Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all. I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season! I don't have any pictures or video to share today, but if i did they would include lots and lots of talking and smiles! Caleb has a lot to say! He is especially chatty in the mornings and greets me with big smiles! He can talk for hours back and forth, with "coos" and "goos" and "ahhhhhss." It melts my heart! Matthew is having to much fun with him too, talking and playing in the evenings. And Grandpa Steve entertains him with lots of "whooooos"/ =) while mommy cleans the house.!

  Caleb is now 2 months old and starting to be a little bit more predictable than he once was. We've started a bedtime routine which includes bath time, books, jammies, singing and nursing. and of course the Velcro swaddle. I've been trying to push his bedtime back a little earlier, since he was staying up till' almost midnight  many nights. last night i got him asleep by 10:30! although i love this time at night with him, i can't wait till i can be going to bed again with Matthew. i keep telling myself that this is just a short season in life and to appreciate it! Caleb's sleeping really well at night. although every night is different most often he'll do a 5 or 6 hour stretch, and then two shorter ones, about 3 then 2 hours! Praise the Lord for getting sleep at night! Typically at night he just wakes to feed and then goes right back to sleep. i keep the lights off and don't talk to him to encourage this wonderful behavior! lol.  Typically he then takes another long nap about 90 min, after he wakes up in the morning, and to day he's been sleeping for 3 plus hours in the sling as i'm here at church typing since matthew and i don't have internet at home. We only live three blocks away so it's fun to walk down here every week for Sunday worship and also Wednesday night meetings. I'm also helping with the finances doing some accounting now so he comes along for the ride.

We got Caleb vaccinated this week, and oh he was pissed! Man, i've never seen him turn so red so fast! I was very thankful to have Grandpa Steve there to help entertain Caleb and to reasure me that i was doing the right thing while i soaked in the Dr.'s advice and . There is nothing like a needle going towards your child to make you doubt yourself, but in hindsight i am confident that we made the right choice as we want to travel the world with Mission Aviation Fellowship one day. (MAF).  Dr. Kelly said that he was very charming and was impressed with his standing up skills. He was smiling and talking lots too her, and i was reminded how blessed i am as i heard the crying through the wall of another child. Caleb weighs 14lbs!!!! and is in the 90th %. Wowwy wow. Mommy has some super milk! It's so nice to not have to worry about over feeding him like moms do who formula feed, and to just let him grow nice and big and strong! He's in the 50th % for height, so we're thinking he may be a line backer when he grows up!

Well. Lately I've been learning how to be a stay at home mommy. Can you believe that at one time i thought i was going to be bored staying home. HAHA. It is the most wonderful job I've ever had, and also the most challenging. When you "go" to work, when you come home, you're done for the night. This is a non stop 24/7 job and if I'm not in the right mind set it can get overwhelming. I realized that i needed to prioritize my time with what was important and set small goals each day for myself. For the past few weeks, I've been doing my quiet time with God first thing when he goes down for his nap! It's amazing the encouragement that God gives me during this time to power me through my day. He tells us that it's in the quiet times and stillness that we get our strength.  I've also make a schedule, dividing up the different rooms on different days of the week to clean and the a specific chore for each day, so that by Friday the whole house is clean in time for the weekend. Many days this is made possible by my loving father in law who loves to come over and hold Caleb so Mommy can get lots of stuff done! Then Matthew and i can focus on spending family time together and having fun, and not having to clean! It's been wonderful and we've had many adventures like cooking with friends for a dinner party for12, watching the Seahawks kick butt!, going to Seattle with Grandma Christine and Grandpa Gary to see the Picasso exhibit, playing Frisbee in the snow, etc.  We are very blessed to have so many family member so close to us!

Well that's all for now, my fingers are frozen cold, as we have lots of snow outside here in Bellingham. Hope to hear from you either on phone, email or facebook.  (carebear_018@hotmail.com)

God Bless,

Carolyn, Caleb and Matthew