Busy, Busy...

We had a busy week!!  My parents were down for the week and weekend starting last Tuesday.  We went over to their house on Tuesday and Sunday night, my grandparents house on Friday night and he stayed all day with my parents on Thursday and then we went out to eat.  We also went to Victoria on Saturday with Becky and went to Hobby Lobby and Olive Garden and went to a wedding shower on Sunday afternoon, including helping to decorate!  Needless to say, he and I both have been exhausted.  On the plus side though, he went to bed a lot earlier than normal the last few days, so hopefully we can keep that trend going.

Where he's at right now...
- He's starting grabbing for things this week.  If you put something in front of him, he'll grab hold of it (and try to put it in his mouth)!!
- If I hold him in a sitting position, I can let go for a couple of seconds before he starts falling over.

I've also given up on thinking that he looks anything like me after I found a picture of Michael where they look almost exactly alike.

Lessons learned for the week...
- My husband is secretly a bear (or possibly, Batman, but in a town where there is no crime, so he gets to live a normal life).... I came home the other day when he was working nights and he had covered the window with foil and shut the bedroom door to make himself a little cave to sleep in.
- I need to do an inspection before my Mom leaves with Cace to see what she is taking with her so that he doesn't end up with more pictures in the UT onesie his Uncle Tony gave him!!
-My reprieve from people asking "When are you going to have a baby?" is officially over.  I thought having one would have at least bought us a little more time before people would start asking when we are going to have another. 
- A new quote I found... "Anyone can make the simple complicated.  Creativity is making the complicated simple."  It always amazes me how awestruck people get when things are homemade.  All it takes is the right material and supplies and anything is possible!!

Weekly recap

Cace turned 3 months last Wednesday.  A couple of things about him at this milestone...

- He loves to be talked to.  If you talk to him, his face will light up and he'll get a big grin on his face.
- He also loves to talk back!!  He'll make a gurgling noise that is too precious for words.
- He likes to be holding a blanket or something in his hands when he is sleepy.  I started giving him a little blanket to hold on to after he was scratching me trying to grab something or holding onto my shirt which wasn't good for laying him down once he was asleep.
-  We call him "squirmy wormy".  When he is excited, he moves his arms and legs around like crazy.  The other night we laid him on his activity mat so that he could look at his toys and himself in the mirror and he ended up turning around with his head ending up where his feet had started by pushing off with his feet.
- He may be a little bit of a momma's boy, but his face lights up when he sees his daddy.
- I started putting him in his crib at night this weekend.  He did great!! Once he is asleep, he is out for the night.  Lately, it's been the getting asleep part that hasn't been the easiest.  He gets tired and ready to bed around 8:30 or 9:00, but he still wants to eat one more time around 10:00 or 10:30.  When he wakes up to eat that last time though, he isn't going right back to sleep.

Our 6 year wedding anniversary is also coming up this next weekend.  Michael has to work next weekend, so we went ahead and celebrated our anniversary a week early with a trip to Gruene.  We debated taking Cace with us or not and whether to stay overnight.  We decided to leave him at home with his MoMo and PoPo for the day (we weren't ready to leave him overnight yet).  It was a good thing we left him at home, because it would have been WAY too hot for him!!  We had a good time just the two of us and got to relax a little bit.  I finally got to enjoy  a little alcohol and I definitely took advantage of being baby free for the day!!

Left: At The Gristmill overlooking the river Right: At Gruene Hall listening to music

We also went to Lavaca Bluffs Winery, the winery that is in Lolita.  It was really good!! He is running low on some of his wines and is expecting to get his next batch in September.  We will definitely be going back!!  The wines are all named off of historical landmarks in the area and it was neat to hear the stories.  Check out their website.  http://www.lavacabluffs.com

It's amazing what all has changed in our lives since our anniversary last year.  It was that weekend and the week after that set into motion all of the changes that would happen, including getting pregnant and Michael changing jobs and eventually us moving back home.  We wanted all of it so badly, but were scared of taking the leap.  I can't even describe how great it is to be living back home close to our families with Cace now here and with both of us less stressed.  Michael's stress levels were way too high when he was at UPS... now most days you can find him on the river.  I really enjoy working from home.  It's nice to be able to throw on a tank top and shorts and walk to my computer instead of the hour plus commute I had everyday.  It definitely gives me more time than what I would have had with the little guy.

I've been reading another blog and every week she does a lessons learned post that I think is a great idea.  So, here are my lessons learned from last week:

- It's important to spend some time together, just the two of us, so that we can be "Michael and Erin" for a little while instead of "Mom and Dad".
- Do not try to eat ice cream from a cone outside when it is 110 degrees outside!! IT WILL MELT!! ALL OVER YOU!!
- Another heat lesson: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, attempt to clean out a storage unit, in the heat of August.  It's worth a month or two more months of rent to leave it there and deal with it later when it's not completely miserable outside.
- When something jumps out of a box you had in storage, it's probably a mouse, not a frog, especially when you find another mouse in the box.

Almost 3 months!!

I rolled over!!

I put Cace on his tummy last night to play a little bit and he pushed up on his hands and slowly rolled over to his side and then all the way onto his back!!

I tried to get him to do it again, but he would just roll over to his side.

On my back after I rolled over!!

I love this picture!!

My dad was holding Cace Saturday evening on the front porch, when he started grunting and his face was turning red trying to poop.  My dad told my mom, "Go get this boy a magazine.  He needs some help!!".

As an aside, Cace's hair is looking more and more red, especially in pictures.  We might have a little redhead!!

Our growing boy!!

So, I started this post the weekend he turned 2 months old and am now a couple of weeks late in posting it. 

Some things about Cace at the 2 month mark....

- He loves to be outside and look at the trees.  As soon as he gets out, he'll lean back as far as you'll let him to see them and it's almost impossible to get him to face forward again.  If he starts to get a little fussy, I can take him outside and he'll immediately stop. 

- He loves to look in mirrors and can entertain himself for a good 30 minutes or so if he has one to look at.

- I love his little smile.  When he smiles, there is something that he does with his eyes that makes him a spitting image of Michael.

- He is still moving his arms and legs around like crazy.  It's funny because he didn't kick a lot during the pregnancy and he didn't move around much for the 1st week or so. But ever since then, he's pretty much constantly moving unless he's sleepy.

- When he's getting upset, he'll stick his bottom lip out and make a pouty face.  It is so sad and funny at the same time.  I really need to try and get a picture of it!!

- When he sneezes, he makes a "Aaaah" sound afterwards that cracks Michael and I up every time.

- He can't fit into much of his 0-3 month clothes anymore.  We've pretty much moved on to the 3-6 month..... except for his shorts which he still can't fit into the 0-3 month very well.

Cace and I on July 22nd

Also, here's a picture with his Great Aunt Merlene from Indiana.  She was in Houston a few weekends back and we met her in Roseburg for dinner.

I still can't believe how the time has flown by.  I started back to work a couple of weeks ago and Cace had to go the babysitter.  He did great and got raves about how great of a baby he is!!

On the first day, I had to go to Houston, so Michael's mom took him and picked him up.  I didn't have that hard of a time the first day, since I just left him in the morning with his MoMo (who he had stayed with before) and I had a lot going on that day.  The second day was definitely harder.  I had to go drop him off myself and I was just down the road and knew that if I really wanted to go get him I could.  I ended up picking him up at around 4:00 and working a little bit longer with him there.  I didn't get anything done though, so it was a lesson learned that I need to leave him there until I'm ready to give him my full attention.

He is growing and growing.... He was 13 pounds a couple of weeks ago at his doctor's appointment, but he has grown a lot since then and I wouldn't be surprised if he's at the 14-15 pound mark now.  It seems like every day he is wanting more and more to eat.  Last week he was taking 5 ounce bottles... now we're up to around 7 ounces.  Because of this, I had to throw in the towel on breastfeeding and switch him to formula.  It was too hard to keep up with him pumping during the day.  I had started supplementing his last bottle at night with formula when I started back to work so that I could pump and make up the difference between what he was eating during the day and what I was able to pump, but with his increased appetite I was falling farther and farther behind.  So, it came down to either switching to formula or being stressed out about it all of the time.  So far, we haven't had any problems and I am very happy with the switch.  He is not a picky eater by any means and doesn't care what it is or how it comes, as long as he gets to eat!!

Wearing the fishing shirt that my T-Ma made for me!!