Happy Thanksgiving!

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving I began to reflect on how my life has changed in the past year, and everything I have to be thankful for. As I began to make the list in my head, it began to get longer and longer! My life is so blessed and I am so thankful for all of the many blessings in my life. Here are a few things I am thankful for...

- My husband. He is amazing and someone I can't imagine living without. It is hard for me to believe we will have been together 10 years in May. I love him with every ounce of my being.

- My healthy, beautiful baby boy. God has truly blessed me here. Caleb is such an amazing person, and I consider myself lucky to have been chosen to be his mother.

- My family. My mom and dad are healthy. They are happy. Since becoming a parent, it has become more apparent to me how blessed I am to be their daughter. I still learn something from them each day.
I have a brother, a sister-in-law, a sister and a brother-in-law who are amazing and love me. They love my husband and they love my son. What more could you ask for from a brother and a sister?!
I am an Aunt to 2 amazing children. They give the best hugs, and always make me feel special.
I have wonderful in-laws who have accepted me into their family with open arms.

- Michael and I have some of the best friends you could ask for. They accept us for us, care about how our lives are going and are genuinely interesting in US.

- My health. I am a healthy person. I was able to deliver a baby without any complications, and I recovered well.

My life is so blessed, and I am so thankful for all of my blessings. I hope you and yours have a blessed Thanksgiving and remember everything you are thankful for!!!

What's not to be thankful for when you look at this picture?!?!?

1 Thanksgiving, Santa and Sleep

The past few days have been quite busy for the Anderson clan. On Saturday Caleb had his first of 2 Thanksgiving at Michael's parents house. The house was filled with family, friends and good food!!! I think all together there were 22 people there if I am counting correctly. Caleb was able to meet lots of his cousins and a few friends too!!! We also made an attempt to take a family picture for the Christmas card...it was soooooo cold! Here is a picture of Caleb after the photo session...he was a a little cold!


Michael is off work all week, so with him home we decided to take Caleb to meet the big man -- Santa Claus that is! :) He was sound asleep when we took him out of the carseat to meet Santa, but as soon as we took him out those eyes popped open and we were sure we were going to have a screaming baby in the picture. However, Caleb just looked all around and took it all in. We got a precious picture of Caleb and Santa with wide-eyed Caleb. :)

Lastly, Caleb has decided it is cool to sleep through the night. By "through the night" I am talking 8-9 hours!!!!!!! He started on Thursday night and has done it every night since (5 nights in a row!!!)!!! Needless to say, we are thrilled and our home is a happier one -- it is amazing what good sleep can do for a person! :)

Since Michael and I are such the "hunters," (UM - NO!) here is a camo picture in honor of deer season!

Our growing boy...

I hope you like the pic. It was taken last week before heading to my mom and dad's house. I thought he looked so sweet in his UGA hat.

Yesterday Michael and I took Caleb to his 1 month well check-up. We saw Dr. Deganian (Dr. D). Here is the story there...Dr. D was my pediatrician growing up. He also saw my brother and sister, and now he sees Sara and Davis. It is safe to say Dr. D has been a very important person in the Camuso family for many, many years (my brother is now 41). He is wonderful, and I never thought about where to take Caleb...it was a given. When we saw him yesterday Dr. D came in and gave me a hug -- how many doctors would do that?!! Needless to say I take his word as law, and trust him greatly.

Anyway -- Dr. D said Caleb is a very healthy, alert baby. He checked him from head to toe, listened to his lungs and heart and I am sure checked things I don't know exist! Caleb also had to get a HepB shot. He had no clue it was coming which made it even worse! He was all happy, flirting with the nurse, when she put the shot into his leg. That didn't seem to bother him...it was when she pushed the vaccine into him that he screamed, and I mean SCREAMED!!!! He had huge crocodile tears and acted as if the nurse had hurt him on purpose. I did much better than last time...my eyes watered and I wanted to grab him up, but I didn't break down. Next month might be different when he has to have 5 shots!!!! Caleb has been very busy growing in his first month of life. Here are his stats from his 1 month check up...

weight - 9 pounds 14 ounces (42%)- almost a 2lb. gain from birth
length - 22 1/4 inches (61%) - 2 1/4 inches grown
head circumference - 15 inches (38%) - 1 inch grown

In a nutshell Caleb's body is just like daddy's (long and lean) and his head is just like mommy (small). I guess it is safe to say Caleb is a mix of mommy and daddy!! Our little boy isn't so small anymore and is growing so fast!!!

Another big story to share -- for 2 nights in a row, Caleb has slept for 5 1/2 hours, ate and went back to sleep for 2-3 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! Caleb has always been a pretty good sleeper, but there is a lot to say about having consecutive hours of sleep!!! I just have 1 word -- SWADDLE!!!!! We swaddled Caleb for the first few weeks, but got away from it. That is when he started not sleeping as well. Well, a friend of ours reminded us about swaddling (THANK YOU TRISHA!!!), we did it and now Caleb is sleeping like a champ!!! Let's just pray it stays this way...or Caleb decides to give up his 4:30AM feeding!

Here are a few pictures from the few weeks where none of us were sleeping well...

It had been a long week for mommy and Caleb....



Daddy was struggling too...



Here is another picture of Caleb becoming a big boy. The other night I guess wasn't holding the bottle right, so Caleb took matters into his own hands...literally!!!!

Great times with great family

Last week Gwinnett County had Early Release for students so teachers could hold conferences. Well since I am home I am obviously not having conferences (YEA!!!), Kim asked if I could keep Sara (Davis was sick and at my mom's). So Sara came and spent the afternoon with Caleb and me. She is such a big help, and we loved having her here. Sara got to experience her first dirty diaper. Needless to say it was pretty funny...she told me how nasty it was, turned her head, walked away and asked for me to tell her when it was done. Priceless!! Caleb loves his cousins so much, and they love him. I took a few pictures, but here is my favorite. So sweet!



This past weekend was a busy one for Caleb. He was able to meet some more of his cousins that we don't get to see very often. My cousin Stephanie and her daughter Reagan came to visit from Florida, and Michael's cousin Charley from Kentucky came to visit with his girlfriend, Erin. It was so great to see them and Caleb loves them so much already! Here are a few pics...

This is Reagan with Caleb. They are my family's October 12th babies (yep, they have the same birthday -- 7 years apart!). She wanted to hold him so bad, and she did a great job!!!


This is Stephanie, Reagan and Caleb. Stephanie and I are 9 months apart and have always been very, very close. We were so glad to see them!!!


This is Charley. I don't think he had ever held a baby before Caleb. He was so scared he was going to "break" him. He did a great job!!!


Caleb loved Charley so much he decided he was hungry and wanted cousin Charley to feed him. This is Charley, Erin and Caleb.


Saturday night we went to Michael's cousins house so Charley could see more of his Atlanta family, and to watch the Kentucky football game. Well, Caleb had obviously had enough football for the day or he was disgusted with UGA's game, that he decided he would scream, and that he and mommy would hang out upstairs. Well, I figured out that he was hungry, so I fed him. I then figured out that he was dirty (I think everyone in the city could have figured that one out), so I changed him. No sooner did I have the CLEAN diaper on him did he mess another one. UGH! So, I put a new diaper on him. I kid you not, I had not even completely put the diaper on when he messed that one. We went through 3 diapers in a matter of minutes. I swear I think that is a record. Now I guess we know that he wasn't disgusted with UGA or had enough football....

Anyway, we had a great weekend with great family. We are so blessed to have such amazing people we are able to call family...

Happy 1 Month Birthday, Caleb!!!

Wow...we can't believe our little man has been here for a month today! He is such a blessing, and we love him more and more each day. He is growing so much (gotta love those cheeks!!) and becoming more and more alert to his surroundings. He can now focus on your face, loves to look out the window through the blinds, follow big objects, swat and listen to his toys, and yesterday he started to SMILE!!!!!! Even though it doesn't last long, it still melts my heart every time. I tried to get a picture of him smiling (for about an hour) and it didn't work too well. So, sorry the picture is so bad...you get the idea...

Here is a picture of Caleb a few days old and a picture of him today....he sure has changed!!!






Here a few (bad) pictures of Caleb smiling yesterday...they were taken as he was laying on my lap and I was holding the camera up above him...gotta do what you gotta do!!!

I had no idea...

In February when I found out I was pregnant, I had no idea what I was in store for over the next 40 weeks. I had no idea about all of the worrying I would do, the praying for my baby that I would do, the swelling and of course, the labor. I just had no clue. I do have to say that now that Caleb is almost a month old (I know, crazy!) all of those things were worth it.Much more worth it than I ever thought...

As a new mother, there are some things I have learned in this short amount of time. Here are a few...

1 - I had no idea how much I could love something so quickly and so deeply. At 5:21 October 12th when I met Caleb it was instant love, and that love has grown more and more as the days pass. I love my family, but my love for this little boy is so intense...

2 - I had no idea that I would enjoy sitting in a quiet room alone watching my son sleep. I could sit for hours and just watch him. All of the noises, he faces and movements never get old to me. I could do this for hours, or days, and never get bored.

3 - I had no idea I would be so protective of my son and husband. It is crazy to think that we are now a family. I know Michael and I became a family when we got married, but now we are truly a family of 3. We have a mortgage, cat, and a Christmas letter where we can talk about our FAMILY and not just the cat...the whole shebang. As I look at my family I find myself wanting to protect them and spend all of my time with them. I don't want to expose Caleb to any germs, dirty things or people, etc. I know other people have been parents and know what to do, but I find myself feeling anxious anytime Caleb is out of my sight, or arms for that matter!!!

3 - I had no idea how hard being a parent would be. Like I said earlier, I worried and worried when I was pregnant. I would ask myself things like "Should you eat this?" "Can I do this?" and "I wonder if Caleb can hear this loud music." Now it is a totally different kind of worry. I worry if he is cold, breathing (I know, silly), happy, hungry, feeling loved, peeing and pooping right, etc. When I was pregnant I said something to my mom about being worried, and she said that was just the beginning, and boy was she right!

4 - I had no idea how proud I would be of my family. Michael for one has totally amazed me in his role as "daddy." He is truly amazing and Caleb and I are so lucky to have such a hands on daddy. He loves that little boy and wants the world to know it. He wants to show the world our little man! I am so proud of Caleb. He is such a happy baby, and he is growing so much. He is truly a blessing! Lastly, I am so proud of Michael and me. Together he and I made this incredible human being, and if I do say so myself, he is perfect! For the most part, Michael and I have done this parenting thing by ourselves. I am not going to say it has been easy, but I will say it has been incredible, and something I will treasure for the rest of my life.

I am so proud of our little family....

What a weekend!!!

The Anderson's had a very busy weekend! Friday was Halloween, and Caleb was a jack-o-lantern. I must say he was the most precious jack-o-lantern I have ever seen. :) On Halloween we went to see Sara and Davis before they left for trick-or-treating and of course, to take some cousin pictures! :) Sara and Davis were so excited to see and hold Caleb. As you can see, Caleb slept through his first Halloween. We are thinking next year is going to be much different!!!
Here are a few pics. Sara was Sharpay from High School Musical and Davis was a boxer. Too cute!!!



On Saturday, Caleb experienced his first UGA loss, and boy was it bad. Caleb also slept through this game, much like the dawgs! Uncle Grant and Aunt Morgann came over to see Caleb and hang out. For some reason I only got 1 picture from the game Saturday. Here is where Caleb likes to sleep most!!!




Lastly, Caleb had his first "real" bath. HE LOVES IT! He just lays there and is so content. He loves to suck on his hand with the water on it.



But as you can see, getting out of the bath is NOT his favorite. So sad! :)