9.16.2011 - Six Months Old

Stats:

Weight: 16 lbs (75th percentile)

Height: 27.75 inches (95th percentile)

Okay.  Time - Stand still!  It seems impossible that Cale is already half of a year old.  That means that he's been in our family for half of a year.  If the next half goes as fast as the last half has gone, we will be celebrating Cale's first birthday before we know it.  Yikes!

I love this age and season of Cale's life.  He is sitting up on his own, but cannot crawl or walk yet - it is a lovely thing! :)  He is active and alert, but not yet mobile.  I am both excited and secretly dreading the day when he does become mobile - I think that's when I will experience real exhaustion!  For now, I will live in the moment and take in all that is fun and precious about my boy.

This month, he....

Got his two bottom teeth!  They are so cute to look at, but they are very sharp!

Got a highchair and was introduced to Mum Mum's.  These are his favorite things to have for a snack.  I think he likes them because he can eat them on his own!

(just saving some for later...)

Cale had a photo session done last month, and we just got some of the pics back...

This rocking chair was Adam's chair when he was little.

He has also started eating three meals every day, and he can put. it. away.  Cale's personality has really started to come out.  He has shades of both me and Adam.  He loves to be around people (Kasie), but gets worn out easily if there is a lot of commotion or a big crowd making lots of noise (Adam).  He is always wanting to know what's going on around him (Kasie), and he loves to just sit back and watch people in public places (Adam).  Although he is not shy (Kasie), he is most vocal when it is just the three of us together (Adam).  It will be so interesting to see his personality continue to develop!  I love this little guy and am so thankful I get to spend every day with him!

Watch Out...

...We're dealing with a VERY ferocious tiger!

This is been Cale's latest trick.  He does it everywhere we go...  

It cracks us up!

Weekend at the Lake

This past weekend, we were invited to spend a weekend at Lake Cypress Springs.  A good friend, whom I taught with the past five years, "won" a weekend at this lake house at last year's faculty Christmas party - and we made the invite list!!  Friday afternoon, we packed up our car (by looking at it, you would have thought we were going to be gone for a week or more!) and headed out of town...we really couldn't get out of town fast enough.  Our family was in need of a break from our reality, aka, pharmacy school.  We made it to the house just in time to bathe Cale and put him to bed.  Our sweet friends graciously gave us the master bedroom (which was stunning - floor to ceiling windows on all sides of the room, surrounded by the lake) because we had Cale with us.  It worked out perfect - we put Cale in the closet!  Let me clarify - the closet was huge and had plenty of space for a pack 'n play.  Of course, we kept the closet door open, and just for the record, he slept the best he ever has - I had to wake him from EVERY nap!  I think it had more to do with the fresh air than it did the closet.

When we pulled in on Friday night, this is what we drove up to...

Cale started his weekend by trying out the saddle...

He got LOTS of quality time with Daddy!

He loved being next to the lake...

After Cale went to bed, the "adults" played games and visited.  It was so great to have some quality time with friends.  Adam and I aren't able to go and do things quite as freely anymore - this was great catch up time with friends!

And as we sat on the screen porch that stretched across the back of the house and overlooked the lake, this is the view we had each night...

We realized, that this was our first "real" family vacation with just our little family of three (no extended family present).  It was so refreshing, so fun, so needed...

It made us want our own little retreat to go to on the weekends - not likely, but wishful thinking, for sure! 

Buddies From the Beginning!

When Adam was living in Amarillo, Texas for his first two years of Pharmacy School, he had a roommate named Josh.  Right before Adam moved back to Dallas, Josh married Catie - both of them where in school with Adam (just a bit ahead of him).  When I would visit Adam in Amarillo, we would get together with Josh and Catie.  When Adam moved back to Dallas and I became pregnant with Cale, we called Josh and Catie to tell them the news.  A week later, Josh called Adam to tell us their news...Catie was pregnant too!  We realized our due dates were only a week apart!  Catie actually ended up having Gus only six days before I had Cale.  Josh, Catie, and Gus live in west Texas, but luckily, Catie's parents live just 15 minutes from us.  They've come to town a few times since March and they've been so sweet to make time for us!  They were in town over Labor Day weekend, and came over for dinner one night.  Cale and Gus met when they were only three and four weeks old, so this was the first time that they were actually interested in each other.  

This is Gus and Cale when they are 3 & 4 weeks old...

This is Gus and Cale now...

They had fun together!  It was so much fun to watch them - I think they really liked each other!  It will be fun to get together and take pictures of them through the years.

Thank you Josh & Catie for making time for us last weekend - we loved having y'all over!!

Oh, How The Years Go By...

"Some people come into our lives

and leave footprints on our hearts

and we are never the same..."

I went to the University of Arkansas, planning to join a sorority - actually, I chose the University of Arkansas BECAUSE of the sororities (a little shallow, I know).  I was completely devestated and in total shock when, on bid day my freshman year, all of my plans crumbled.  The sorority I just KNEW I would be in did not offer me a bid.  I immediately started making plans to transfer schools (drastic, I know), but thankfullly, got involved in a campus ministry and plugged-in with some friends that helped me to realize that there was life outside of sororities at the Universtiy of Arkansas.  My sophomore year, I went through rush again, but this time with a very different purpose.  I guess you could say that my mindset going into rush was much more ministry focused.  Funny thing, I ended up getting a bid from a great house, but a house that had the reputation of being one of the "wildest" houses on campus, nonetheless.  

My junior year, I was asked to live in a five-girl room in the house.  I didn't know any of the girls I was going to live with well.  Two were in the pledge class above me, but were my age.  After moving all of our stuff in the first night, we went on a sonic run.  That is where it all started. 

Within two weeks, we were pretty connected at the hip, doing most everything together.  If someone would have told me then that I would meet my do-life-together, go-through-everything-with-you, be-in-eachothers-weddings, raise-our-kids-together, sister-like, best friends in a crazy sorority house, I would have never believed them.  

Here we are, ten years later.  We have lived together, we have hurt eachothers feelings, we have learned to forgive, we have learned that sometimes it's better not to live together, we have laughed 'til we cried, we have cried together, we have watched eachother fall in love, we have walked though breakups and heartbreak together, we have graduated college together, we have moved away from eachother, we have stood next to eachother at all three of our weddings, we have traveled the world together, we have spent many nights on 3-way together, we have helped eachother better understand our husbands, we have waited at the hospital to welcome eachothers babies into the world, we have begun to raise our children together, and we have done most of this at a distance.  I know that friendships like these don't come along often, and I am forever grateful for these girls.  I can't  imagine life my without them.

Fall 2002 - Norman, Oklahoma

Kiplyn & Kasie - Gamma Chis during 2003 Rush

Fall 2002

Kiplyn & Allison - London - Winter 2006

Kiplyn & Kasie - Spring 2004

Senior Cruise - 2004

Kansas City - 2005

Kiplyn & Kasie - Graduation 2004

(Allison did graduate, but didn't walk...she was busy planning her wedding!!!)

Jamaica 2004

London 2006

November 2007

January 2011

This past weekend, Allison, Kiplyn and I (with all 5 of our children under the age of 5) met up in Norman, Oklahoma.  We stayed at Allison's parents' house and took full advantage of the pool in the backyard and all of the meals that were cooked for us by Allison's mom.  We talked when we weren't juggling kids during the day (usually during the 20-30 minute nap overlap) and when we put the kids to bed at night, we changed into our pajamas and sat around the living room visiting.  

Here are some pics from our time in Norman...

The view from the other car on the way to Norman...

All around the breakfast table

Life as we know it...

The typical day...

Bathtime...

completely exhausted...

wiped out...

Amelia running a little TOO fast...

Kiplyn & Cooper

Me & Cale (after all day at the pool)

Allison & Stewart

The whole gang!

(Cooper, Lucy, Cale, Amelia & Stewart)

Wow, have things changed through the years.  It seems like just yesterday we were staying up talking into the early morning hours.  Now, we can barely keep our eyes open past 10pm.  I'm so thankful that through these seasons of life, I've had these girls by my side.  I look forward to all of the future seasons, knowing our friendship will only continue to grow deeper and stronger.  

Thank you, Lord, for friends that are better than I could've ever asked for or imagined!

Who Does Cale Look Like?

I've never been very good at looking at a baby and seeing resemblances of his/her parents.  I thought that, surely, when it came to my own child, I'd be able to tell without a doubt.  I don't know if it's just me or if Cale really does fluctuate, but there are days I swear he is me and other days where he is a mini-me version of Adam - especially with his facial expressions.  When he was born, I thought he was 100% Adam...and then I saw baby pictures of my sister - he definitely resembles the Kreul family.  As he's gotten older, I think he has some of my facial features, but has some Adam in him too.  I thought I would post some baby pictures of me and Adam, along with some of Cale, just so you could compare...

Oh, and do notice, Adam and I were both blondes as babies.  Where does that dark hair come from?  That would be his Aunt Cookie, for sure!

Kasie

Cale

Kasie

Cale

                                                 

Kasie

Kasie

                                     

Cale

Adam

 Cale

 

And if you think he looks like Adam, here are a few pics that give us a glimpse into the future...

So, what is the verdict??