Pittsburgh Weekend. Walking.

We were busy with back to back wedding weekends! After Rachel and Joe's wedding in Charleston, we went to Pittsburgh to celebrate Angela and Tom's wedding. This was the first time Matt and I were away from Cal, and of course he was in the best hands with Matt's parents. The wedding was so beautiful, outdoors at Mellon Park in the walled garden. Congratulations to Tom and Angela Herman! 

While in Pittsburgh we were able to see some of our favorite Pittsburgh people. We met up with Ryan and Kristin Lundy and their sweet baby girl Maura - this was the babe's first time meeting - I think Cal had a good time! :)

Cal found a antique rocking chair just his size at Grandma and Grandpa Roth's house. 

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Of course he had to tickle Grandpa Jim's toes as he was trying to take a nap!

Cal really started walking this weekend! A couple of weeks ago he was taking 1-2 steps randomly, but he really gained some momentum at Grandma and Grandpa Roth's house.  Here is a video of him at home when he took some of his first steps...

It was so sweet to see him walking around the yard with his grandparents. 

You know we had to see Felix the barber when we were in town - he doesn't always seem to be Cal's favorite person. Typically, he cries at first because of Felix's loud Italian antics, but then realizes that Felix is silly and has a lot of fun. 

Cal and Felix's wife Maria talking to each other about life. 

Rachel's Wedding Weekend in Charleston, SC

Off we went to Charleston, SC for one of my dear friend Rachel's wedding! We were so excited to visit this beautiful city and celebrate the marriage of Rachel Floyd and Joe Gough! This marks Cal's 6th flight, and he did so well! We were bumped up to first class on the way there, which was AWESOME and Cal loved having the extra space to roam. He napped most of the 1.5 hour flight, but there were a few instances where we read some books and did some fine motor activities.

Aww.. my little sleepy baby.

Putting fuzzy balls into a plastic container - great entertainment!

Here was his sleeping situation while we were staying at the beach house. Blankets piled on the floor for padding and to keep him warm. He slept great, even better than at home. Maybe he just wants to sleep on the floor all the time...

Then it was time for the main event! Cal did not attend the actual wedding but took a nap and hung out in the nursery with a great lady who he loved! He had never met her before, but when he woke up from his nap, he didn't care at all! He smiled at her and went right on into playing in the nursery room. Glad to know Cal doesn't miss us too much! :) We picked him up after the ceremony and off we went to the reception - which was the MOST beautiful location! It was a national historic site called Charlestowne Landing and there were marshes and beautiful live oaks everywhere. Everything was beautiful, and Rachel did such an amazing job planning it all while in Philadelphia. Here are more pictures from the wedding, if you're interested! 

We danced the night away and Cal had the best time! 

After so much dancing the little guy started to get a little tuckered out....

But there's always enough time to dance with his favorite Rachel...

While Mommy was dancing away, Daddy and Cal took a sweet picture together.

Cal had one last dance with Mary before the wedding was over.

We had so much fun celebrating with Joe and Rachel in Charleston and wish them so many happy and blessed years of marriage! Thanks for letting us be a part of your day!

12 month check-up - Bug bites. Peaches. Chicken leg. Maestro.

Cal had his 12 month check up and he's growing steadily and very healthy! 

His new stats:

Height: 30 inches - 53rd percentile

Weight: 23 lbs. 4.8 oz. - 78th percentile

Head Circumference: 19.02 inches - 95th percentile - This kid's got a big noggin!

Speaking of things that are big - see Cal's right ear? It's very big in that picture... because a mosquito bit it! This was the first time he had a major reaction to a bug bite, and it looked like a fake red ear was attached to the side of his head. Poor baby - it bothered him so much, but with a little witch hazel he was as good as new! He also had a cluster of bites on his arm - these Pennsylvania mosquitos are vicious...and they swelled up as well. Anyone know any good natural mosquito repellents?

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Speaking of things Cal is allergic to, this picture was taken while Cal was eating a peach, and minutes later his entire neck and chest was covered with red welts! No more peaches for my Cal bear.. :(

We celebrated Stephanie's birthday this week with a surprise teddy bear picnic at Rachel's apartment. The babies all had a great time sharing each other's food and playing around. Happy 30th Steph!

Cal likes to eat chicken legs. This is him devouring a chicken leg covered in barbecue sauce.... (I really need to get better at taking more exciting pictures...)

Finally, what you've all been waiting for... Maestro Cal's two-handed piano performance!! 

New car seat. Neighborhood strolls. Chocolate.

Since Cal is a big boy now, he needed a car seat upgrade. He is still rear-facing but he now has a throne of a seat that even has a cup holder where I hide crackers for him sometimes. He likes that. His buddy Lexie, sitting next to him, also upgraded, and here they are going for a ride together.

Lately Cal has been very interested in pushing this wooden walker around. I thought it might be fun for him to walk on our little pathway out front, but he had other ideas. He decided he wanted to go on the sidewalk, and then continue on walking all the way around the loop through the back alleyway and everything! He smelled flowers, barked at dogs that were barking at him, banged on metal poles, hugged trees, and noticed just about every fun thing along the way. This walk is one of my favorite memories I have with Cal. Just seeing him discover everything as if it were the first time he had ever seen anything like it. So many small details that I normally would walk past thinking that they were uninteresting, Cal sees as beautiful. Oh how wonderful the world can be when you stop and take notice of everything around you.

We found a fun Caribbean festival downtown to go to at Penn's Landing over the weekend and they had men playing steel drums and reggae music playing while we were there. Cal bebopped along to the beat and Matt and I ate jerk chicken and beans with rice. So yummy. 

Cal was a little under the weather with a cold this week, so we decided to go for a walk to a fun little concert in Chestnut Hill where they were giving away free ice cream! This was Cal's first taste of chocolate... pretty sure he liked it.

We harvested our cucumbers this week, 6 in all! Just enough to make 5 jars of refrigerator pickles! Cal helped supervise.

Cal's latest trick is playing dead. Sometimes I think he's part dog.