Calvin Saying His Prayers

Calvin saying his prayers all by his little self. :)

Puddle Jumper.

Calvin got a cute little blue raincoat from his cousin Joel not too long ago. David and I suspected we may not have a lot of chances to use it since, let's be honest, Utah isn't the most humid of places..

This year's been a different story though. LOTS of extra moisture. The rivers flooding over. And for the first time in years, Utah's legalized "real" fireworks, you know. The kind that you can launch into the air?
It was actually pretty common through most of June for us to start our days off sunny. By early afternoon, it would get overcast, and by evening time, things would get rainy.
So much to our surprise, we had many opportunities to use his raincoat!

This kid is ALL about puddle jumping.

Calvin Loves Abstact Art.

Good job, Cal.

The Opener of Gifts.

Here's a video from early on Calvin's birthday. First thing, he woke up to some gifts from his grandparents and from us. He is definitely a fan of anything related to cars. Actually, anything with wheels on it will work.

A B C

Calvin (as many of you already know) has a pretty intense love for all things Sesame Street. As he started watching more of it, we noticed that he would start pointing out numbers & letters to us. He can now count all the way to 12 and can tell you any letter of the alphabet.

Thanks, Sesame Street. :)

Puddle Jumper

Calvin got this cool raincoat from his Cousin Joel a while back, and we didn't expect we'd really use it until fall because, lets be honest, Utah isn't exactly the most humid of places..
But this year, Utah has been experiencing more rain than usual in the early summer months. Actually, for most of June, the day would start out sunny and by the early afternoon, the sky would be overcast with some rain to finish off the evening. So things have been nice and green thanks to the extra moisture.

Anyway, the point is that we've had lots of opportunities this summer to pull out the raincoat! Calvin's been stoked at any chance he gets to go run in some puddles..

Only For A Limited Time

We've been slowly trying to introduce Calvin to the toilet in an effort to make him more comfortable with eventually going numbers 1 and 2 in the toilet instead of inside his diapers.
Here we have a small video of Calvin sitting on the potty and reading one of his books. I don't know why we thought this was so hilarious.

Now, this video will not be spending a whole lot of time on this blog since Cal is pretty naked. It will be deleted after a few days. Basically, the video is only up for my dad and grandma who are currently in other countries.

I love his naked cuteness.
THIS KID! I love him. So much.

Calvin and the Cone

What's with the wiggly tongue??

The Best Surprise!

Sunday afternoon, after our stake conference, Cal and David and I went up to my parents' house for dinner as we always do. It was kind of a lazy Sunday, I headed over a little early since I really didn't have much to do after stake conference.
Enter the house, put Cal down on the floor (he takes off running, of course) and I see my whole family in the front room.

.... Strange..

And then out of nowhere, my Dad appears! He decided to drop in on us unexpectedly. We haven't seen him since December when he visited from Peru for Christmas. Actually, I was so confused! I talked to him just the day before on skype and he told me that he didn't know for sure when he was going to come visit. He said something like, "I may just come and surprise you all."
And of course, I was totally oblivious when he said that and didn't think anything of it.
And here he was! Fresh off the plane from Peru!
Turned out to be a much more interesting Sunday afternoon than I'd originally thought I'd have.

I am not sure what is happening in the above picture. 

I like to think that this is my little sister's best surprised face. Ha! 

Kisses with Calvin

This is yet another example of my Dad's very animated story telling skills.

And last but not least, we filmed my sister Andrea seeing my dad as he entered the room.

Her reaction was GOLDEN. 

Stoked For Spring

We had some brief warm weather to break up all the gloominess! We were so excited about it, we just had to bust out in our shorts and skirts! Calvin for some reason would tug at the bottoms of his shorts, like, check these things out!

This kid....

He Just Makes Me Laugh.

Calvin's been "saying" prayers for a few months now. But all of a sudden, we go to pray for a meal and he starts talking in this little high squeaky voice.. And all I could do was laugh and think to myself, Does he think we pray that way?

Does my voice get higher when I pray?

Home Alone!

We FINALLY got it on video.
One of Calvin's most popular tricks since he was just about since he could walk!

The way he squishes his little cheeks. I could just squeeeeeeze him all day long.

The Kid Likes To Boogy

Always happens. I bring out the camera for a cute moment and all the cuteness turns off. He's completely uninterested in being cute for the camera. But FINALLY I got him dancing like he does at home.
I love this about Cal. About babies in general, actually. The minute Cal hears music, he starts to dance. He hears people laughing and talking and laughs and talks along with them! I should take note from him. Adults are so tainted by what people will think of them if they just bust out dancing because they love a song.  Babies don't do that. They love what they love.

Team Dozer and Calvin

Calvin was super sick when this video was taken. Notice his puffy eyes and the snot? Yeah... not cool.

In His Natural Habitat.

One of his new favorite things. His Toy Story Tent!
Turns out, hanging out in Calvin's tent is one of Cal's and David's favorite things to do together.
Lots of getting in and out, lots of peeking through the holes and tipping the tent over!

David is a little bit big for the tent, but that doesn't stop him from squeezing in there!

Does everyone just LOVE that Calvin is wearing his Superhero cape? CUTE!

The Post That Never Ends!

Sorry people. Lots to post on recent Holiday Happenings.


Christmas Eve.


I wasn't allowed to go in while my present was being brought in and wrapped. David kept me guessing for a few weeks before Christmas giving me NO HINTS (this is big for David). I had no idea what he had for me! This was a picture taken after all the wrapping had been done. I seriously still can't believe that David wrapped this...?

Calvin likes to sit on Dozer... Most times  Cal goes and sits on Dozer's head. Dozer just lays there and takes it. He's such a good puppy. 

Wrapped Christmas present for Angie. Hm, I wonder what it could be!

Christmas Morning. 

We had our little Christmas Celebration with my family the night before they went on their trip to Peru for Christmas! Calvin got all sorts of fun things from his Gomez Grandparents. He is spoiled ROTTEN. And Christmas Day, we opened presents from Santa and from his Grandma & Grandpa Miller. Again - spoiled rotten! Calvin really liked the opening of presents... enough that he even helped us open some of our presents (the bike included!)

The beginning of our unwrapping of presents.. 

I realize that I look AWFUL. As a rule, we didn't usually get up for Christmas in our family before 9 or 10 in the morning. So I realize my eyes are all puffy but hey... it was like 7a.m..... give me a break. I really can say I didn't want to post the video, but it's more for family in other places since they didn't get to partake in our morning festivities...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!! 

Handy Man

New Sounds, New Signs

A quick video clip. Just to show off Calvin's tricks. :)

Proof that boys are born with sound effects. 

FINALLY.

I finally asked David how to get pictures on this laptop. There has been a lot that I've needed to blog about that I've been slacking on.

First and foremost, My Calvin! :)

(My tiny week old Calvin with his Aunt Andrea)

This little boy has been growing so quickly. It's like one minute I look at him and then I do a double take and he's on to his next "trick". Most recently, he's been practicing walking more. I think he's been figuring out that walking can get him where he wants to go a little faster. So these tiny steps have been getting bigger and more confident and faster. I am so in AWE of my little boy! He's getting so quick!
And he's now been climbing things!
I'll hear Calvin fussing in the next room. Not really crying, more like whining. And I'll find him up somewhere that he's climbed up on top of, but he can't quite figure out how to get back down!

He turns ONE in 11 days.

How is that even possible?
Wasn't it just last week that I brought him home from the hospital? He was just a tiny newborn baby. Small, fragile, kind of squished looking because he hadn't quite filled out yet. I cannot believe that he's almost a year old!
Before I know it, not only is my little Calvin growing up.. but he's a person who eventually will have their own opinions, morals, favorite bands, best friends, broken hearts. It just blows me away.
To think that I CREATED something so beautiful and complex. It's so unbelievable.
Not just that. But it almost makes me cry thinking about the person I was before I was a mother and the person I am now. I am so different in so many ways. And my little boy, who can barely say a word, who is barely learning to walk, can have such a tremendous effect on me.

I am so amazed.
My heart is so full.

It's The Only Way.

It's no secret anymore.

Everyone knows that when the time comes for a second baby, I want the whole thing to be natural. Yes.. Natural. With a midwife and everything. Like, at home in a big tub of warm water. Say what you want.. I've gotten more than one weird look at my thoughts on home birth and midwifery. But truly, I am extremely excited to conquer the pain and all of those things that come with pregnancy and labor. I think that as much as it was nice the first time, in the hospital and all, that it wasn't exactly what I'd pictured. Even though we'd taken all of those prenatal classes to let us know all of what was going to happen when the time came to deliver a baby. Even though I only wanted the doctor, the nurse, and David and I in the room, there were like 10 doctors in training who came in to peek at a birth in process and people walking in and out! Not only that, but I felt like some of the nurses were so unfriendly and uncaring, almost. Like, "You're just another woman in labor.. you'll be out of here in 3 days." Which, if you think about it, I suppose is true, but I think if I'd been a nurse who'd seen that many births and labors, that I'd be more sensitive- after all, that time in a woman's life is really emotional and delicate! I mean, it's HUGE.. becoming a mother and all...

Anyway- after learning a bit about home birth, I was ecstatic to learn that it's super safe, and super successful! Actually, the U.S. has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world because of what they call "unnecessary intervention".

And when people think of home birth, they think of dirty, decrepit houses. And that a midwife is some old lady off the street with a scarf on her head and a dirty rag to catch the baby in. Anyway, I'm not going to try and convince any of you. I'm sure there will still be those people who I tell about my decision who will roll their eyes at me and think, "Granola". But I don't care.

I am determined to do it.


Take the birth of LEO HART at Pacing The Panic Room


Here's a video of one. I totally cried. (Don't worry! There is nothing grizzly or gross you'll see in this particular video. No crotch shots or any nastiness) This video is so beautiful. There is one part during the video where Peter, the dad, cries and kisses his wife, Trish. Like she's working SO hard and she's SO tired (she was in labor for approx. 57 hours) and after all that, baby Leo was born. No complications, totally healthy little boy. I am extremely excited for an experience like this one.

Whenever that happens...

(The song in the video is "Long Haired Child" by Devendra Banhart)