I have to brag...

In the past year, Michael has taken on a new hobby...photography. If I do say so myself, he is pretty good!!! Especially for someone who has taught himself, and has never had a professional help or teach him anything. Anyway, I wanted to post some pictures he has taken recently, and take a minute to brag on my husband!!!







My sister's Christmas card picture...


Michaels cousin's Christmas card




Those are just a few, and some of my favorites! Just wanted to share and brag for a minute!!!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble 'til you Waddle, Waddle, Waddle

I hope everyone (all 5 of you that read this) had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our first Thanksgiving with Caleb was great. Michael was home with us all week, and we had a great time. We had lots of family time -- time we all needed!

On Thursday we went to Michael's parents house in the morning to see them. Caleb was passed all around and loved on. He loved it, and isn't spoiled AT ALL!!!! After that we went to my parents house for lunch. We stayed there, ate and watched football for the rest of the afternoon. Caleb had a great time there as well - he was passed and loved on more...

Caleb with his Granddad and Grandmother


Caleb on one of my baby blankets at my parents house


Friday morning I got up at the crack of dawn (literally) and went shopping at the Mall of Georgia with my mom and sister-in-law, while Michael stayed home with Caleb. We were at the mall at 5:45AM!!! It is a tradition with us, and we got some amazing deals! When I got home, Michael was worn out...Caleb had made him earn his "daddy status." I think they were both ready for me to be home! :) That afternoon the 3 of us went BACK out and did a little more shopping. All in all it was a great day...shopping and time with 2 of my favorite boys! :)

Saturday was a sad, sad day. Michael and I went to Athens for the game. I was so excited because I had been trying to get tickets for Michael for a few months (he had no clue) because he had never been to a UGA/GT game. **For those of you who don't know, before Michael and I started dating he was a HUGE GT fan....I like to say I showed him the better side of GA!** Anyway - we should have known to stay home when we saw the weather. The forecast was COLD and RAINY...aka: MISERABLE. Anyway - we got to Athens, had great seats and UGA dominated the first half. The second half is a different story....UGA chose not to play anymore and lost to GT for the first time in 8 years 45-42.

The Anderson family before we left Lilburn...all in UGA red....


Caleb didn't want us to go (ha ha -- actually, he didn't like his hood)



Here are a few pictures from the game...notice the last picture we took was of the dawgs coming out for the 2nd half. The rest of the game was not worth photographing....



honoring Larry Munson...that was really neat....

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!!!