Playtime with Caleb...

Caleb played with some of his toys this evening. He had a great time for a few minutes. Enjoy the first video installment of Playtime with Caleb...

Caleb's first Valentine...

This week Caleb received his first Valentine. My Aunt Ellie sent him a card and a cute little bear. I’m sure this will be but the first of many. I can already tell that he will be quite the heart breaker!

We made it one month...

Today celebrates one month since my son came bursting forth into this world.

Caleb's 1 Month picture...

Bath time fun...

I came home early from work today (since I had to work the weekend…long story…don’t want to talk about it). Since I had the afternoon free and Allison and I agreed that our son smelled like the poop plague, it was perfect opportunity to give the kid a bath. Allison asked what in the world I would do if I had to give him a bath if Caleb and I were the only ones home. I guess she was talking about the countless things that I forgot to bring to the bath party.

“Allison, where is the shampoo?”

“Allison, can you bring me a towel?”

“Allison, can you bring me a wash cloth?”

“Allison, can you bring me another towel?”

“Allison, can you bring me the baby!?”…ok…so this one didn’t happen.

Enjoy the pictures of the bath (don’t worry they are rated ‘G’).

We made it four weeks...

Today is the celebration of two things...
1. Our triumph of making it to four weeks with Caleb
2. Our first trip to church with Caleb

How fitting that on the first Sunday we would take our son, CALEB, to church, who do you think was mentioned in the passage that was read? You guessed it..."Caleb"!

Our new "intentional interim" pastor read from Numbers 13:28-30.

'"But the people who live there are powerful. Their cities have high walls around them and are very large. We even saw members of the family line of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev Desert. The Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the central hill country. The Canaanites live near the Mediterranean Sea. They also live along the Jordan River." Then Caleb interrupted the men who were speaking to Moses. He said, "We should go up and take the land. We can certainly do it."'

Below is MY Caleb's 4 week picture...


These are the same clothes he wore for his first doctors appointment. I think it will be the last time that he will get to wear them. He is growing too fast.

Just Because...

Just because I can...here are 10 pictures of my boy.

The best invention ever...

I never thought it would be difficult to get a baby to go to sleep. I thought that is just what babies did. I was told that they sleep, eat and poo...sleep is number one on that list. Allison went to bed the other night to try to get some rest, Caleb was freshly fed, freshly changed and yet was still very "vocal" and not at all ready to sleep. Since I was ready to sleep and since it is still all about me, I, as the worst father of the year, decided to use that dreadful and hated device known as the pacifier. In my mind...that is the best invention ever! I used it out of sheer desperation, since he never liked them before. I don't know why Caleb was appeased this time, but I was thankful. I think he would also be appeased by a Blu-Ray player?!

We made it three weeks...

Since I have been thrust into the position of fatherhood, I have realized three things. Therefore, considering this is the 3rd week celebration of my son’s birth I thought I would share the threefold revelation.

1. I will never have a good night’s rest again...I will live in a perpetual state of zombiness and confusion.
2. Our home will always look like we have a kid, no matter how hard I try for it not to...in other words...my life will never be the same...there will no longer be a place for everything and everything in its place.
3. I am learning to accept numbers 1 and 2.

Caleb's "3 week" picture...

Our first night out as a family...

Yesterday, we had our first family night out at a restaurant. Since I have never had a problem eating, but always had a problem preparing the food, the idea of going to another location where service people come and take your order, prepare your meal and then clean up after you has always appealed to me. We have not truly been able to take advantage of the “eating out” enterprise for the past 18 days. Well, on January 15, 2009 at 6 o'clock-ish in the evening, my little family made its way to our local Mexican Food establishment to partake of its marvelous sundries.

We also took this opportunity to dress our handsome son in his newest outfit. My friend, Ann, bought him the little dog outfit in honor of her dachshunds.




Of course the people at the restaurant wanted to give us their food when they saw how cute our little baby is, but we insisted on paying. That is just how generous we are!

Belly up to the bottle...

I personally fed Caleb for the first time EARLY this morning. In an effort to help my lovely wife get some much needed rest, we thawed some of the harvested milk in preparation for Caleb's first feeding of the night. Allison went to bed around 9:00 and I soon followed, but kept one ear open for the dinner bell to ring. When Caleb requested his food at 12:30 AM, I dutifully got up and warmed up the elixir of life and, for the first time, fed Caleb. I was surprised at how quickly he took the bottle and how quickly he was finished. I guess I was used to the length of time that it takes to feed the boy the old fashioned way. I didn’t want to tell Allison this, but he said that it even tasted better when I fed him!

I can't take all the credit...I have to recognize those that helped me to get it just right…

Who would’ve thunk it!?

I had no idea that one needed pool equipment to install a baby seat correctly. Allison and Caleb took a little trip today to an area hospital and our friend Debbie inspected (and corrected) our car seat installation. Debbie used a "pool noodle" to fix the seat so that our sons head wouldn’t be at his ankles when we are driving down the road...talk about "rubber necking"!!! ha ha.

A correctly installed car seat...


See the "pool noodle"...


In addition to fixing our mess-up that was our car seat installation, she imparted profound and practical wisdom. She indirectly said that ALLISON NEEDED (at least this is what I interpreted and inferred) the following…

The 2009 Dodge Caravan…

Hospital Photographs (2)...

I can't believe I haven't posted these pictures until now. We got them a week ago. We will probably end up framing at least one of them and send some of them to our siblings and parents.

We made it two weeks...

Below is a picture of the most handsome two week old baby boy the world has ever seen. The nights are still long and the diapers so full, but we are learning more and more every day.

Caleb's "2 week" picture...

You should have seen the other guy...

Caleb had his second Phenylketonuria (PKU) Test today. Allison and Caleb took a trip back to the hospital and they damaged my poor baby's leg. I am sure that Caleb fought back and the mean old lab tech now has bruises that could only be from my son and the great power that he wields or a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick!



Thankfully it was only a flesh wound and I am sure he will recover.

Since he was awake anyway...

Since Caleb was awake anyway, I thought I would get a little video for the blog.

My future engineer and ladies man?...

My son took his first non-doctor trip out of the house yesterday. He thought it would be a good idea to show off to all the ladies at my work.

Tedi and Caleb...


Sharon and Caleb...


Jessica and Caleb...


Stephanie and Caleb...


Heather (work BFF) and Caleb...


Susie and Caleb...

We made it a week...

Today Caleb is a week old. I can't believe it is only a week. It seems like he should at least be two or three years old by now. Allison has an idea to try and take his picture with the same toy on "milestone" dates. That way we will be able to compare how much he has grown.

This is his "1 week" picture.

"Barrow" full of monkeys...I mean cousins...

It wasn't a barrel full of monkeys; it was a wheel barrow full of cousins. Two of Caleb's cousins came for a visit today and since it was so nice outside, we had to go out and play. I am a bad uncle because today I realized that I have no outside toys for kids to play with. I had a few tennis balls, but those were no fun. We raked up some leaves into a pile and they had fun for about 10 minutes jumping in the midst of them. Finally we settled on a couple of rides around the yard in the wheel barrow. That made me realize how out of shape I am. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to keep up with my own son, much less his older cousins.

Jeff and Michelle brought us some lunch and some of the cutest baby clothes. Knowing how much I am into sports, Grandpa M. got the perfect uniform for Caleb.



Jeff, Michelle, Jacob, Caleb & Laureli...


Jacob and Laureli playing...


Jacob smiling for the camera...


Michelle, Jeff and Caleb on the front porch swing...