Thanksgiving...better late than never

Caelan, sporting his "Little Turkey" onesie, thoroughly enjoyed his first Thanksgiving. While he mostly ate cheerios and baby food, he did enjoy his first taste of mashed potatoes and "real" turkey. As always, the Nickels family joined the Hart family (minus several) for Thanksgiving. Also as always, the food was incredible and plentiful. We missed having Erin, Kyle, and Maria at the table with us.

8 months old!!

As of last Monday, Caelan is officially 8 months old! I really can't believe it! He is as fun and as precocious as ever. As a treat, here are both his 7 month picture and his 8 month picture - and then one of him standing up in his crib, which is now down at the lowest possible height.

Halloween...a couple of weeks late!

So...as promised, here are Halloween pictures!!! On Halloween we went to the Weldes' house to celebrate with Brian, Suzanne, and Luke. Caelan was a dragon and Luke was a pumpkin. They were super cute!

Luke and Caelan enjoyed playing.


Mommies, pumpkins, and dragons...


Caelan and his daddy watching Luke climb the stairs


Thinking about how to breathe fire...


I can stand...while propped up against a wall!!!


Dragons are cute from the front and the back!


Super cute baby dragon!

Monthly Update

Since our last post, we've had some busy times.

Laura and Caelan both attended a bridal shower and baby shower in one weekend, Caelan cut his first tooth (and is working on his second), and he was diagnosed with an ear infection and then (1 week later) strep throat and Scarlet Fever. Poor guy.

Not much has changed otherwise. Caelan seems to learn a little something new every day. Today, he started making crawling movements while on his stomach. But he was still on his stomach, so he didn't go anywhere. He can also hold his own bottle now.

And just wait until you see Caelan in his Halloween costume...

The Triathlon: A Family Event

Matt did his second triathlon of the season last Saturday at Lake Anna. We had to get up bright and early, or more like dark and early, to drive there. It was a gorgeous day with temperatures ranging from 45 degrees to 80 degrees. Talk about dressing in layers! Matt did an excellent job and we had a great time cheering him on. Caelan also did an excellent job and seemed to enjoy himself. Matt's mom, dad, and brother Mark came to join the cheering squad as well. If you've never been to a triathlon, I suggest you go to one sometime, it's quite the experience!

Nickels Family Fun

On Saturday the crazy Nickels side of the family got together for a yummy dinner. Matt was sick so he stayed home and missed all the shenanigans. Mom (a.k.a. Grandma Nickels) cooked an excellent dinner and fun was had by all.


Grandpa, Grandma, and Caelan

You think he adores his grandson?

Matthew, Caelan, and Ryan

Mommy loves Caelan and Caelan loves Mommy!

The neighbors came over to see Caelan. This is Emma, Nathan, and Will. When they moved in, Nathan was born the next day!

Caelan really like Nathan and vice versa!

Here we go..4,5,6!

Today Caelan is 6 months old! I cannot believe how fast the last 6 months have gone. Some days were so long (especially in the first 3 months), but the months themselves went really fast. How does that happen?

Caelan is a joy. I often feel like the luckiest mommy in the world when he smiles at me. How did I end up with the cutest baby ever? Then again, I am pretty biased.

Since I never posted his 4 or 5 month pics, here they are with the 6 month. It's more fun that way anyway so you can see how much he's grown!

Caelan's first date

Last weekend, Caelan went on his first date with Clara Franklin. Obviously, it didn't go so well. Although there were flirty smiles passed back and forth, Clara pretty much ignored Caelan and took more interest in her food and strangers walking past. I'm sure that Caelan's habit of eating his bib coupled with his obsession of the ceiling fans in the restaurant did not help win Clara's heart. Or perhaps, Clara's just not into younger men!

New things we've learned about our son...

1) Caelan loves prunes!
2) Caelan laughs when he has his "teeth brushed"
3) Caelan looks a lot like Winnie the Pooh

Some pictures for your enjoyment:


This boy has some seriously long eyelashes!

Caelan versus Winnie the Pooh
"...and in this corner..."

Mommy's fun with photoshop!

Caelan's First Redskins Game

Okay...so he only got to watch the kick off and a couple of plays, but the Skins played so horribly that he really didn't miss much. Matt really hopes that Caelan will be a Skins fan. Then again, I'm not sure that I can take two emotionally charged men for an entire season....

Watching intently...



Caelan's yelling at Eli Manning...

New Milestones

I just wanted to post a couple pictures and a video of Caelan's growth. He is now sitting up unassisted (sometimes toppling over) and as of today he is a babbling machine. We're not really sure what he's saying, but it's pretty funny. We'll try to get even better video of it to put on the blog.

Culpeper Sprint

So this is about a month overdue. We've been busy :).

About a month ago, I, along with our friends Marco, Michelle, and Mike (Michelle's brother) participated in the Culpeper Sprint triathlon. My mom, Laura's parents, and Caelan (and of course Laura) came to support my effort to finish.

We were worried it was going to be too hot for Caelan, but it turned out to be a beautiful morning. Everyone finished before it hit the mid-80s. I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but I met my goals I set for myself, so I was satisfied. I blame not being ready when my wave started. I had just gotten at the entry point of the swim when my wave started. So I was a little flustered.

As always, the race was well organized (wish I could say the same for myself that morning) with plenty of positive encouragement/enthusiasm from the crowd and participants.

Pool-time

Over the past month or so, it's been pretty hot. Too hot to go on walks with Caelan, until it's after 9 P.M. But he's in bed by then. Our solution? THE POOL. Caelan is big enough now that we can do that. We've been a few times now, and he doesn't hate it.

Our BIIIIIIG Road Trip!

Probably our biggest event of the summer was our big trip to upstate New York for my best friend Lindsey's wedding. It was the first time that Caelan was going to be in the car for such a long trip, as well as, away from home for such an extended period of time. My mom, Caelan, and myself left in our rented HHR on Monday and headed up the road to help prepare for the wedding. When traveling with a baby, one should expect an added 30-45 minutes per 3 hours for eating, diaper changing and general "stretching of the legs". This really adds up when you are traveling. With that said, Caelan did awesome! He slept in the car when he was tired and played with toys (and hands) when awake. Caelan loved all the attention he got from everybody while we were up there and did really well being passed from person to person. His napping did take hit, but let's be honest, it was never really that good in the first place.




Here is how Caelan helped with the favors, flowers, and other wedding preparation!

When it came to the actual wedding, Caelan did equally awesome.

Adam and his beautiful bride Lindsey
Caelan and his daddy enjoying the reception
Caelan plus his mommy and uncle enjoying the reception
My mom and dad in love more than ever!

July 4th (obviously belated)

Okay...so obviously I am really late in posting about our family's events, but hey, in my defense, I'm trying to enjoy as much as my time with my little guy as I can before going back to work. Take that you guilt mongers....

Anyway...Caelan enjoyed his 1st 4th of July! As per usual we spent our 4th at the Hart's house with yummy food and great company. He wore his "little firecracker" shirt that his Grandma Nickels bought him months ago. Needless to say, she didn't know how big he was going to be and it ended up being more of a belly shirt on our big boy!

Here Caelan is with Laura and Mike. (You can tell Mike is really excited about the baby.)


He did actually watch the fireworks. These were the fireworks that Kyle and Michael were setting off.


He wasn't so into the "big" fireworks.