Putting up Christmas lights.

Because of my significantly less demanding work schedule this holiday season I was actually around to help Brad put up the Christmas lights, so we turned it into a family affair.  I don't know how much help we actually were but Caleb and I were there for the whole process.  Caleb wore his bear suit for the first time, don't know if he liked it but he sure looked cute.  You can tell by the t shirt Brad is wearing that the weather Thanksgiving weekend was really nice.  We probably didn't need to worry about Caleb being too cold but we will attribute it to new mom syndrome.  Brad did most of the scampering up and down the ladder I mostly untangled lights, handed him light clips, entertained Caleb, and took pictures.  Needless to say I think I got the better end of the deal, but at the end of the day the lights were up and no one fell off the roof or the ladder.

Caleb's new trick

Bet you can't guess what my little boy is learning to do.  Needless to say the binkie isn't nearly as interesting as it used to be.  My little boy has discovered his thumb, sigh.  Other than that isn't he the cutest thing ever with his little crinkled ear.  He has been talking to us all day long.  Brad just informed me that he sucked his thumb as a child so I am blaming this development on him.

Like Father Like Son

Brad is happy to report that at only 16 weeks old Caleb is already a complete football fan.  I try telling Brad that Caleb just likes to watch the moving colors on the TV but he is adamant that Caleb makes comments at the right times and loses interests during the commercials.  Who am I to argue with a proud father.  Regardless of what the exact situation is I get a kick out of watching my boys watch football.

Now, in case you were wondering who we cheer for at our house, check out the football jersey my mom found in the basement and sent to us.  Brad commented that my mom is a very smart and discerning lady.

Food for thought

I don't know who people voted for in the recent presidential election, and don't care.  I do know that there are quite a few people that were disappointed by the outcome, for a variety of reasons.  I also know that I am many of my friends are getting worried about raising our children in a world that feels like it is going farther and farther away from  the values we believe in.  Because of this I am reposting what a friend of mine wrote on her blog the morning after the elections.  I am looking at this more from a whole life and world perspective and less of an election won or lost perspective, but it was a nice reminder when it is so easy to get caught up in the ups and downs of life.

This is for all of my wonderful friends who are having a rough day today after last night's kick in the gut. After climbing out of my funk, re-evaluating and re-committing all morning I had a thought. I would like to share it with you all and I hope you will take it to heart.
On Saturdays KBYU used to replay BYU football games from time to time. The great thing about this is that they would ...only replay games where BYU won. This was a fantastic thing because you never had to get upset, never had to yell at the refs, never any heartbreaking final scores. You KNEW who was going to win in the end. It didn’t matter if BYU was down by 2 touchdowns with 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. There was ALWAYS a comeback. Our team ALWAYS won. You could relax and enjoy the game. Such is life. We are in the 4th quarter. Just got a big kick in the gut. We may feel as if we are behind by a couple of touchdowns. But you know what? The results of this game are already in. It was played in the beginning of time. We KNOW who is going to win. It has been written thousands of years ago by the One who started the game in the first place. God and His righteous followers WILL win at the last day. Those who stand for truth and righteousness will win. The game is not over yet and some people may even switch teams. But the outcome will remain the same. We know the final score so there is no need to yell at the refs, or eat a bottle of TUMS, or curse the opposing side. Regardless of what happens, we know the final score. The righteous will win. “Be still, and know that I am God”. – Psalms 46:10
I say, bring on this 4th quarter. My family is ready. It is easy to fight when you know you’ve already won. PRESS FORWARD SAINTS

 

I am grateful to live in a country where I can vote for my local and national leaders, and while I may complain about policy I don't agree with I will always respect the office they have been elected to and the fact that the people of this nation elected them.  If there is something in the world you don't like or would like to change I like the words of Ghandi "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  If you want to see kindness, be kind.  If you want to see love, be loving.  If you want to see respect for differences, respect those differences.  The list goes on and on.  There just a few words to think about.

 

 

3 Months old

It is hard to believe that just over 3 months ago Caleb wasn't a member of our family.  He is getting bigger everyday, and talking up a storm.  Well I am sure only a mom or a grandma would refer to his cooing and gurgling as talking, but it is fun to hear all the same.  He is such an alert little boy, he loves to sit up so that he can see what is going on.  He frequently spends his evenings in his bouncy chair on the kitchen counter watching mom cook dinner.  He was incredibly patient this last week when mom and dad were both sick with a nasty flu bug.  Needless to say I am completely in love with my little boy and don't know how I got through 37 years of life without him.

2 months already??

I can't believe it was just two months ago that we brought this little guy home from the hospital.  I am still amazed that the nurses let us leave with him. He was 7lbs 9oz and 21 inches long when we brought him home.  Now he is practically rotund weighing in at 10lbs 10oz, but he carries his weight well on his 24 inch long frame.  He hasn't really lost any of his hair so now that he is filling out he is really looking like a little boy, sometimes with a very adorable part in his hair.  

Everyone kept telling me to just enjoy holding my baby and I didn't really believe them until we got home and I had the chance to just sit and hold my little guy.  Suddenly it all made sense, how incredibly  wonderful it is to have the miracle of a baby in your life.  Brad remarked to me one evening as he was holding Caleb, "I didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I do."  I just smiled because I had known that he would.  People ask me all the time what is your favorite part about being a mom.  The best part is watching my husband be a dad.  

It has been 2 months since we brought Caleb home, I go back to work on Monday, I really can not believe it has gone by that quickly.  They say time flies when you are having fun, well if this is any indicator, we are having a blast.

 July 29, 2012. 1 day old, coming home from the hospital

September 28, 2012. 2 months old, getting ready for first Logan High Football game.

Caleb's Arrival

Caleb was due on July 26th,  but I didn't really start having contractions until 2:30am on July 27th, by about 8am I decided it was time to go to the hospital, so we got packed up and ready to go only to have  the contractions slow back down to about 15 minutes apart.  So we spent the day doing laundry, working on projects, watching tv, and having contractions.  By about 5pm things had started to progress so we headed to the hospital.  It was definitely a good idea because I had 2 contractions in the 15 minutes it took to get to the hospital.  My friend Erica called while we were on our way to the hospital,  it was fun hear her reaction when I told her that I would have to get off the phone soon because we were on our way to the hospital.  The following pictures are our documentation of the events of the day.

 Arriving at the hospital still on the phone talking to Erica.  I need to add that the dress I am sporting was purchased way back when I was a student at BYU.  I have kept it all these years in anticipation of being pregnant some day.  The oversized baggy look went out of style years ago but it works great as a maternity dress.  See sometimes you do use those things you hang on to.

I had the sweetest labor and delivery nurses ever.  They were amazingly patient and very kind.  The funniest part about being in the hospital was that every shift of nurses who were assigned to us had one who was pregnant on it.  Let me just say this, nurses who are nice enough to let you sleep when you have been awake for over 24 hours are worth their weight in gold.  

 The nurses kept telling me that I was being entirely too calm about the whole thing.  Needless to say about 3 hours later when the contractions got really intense I did everything I could to prove them wrong in that assessment.

To pass the time we brought the DVD collection of MASH with us.  It actually did a great job of distracting me, funny enough but without a serious plot line that I had to pay attention to.

 Here is our boy getting cleaned up and weighed, needless to say he didn't like that experience too much.  But once they got a diaper on him, calmed right down.  During this whole process Brad was assessing if he looked like a Caleb or Brandon, (those were our boy name choices).  After about 15 minutes he looked over at me and said "He's a Caleb".  It was also at this point that I asked the nurse for the camera because I had to try and capture the look on Brad's face as he held his son for the first time.

 Here we are welcoming our boy to the family, needless to say we decided pretty quickly that we were going to keep him.  In fact I am still pretty amazed that the nurses let us take him home from the hospital.