Casa de Helwig

Okay, so it wasn’t really a vacation (just a quick day trip this past weekend) and it is not the sand you are thinking about (ie. the beach). We went to Monahans Sandhill State Park. Just an hour away from Midland is….sand, and lots of it. You can bring your horse, take a dune buggy ride, or slide down the tall dunes on a disc. We did the latter. Afterwards, you must take a shower…..sand is everywhere! Caleb loved playing in the sand and sliding down the dunes. It sure was hard walking up the dunes. If anyone wants to visit us, we would love to take you.

Afterward, we drove to Balmorhea State Park to swim in the spring fed pool. It was cool, but Caleb loved splashing around in the water. We had a nice little road trip. We didn’t take many pictures.

This week has been busy, I have been working like crazy. But it has been good.

Have a great 4th of July weekend. No plans as of yet for us. I work this weekend.

Caleb had his first popsicle today. Not very momentous, but I thought this post needed an update, however lame it might be. Eating these particular popsicles brings back memories of hot summer days playing with my sibling and friends.

Caleb probably enjoys playing in puddles more than the popsicle, but I am sure the “ice” (what he calls anything cold…or what he says when we pass by sonic) was refreshing!

Well, it has been a whirlwind of a time the past few weeks. The first week in June, Caleb stayed with Chad’s mom, Audrey, while I covered for another therapist at the hospital in Odessa. We really missed Caleb, but every time we called he was busy doing something and having a blast. Audrey sent me a wonderful photo ABC book (with a picture of him with various objects, one for each letter of the alphabet; ie. A for apple, L for laughting) she made of Caleb’s visit. She did a great job, THANKS!

After a full Saturday working at the hospital it was time to plan for our trip to Washington to visit my mom. She has been pleading with us to come visit since Caleb was born. Caleb and I were headed to the northwest. I spent the next few days, packing, cleaning, cooking for Chad (he was staying home).

Well, I was really nervous about the flight. The first leg was approximately 1 hour to Dallas, followed by roughly 4 hours to Portland, OR. It turned out not too bad. He even slept for a short time on the longer part of the trip. Luckily we had wonderful people that did not care if Caleb patted their arm if they started to doze off.

Once there we did lots of fun things: SHOPPING, the zoo, fun at the indoor pool, the park, grab a snack at Sheridan’s frozen custard on 3 occasions, pedicures for Sara and I, eat out, and mainly visiting with family. My sister Sara spent nearly everday with us, we got to visit with my brother Weylin, his wife Samantha, and their son Liam. Here are all the pictures. Are you ready? There is a lot.

My nephew Liam.

Fun at the zoo.

Weylin and Caleb playing ball.

Casey getting the fire ready to roast marshmallows for yummy S’mores!

My beautiful mom.

Sam, mom, Liam, Casey

Time for pedicures.

Lunch with Barbara, a family friend.

The siblings, plus Sam and Liam, plus mom.

Fun in the pool.

Enjoying an evening at the park the night before we headed back to Texas.

Thanks for a great time Mom. Sara thanks for spending so much time with us.

Here is one of the sonogram pictures of our baby. My due date is December 23. I am almost 13 weeks along. Very little nausea, nothing else, other than being extra tired those first 12 weeks. Everything is going great! We are truly blessed.

For some reason this is upside down. Sorry.

Caleb has always been such a great helper.

He likes to pack and unwrap.

He will even lick the floor clean.

He loves to help load the washer and dryer. Then he helps to fold.

He likes to vacuum (unfortunately we can only go one direction).

He likes to unload the dishwasher (loading is a totally different story).

He even likes to sweep the floor, inside and out

He will put groceries away and check my email.

Wipe clean the counters, bed, wall, practically any surface.

He even will push me in the hammock and feed me his favorite foods.

Because of his great desire to help we figured we could handle another one.

Disc-golf, frisbie-golf, whatever you want to call it. Chad and I are continually trying to find something we can do outdoors as a family (that is relatively free). We have picked up tennis in the past, but that doesn’t work with Caleb, we aren’t good at golf (more so, I stink at golf) and that costs money, we go bike riding with the trailer or we go for walks. Anyway, Chad had a brilliant idea on Memorial Day. Frisbie-golf. This is our second try. We have a long way to go to being good, but Caleb loves to walk around the park and chase after the frisbies. It’s great.

Retrieving the frisbies.

Swinging with Chad

Smelling flowers at home.

Wow!

He loves playing ball (especially with his dad).

This past weekend Caleb and I made another long trip, but this time we went to visit Lori and Beth. Both of these girls were great friends during my time at ASU, and they were both roommates at some point in my college career. I love them so dearly.

Lori graduated this weekend from medical school. She will be doing her residency in Austin for the next 4 years. Congratulations Lori.

During our time in Fort Worth for the graduation we saw Beth and her new 2 month old baby, Aubrey. Aubrey is precious.

On Friday night we got to enjoy some time with Lori, Beth and Aubrey. It was not that eventful, but we played with the babies and enjoyed catching up over some take out.

On Saturday Caleb and I went to the graduation and then headed to Mesquite for a little bit more time with Beth and Aubrey. We came back to Midland Sunday evening. We sure did miss Chad.

It was a lot of driving, Caleb did pretty good considering the trip, he went to bed late, woke up early and tried to avoid napping. It was a great weekend though!

And a picture to reminisce over. This was taken Lori’s first year in medical school.

Well since it has been over 100 degrees here, we decided to get a pool. I finally found one at Academy yesterday. I think Caleb really enjoyed it!

I have no idea what he is doing, but he likes to do this fairly often.

Eating watermelon at lunch (in the pool without water) today.

Just a few pictures of Chad and Caleb playing ball.

Today was a long day, but a great one. We were up bright and early this morning (as usual) and were heading out of Midland before 8:00 this morning. Caleb and I were going to meet my sister and her fiance Marcus (yes, I said fiance. Marcus proposed to her last night). Congratulations Marcus and Sara.

Sara was in Austin for the week, so we met in Menard for lunch and then went to the park to let Caleb walk around. We had a blast (although it was hot). I really enjoyed getting to see Sara and Marcus. I haven’t seen anyone on my side of the family since we moved to Midland. That was 7 months ago. Too long!

On the way back through San Angelo we stopped by and visited with Laura (we love those guys), and we got to see Audrey for a few minutes as we headed out of town. It was a long day of driving (nearly 6 hours), but well worth it.

Taking a short nap on the way.

Congratulations Marcus and Sara. We love you!

This will be short and to the point I hope.

Caleb got two new teeth last week. More are coming soon, I think.

We went to Robert Lee again last week to get my car fixed (several problems including the driver side door not opening).

Caleb was sick Wednesday, fever, cough, hoarse, very puny. Continues on Thursday. Difficult time breathing especially at night. We went to a walk in clinic on Friday (we were in RL still). He had rattly breath sounds, cough, hoarse, wheezing, yucky throat, fever. They gave him a breathing treatment, antibiotics, steroids. He is doing better. He is talking now, still has a yucky cough. He gave it to me. Audrey was so helpful with Caleb. She is a great mother-in-law.

We saw the Cozart’s very quickly to get advice on Caleb from nurse Laura, but we didn’t want to stick around and get them sick too.

Chad finally finished him online course this weekend! YEA! He takes his final this evening for his accounting class. No school for the summer. Yippee! We like him to come home before 7pm. I can’t wait.

That’s it. Still recovering. Have a great week.

No pictures since we were under the weather.