Happy Birthday Caleb!

Today is my baby boy's birthday! Yesterday we had a birthday party here at the house. He even had some of his little friends from church come over to share in the excitement. We had sandwiches, cupcakes and opened presents. His favorite part was by far the cupcake. It was so funny...as you can tell from the video, he was so excited to see the candle I think...his eyes kept getting bigger and bigger. We didn't capture the actual "craming the cupcake" in his mouth on video but we did get pictures. Seriously he grabbed the cupcake and immediately icing first put the whole thing in his mouth, then he got both hands and was squishing and trying to eat all the cupcake at once. The whole thing was gone in liike 30 seconds. I was remembering from Hannah's first birthday, how she delicately put one finger in the icing, and then was shaking her hand to get it off...she did not like to be messy. I think Caleb is ALL boy, and will like making a mess.

On another note...I was reminiscing about all that I went through before Caleb was born. Starting at 28 weeks, I had bleeding complications. We moved to a new town at 29 weeks, and I was admitted to the hospital only after 3 weeks of being in Monahans. I was on bedrest for 32 days in the hospital, and I had IV's the whole time, and I kept bleeding and they were transferring me back and forth to and from Labor and Delivery trying to decide if I was going to have a baby then or not. I had so many ultrasounds, an amniocentesis, and lab work done every 3 days. Finally on July 20th at 9:09 pm Caleb arrived via c-section, after a day of more bleeding, contracting (without me knowing it), and an irregular stress test. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice, and it was just time for him to come into the world. He went to the NICU for 5 days and then joined me, Jeremy and Hannah at home. Praise the Lord for my sweet baby boy, Caleb.

I was so thankful to have a healthy baby, and to not be pregnant at that point anymore. God has blessed our family, and I love my children so much. So reflecting over this past year, I feel like I've been more sentimental for some reason. I'm not crying, but it's hard to believe that this first year is finished. Caleb is so much of a Mama's boy, he loves everyone else, but he really wants to cling to me. I'm still nursing him, I'm actually trying to wean him at this point. There are just a lot of things that are leading to his independence as a little toddler in the days ahead. He drinks real milk from a sippy cup, eats real food, obviously loves cupcakes, he sits forward in the car now (he doesn't even scream anymore when I strap him in his seat). He's just growing up.

I'm so glad my children are growing up and learning new things. I just pray that God will give us wisdom as we teach our special little ones the truths of God. Hopefully we will have many more days and events to celebrate together as a family!

SEAWORLD!

We had so much fun at seaworld. It was hot, but we had a good time. Here are just a few pics.

Hannah and Caleb waiting to feed the dolphins. They loved this part. They're weren't scared at all.


Look closely, Hannah is holding a real dead fish in her little hand so she can put it in the dolphins mouth. She was so brave, I had to help just a little because she couldn't really reach his mouth. Such a big girl!


Shamu show. We went twice because we liked it so much.

First at home Haircut!

I know, I know, you read the title and thought....CALEB got a haircut. NO WAY. My baby boy still has his beautiful blonde hair. This time, it was daddy's turn. I was privileged and honored (I think) to be able to cut Jeremy's hair. We're not real sure where to get haircuts around here, so we bought one of those "At Home Kits". After watching a "HOW TO DVD", that was taped back in the 80's (yes it came with the kit). We started on the adventure. Jeremy's parents were here, so they took the pictures for us. We cut his hair in the middle of the kitchen because it was 11pm when we started. It took a LONG time. So below are some pics.

Before, Jeremy is so trusting.


Half way done, we're doing good so far. We didn't really get an after shot, but believe me it DOES look good. It was after midnight, and we were tired, and a little bit stressed out at this point. Atleast I was. So you'll just have to take my word for it.

Pictures as Promised

First let me say, sorry about no pics sooner. Seriously my computer must have a REALLY slow connection lately or something. Anyway, I tried to post several yesterday and after 15min of waiting for "blogger to upload" I turned it off. Not too patient with that sort of thing. So here you go.



Our new furniture, we just love it, and the couches are turning into wonderful nap couches!


Clopton Family Reunion....well atleast I was posing, not so much for the kids. Jeremy was taking the picture, I didn't get a whole family pic on our camera. Maybe if someone out there has one they'll send it to me.


Mmm..which note is it? Starting early, he loves to play the piano!


They're playing a duet. Thats the only way Hannah would let Caleb stay on the seat while she "practiced for church". She plays and sings really loud at the same time. She sings "Jesus Loves Me", and now lately it's "Mighty to Save"...one of our worship songs we play and sing with the youth.

I'm Still Here...

Hello once again....yes I'm still here, we've just been busy. Lets see, whats gone on since my last post. Well some exciting things (atleast for us)..we got new furniture. We haven't had ANY new furniture in the 5.5yrs that we have been married. Well, except the $100 dollar kitchen table we got at IKEA a long time ago, and it now has divets in it from Hannah eating at the table. I digress...our furniture is BEAUTIFUL. We got a sectional that consists of 2 couches, and a wedge piece. A recliner, and a coffee table (one where the top raises up so you can eat while you sit on the couch! Pictures to come soon.

We went to Waco for several days around the 4th of July. We had a family reunion that has been held every year the weekend of the 4th for as long as I can remember. It's pretty cool....I was thinking, I remember being there when I was probably 10yrs old, and this September..ONLY 2 MONTHS...I will be 30 years old. THIRTY! I can't believe that. I don't feel thirty. Anyway, the reunion was fun. There were LOTS of babies there this year, it's just neat because the generations just keep on going.

Most recently we've had a fun weekend. Jeremy's parents came for a visit, and we were busy the whole time it seemed. We had a youth fellowship/swim party friday night...they watched the kids for us while we were gone. So does that kinda count as a date even though we're surrounded by youth kids? Then on Saturday we went to Coleto Creek which is towards Victoria....it was SO MUCH FUN. We swam in the lake, cooked out, water skiied, tubed, Hannah even rode in a ski boat. Some friends from church all went, several are young couples that have little babies so it was fun to connect with different people. Sunday we had church things, and we had an all youth fellowship at our house that night. This was the first time all the youth had been at our house. It was fun, we had hot fudge Sundaes, played a game, then I got to play guitar while we sang some songs. The kids loved it (our kids). Atleast Hannah did, she feels so big, and there is always someone to play with. Poor thing, she doesn't have any friends her age, they're all teenagers and these are the people she wants to play with. Hopefully we'll find some younger ones soon.

Tuesday we had a mini vacation to Seaworld. It was really fun. It was a long day, but we saw some shows, Hannah even held out a little fish by herself for the dolphins to eat...she wasn't scared at ALL!! We made it to the "Lost Lagoon" water park around 4pm, which was a LIFESAVER. It was so hot. The kids loved the water Hannah was all over the place, she was jumping waves in the wavepool. We all rode the lazy river together. I sat in the tube, held Caleb in my lap. They both wore little tiny life jackets..it was pretty cute.

Ok, there you go, sorry it got kinda long, and not even any pictures. I'll post some pics soon.