colanders and strawberries

While I was over at my parents' house yesterday my mom showed me a really cute idea from Southern Living - using colanders instead of your regular hanging basket to grow strawberries! I don't have the photo they used, but it looked something along this line:



Now I'm sure you can plant whatever your heart desires in your colander, but I like the idea of going in our backyard and being able to pick and eat one of my favorite berries for free!


Wouldn't one or two of these colorful colanders look so cute hanging from our porch or clothesline? It would definitely give our oh-so-bleak backyard some color during the winter (yep, you can grow strawberries now - in the dead of winter - and they'll be ready for a late spring/early summer pickin'). Southern Living suggests planting Allstar, Apollo, Sunrise or Surecrop for our area.

You can bet I'll be out on the hunt for one of these and a couple of those strawberry plants next week...

3 months.

Caleb,

It's hard to believe 3 months ago we welcomed you into the world. Time has gone by fast already, yet I can't imagine what life was like without you. In just this past month you have grown up so much. Your looks are changing - you're losing your hair and you're growing so fast that you're now in 6 months clothes. You still have your big beautiful blue eyes that I love and hope do not change.

We celebrated our first Christmas with you and boy did you get spoiled by the grandparents! Next year we will be putting a limit to the number of toys you'll be able to receive - sorry kiddo. You also experienced your first long road trip, which was to South Carolina and got to meet all your cousins and aunts/uncles. You spent your first night at Smith Mountain Lake as well, which I'm sure we'll be spending a lot more time down there when it gets warmer.

This month your dad and I had our first weekend away from you and boy was it HARD. I missed you like crazy and couldn't wait to get back home to hold you, cuddle you, and kiss those chubby cheeks of yours.

You found your hands this month too and they always seem to find their way into your mouth when you don't have a pacifier in. You love your dog Scout who sings to you and even says your name! You started batting at toys now and still love your mobile in your crib, which is where you sleep now since you outgrew the moses basket. Waking up in the mornings are a bit tough for you. There's a lot of grunting and stretching going on for at least 5 minutes until you give us a big toothless grin.

Unfortunately you were a horrible sleeper this month. What happened to sleeping from 10pm 'til 5am?? You now have been waking up a few times throughout the night, which I have to admit has been rough for your dad and I. You also aren't a very good napper yet either, but we're still working on that.

Amidst your sleepless nights, your dad and I are falling more and more in love with you. Our hearts melt when we hold you at community group and you just coo and smile at us in our arms. We love that you save your best smiles for us and how I'm the one that can best soothe you.

We love you Caleb and look forward to what this next month holds for us!

it's official

Well I just received an email yesterday saying that I was registered for the Monument 10K in April (Steve signed us up after my procrastination). Don't get me wrong - I want to run this race not only because it's become a Krieger family tradition, but also because it will make me find the time to run!

I haven't run a lot of races before, but this one sure is a lot of fun. The last time we ran the 10K we saw the running of the bulls, Superman, and if I remember correctly Michael Jackson. If you live in the area I definitely recommend signing up to run it - it's a guaranteed good time!

tummy time

Caleb is not a fan of tummy time. But I make him do it a couple of times a day anyway so he can build up strong muscles.

He can definitely lift up his head a good amount, but he usually uses tummy time to suck his fist (yep, his entire fist) since it's much easier to find than when he's on his back.

He's all smiles when on his back...

my hopes for 2011

Ringing in a new year always has its ups and downs for me. It's exciting to feel like you can start anew with goals and hopes for the next 12 months. But for me, a new year also means turning another year older which scares me. I don't want to get old.

Anyway, I thought I would write down a few of my hopes for 2011, as I've been thinking about them for several days now.

1. Be in the Word daily. Our pastor preached an amazing sermon yesterday about delighting ourselves in God's Word. I want to do that. I want to delight in the Scriptures every day.

2. Have more mommy friends. There are tons of women in our church who have infants like me and I just haven't made the time to get to know them. I realize my need for fellowship with other women in the same phase of life as me - in order to keep my sanity and hopefully to reassure myself I'm doing at least some things right as a mom!

3. Improve my time management at home. I need to work on how to balance time between taking care of Caleb and yet still keeping our house in some sort of order (ie cleaning, running errands, cooking, staying within budget on everything, etc). If I ever get to that point I will be oh-so-happy.

4. Pray more diligently for others. My prayer life lately tends to be self-focused. I want to lift others besides myself and/or my needs in prayer.

5. Learn new things. This year I hope to learn how to crochet and want to cook a new recipe weekly. I'm also going to start my first raised bed vegetable garden.

6. Quilt and read. I love doing both of these things and hope to be able to do more of both of them this year. I would like to make good progress on my cathedral window quilt and I hope to read a lot of books.

inspired

I was looking around Etsy this morning, and came across these that I absolutely fell in love with. While I consider myself a somewhat crafty woman - I've dabbled in knitting, but I mainly quilt and sew - I do not know how to crochet. But seeing those adorable booties made my mind wander to all the adorable clothes I could make not only for Caleb and future Baby Kriegers, but also for our friends' babies as well! I think I spent an hour (or more) looking on the internet of all the possibilities...there are just so many cute things to make!!

And once a Lowder sees something he/she wants, it is hard for them to wait patiently - it's usually bought and/or done within a short amount of time. Thus my morning has been finding how-to crochet videos, researching where to buy crochet needles and yarn, and of course picking out all sorts of different patterns to begin my crochet-learning! As soon as Caleb wakes up from his nap we're gonna make a trip to the new Hobby Lobby (I've been wanting an excuse to go for a while now) and perhaps purchase my first crochet needles and some yarn!

Let the crocheting of cute little baby booties begin!

Here's to Christmas, a two-month birthday, a trip to SC, and a Madison-style wedding!

So the past few weeks have been (wait, can you guess?) BUSY, but jammed pack with fun festivities. Christmas came and went too fast and Caleb received more presents than Steve and I combined I believe. My favorite of Caleb's presents is a wooden Noah's Ark toy set that my amazingly gifted dad built with his own 2 hands. It's super cute and it will be something that I know Caleb will cherish knowing that his Grandaddy made it just for him. My parents and us 3 then beared the snowstorm that hit Virginia and NC the day after Christmas and drove almost 10 hours to SC to visit all 30-some of the Berrys. It was me and Steve's first time seeing all of them since we returned to the States and the first time for them to meet Caleb in person, so it was a precious time together. I love how we pack 30-some people, 5+dogs, and 2 cats all in one house and we never get tired of one another!

Christmas morning

The newest additions to the Lowder family....Austin and Caleb

How Caleb enjoyed his first road trip

After returning from SC Steve and I left for Madison County to celebrate not only New Years, but more importantly the marriage of our two good friends. The wedding was out in the country, specifically in a barn - full of mason jars, wine barrels, cowboy boots, burlap sacks as tablecloths, and everything else country. I loved it. Despite the cold it was super fun and we are so happy to have been a part of our friends' special day.

It's hard to believe we rang in the New Year with a 2 month old! The second month definitely had its perks - first and foremost Caleb won our hearts with his precious smile. I'd never seen something so rewarding in my life. It's crazy how you let those sleepless nights and fussy times slip from your memory when he gives you a huge toothless grin. Besides grinning and cooing all the time, Caleb is getting more strong with his neck and holding his head up really well. We're still working on getting more tummy time (it's not his favorite) and are anxiously awaiting for him to figure out how to roll over. The 2nd month also gave me and Steve more rest. Caleb started sleeping longer throughout the nights - sometimes even sleeping through the night - but it hasn't gotten very consistent yet. He's a terrible napper (which I'm working on diligently this month)! He LOVES fans, his mobile in his crib, taking trips to Grandmas where he's spoiled rotten, and is fascinated by tongues. We love him so much and look forward to seeing more of his personality come out this month!

Caleb didn't enjoy his reindeer outfit as much as his momma did...

super cute.

Still working on those rolls....

Koby finally decided to show Caleb his approval as the new addition to the family by attempting to sit on him