Another adventure filled week!

This week was another adventure filled week for the Vargas family. On Wednesday morning I woke up with itchy, crusty eyes. A trip to the doctor confirmed that I had pink eye! They gave me some medicine and strict orders to stay home from work for 2 days. So Wednesday and Thursday I spent at home putting in eye drops every few hours. I seriously think that the eye drops actually burned more than the pink eye that it was supposed to be curing! The pink eye has cleared up and hopefully won't be back!

Caitlin continued trying to get mobile this week. On more than one occasion she stood herself up and started walking on her own. She's walked around on her own for as many as 15 or 20 feet and seems to enjoy walking quite a bit. We stopped at Walgreens on Friday evening and she walked around the entire store holding on to me with one hand. :) She's doing very well and seems completely fearless about walking.

Caitlin also continued teething this week. It seems like she has more teeth coming in and will chew on pretty much anything she can get her hands on. She currently has 6 teeth out and it looks like 2 more might be coming out soon. She has also continued eating more food that we eat. This week she's started eating off of her own Disney Princess plate. She seems to especially enjoy chicken and sugar-free jello pudding. :) Vanilla seems to be her favorite flavor so far.

She also seems like she's trying to talk a lot more. She's started pointing at things and babbling so it seems like she's trying to point out things to us. I know I've said it before on this blog but I am completely amazed watching her grow. It has been so incredible to watch every new thing that she does. It's amazing that in only about 2 weeks, she'll turn 1 year old! We're not sure what we're going to do to celebrate yet but right now it's looking like we're just going to do something small here at the house. We've already got decorations and stuff like that so we'll have to figure out the "where" pretty quick! :)

This weekend some of Toni's family came over and stayed with us. I think Caitlin enjoyed seeing all of the new faces and showing off her walking skills. :) Today I spent the morning with my Sister Sarah and Dan at the movies. We watched Transformers 2. Great movie and a definite "buy" when it comes out on Blu-ray. :) We also spent some of this afternoon putting away some of the things that Caitlin has outgrown and no longer uses - swings, walkers, bouncers and clothes. Since she's started walking she has not wanted anything to do with her walkers and bouncers and when we've put her in the swing, she's actually grabbed onto the frame to stop it from swinging! Nowadays she just wants to walk or explore. One of her favorite things to do now is to pull DVD's off the shelf and lay them all over the floor!

Hopefully this week will be a little quieter for us. I'm going to be on call again starting on Friday but other than that, the week should be fairly quiet. Hope everyone has a great week. :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day everyone! I hope everyone had a great one. My first Father's Day as a Dad went pretty well. Caitlin got me a nice card and a nice picture frame that I'm going to print the picture from above and put in it. She also made me a little foam boat at school on Friday that I am going to keep on my desk. I'm told she actually glued the decorations onto the boat all by herself. :) To start the day today, we went out to breakfast at ihop and then walked around a few stores and did some window shopping. We were going to go to the zoo but unfortunately, I've been fighting a sinus infection since last Thursday and by about noon, I was totally exhausted so we came home. The important thing is that I got to spend the day with Caitlin and Toni.
This week was pretty hectic. Toni got a new boss at work and on Monday night she didn't get home till late so Caitlin's Nana Bev, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dan came by to help me take care of her. She's been walking on her own a lot more now. She's started to just let go of us and try walking on her own quite a bit. At night we've been working with her in the living room. Toni and I will sit about 6 or 8 feet apart and Caitlin will walk back and forth between us. She's doing great and has managed to walk as many as 12 steps by herself and has even turned around and changed direction while walking. When she gets really excited she'll even start clapping! :) This week she also started pointing at things a lot more too. She'll point at things and walk with us to them and if she sees Shiloh or a picture of herself she'll point and start talking. I really think that the sound of her laughing is one of the greatest sounds I've ever heard. No matter what the situation, if I hear her laughing, it immediately puts a smile on my face. :)
This week we also trimmed Caitlin's bangs. Her hair has started getting longer and it was starting to get in her eyes. We saved a lock of her hair to put in her scrapbook.
In other news, yesterday Toni and I went for a visit to Carmax. While there, Toni found the car she wants next - Hyundai Azera. Super nice car with a killer warranty and tons of options. Amazingly, it was as nice as the Lexus ES330 we test drove for her! I've narrowed my search down to 2 vehicles on opposite ends of the spectrum - Chrysler 300 or the Toyota Pruis. I'm drawn to the 300 because of the looks, room and power. The Prius attracts my attention because it's like sitting in a car at Epcot Center. Being a gadget guy, it's a totally cool car and the thought of getting in excess of 45 MPG's is very tempting.. Driving the 300 was a blast though. I drove the 300C which is the model with the 340 horsepower Hemi engine. All I can say is WOW! That thing had power to spare and was an amazing ride. Think back to the first time you ever drove a car and the feeling you had when you first felt the enormous amount of power the vehicle seemed to have. That same excitement was what I felt behind the wheel of the 300c. An added plus, I'd still increase my gas mileage by about 50% with all that power. The Pruis would be about a 300% increase though but still, a 50% increase isn't anything to scoff at. It'll be a while before I make a decision but both have pros and cons.
Well, I hope everyone has a great week!

11 Months old!

Wow! Yesterday Caitlin turned 11 months old!! It's weird but sometimes it seems like she can't possibly be almost a year old and other times it seems like she's been with us for so much longer. This week she started doing a new thing - pointing! She will point at where she wants to go or at something interesting to her. She likes to sit in her high chair and point at Shiloh and has also started pointing at Toni and I. She's continued to clap and give high fives and seemed this week to understand us more. She knows when she's doing something she's not supposed to be doing and will give us a smile as if she's testing us. She seems to enjoy standing up near the home theater equipment and seeing how close she can get to touching stuff before we stop her. As soon as we stand up sometimes she'll sit down instantly as if acknowledge that she knows she's gone too far. :)

She's also been a lot more independent minded this week. If she doesn't want something like food she's started shaking her head to tell us no. She's been extremely vocal this week as well. Her 2 favorite phrases are, "Lauder-dodder-dodder" and "Laudy-doddy-doddy". :) When she stands to walk, she'll reach out and take whichever hand she wants and not necessarily the one we're offering. She's also started to lead us more on her walks rather than us walking her. She's also started trying to walk without support on her own. Several times we've been watching her walking along holding the furniture and suddenly she'll let go and start trying to walk without support. She's still only getting a few steps but she's definitely trying and knows what she wants to do. We've also pretty much established that Caitlin is actually right handed and not left as we originally thought.

Not everything was fun for Caitlin this week. Early in the week she stopped wanting to walk and when we'd try to walk with her, she'd just sit down and crawl instead. We figured out that the reason she didn't want to walk was because she had a splinter in her foot! :( Luckily there was a little bit of it still out so while she was sleeping, we were able to pull it out and clean her foot up. Ever since, she's been walking like her old self. :)

This weekend we went and had dinner with our friends Roy and his wife Blythe. We had a good time and a great dinner. The are expecting their third child right around Caitlin's birthday next month! :)

This week we don't have much planned. We're starting to plan Caitlin's first birthday party next month so I'll try to keep everyone posted on that. Hope everyone has a great week!

Out for a stroll...

This week Caitlin continued her quest for mobility. She's walking with assistance quite a bit now and has continued to get more confident with each passing day. She's to the point now where she will walk next to us and only hold on to us with one hand. If we try to hold both of her hands, she'll push our second hand away. Her balance seems to be improving too and I think it's only a matter of days before she starts walking completely on her own. She seems to enjoy walking and now will even walk from her classroom to the car when leaving daycare at night. At daycare, Caitlin moved exclusively to the 1 year old's room this week. She seems to be enjoying the new surroundings and is doing well. She's adjusting to the new nap times and is making new friends.

This week she has also continued eating more table food. Among her new favorites is Turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, turnip, pumpkin pie, and macaroni and cheese. Today we had a nice big lunch at Caitlin's Nana Bev and Grampa Bob's house and she got to try a couple new foods and got to walk around the house quite a bit. She quickly learned how to make an old pull toy make noise and in one of the pictures above, she's pulling the toy and enjoying the noises it was making. She's also clapping and giving us high five's when we ask her too most of the time. It's amazing to me how quickly she's learning and watching her excitement every time she tries something new has been totally amazing to Toni and I.

She's also up to a total of 6 teeth out and a 7th on the way. The teething has led to some pretty fussy nights but that's to be expected. We try to do what we can to help her manage the pain. We've got a bunch of teething rings that you chill in the freezer and we've got baby Orajel that helps for a couple minutes. Sometimes when she's teething, she's also started biting. She's bitten us both on the shoulders, arms and even knees. For such small teeth, they sure are sharp!

This week should be ok. I've been on call this weekend and will continue to be on call for the rest of this week. So far, it hasn't been too bad. I hope everyone has a great week!