The Dotsons

I'm a little behind with this post, but our family celebrated two birthdays in the month of May- Jake turned 11 on May 5th and Rhett turned 28 on May 20th!

For Jake's birthday, we had a family get-together at Stephanie's house and Rhett smoked one of the best briskets EVER using the smoker he got from his parents for Christmas. Seriously, this thing was GOOOOOD! He's cooked an entire Thanksgiving meal for my family so they all know he can cook, but the brisket sealed the deal. He has now been appointed as the official family cook - it was a unanimous decision. Most of the pictures I took that day were of Caleb...mostly b/c the older boys were too busy running around. Caleb did get an early birthday present from Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bill b/c they will be out of the state in August and will miss his birthday. I took these pictures using our new digital SLR camera but haven't edited any of them.


Caleb helping his cousin, Jake, count his birthday dough...

Cousins...

Luke and Caleb...

playing with cousin Luke...

In the Dotson house, the birthday boy or girl gets to pick what restaurant we go eat at and also gets extra "blow money" that month. Rhett picked Pappadeaux Seafood this year and it was yummy as always. Our absolute favorite thing there is their crab and spinach dip appetizer.......OH. MY. GOSH. it is the best tasting food on earth. Seriously. It is also probably the most unhealthy food on earth, but who cares?! Anyway, Caleb wanted to get Daddy something special to put in his office, so what better than a picture of his adorable face? We braved swarms of mosquitos to take this picture. Poor kid (and me) - we get eaten alive by mosquitos! Here are a few pics we took on Rhett's birthday...

At 9 months old, Caleb...

...weighs 20 lbs 11 oz (5o%) and is 28 3/4 inches long (75%). It's amazing how his growth curve has changed and how fast he's been growing!

...is now mostly wearing 12-month sizes but can still fit into a few 9-month ones. He's wearing a size 3 diaper during the day and a size 4 at night.

...is now taking 2 naps a day instead of 3. He is still napping in the morning for 1-1.5 hours and then his afternoon or evening nap varies depending on what we do that day. If we have errands to run after lunch, he will skip the after-lunch nap and then usually go to sleep right after we get home and he eats at 3:30pm.

...goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm and will usually sleep for 12 hours straight on most nights. We are also no longer rocking him to sleep for naps or at bedtime and he's doing pretty well with putting himself to sleep. It usually takes him anywhere between 20 - 45 minutes to go to sleep with minimal crying.

...is still taking a paci at nap and bedtime and sometimes in the carseat. He can now put his paci in his mouth by himself.

...wakes up from naps or in the morning, finds his paci, puts it in his mouth, then turns on his mobile/music and lays there watching and listening to it.

...is drinking 6-8 ounces of formula every 4 hours during the day (so 4 times/day) and eating solids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

...is now eating his "greens" instead of gagging and spitting them up! This month, we tried wheat cereal, rice cereal w/mixed fruit, chicken, yellow zucchini squash, avocado, apple juice, white grape juice, french fries*, and vanilla wafers.

LIKES: butternut squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, carrots, yellow and green zucchini squash, any kind of juice, any kind of cereal, pears, apples, prunes, nilla wafers, and fries.
DISLIKES: avocado, chicken, bananas, peaches/nectarines (but we are going to re-try all of these this month)

*we have only given him french fries once just to see if he'd eat them-just so you don't think we're pumping our kid full of grease! :)

...is making the "bababa" sound on occasion, although he mostly still just says "dadada"

...is still not crawling, but he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. At the moment, he prefers rolling and slithering!

...is needing to be entertained more it seems. Is it possible for a 9-month-old to get bored with his toys? His favorite toys right now are his red frog mirror (still), Laugh N Learn cookie jar, plastic kitchen spoons, his "baby's first picture album", and pretty much anything he can gnaw on!

...is getting a little better with the sippy cup but still not great at it. He does like to bang it against the high chair tray to make noise!

...has 4 teeth (front top & bottom) and is cutting at least one more on the top, right. It hasn't broken through yet but I can see it surfacing. He started grabbing his ear on the right side right about the time this one started coming in, so we think the two are related. We read where ear-grabbing can be a sign of teething b/c the pain/discomfort radiates to the ear. (no ear infection; pedi checked his ears at his appt)

...is still the sweetest, most handsome little boy ever!


And the monthly picture overload............


Cutie pie!


Caleb & Mommy in Woodville.


with Aunt Courtney, also in Woodville.

Caleb is 9 months old today! He is growing and changing so much these days. Isn't he handsome?!

I am so blessed to be a mommy this year and to get to celebrate Mother's Day with my awesome husband and precious son! We had a great day and I appreciate all that my boys did for me. I got my mother's day flowers this past Thursday but they are still thriving and beautiful! (we recommend ProFlowers, by the way) Rhett also surprised me with a new camera!! It is a digital SLR and I have no idea how to work it, so he also signed me up for a beginner photography class in July/August that I will take with my friend, Stephanie and possibly Jennifer. I am really excited about that and excited to start taking better pictures of my little man!

Sunday morning, we went to church and then instead of Sunday School, we volunteered with the church child care for the first time. We were in the "crawlers" room (which also had a few "walkers" in it). That was neat to be around the kiddos who are in the stage that Caleb will be in before long. (he is still in the baby nursery) Gives us a peek at what life will soon be like! Those little ones were all over the place and it was fun chasing them around and playing. We took some on a buggy ride around the church and then just played in the room. There weren't too many "uh oh" moments or meltdowns, so overall I'd say it was a success. It was rather tiring, though! (thank goodness we only have ONE little one to wrangle!)

After church, we came home and had lunch then put Caleb down for a nap b/c he doesn't usually nap in the nursery. He was exhausted and slept nearly 2 hours. While he napped, Rhett and I were lazy and watched some of our TV shows we'd missed while he was gone. After Caleb woke up from his nap, I took him to Target with me to get formula and wipes while Rhett went to the grocery store. We are still catching up a little from Rhett being gone last week. After Caleb's dinner and bathtime, we had dinner ourselves and then we relaxed some more and called it a night. We had a nice day together as a family!

Caleb told me that he bought me a card, but his Daddy has it hidden in a drawer somewhere so he hasn't been able to sign it yet. He also said that the flowers were his idea. What a sweet boy!



Isn't he the cutest little boy on the face of the earth?!

We did not get to see either of our own moms for Mother's Day, but wished them a happy Mother's Day over the phone. Rhett's parents still live in Lousiana and my parents were in Arkansas visiting family. Both of our moms are great and have raised wonderful and successful children. We love them dearly!

oh, and this is the camera...

Friday!! Last full day by ourselves since Daddy will be home tomorrow!! Whew, this was an eventful day. Unfortunately, Caleb woke up on the wrong side of the crib this morning. He was so grouchy and I never did figure out why. He got a full night's sleep and he didn't wake up stuffy or anything. Even after he was changed and fed he was still whiney. He went down for a nap and only slept for about an hour so that did not really help his mood any. After his nap, he ate some lunch and then we went to lunch at Chili's with Jennifer and baby Camille. They got their garage door fixed so they were no longer trapped at home! We had a good time eating and talking mommy talk. Camille, who is a month old, was an angel and slept the entire time. I remember those days! Caleb was still in a rotten mood and must have been exhausted from not napping long enough because he ended up falling asleep slouched over in the high chair. It was kinda pitiful.

By the time we were done eating, it was almost 2pm. Jenn and I decided we needed to go to Kohl's and put our 15% off coupons to use. First we had to make a pitstop at my house for Jenn to feed Camille and to pick up Caleb's stroller. Caleb perked up at home so I thought we were good to go, but when we were shopping at Kohl's he started melting down. Admitedly, I probably stretched him a little too far since I knew he was already tired. I did manage to get him enough 12 month shorts to last through the summer (hopefully, unless he outgrows them!) and two 12 month shirts before we had to leave. Jenn got Camille some cute little summer outfits, too. There are so many more girl clothes to choose from, it is crazy. You can barely find the boy clothes amidst all the PINK and ruffles!

Anyway, Caleb and I left Jenn and Camille at Kohl's so we could go home and get little man to sleep. He fell asleep before we even got home, but once he ate he was re-energized and did not seem to want to nap. We have a little rule around here that he has to stay in his crib during his naptime even if he's not going to sleep. He's *supposed* to be sleeping, but it doesn't always work out that way so even if he rolls all over his crib for an hour and/or cries, he stays put. I think it took him 45 minutes to finally fall asleep. I just knew he'd zonk out immediately but he never ceases to prove me wrong! He slept for about an hour and 15 minutes, then woke up and it was time for dinner.

After dinner, he played on the kitchen floor while I cleaned up a little. He finally seemed to be in a decent mood and had a good time rolling all over the floor half naked. I had to strip him down because he drenched himself in juice. We're still working on perfecting the whole sippy-cup thing. 7:30pm quickly rolled around so Caleb drank his milk and then I put him in bed to put himself to sleep (something we are working on). WOW, I don't know what got into him but he rolled around his crib for TWO HOURS before finally falling asleep. I could see him on the video monitor and he kept turning on his mobile/music and just staring at it. Oh, and TWICE, he knocked the camera off the crib so I had to go in there and readjust it. First task for Daddy tomorrow will be to mount that thing on the wall since he's finally found it!

Anyway, that was our day! Tomorrow we are picking up Daddy at the airport around 4:30pm and we are so excited for him to finally be home. For me, this has been a long week and confirms my suspicions that being a single parent is no fun. Here are some pictures and video from today!

Ready for our lunch date!



Guess the conversation just wasn't good enough for him...



My beautiful Mother's Day flowers...



Took him 8 months, but he finally found the camera...and he was letting me know that he did NOT want to go to bed! (sometimes we get a little static interference)



Having a ball playing on the kitchen floor...



He gets really excited about his juice!



Caleb and Camille...



Playing in his playpen...

Thursday: Well, I had typed out a detailed description of our day, but through a series of unfortunate clicks, I deleted it. Then Blogger autosaved my newly blank post so I could not get it back! And....I don't feel like retyping it so our day will have to be recapped in videos and a few pictures.

Here's the story in short or incomplete sentences: Woke up. Ate breakfast. Caleb played. Mommy showered. Caleb napped. Mommy cleaned kitchen. Ate lunch. Played again. Went outside to swing. Got Mother's Day flowers. Went to the bank. Caleb drank milk. Caleb napped. Mommy made cobbler. Caleb ate dinner. Caleb took bath. Played again. Caleb drank more milk. Caleb went to bed. Mommy ate cobbler. Mommy ate chicken pot pie. Mommy blogged. Mommy erased blog. Mommy went to bed. The End!

Sweet boy! He looks so big in this picture.

Mmmm....P-Dub's Cobbler #1 made with wild dewberries my mom picked!


Mother's Day flowers! (I had just put them in the vase so they hadn't bloomed and perked up just yet)


He's only smiling because the swing isn't moving!

Nothing like a good morning jump to get you energized for the day ahead!




The tickle monster strikes again!



Practicing crawling after naptime...



Bathtime is fun!

Wednesday: Well, today we were supposed to go to a play group with some friends from church but it got moved to next week. So, we then changed our plans and decided to meet up with Jennifer and baby Camille at Chili's for lunch...but that also fell through. Jenn's garage door is not working (as of this morning-how convenient!) so she was trapped at home. SO...we ended up doing a whole lot of NOTHING today. After lunch, we ran out and bought stamps to mail some mother's day cards and then we drove through the car wash. Excitement, I tell you! I thought about wasting some time at Target or Kohl's (our usual stops), but Caleb was getting grumpy so we came home and Caleb took an early afternoon nap while I cleaned out and attempted to organize the pantry. I also may have baked and eaten a few of Marlboro Man's favorite cookies in the process.

Caleb woke up from his nap around 3:30pm and drank his milk. We then played on the floor in our room. And then we played some more. And then Caleb got grumpy so we went outside for a bit for a little change of scenery. We didn't stay out too long, though because it was so darn hot and the mosquitoes were swarming like vultures. They LOVE our blood...not Daddy's...just mine and Caleb's (we have the same blood type)! By this time, it was almost 5:30pm and I began to get a little stir crazy. A day without any adult interaction at all messes with your head. I needed to get out of the house...so we went to Target. Caleb was already getting sleepy and I could tell, but he ended up doing really well at Target. We walked around for a little while and ended up leaving with a gallon of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream to go with the wild dewberry cobbler I plan on making tomorrow. My parents have a huge patch of berries and Mom picked these while we were in Woodville. On our way out of Target, I stopped at the Starbucks and got a mocha frap...mmmm! Haven't had one of those in a long time and it hit the spot.

We got home around 6:30pm and I fed Caleb his dinner...peas and applesauce. Then Caleb played in his jumperoo while I made some pureed yellow and green zucchini squash baby food. Despite the fact that he was sleepy and had previously acted grumpy, he was really happy in his jumper. I think he must have been delirious, but it sure was cute. So, 7:30pm finally rolled around and I fed little man his bedtime bottle and put him to bed. He only cried for a few minutes before zonking out. Apparently, our day wore him out! He is now fast asleep, I am full of the gourmet Totino's pizza I ate, and I'm watching a chick flick. Wonder what tomorrow will bring? I will say that we are missing Daddy and we're ready for him to come home!

I figured out something neat with our Flip camcorder - you can take "snapshots" from videos you film to make pictures...how cool! Here are some of the "snapshots" I took and also some video from today.

Caleb talking about his Daddy:

Hanging out in the back yard:

Delirious jumping before bedtime:

Tuesday: Today, we left Woodville and came back to Houston. Not too much excitement today. While I was getting ready this morning, Caleb sat in Grandpa's lap and fell asleep. It was so sweet!

We hit the road around Caleb's normal naptime this morning (yes, I planned that!) and he slept from Livingston all the way back to Houston (so 1.5 hours). I think I've figured out this whole baby travel thing, ha!

Now, to explain this next "mini story" I have to backtrack and tell another "mini story"...thus forming one full story that really has nothing to do with Caleb or anything of real importance. Do not read the next two run-on paragraphs unless you are extremely bored.....

Sunday before we left for Woodville, I let the dogs out and went about my business around the house. I went to let them back in and I see Rio running around the yard with a bird in his mouth...yuck!!!!! My first thought was, "Great! Rhett leaves and now the dogs have found a dead bird which I am going to have to remove from the backyard!!!" My second thought was, "Wait, I wouldn't touch that thing with a 10-foot pole so I will have to find someone else to do it!" My third thought was, "This might have to wait until we get back from Woodville." Anyway, I yell at him to drop it, which (surprisingly) he does...and then I yell some more to get the dogs to come back in the house and away from this dead and possibly diseased bird. Just the thought of it gives me the heeby jeebies (or however you spell that). I also have flashbacks to several years ago when Rio found an injured bird in the yard and we ended up catching it and taking it to TWRC. (sidenote: if you take them an injured animal, you can fill out a card with your information and they will contact you and tell you if the animal survived or not and what they did with it. Ours was rehabilitated and released back into the wild! Yes, we saved a bird from being eaten by a savage schnoodle.) Whew, this story is getting way out of hand.... Ok, so later I go to the back door and the bird is not where Rio left it! I scan the yard and finally see it hopping along the fence line...yes, it was alive! This is actually more of a problem than a dead bird, in my opinion. What to do? What to do? I go out back and get a little closer but I can't tell if it's hurt or just a baby bird who can't fly yet. Who knows? I may have worked at a veterinary pharmacy, but I am no veterinarian...I'm a pharmacist, people! I decided right then and there, that I would just go to Woodville and give "nature" a chance to take it's course. I figure there's a pretty good chance that it will be gone (somehow, some way) when we get back. By this time, TWRC was already closed (after 2pm), so there was nothing I could do anyway....and I was not about to delay our trip to Woodville for a bird. Sorry, little bird. So, we leave.

Fast forward to today when we get back. Before letting the dogs out, I scanned the back yard to see if I can see the bird anywhere. I didn't see it so I let the dogs out. Well, darn thing blends in with the fence...so next thing I know, I see it hop-flying up into the air about 3 feet off the ground as Rio tries to sink his teeth into it's feathery hide. Apparently, nature did not takes it's course while we were gone. I, once again, yell like a mad woman for the dogs to "leave it" and get back into the house. They (surprisingly) listened to me and came back in. That darn bird just starts hopping around the yard again like it's made itself at home. I felt sorry for it so I began thinking of what to do to get this thing out of my yard. I decided to text our friend, Jarod, to see if he could come over after work to help me catch it so I can take it to TWRC. He kindly said "yes" so I went about my business since there was nothing I could do until then. Probably an hour after I texted Jarod, I went out in the backyard to check on the bird. It was still hopping around. In one of the corners of our backyard, there is a gap in the fence that the dogs used to go through sometimes and get into our neighbor's yard (when they were smaller). Rhett tried to fill in the gap with some landscaping bricks but they always fall down so there's still a gap there. Anyway, I see the bird hop up onto one of the bricks...and then....it hopped through the gap in the fence! I thought maybe it would come right back through and back into our yard, but it never did! I texted Jarod and told him the bird removed himself from the yard so he wouldn't have to come over! I thought about calling our neighbor to tell her that there was a pesky bird in her backyard...but I never did. Does that make me a bad person? Ok, that's pretty much the end of the bird story. Told you it wasn't really that great of a story.

Back to what IS important...

This is a crummy picture b/c I took it with my phone but this is Caleb playing with one of his stuffed puppies. This one barks when you squeeze it and he thought it was hilarious today when the puppy "kissed" him on the nose. Poor kid. His real puppies won't play with him so he has to play with stuffed puppies.

We also went to Walmart and Kroger today, but I will spare you the details of that trip. Let's just say it ended in me eating an unhealthy amount of Arriba brand salsa. So much that I was not even hungry for dinner.

To conclude, here is a video of Caleb getting up on all fours. I am really hoping he doesn't start crawling before Rhett gets home. I don't think he will, but he is surely thinking about it. See for yourself!

Rhett left for El Salvador yesterday and won't return until tomorrow, so this week is all about Mommy and Caleb time! I am keeping a little "diary" of what we do all week while Daddy is away so he'll know what he missed. This is mostly for Daddy, so if you don't want to read about the little details of our week then just look at the pictures. :)

Sunday: sorry, no pictures from Sunday! Rhett packed the camera for his trip so we didn't take any. We had to get up much earlier than usual since the flight was at 9:15am and we had to drop Daddy off 2 hours before. Caleb was a champ, though, and did well even though I had to drag him out of bed at 6:15am. He just looked at me like "mom, are you crazy?!" He usually doesn't get up until 7:45 or 8am. After dropping Daddy off at the airport, we went home and tried to get back on our schedule. Caleb played a while and then went down for an hour and a half long nap. Then, we had lunch and played some more without an after-lunch nap. I wanted to wear him out so he'd sleep in the car on the way to Woodville. My plan worked! At 3:30pm, he had his bottle and then we left at 4pm to head to Woodville. He slept almost the entire way. Success! We got to Woodville at 6pm and Caleb played a little with Granny and Grandpa before hitting the sack at 8pm. He only took 12 minutes to put himself to sleep - he was so tired!

Monday: Granny volunteered to work at early voting for a special election in Woodville so she was gone all day. We just hung out around the house with Grandpa until Granny got home. Grandpa was doing some outside work so we went outside to check out what he was doing, but the sun was scorching so we didn't stay out long. Caleb took two good naps of 1.5 hours each (good for his pack n play) and also played with some of Granny's plastic cups and measuring cups. Who knew how much more fun kitchen supplies are than actual toys?! Caleb played with Granny once she got home. We also spent a little time outside in the evening once we got some shade in the front yard. I put Caleb in the grass to take some pictures and he really did not know what to think of it. This was the 2nd time he's sat directly in grass but he was like "what IS this stuff?!?!" I also tried to get some pics of him by the flowers but he was too distracted to look at me. Oh, to be 8 months old and discovering the world around you! After dinner, Caleb took a sink bath and then we played in the living room. He was really getting up on his knees a lot and rocking more than ever. Won't be long before he's on the move! Again, he was very tired after an exciting day in the country so he went to sleep immediately. Here are some pictures from today.

While I was washing some of his clothes, I put him in a laundry basket to contain him. He thought it was funny!

Caleb says, "Momma, Grandpa is sweaty and stinky. WHY are you letting him hold me?"

Tried getting a picture of "all my children" and the pups actually did pretty well "staying"...except for when Caleb tried to touch Rio. He jumped a mile, LOL

Caleb did not like the grass too much.

He was also not so sure about the bricks.

But was fascinated with the flowers!

Won't be long!