Merry Christmas!

And the angel said unto them, "Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." -Luke 2:10-11



What a wonderful Christmas we had this year! How nice it was to spend time with family! I love getting to see Adam learn about Christmas and start sharing family traditions, and how special for it to be Caleb's very first Christmas. We are so blessed.



This year we were able to go to the Christmas service on Thursday, the 23rd (and it was packed!). On Christmas Eve, we did some last minute things but mostly hung out at home before going to my mom's for Christmas dinner. We had a bit of a whirlwind day on Christmas day, doing our Christmas at home first thing in the morning, then breakfast and opening gifts with my parents before unloading and reloading and heading to David's parents' house that night. Today we opened gifts with them. Sheeeww! That sounds like quite a schedule! We really enjoyed our time and were reminded so many times of how blessed we are (It needed to be said again).



My grandfather (Bell) has been very ill and is in the hospital, and he was dearly missed. We were able to take Adam by the hospital to visit with him for a few minutes and hopefully that brightened his day a little bit.


Here are a few pictures from our Christmas.

Tossing out the Reindeer food on Christmas Eve

Reading a new book

Making some "sausage"

Hope your family had a Merry Christmas as well!

Caleb: 4 months old

Maybe we should say 4 1/2 months old now! Its taken me awhile to get to this...

Well, we're definitely in the Christmas season now, and the weather this year has been surprising, I'd say! Quite a bit of snow a week of below freezing temperatures. Maybe it will snow for Christmas!

I have been on a mission to get all those "things" related to Christmas finished "early" this year as I now have two boys with whom I want to enjoy all the fun things of Christmas (plus David). It will be Caleb's first Christmas, so we are getting use out of all our "Baby's First Christmas" gear, and Adam is at such a fun age. While there's still a lot that he doesn't understand, it is fun watching him as he learns and recognizes all there is to take in around the holidays. I love how excited he gets when he sees outside Christmas lights on houses while we drive in the car. At home, he also likes to instruct us to turn the lights on, as well. He has been very interested in the Christmas tree, has some favorite ornaments that he likes to locate every day, but for the most part has not bothered it much. Watching him really brings us joy.

At Caleb's 4 month checkup, he was doing great! He smiles often now, and is starting to laugh. I think he will surely be a ticklish baby. He doesn't mind tummy time, and holds his head up well. But he is surely a drooler! I had forgotten how much babies drool at this age! He likes baths and reaches to grab things now. His eyes are still an interesting dark blue/gray, which remind me of his Uncle Scotty's right now. His hair is still thick, minus the rubbed off spot in the back where he sleeps - ha! And as for sleep...well...he sleeps, just not quite as well as he used to. Most nights he'll get up once, maybe twice. I think he mostly just likes being held, but he goes back to sleep pretty easily, and wakes up happy. He sleeps in his crib, with his arms almost always above his head.

He wears 3-6 month clothes, size 2-3 diapers, weighs 16 lbs, 2 oz, and is 27 inches long. A long baby, for sure! He recently found his feet, as you can see. Plus, he is a serious thumb-sucker, which I think is especially cute.

Caleb, you are so well loved! It seems you are growing up so quickly. I realized I now carry you on my hip rather than in my arms because you now hold your head up so well. We are so thankful for you, love you, and pray for you, sweet baby.

Adam: 2 years old!

Happy 2nd birthday sweet boy!

Adam had a great birthday today! He and Bubby stayed home with Dada today, and they did their secret guy stuff, I guess. When I came home from work we went to every 2 year old's dream place - Gattitown!
On Friday Adam and I went to the doctor for his two year checkup, and Adam is doing great. He was complimented on his maturity and I thought he was so brave! He had one shot plus the nasal flu vaccine and then he was given stickers, which made him very proud. I enjoyed getting to spend some time with him and I think he liked having time alone with Momma too.

24 month stats:

Weight: 26 1/2 lbs (25th percentile)

Height: 34 inches (41st percentile)

Head circumference: 49 cm (59th percentile)

Once he was "nakey" as Adam says, he sat down to wait on the doctor to come in.

Here's a look back at our baby a year ago. Adam, you have grown so much. We look forward to celebrating your birthday all week!

Caleb: 3 months old

Guess what smiley boy turned three months old a few days ago? Yep, that's right, THREE months old! Wow, Caleb! You are growing up on us!

Our happy boy is growing so well and is so well loved by this family!

-Caleb now weighs 14 lbs, 11 oz, and 25 1/2 inches long.

-He wears size 3 month clothes, plus some 3-6 month clothes, and Size 2 diapers.

-He loves to be snuggled and loved on.

-Caleb is very fond of sitting up where he can look around, even if he hasn't mastered it yet.

-He coos and gurgles when you talk to him, and he tries hard to talk back. So cute!

-Caleb started sleeping through the night two weeks ago. He sleeps in his crib from about 8:30 to about 5:30 AM - yea! He prefers to sleep with his arms over his head, almost always!

-Guess who sucks his thumb? At least for now, its better than any paci!

-His hair is a lighter brown now and his eyes are still a dark gray-blue.

Happy 3 months, Caleb James! We love you!

Rakin' it in

Its fall in Kentucky.

So that means the leaves are fallin'.

I guess Adam wants to pull his own weight around the house.

He can set a good example for Bubby!

Nice work, Adam!

Caleb's First Day at Daycare

This past Monday was Caleb's first day at daycare. He had a great day, and

Adam loved having his baby brother with him.

Caleb is a pretty relaxed kinda of guy.

He rolls with the punches, for the most part.

He surprised me later in the week, and started sleeping through the night!

He is my sleep champion!

Let's hope it continues! What good timing you have, Caleb! Love you baby boy.

One and Done

As part of David's birthday present, I got tickets for David to go see the Reds in the playoffs.

The boys were in full support even if they didn't go to the game.

Caleb told Daddy the Reds were #1 in his heart no matter what.

Yep, this picture was from our seats. I didn't say we had GOOD tickets!



It was fun to be there. Maybe next time they'll win!

Pumpkin Fun

Last week we took our fall trip to Boyd's Orchard. This is the second year we have gone,

and it was really fun!

Of course it's fun when you have a brother like this to play in the pumpkins with you!

Here's me with my two little pumpkins.

Thanks to some steady pumpkins for holding up my smallest baby boy.

The weather was absolutely perfect!


There were lots of good photo ops!

Right away, Adam got busy at the task at hand...

Carrying pumpkins! He thought he needed to carry all the

miniature pumpkins over to the piles of bigger pumpkins.

There were bales of hay to climb (which didn't mix well with my flip flops, I might add).

And play sets and slides...

Plus a little fun for the big kids too.

Such a brave boy!

First Trip to the Zoo

We recently took a family trip to the Cincinnati Zoo!

The elephants were a little scary to be the first things we saw.

Don't worry, Caleb came too. We just put him in charge of the guide map.


There were a lot of birds in here, just apparently not in our picture.

Adam and Dada fed a giraffe.

These are "duck ducks" too, and don't try to tell Adam differently.

Admit it -- zebras are cool any day. I think God still has a good laugh at himself over zebras.

These little miniature penguins (not the correct name I don't think) were the only animals whose noise Adam really wanted to mimic. So cute!

Sometimes I forget the world we live in. Of course, we need hand washing stations near all the animals that you can pet! Let's be honest, I'd want to wash my kids hands...and my own, but still...definitely a sign of the times.

Since these were just his height, I thought we might not be able to leave! Adam was super excited to get his hands sudsy and then wash them off himself!

For the full experience, he also took two rides down the escalator on the way out.

As you can imagine, he passed out on the way home...dreaming of

"duck ducks" and hand-washing stations.