Here a few new pictures that are not Christmas related. Caleb has not been very photogenic lately. Everytime he sees the camera he either sticks his fingers in his nose or mouth, and pulls on his face to make a really ugly face. Many times he refuses to even look. So what you get here is the best of not much.. We have to settle for the action shots.

This is a triumph! Caleb has always been terrified of the vacuum. Then he figured out if he is behind it and has control of it, it's not so scary. He still stutter steps when I turn it toward him though.. but he's come a loooooooong way. (And yes, our bed is unmade, and my sweatshirt is strewn haphazardly across the foot of the bed. I'm not too worried about it!)

Here are a few that show Carly's blooming personality. She is hilarious!!

Busy Busy. "Please, no more pictures, I am destroying things, thankyouverymuch!"

Step into my office!

Riding the motorcycle

Standing on the motorcycle (this baby doesn't even walk yet!)

ummmmmm, howling at the moon? This is classic Carly!

And a bonus sneak peek at the tutu! Just trying it on today, but the face is priceless!

Sick baby

We've all been passing around the crud for the last few weeks. I know this happens to just about everyone on Planet Earth, but we've managed to avoid constant crud until this year. We've had out share of winter stomach viruses (not this year, knock on wood!!) and I am not sure which is worse.

Anyway, Carly now has a bad ear infection, we just found out this morning. She was acting pretty miserable the last couple of days, so now we know why. Poor baby, she is snotty and miserable, and her ear must hurt too. Anyway, antibiotics for her now too. Caleb is still working on his second round (it was a borderline EI, and a sinus infection too that came right back after round one.) Greg is taking his for a sinus infection, and I took a leftover prescription (bad bad bad I know) and it helped (until I ran out two days ago and now my throat is itching again grrrr). So, like my Facebook status says, I REALLY hope we all get well before January1, becuase the insurance deductible starts over, and this is the first year we've had a deductible plan. It seems very scary.

Back to the kids, Carly is a very good cougher. If that makes any sense. Caleb is more of a sniffer, I guess he wants the mucus to go down, and he rarely coughs. But man oh man, Carly is a cougher!! She hacks and hacks like a little old man with emphysema trying to get that crud out of there. It's kinda scary sounding to hear her coughing like that, but it must work for her. Once she gets it all loose she goes about her business. Let's just hope the antibiotics kill the EI the first time. We have a follow up appointment on Christmas Eve morning, so pray for a healthy baby! I am thankful we aren't traveling anywhere this Christmas, because that would be miserable.

Santa is coming to our house this year!

Speaking of, Caleb really understands the concept of Christmas. I know I already wrote about this, but since then he's become even more aware of it. We are loving being able to use the old "Santa only visits good little boys and girls" threat. Today I even told him I was going to call Santa and tell him to take all his presents back. I LOVE this! I remember being terrified that Santa would not bring me anything if I was bad. So being able to dish out the threats this year is so much fun! I'm such a mean mom! Really though, Caleb is a very good kid in general, and he is so stinkin' smart that we are constantly having to come up with something new to convince him to do the right thing. I am reading a book called How am I Smart? right now and it is about the 8 intelligences that we all have. I flipped right to the chapter I thought Caleb was, which is Self-smart. This means he is a highly reflective kid. I haven't gotten to read the rest yet, so I'll write more about that another day. But it is amazing to read and find ways that our children are different, and how to nurture those intelligences.

It's time for a Carly story now. She loves the Christmas tree. She knows that we do not touch it, it's one of those "Big No-No"s as Caleb says. However, the temptatiobn often overtakes her and we catch her with her hand on a branch. "No no Carly!" we say. She jerks her hand away and with her sassiest monosyllable, looks straight at me and says, "Baah!" THE CHILD IS ALREADY TALKING BACK!!!! She is SOOOOOOO sassy already at 11 months. I'm not too sure what we are in for with this one!

Merrrrrrrrry Christmas to all! And let's not forget about Jesus in all the hubbub. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!

"Christmas is coming... but not today"

Ahhh, it's December already! The title up there is what Caleb says at least once every day. He's beginning to understand Christmas, Santa, presents, and all that. We have explained it all to him, and he has said he wants a hat and a train from Santa. "Santa" has already taken care of the train part, but now must find a kid-size baseball hat that won't be too expensive, since I'm about 90% sure he won't actually wear a hat. Hoping for the 10% though. He does surprise us occasionally. It's going to be so fun this year!

Caleb is currently fighting off a sinus infection. He was doing better, and when the antibiotics stopped it came roaring back. He's in his room snoring right now. We got him a vaporizer and I think it is helping loosen the stuff and may help him breathe better. Friday he had a 102.3 fever, and was not himself at all. He rarely has fever so 102 seemed very high to us! The doctor guessed it was the sinus nfection and maybe some virus on top of it. Now it's Sunday and he is acting better, and has eaten a little, even if he still sounds so stuffy it makes my eyes water. Thanking the Lord for Amoxicillan!!

Carly is oblivious to it all. Although she really likes the tree, and the presents underneath it. She is a sneaky little thing too. She crawls over, reaches out slowly, barely touches a branch and then turns to see if anyone is watching. When she sees me looking at her and I either shake my head, or say no, she squeals her displeasure at being told no. Sassy! She has already perfected the board-stiff fit too. If she gets into something she needs not be in, and I physically move her, she straightens and stiffens herself and tries to slide out of my grip. Even when I put her back onto the floor she gets laid on her back because she won't bend at the waist. Silly girl!

Carly has not started walking yet, but I think she may take a step by Christmas. I said the same thing about Caleb, but this time I know better. Carly stands on her own for several seconds at a time. She hasn't quite found her balance yet so it is funny to see her doing knee bends (up and down, up and down) trying not to fall. She's very good at lowering herself down from standing. When she walks behing her push toy she is still very stiff-legged, and leans heavily on it. So I can tell she's not quite ready to do it on purpose yet. She might accidently take a step very soon though, because she gets focused on getting something just beyond her reach and doesn't pay much attention to how she gets there.