No More Monkeys

While Caimon was hanging out with grandma on Saturday, we moved his crib and put up a twin-sized bed. He was really excited when he saw it (especially with the 'Cars' sheets). His first night he slept really well, even better than he normally did in the crib. His second night was pretty good, but at 6am he came knocking on our door saying, "Come in!" So he spent an hour or so sleeping in our bed this morning.

Anyways, while I was trying to get Caimon to take a nap yesterday, he discovered that he could bump his head into the headboard. I'm not sure why, buy he thinks it's great fun! Last night he was in playing on the bed (it's still a new toy, after all), and he, apparently, jumped face first into the headboard. He bit partially into his bottom lip, leaving some nice marks on the inside. He lost a lot of blood for someone so small, but he calmed down after about 10 minutes. While reading before bed, Sara decided to read the story about the monkeys jumping on the bed. Caimon got into the story, as you can see in the video.

P.S. That's his "new" bed in the video.

-- Corey

Easy as ABC

It's fun to watch Caimon grow and learn, although it can be difficult at times. He's starting to figure out numbers and letters -- he can recognize several letters, now. And he's showing some appreciation for music and singing. He likes to 'play' the piano and sing along to familiar songs. We tried to capture a video of him singing the alphabet (because grandma requested it), but he was a little camera shy. He joins in singing some of it with mommy, but then gets distracted toward the end. But, still, not bad considering he's not yet two years old.

-- Corey

Christmas #1

Our first Christmas this year was in Provo with Corey's family. My mom and I flew into Salt Lake from California and we had an early Christmas. This worked out well, especially with all of the snow that we received this year.

Corey and Caimon got to spend about 1 1/2 weeks with grandma and grandpa too. I know that he loved it and they were very sad to see him go!

Caimon with his new truck on Christmas morning!

Caimon didn't really like the bows this year. Isn't he cute though?

Caimon again with his new trucks before they were open.

Caimon wasn't too fond of Santa this year either. Grandma and grandpa took him to see Santa. He has a little stranger anxiety these days!

San Francisco

I know that it has taken me a long time to post a blog-I really don't have a good excuse! Being tired, pregnant, and chasing a very busy toddler are my only excuses.

So, last month my mom and I went to San Francisco. My mom has a tumor on her eye and that is where the specialist is located. Anyway, so they ran a lot of tests while we were there and decided that it was a type of melanoma, which required her to have surgery while we were there. They placed some metal rings around the tumor (which are not visible from the outside) and she is actually on her way back from California again right now after finishing with her radiation treatments. Everything has gone very well, and hopefully she won't have to go back too much more! I am just very thankful that they caught it early and her vision should not really be affected.

We did have some time to play while we were there though! Neither of us had been there before, so it was definately a new experience. I don't think I would ever want to move there. I had to do most of the driving and the traffic was horrible. I like Idaho and Utah driving. It is nothing compared to that! I guess I have been sheltered!

We found the Golden Gate Bridge and drove over it, just to say we had been on it. It was a lot bigger than I expected and the view was awesome! It is hard to tell much in the picture due to the rain and fog.

We also went to pier 39 and fisherman's wharf. That was a lot of fun and we sure did a lot of walking that day. It was December so they were also having some sort of Santa Claus convention. I don't thing I have ever seen so many Santas in one place before.

I just had to add this picture so you could see what my mom looks like with a patch on her eye. This was the day after her surgery, right before she got the patch taken off. Oh, and she is standing by our cool rental car!

Busy-ness

Last week was really busy for us. Sara worked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then she flew to San Francisco on Thursday with her mother. It was the last week of the semester for me, so I was teaching and grading quizzes, notebooks, and exams. And Caimon had his hands full with the demands that come with being a toddler.

With Sara out of town and me working late, Caimon got to stay at Grandpa's (Sara's dad) house Thursday night. My father flew in Friday evening to help me drive down to Utah on Saturday. So we're spending the week at my parents' place.

Sara and Joyce (her mom) will fly into SLC Wednesday to join us. They went to San Francisco so Joyce could get a medical consultation. Neither of them had been there before, so they also spent a few days doing some sightseeing. They've been taking a lot of pictures, so we should have some to post soon.

It's a Girl!

We are having a girl! I am almost 18 weeks pregnant, and finally starting to feel a little bit better. This pregnancy has been a little harder than the first one. Anyway, I have not had my 20 week ultrasound with the Doctor, but as most of you know I work in medical imaging at St Lukes so I have had some friends take a peek for me. They took a look at 15 weeks, and couldn't find "boy parts" but said to check back. We went back last night and found a very active little girl. It looks like she likes to dance just like her brother!

Anyway, I am very excited. Corey is excited, but a little nervous about his wife going shopping for girl clothes!!

Toddler Trouble!

So, Caimon only has a couple of months left and he will be 2 years old! I think he is already getting into the terrible two's though. The other day, I was trying to be productive and unload the dishwasher. Caimon went over to one of my kitchen drawers and took out a wooden spoon. I thought that was great, now he will leave all of the clean dishes in the dishwasher alone! I was pretty impressed. A few minutes later, I heard a sawing sound coming from around the corner. I walk over to the kitchen table to find Caimon sawing on my kitchen chair with a steak knife that he must have taken from the dishwasher!

Corey and I have decided that he has a sort of radar that helps him get into everything that he is not supposed to! He sure is fun though, and growing soooooo fast!

Halloween

We had a pretty fun Halloween here. Grandma and Grandpa Riding, and Aunt Teri were all here to play with Caimon. Grandpa carved a pumpkin with Caimon. As you can see, Caimon liked the lid! He would take a bite and make the most horrible face. Of course like any silly toddler though, he would do it again.

Later that night, we went out to dinner and then Caimon got to do a little trick or treating! He was Elmo this year!

The weekend before Halloween, Grandma and Mommy took Caimon to Boo at the Zoo here in Boise. It was fun but there were tons of people. Caimon liked to see all of the costumes and he liked some of the animals. He was calling the penguins "fish" because they were swimming in the water! He is so cute! Caimon with the penguins at the zoo!

Caimon posing with the elephant statues! As you can see he didn't want to sit on the fence!

Caimon and Mommy with the scarecrow!

Our Last Project

Things have been pretty busy lately-sorry for the lapse in blogs! I guess that we never said we would be great at this!! Anyway, this fall we have finally been working on getting a fence up around our yard. . For those of you who also have toddlers you know the necessity of a fence-they run everywhere and they do it quickly. Corey has been working on the fence, along with my Dad. They have done a great job and it is finally done!!

As you can see from these next few pictures that I am posting, Corey had a lot of help with the fence from another little helper. He is truely Daddy's little boy!

Aren't they cute!!!!

All Fall Down

Caimon was playing outside at Grandpa's house recently. He played with Penny (the dog) and in the leaves with Grandpa.