teenager. He affectionately refers to her as "kiddo," and she calls him "adulto."

Wow...next to Lins, Caleb looks REALLY white! :)

Caleb had a ball playing with Lindsey's bracelets

Family

Caleb with Uncle David

happy face with Aunt Abigail

Ooh...her hair is fun to play with!

Benjamin gets a ride on Uncle David

Like Caleb, Benjamin likes Joel's furry face!

having fun with great-grandma

impossible to get all the kids looking at the camera...at least no one's eyes were actually closed in this one!

Benjamin and Uncle David like the fish at the zoo!