If I post this card, then I get $10 in Shutterfly credit!

Pop Art Heart Valentine's Card

Modern shower invitations and holiday cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

I can't turn down free credit from Shutterfly.  :) 

New friends

Cal wants to introduce you to his best friend...."the baby in the mirror".  If we're holding him and we happen to walk into the bathroom or down the hallway towards the mirror, he immediately starts hamming it up and kicking his legs.  That's the signal......"TAKE ME TO SEE THE BABY IN THE MIRROR!"  He even tries to bite the baby, bap him with his flailing arms, and suck on the baby's face.  (Does this mean that I should give the parents of Cal's future friends a disclaimer?  Warning: Cal is very lovable and enjoys playing with your child, but he was raised to believe that bapping a baby's face and slobbering/biting on a child's extremities is a "friendly" behavior.) 

Here's another friend....Sock Monkey!  He's rapidly being dwarfed by the baby who once was his size!  Cal's wearing all 2T clothing now, which is a little long in the sleeves and legs, but fits MUCH better around his burgeoning belly. 

Donnie's taken a shine to Cal lately, especially during meals!  Our little food connoisseur enjoys playing with his food now and gets extremely filthy.  You might be asking yourself why I allow him to put his hands in the bowl in the first place.  Well, I usually let him stick his hands in the bowl for two reasons:

1) It's funny to watch him and it's for my enjoyment.

2)  It's important for him to explore new textures.....but mostly reason #1.

Since Donnie is such a clean freak himself (insert sarcastic laugh), he saunters into the kitchen mid-meal and begins cleaning Cal's hands for him. 

ALL CLEAN.....aside from the dog germs!!!

Ollie's always been a fan of Cal and vice versa, but now she's taken it too far.  You know how some owners and their pets sometimes start to resemble each other?  Well....take a look for yourself.  Look at these pudgy pals!

Here are a few videos of Cal during his new favorite activity....BATHTIME!!   

More "firsts"!

FIRST KANSAS STATE BASKETBALL GAME!

Cal was such a good luck charm for the KSU football team that he decided to try his hand at basketball.  We took him to the Missouri game and watched our Cats battle the undefeated Tigers, ultimately leading to a Wildcat victory!  It would appear that Cal's status as a good luck charm isn't limited to games of the pigskin variety.

He wasn't too sure about the rowdy crowd and loud announcer inside the Octagon of Doom!

  ..........no smiles, and in fact he cried at first!

I left the game and walked around with him.  He eventually fell asleep and I fortuitously ran into a friend that allowed us to sit in an empty suite!  Did I mention that it was a fully stocked suite?! :)

Caligator was much happier after his nap!

  The noise didn't bother him as much.  He probably couldn't hear the crowd as well over his Mama's crunchin' and munchin' on all the free food!  (That's one theory.)

Eventually Grandpa came over to enjoy the view from the suite.  He always has the best toys!  That's not a Coke Zero can, ladies and gentlemen.  I just envisioned an 18 year old Cal caught in a similar act, but he'll follow all our rules and never cause us headaches so thankfully that hallucination will never materialize.

FIRST BIG BOY BATH!

Cal outgrew his infant bathtub about a month ago, but I thought the regular tub would be too big for him.  Nope!  He seemed right at home and even christened it with his typical bathtime ritual of a quick urination fountain.  He's a baby who likes routines, what can I say?

He now has both upper incisors and his left front tooth, with the right middle close behind.  Our little 7 month old baby is working on a mouthful of chompers! 

Round and round the garden....

I remember my babysitter used to recite all sorts of nursery rhymes to us when we were little.  My favorite was "Round and Round the Garden"  (goes the teddy bear, one step, two step, tickle him under there!).  It would appear that Cal enjoys it, too!

 

I finally caught a small clip of Cal's babbling.  He usually goes on and on, in a thorough conversation, but today he became mute when he saw the video camera!

We hope you had yourself a Merry little Christmas!

The Walter family decided to celebrate Christmas in Topeka before heading west to Larned,  Cal was so infatuated with the lights on the tree that we were lucky to snap a pic of him looking at the camera and not oggling at the plastic branches and the entrancing lights!  He loved opening the presents and occasionally resorted to using his new little shark teeth to assist. 

Case in point....

Cal sure was spoiled by his grandparents this year.  He loves to bite the wheels on his new truck from Gma & Gpa Walter!

He loves the outdoors so his new swing from Gran Belle will be perfect come springtime!

Thanks for the Woobie (as it has now been dubbed), Grandma & Grandpa Walter!

Look at this perfect present!   Christmas was so special this year.....what a beautiful blessing we have to be thankful for!



His shark teeth assisted in opening this gift from Gma & Gpa Gatt!

Great Gma Gatt wants a blue eyed great grandson so badly!  She inspects them each time we're together and insists that she still sees the blue in his eyes.....do you??  One hour we are sure they're brown, then the next hour they're hazel.....then green'ish, then green'ish blue.  You get the idea!

 

"Look at how big I am!!"

I'll end this posting with a few pics by the tree....Cal picked the location.  His infatuation with counterfeit conifers provided us with an opportunity for an excessive photo montage. 

The season is upon us!

Cal had his 6 month/Christmas photos taken recently and they turned out so beautifully!!  He was extremely smiley that day, so each picture was a winner (in his Mama's eyes!).  Here are a few of our favorites.

 I think he looks like such a little man in this picture.  Maybe it's the lumberjack shirt....or his adorable receding hairline, but I think that he definitely looks older than 6 months in this photo. 

This one is my FAVORITE!!!!!  I sat about a foot to his left so that I could grab the lights that he kept trying to shove into his mouth.  I didn't research it, but logically saliva and electricity didn't seem like a good combo.  I'm no Ben Franklin, but it seemed best to avoid this scenario. 

 He sits up so well and has become increasingly sturdy while playing with his toys on the floor, or in this case the ornaments.  His favorite ornament was covered in glitter, which led to some necessary photoshopping by the photographer.  Had she not removed the glitter from the picture, you would've thought he'd been to a little girl's birthday party...or a rave. 

Mitch finally caved to my persistent begging and we gave Cal an early Christmas present.  Apparently the phrase, "He isn't being stimulated...we're inhibiting him intellectually" really struck a cord and he agreed to just ONE early gift.  :)  Cal truly is bored with his toys and actively seeks out things that make noise or light up.  So we decided it was time to awaken his musical side and we broke out the piano.  He loved it!   



I know we seem to post a lot of videos of Cal laughing, but seriously.....can you blame us?!  To us, it's the best sound in the world.  Watch this video and see how comical he finds his Daddy.

Rainy Saturday

Cal and Mommy opted out of attending the KSU vs. ISU football game today, which turned out to be a good idea.  It was very rainy and cold, but Mitch braved the elements and watched our beloved Cats improve to 10-2.

Since it had been decided that Cal and I were staying home, we declared it a PJ Day!! 



This lasted for a few hours until he spit up on himself, the chair, the carpet, and Mommy....in one fell swoop.  Once Cal, and our upholstery, were cleaned up and he was sportin' some Purple Pride, we snuggled up on the couch to watch the game.  Of course, "we" isn't limited to just Mommy and baby.....the fur babies are always included.

Hey Ollie, don't look so thrilled that you have a 21 lb baby laying on you right now. 

"Oh, K-State just scored?  Yippee!!!"  Notice the dogs aren't too riled up....rough life!

After a short nap, as most naps are in Cal's world, he decided he needed a bath.  After he was all cleaned up, we were able to resume our PJ Day and he celebrated the KSU victory by banging on pots and pans, which was his version of couch burning or flipping cars over.

After his victorious drum session with my cookware, it was time for dinner.  Up until tonight, he's only been eating cereal.  We upped his big boy status and introduced sweet potatoes tonight! 

He wasn't sure about those first few bites, but as expected, he didn't want to turn down a meal so he polished them off!

When Mitch got home from the rainy game, Cal wanted to play his favorite game with his Daddy!