Bible Verses...

In my opinion, and I'm sure a lot of other people's opinions, Bible verses and inspirational sayings are great motivators in life. So much so that I have them posted around my cube at work for encouragement.

There are also some very special Bible verses in my life.


The first is the one I call Joe and my verse - Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Joe and I met when I was in my senior year of college, so individually and collectively we didn't know what our futures held after I graduated, so all during that year Joe would send me flowers or whatever and include this verse on the card. It will always be near and dear to my heart.


This next one is Elijah's verse - Psalms 37:4

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Even though it was picked for him before he was born, I think the verse fits him perfectly. He delights in everything and has such a sweet personality (most of the time ;-)).


Since Elijah has a verse, I thought I would try to pick one out for Caleb before he was born too. We were at Hobby Lobby one day and I saw a decoration with this verse on it.

Caleb's verse - Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.

It would be pretty cool if this verse fits Caleb as well as Elijah's fits him. I guess only time will tell though.

Do you have a verse that you love or that is "your" verse? If you don't use Bible verses, what about inspirational sayings? I would love to read them if you have any.

Photo Shoot

Last Thursday our sister-in-law, Jacqi, came up to our place to take newborn pictures of Caleb and also some of both Elijah and Caleb. She was very patient and rolled with all of the 3-year-old's non-cooperation and the newborn's need to eat every (what seemed like) hour. Caleb is also a light sleeper, so a lot of the pictures that he should have been asleep in, he was awake. But it is what it is and through it all, she got some really great shots.

**Please note that I haven't processed any of these with any imaging program (mostly because I don't have time). These are straight from the camera, so if you see extra things on the side that is why.**

Also, CAUTION, photo overload!

Caleb

I saw this picture on pinterest that I wanted to duplicate, but Caleb decided he wanted to look at Joe instead of the camera. I think this is just as adorable as the one below though.

Proud daddy and Caleb

Close Up

Another picture I found on Pinterest. I think this turned out awesomely.

If I were to print this out I would probably crop it right above the hands put LOVE at the bottom, in white. We'll see if that happens any time soon...

A cute pic of Penelope and Elijah. Penelope kept Elijah company for most

of the day and he enjoyed every minute of it.

This is my favorite picture from the photo shoot. I love the expression on Elijah's face.

Being sweet. He really does love to touch the baby...

... and give him kisses.

This isn't the best of pictures, but Joe and I think it looks like Elijah's going to eat Caleb... Which is special because every night for prayers before Caleb was born, Elijah would say "Thank you for my little brother... I can't wait to eat him" Instead of "I can't wait to meet him".

Elijah

Brothers...

And a hug for good measure.

Now don't be fooled by these good pics. There was craziness all day.

Mostly from this one...

This is a perfect example of how most of the pictures turned out...

But a patient and talented photographer is what is needed to make it look like you have the most well behaved children. :-) I love all the pics, no matter what, though, cause I love the people in them.

On that note, I hope to post again soon with an update on how things are going and maybe post some pics of Elijah's room now that the TV has been put up and it's almost finished... It only took a year, but I like to think of it as 3 months, since I was pregnant and didn't feel like doing anything for 9 of them. Until then...

He's Here!

Caleb Frederick made his debut on July 25th at 3:30pm. He weighed 6lbs 14oz and was 19.5 inches long. He is such a little doll baby.

Everything went pretty well during labor. I started having contactions around 7:30am on Monday (my first day of Maternity leave), but they weren't strong or regular, so I did everything I've done before to get them to stop... if they were braxton hicks. Turns out they weren't. When they started to hurt I called the doctor. He said since they weren't regular to just wait it out and go in when they were 5 mins apart. Otherwise just go to the appointment that was already scheduled at 11:15.

The contractions continued to be irregular in timing, even though they started hurting worse and worse. It was to the point where I didn't think I could drive if I had one while going to my appointment, so my mom said she would take me there. Good thing too, cause I was having them every 2-4 minutes while on the beltway. We got to the appointment and he checks me... I was 6cm. So he told me to go downstairs and have a baby. :-)

I tried to walk, but I was having too many contractions to get there in any sort of decent time, so they wheeled me over in a wheelchair. I got checked in and all that jazz and by the time I was admitted and they checked my progress (probably about a half an hour later) I was at 8cm. I -needed- an epidural. I really contemplated going without one, but I wimped out. A little bit more of labor and an hour of pushing and baby Caleb was born.

We called my mom right after I delivered to tell her to bring Elijah over, cause he was going to be the first person to see the baby. After all those months of prepping Elijah and wondering how all of this was going to go down, it was time to find out. We were so happy to find out that Elijah was -ecstatic- to meet his brother and to hold him.

This doesn't mean that he doesn't sometimes have pings of jealousy, but he does the best he can. He is a great big brother. He alerts us to Caleb crying and he gives him kisses all the time. He knows not to touch the baby without asking us first (with only being told once) and is very helpful when we need something out of reach. I'm sure as Caleb gets older they will be great friends.

Joe is in love with Caleb, as you can tell. He has been a great help too. He changed diapers and helped out where needed at the hospital and at home. He even puts up with my moodyness as a result of little sleep and hormone related rants and crying.

It has been a week (Although I originally wanted this posted last Thursday, but with a newborn and a 3.5 year old, little goes according to plan anymore) and things have been touch and go, as to be expected. I'm getting as much sleep as needed (I didn't say as I can, because I could be sleeping right now) and Joe takes over when he thinks I'm about to pass out from exhaustion. Thanks everyone for the congrats and well wishes. I will catch up on everyone's blog soon and comment. Until then, I hope everyone has a great rest of summer, cause I have no idea if my next blog entry will be in a week or 2 months from now. Hopefully the former.

As an aside, everything was done on my to-do list, on the Saturday before (even buying Elijah's big present... A Happy Napper). It should have been a sign...