Winter fun!

Playing with the box from the wheel covers for our snow tires.
Calvin liked the snow but didn't know what to do so he just stood there and laughed and smiled. I think he was confused by the boots. Even when we were inside he wouldn't walk with his boots on. Here's the conversation Dan and I had regarding Calvin and his boots. Me: Calvin isn't used to wearing shoes with thick soles! He probably can't feel the floor with the bottom of his feet. Dan: He must feel like he's floating.
Happy baby!

What is this stuff?

October

Calvin loves sharing his favorite things with us. Leaves, toys, food. Not only does he like to share his food he likes to feed it to us. Not so bad if it hasn't been in his mouth first but he's been known to put a grape in his mouth, take it out, and then try to put it in my mouth. Not as cute as it sounds.

Calvin is finally starting to walk! He's been walking along the couch for a few months now but in the past few weeks he's gotten more daring and will try to walk across the room. He doesn't like to hold our hand when he walks which isn't a big surprise since he hates having his hands held. We've tried getting a video of him walking but without luck. When he spies the camera he takes off crawling towards it. He's also figured out how to get up on the couch without having to step on anything to give him a boost. Luckily, he knows how to get off the couch without hurting himself. The only words we can currently understand are mama and dada. He makes the same noise every time he sees Cricket which I take to mean kitty but it sure doesn't sound like kitty to me.

A year and a day!

Calvin loves to wrinkle his nose! I don't remember when this started or why but it sure cracks us up every time he does it.
Mama, stop kissing my cheek and let me eat my cracker in peace!

Happy Birthday!

Who needs a muffin when you have a candle to chew on and a rock in your other hand?
Yummy muffin!

12 months!!

After a long day of being the center of attention Calvin was very clingy so it was hard to get pictures of him in his 12 month onesie. Luckily, I was able to get a few!

August

Dan before leaving for his first night of Monday night bowling.

Calvin loves to be chased! He crawls away, turns around to make sure someone is following him, laughs, and then crawls away to start it all over again. We're having so much fun playing with him and watching him grow. And cleaning up the messes that he makes! We've discovered that Calvin loves homemade banana bread. The only problem is that he makes a huge mess when he eats it!

Happy 11 months!

Calvin doesn't like the feeling of grass or cement on his knees so when we are outside he does a bear crawl to get around.
Happy 11 months in 12 month onesie!

Another triathlon for Rachel

Rachel competed in the Crossroads Triathlon in DeWitt, Iowa today and performed like a champion. I think there should be a special triathlon category for sleep-deprived mothers. As you can see in the first picture, Rachel was tired before the race even started.


Here she is waiting to jump in the pond before the start. Luckily, Rachel loves treading water because this race had an in-water start.

Heading out on the bike in T1. It looks like she stopped to pose for this picture, but she was actually moving right along.
Looking good! Almost there!
Calvin was very happy to see his mama after the race.
I'm very proud of Rachel for performing so well today, for riding a bike course lined with so many Devil Birds (aka Red Wing Black Birds), and for looking so good in her new tri shorts!

Happy 10th month, Calvin!

10 months in the 12 month onesie.

June/July

Dan after finishing the 1st ever Dubuque Duathlon this past weekend.
Calvin likes his swing but doesn't want to lean back and relax!

June

Happy Father's Day! Calvin is laughing at me because I put on sunglasses and Dan is laughing at Calvin laughing at me. Every time we put on sunglasses he cracks up. I would love to know what he finds so amusing about glasses.

Calvin spent about 15 minutes just digging around in his toy box. He's finally spending more time on his tummy and has started scooting himself around by pulling himself along with his elbows. He gets up on his hands and knees and starts rocking but hasn't figured out how to crawl. Crawling will happen soon I'm sure so I really need to get baby proofing!
Dan did the Wisconsin Triterium Triathlon this past Sunday and took 3rd place in his division. Good job, Dan!

Happy 9 months!

12 month onesie at 9 months. Calvin loves to play with this little lotion bottle for some reason. He wouldn't let me take it away from him to take pictures without crying so it's in the pictures. Even with a nice new camera Calvin is still too quick so a lot of the photos I took were blurry. Oh well, at least the blurry pictures will remind us of how much he loves to be on the move.

June

After lunch after the Mud Triathlon, a.k.a. Hy-Vee Triathlon.

Calvin really does enjoy cantaloupe! He likes to suck on it to get the juice out and then will hang on to it while he plays with other toys.

More Calvin at 8 months

Happy 8th month, Calvin!

Calvin at 7.5 months

I was playing around with the camera and only got a few shots with Calvin smiling. The others were of him giving me dirty looks as if to say "When do we get to play with my toys?"
The wind died down enough for us to finally spend some time outside again.

Lounging in his new high chair, munching on cheerios.

Teeth, peas, and cheerios

Peas and cheerios, tasty combination. When Calvin finished his last cheerio he started looking around including on his lap for more. He obviously didn't look for hard because when I took him out of his high chair there was a handful of cheerios on his lap.
Yes, those are two of his 6 teeth. 2 on the bottom and 4 on top.
Playing with Dad.
Calvin returning from a walk with Dan.