From the Mouths of Toddlers

Come priceless one-liners.  Here are a few of my favorite comments from Jonathan as of late:

~ To his cousin, David, while Jonathan was eating in his high chair: "David, I'm pooping in my diaper."  David is eight and has learned that this is not appropriate dinner conversation so he looked at Jonathan in amazement and then laughed.

~ While in his chair at home: "Farting, farting, farting, farting, farting".  Guess we should stop calling Caleb's gas a fart and start calling it flatulence.

~ To my dad, when they were here to visit: "Grandpa, play toys.  Turn off the TV."  Dad was watching a very pivotal hole in a golf match on TV.

More about Christmas later ~

Sarah

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

We celebrated Jesus' birthday with just our family on the Saturday before Christmas so that we could just enjoy ourselves without having to divide our time between that and seeing our families.  We made pancakes and eggs for breakfast (one of Jonathan's favorites) and opened our gifts in the morning.  In the afternoon/evening we ordered take-out Chinese and made birthday cupcakes for Jesus.
Jonathan received a new train table and trains for Christmas and he loved them.  He played with them all day on Saturday, Sunday and Monday before we left town.  Guess it was an appropriate gift for the little guy!
A very proud and loving big brother...

More posts to come, but thought I would get started ~

Sarah

Some other fun photos

My parents sent me a CD with these photos... thought I would share.  

Let's pray it's a fluke!

Today Jonathan had peanut butter for the first time.  He has had foods containing peanuts before and he has eaten almond butter for a while.  I assumed all would be fine.  No such luck.  He got some hives around his mouth and on his hand... aaahhh!!  His milk allergy has pretty much been a non-event for quite some time now and his skin has looked good for about six months.  His hives weren't severe or anything, but now we have to go back to see the allergy doctor to determine whether he is, in fact, mildly allergic to peanuts.  Let's pray that it's a fluke and there is no allergy.

And, His Name is Jonathan

Remember when I mentioned that Jonathan calls himself, "Jonah"?  Well, two months later - we have finally accomplished the correct name.  Jonathan now calls himself by his given name.  This pleases his father immensely.

It's Almost Like Starting a New Job

Today is the first day that Jonathan and Caleb are here all day by ourselves. I liken it to starting a new job. There are challenges that you expect and those that you don't expect. Sometimes the anticipation of the newness creates more worry than when the situation is actually upon you. The past two weeks have been like the training phase of the new job (because we had family here to help). I had to perform many of my duties, but not all of them. Now I'm on my own during the day. So far, so good. Jonathan is napping, Caleb is hanging out and I managed to clean up the kitchen from lunch.

As Jamie said - this job of parenting two children has been done by generations of parents. We will certainly be just fine!

Almost two weeks old

Caleb is growing quickly and he is much more alert these days. Jamie's parents were here for about a week to hang out with us and meet the new little guy. Here are some photos from the week... Grandma Judy

Jonathan helping Daddy and Grandpa put in our new sink

Jonathan helping Grandma stir stuff in the kitchen

Caleb - relaxed and chillin'

Caleb's Stats

Caleb is eating like a champ. His sleeping is all right, too. No complaints. He sleeps for 3-4 hour stretches at night (after we started keeping him up and going from about 6-830pm). This is just fine by me. We had his one-week check today and he now weighs 7 lbs. 8 ounces. He has gained a little over nine ounces in a week (after losing 3 ounces before leaving the hospital). Wonder if his cheeks will get really chubby like Jonathan's did.

Cake Making and Grandkids

This is the best photo that was taken with our camera... the ones on my parents' camera are better. Grandma and Grandpa I with the three boys - Jonathan (2), Jacob (3 months), Caleb (1 week). Jacob is Carla and Nate's little boy. Grandpa Santa and Grandma with the three kiddos.

Jonathan decorated my birthday cake - doesn't it look yummy?

Carla and Jonathan decorated my birthday cake. Jonathan loved this gel icing as much as he loves glue. The stuff was MOUNDED on the top of the cake. Carla just laughed and laughed.

Jamie and Jonathan made the cake together with Grandma.

Caleb needs to eat and that job can only be accomplished by me, so... until the next time all is calm ~

Sarah

Coming home to a Big Brother

Caleb is almost a week old. My parents left today. This was sad because Jonathan had such a wonderful time with them and they live too far away. Thankfully, Jamie's parents come early this week so we won't be lone rangers quite yet.

Jonathan is sleeping, Caleb is sleeping, Jamie is exercising, and I am sitting with Caleb writing this blog post. All in all - not too bad of a scenario at the moment. It is hard to manage my time between two young ones. Jonathan used to be the only kiddo I had to attend to. The fact that this is an adjustment for both of us is confirmation that Caleb's presence (aside from being a perfect blessing in itself) will be wonderful for the J-man.

Here are some photos of the week...

More photos of the weekend to come...

Sarah

What does Jonathan think?

The question about Jonathan's thoughts on Caleb is frequently asked when I mention that I also have a two year old at home. Jonathan LOVES Caleb. He is very into helping with things and Caleb is no exception. Jonathan has been loving life and thus far thinks Caleb is fun. Here are some photos of the last week...

Caleb, looking a little rashy and dry from the hospital air - he's looking much better now that we have the humidifier on at home.
Daddy and Caleb napping at the hospital

Jonathan and Andrew Nehre - playing in a "fort" at the hospital

Jonathan and Daddy playing "fix-it" in the "house" downstairs

Some photos of our arrival home with Caleb and some photos of the brothers to follow - hopefully, soon.

Sarah

Family and Friends with Caleb

We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends who will love on Caleb with us. From Caleb's perspective - he is blessed to have a great big brother and father, and I think I will be an OK Mom for this kiddo, too. Mike, Heather, and Andrew Nehre with Caleb
Grandpa, Grandma and our family of four

Jonathan, looking quite proud with Caleb and Grandpa

Our family of four

Grandma and Grandpa Iverson

Loving our new little guy ~

Sarah

Caleb's Debut

We are all doing well - Caleb has been sleeping for quite a while so I downloaded some photos. Can't decide if he looks like his big brother's baby photos or not. He is smaller than his brother was as a newborn, but definitely his own little personality. Here are some photos of our little guy: Round little face



Our cutie patootie!

Photos of Daddy, Big Brother Jonathan, Grandma Carol, and Grandpa Sam coming soon ~

Caleb Thomas Guild

We arrived at the hospital last night at around ten o'clock... Caleb Thomas was born this morning at 4:38am. That's right - AM. He decided that coming in the wee hours of morning would be best. Not that we really mind - he is perfectly healthy. He weighs seven pounds and two ounces... length to be determined. We are all doing well and will post photos later this afternoon when we have a chance to download.

Happy Birthday Old Man!

Jamie turned thirty-three this week... Happy Birthday Old Man!! We celebrated a bit calmly since we didn't really know what the week would hold with the baby. We could have easily planned something a bit more rowdy considering the slow progress of things. We had a leisurely time - playing, hanging lights, baking a cake (Jonathan and I baked it) and decorating it, and eating sushi (Jonathan and I ate cooked Hibachi style chicken... no raw fish for us!). The decorating was a little messy...
Birithday boy getting a little help with the candles

Jonathan really, really liked the cake this time (much more than he liked it on his birthday)

Jonathan wanted Daddy's cake to be blue...

My mom and dad are coming today since we know that the latest day the baby will arrive will be next Tuesday. We will have Thanksgiving dinner this evening and then do some fun stuff until things change around here. We are glad to have some company for this holiday because a turkey provides a lot of food for three people.

Happy Thanksgiving! I pray that an attitude of gratitude will abound in your house...

Sarah

And the plan is...

My plans A and B have failed to work out in regards to this baby's arrival. Plan A was for the baby to arrive last Thursday or Friday. No dice. Plan B was Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Unless things change a decent amount tonight and tomorrow - no dice there either. Onto something that wasn't in my plans: a Thanksgiving holiday baby or being induced.

We will be induced next Tuesday morning unless the child decides to arrive sooner. Why can't I be like the women whose children regularly come two weeks early? Oh well... as my sister said: there is a reason they stay in there for about forty weeks.

Moon Ball

We were driving the other day after dark and Jonathan said, "Mommy, look at the moon ball." We've read about the moon and it appeared to be roundish that evening so I guess that makes it a "moon ball".

Turkey Week

Remember the Guild themes of the week? They are still here - we just had a brief hiatus for two weeks out of laziness (by me). Our theme for this week is turkeys. I found this craft on the internet, and I am quite pleased with our efforts. To say that Jonathan loves glue would be an understatement. We have spent forty-five minutes on each of the last three days doing "crafts" that involve glue. This craft was perfect in the fact that there was a lot of gluing involved.

I also have tired of all of the crafts that become immediately useless once they are created. This has a greater life span... Jonathan and I can play with it now that it is completed. Observe the turkey play time with Jamie and Jonathan:

Three posts in one day - enough is enough! Have a good week and hopefully we'll have news of a baby SOON!

Brushing Mary's Teeth

Jonathan was given a Little People Nativity set when he was a newborn by some dear family friends. Last year he moved the people around a bit, but wasn't into it all that much. This year is a totally different story. He talks about Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the animals, and he loves playing with the nativity. I missed the perfect photo moment, but captured it a bit after the fact with Jamie's help. Jonathan was in his room and was very quiet (often a very bad sign) so I peeked in to see what was amiss. What I saw was too cute for words...

Jonathan was brushing Mary and Joseph's teeth with his toothbrush. I had forgotten to put his toothbrush away from the night before and he thought that Mary and Joseph's teeth were in need of brushing. He was talking to them about opening their mouths wide and such. Wonder where he has heard that before? Recapturing the moment with Jamie's help
Mary "holding" Baby Jesus.

This is one of those precious moments that I hope to never forget!

Cardboard Toy Family

We make toys out of cardboard at our house. We could spend lots of money on a playhouse, but with the fun that this cardboard house has provided, it begs the question: why would I do that? Not to mention the fact that this box can be reused for this purpose before we recycle it.

In the bottom of the top photo you may have seen a glimpse of another cardboard creation. We also have a car ramp and a car garage made out of cardboard and tape. Very high class.

Christmas (before Thanksgiving?!?)

I love the decorations for Christmas. I have almost no Thanksgiving decorations. The baby is due to arrive the weekend after Thanksgiving which is when we usually decorate for Christmas. So, to insure that we don't miss the chance to put up all of the decorations that take up a lot of room in the downstairs storage closet - we did it early. I love real trees and plan to have one again in the near future, but we decided that our fake ones would have to suffice this year. We had a delightful time decorating the house this weekend. Jonathan is enamored with the ornaments on our tree. We have gotten wiser since last year and only put ones that he can play with near the bottom. The fragile ones are near the top.

In the midst of all of the fun - we only took two photos. Here they are:
Jonathan with Daddy and the first part of the tree. Jonathan giving me kisses and telling me that he loves me. LOVE that!

Happy decorating whenever that time comes in your house!

Sarah

Excitement about Babies and Other Stuff

Jonathan found a doll baby in some hand-me-down toys that we were cleaning for the baby. He has taken to the baby (maybe it is all of the talk of a new baby coming to our house?). He doesn't play with it in the way that I typically see children playing with dolls. It is like he thinks the baby is his new pal. He was coloring with markers the other morning and wanted the baby to sit right next to him. The next thing I saw was Jonathan holding the baby by the head with one hand and holding the marker in the baby's hand with his other hand. Then he said, "look, Mommy. Baby color with markers" and proceeded to color the paper with the marker that was in the baby's hand. He also wanted to share some of his crackers with the baby. It will be a challenge for him to understand that the new baby is not going to get up and play right away.

Jonathan calls himself Jonah. He likes the story of Jonah and The Big Fish in his picture bible. He used to call himself Jona (as if to cut off the last syllable of his name), but now I think he deliberately calls himself Jonah because he likes the story.

Identity crisis: Jonathan thinks that the snowman we put up for Christmas is Santa. Snowman/Santa... guess they both begin with S and are related to Christmas.

My mother dreamed that we had a girl, my dad thinks the baby is girl (he was wrong with Carla, so keep that in mind), and Abby thinks it is a girl (Abby has yet to be wrong in her predictions). We should know in the next two weeks or so.

Perspective

Jamie's travels have been put in perspective. Why can't I have perspective on things without having to be slapped in the face by bad news?

A friend from my previous job whom I worked with daily and thoroughly enjoyed as friend and colleague experienced an unspeakable tragedy yesterday. She is between thirty-five and forty, married, with a three-year old and a five-year old. She is pregnant with their third child. Her husband was having routine shoulder surgery yesterday to repair cartilage that had been problematic for a few years. He died of cardiac arrest on the operating table. No prior health concerns. A routine surgery.

Perspective, huh? Traveling seems a minor irritation in light of her terrible sadness. Keep Jodie and her girls: Evie and Lila, in your prayers.

Playing in leaves

We played in the leaves yesterday even though it was quite chilly. It wasn't raining and it wasn't terribly windy so the cold was no problem. Jonathan didn't like the leaves on his head. The three of us were playing football in the leaves... I chose to remain standing since getting up isn't a quick move for me anymore.

Jamie chose to play tackle football with Jonathan.

Our new camera is working great. No more large purple lines through the photos. We dropped our camera on the lens portion about a year ago and it miraculously survived. I think that the age of the camera and that trauma probably were the causes of its demise.

Baby 2 is two and half weeks from its ETA. I am hoping for it to come before Thanksgiving. We will be waiting for God's timing barring any complications. My doctor was very quick to offer an induction on the Monday before Thanksgiving. No thanks. Didn't like Pitocin last time, and would rather not go down that road again this time.