Caleb Asher: 2 Months

Happy 2 months to our sweet Caleb Asher on December 27!

Stats

• Weight:  14 pounds 4.4 ounces (95%)
• Height:  24.5 inches tall  (93%)
• Head:  15.75 inches (51%)
• Diaper Size:  Size 2 (and maybe about to go to a size 3 at night!!)
• Clothing Size:  At least a 3-6 months in most brands and bigger in others
• Summary:  Healthy boy; got 2 shots :(  Looks like we have another Mini Matthew on our hands; and it is more than just the way Caleb looks; he is tall like Matthew too!

Developments

• Sleeping:  I am relieved, proud and thankful to report Caleb is sleeping through the night; he has been for about 2 weeks now!  After his 7:30 PM feeding, we rouse him to do a dreamfeed and then he sleeps until 7:30 AM.  So he does not wake up to eat at all---we feed him in his sleep for the dreamfeed.  His clock was stuck at 6 AM for a while so it did take a little work to get him to 7:30 but it is WORTH IT.  Naps are still a work in progress---he struggles with the 45 minute intruder off and on but 90% of the time he transitions through the intruder with only a minute of crying and then drifts back to sleep.
• Witching Hour:  (For more information on what the Witching Hour is, check out the Babywise Blog article on the Witching Hour)  Caleb definitely has the witching hour from about 6:20-7:15 pm.  It is truly the most bizarre phenomenon.  When he awakens from that evening nap his cry sounds completely different than any other cry he has any other time of the day/night.  He does not seem fully awake when he wakes up crying nor does he seem fully awake most of that hour.  Caleb doesn't cry the entire time.  Sometimes he is fussy the whole time, sometimes he is just happy being near the action without being IN the action.  Generally we leave him swaddle for the first 30 minutes of the witching hour then hold him, put him in the swing, put him in the bouncy seat and/or offer a paci.  We tried cluster feeding but he would have no part of eating before his 3 hour cycle.  By the time it is time for him to get ready for bed and have his final feeding at 7:30 am he is happy, ready to eat and ready to go to bed.  Another interesting note, if we go out to dinner or run errands around this time---he sleeps through the witching hour with no problems.  Weird.
• Eating:  Still breastfeeding but pumping and offering bottles a lot.  He takes a bottle MUCH slower than nursing, but the bottle allows me to help Addison and engage her while he is eating better than when I am nursing.  I breastfeed 2-3 times a day and bottles 3-4 times a day (total of 6 feedings a day).
• Routine:  
• 7:30-8:15 AM:  Wake up, Eat, Change Diaper
• 8:15-8:40 AM:  Wake time
• 8:40-10:30 AM:  Nap
• 10:30-11:15 AM:  Wake up, Eat, Change diaper
• 11:15-11:50 AM:  Wake time, play with Addison
• 11:50-1:30 PM:  Nap
• 1:30-2:15 PM:   Wake up, Eat, Change Diaper
• 2:15-3:00 PM: Wake time with Mommy alone
• 3:00-4:30 PM:  Nap
• 4:30-5:15 PM:  Wake up, Eat, Change Diaper
• 5:15-5:45:  Wake time
• 5:45-7:15:  Nap (The witching hour is in here so most of the time he wakes up and stays half awake until its bedtime)
• 7:15-7:40 PM:  Get ready for bed, sometimes bath  
• 7:40 PM:  Final feeding and then straight to bed
• 11:00 PM:  Dreamfeed
• Mobility:  Caleb has rolled from tummy to back several times but not everyday.  He tries to roll over from his back to his tummy, but he has a LONG way to go before he can do that.
• Verbal:  He is cooing more and more everyday.  He can say "oo" "ah-goo" "goo" and "ah".
• Personality:  Caleb seems pretty laid back and easy to please.  I think he likes to be around the hustle and bustle of Addison.  When Addison is around, all he wants to do is follow her voice...same with Matthew--he just wants to find Matthew when he is around.  Caleb grins and bats his eyes every time I say his name.  In fact, he loves to find any excuse to bat his eyes and flash his smile.  He is really a sweet dispositioned little boy. 

I admit there are some days I am about to pull my hair out with all the demands of two babies only 18 months apart---especially since it is a 24 hour a day 7 days a week job as a stay at home mom--but they really bring us such joy.  We are blessed to have two healthy, loving and sweet children.

12.2.11

12.19.11

Loving sister giving some sugar

12.21.11

Check out those long lashes!

12.23.11

Admiring his Daddy...its like looking into the mirror 29 years from now!

12.22.11

Not that interesting, but at least you can see him moving around

What's in a Name?

What's in the name Caleb Asher?  Many people have asked me why we chose the name we did for our newest addition, especially his middle name--Asher.

CALEB

We new we wanted his first or last name to be biblical so we searched for a strong biblical name whether it be first or middle.  It's funny because we debated first names all the way up until the week we were induced and Caleb was never on the short list until we chose it just a few days before he was born.  Caleb is of Hebrew origin and the meaning of Caleb is "faith, devotion, whole hearted".Caleb, a companion of Moses and Joshua, was noted for his astute powers of observation and fearlessness in the face of overwhelming odds.  I love the last part---fearlessness in face of overwhelming odds; I hope Caleb lives up to his name and is fearless because of his faith in the Lord.  In fact, I feel like he was already fearless in the face of odds by proving the doctors wrong that he would be a tiny thing when he was born; he was 9 pounds 6.5 oz!!!

ASHER

While pregnant, we always give our babies a gender neutral nickname since we do not find out gender.  Addison was "blessing" and Caleb was "manna"; each had their own special meanings behind them.  When we stumbles on the name Asher, we immediately knew Asher must be the middle name because Asher means the same thing as Caleb's nickname.  Check out the meaning of his nickname Manna:  "Little Manna".  Asher means fortunate, happy and blessed; how true the meaning of his middle name!!  Babies are such a blessing and we are so fortunate to be blessed with two healthy children.  Admittedly, I do not always remember this when I am awake in the middle of the night with an upset baby or when someone is screaming for an unknown reason.  However, his name always reminds me of what a blessing my two babies truly are!

So there you have it.....the why behind Caleb Asher's name.  Coming up soon....Caleb's 2 month well visit.  I cannot wait to see how much he weighs, he's HUGE!!!

Amazing!

Three quick precious stories about Addison and how she is blowing us away lately with her memory and listening skills!!

Samson:  Since Addison was born, we have been reading a baby bible to her.  Each story is only 3-5 sentences long, which is great for short attention spans however the entire book is very long.  Before saying our prayers and going to bed, we read several stories from this bible (we read from another one when we have more time before bed, but I will talk about that in just a second).  One day while we were playing in her room and I was feeding Caleb, she pulled out the baby bible.  I heard her mumbling "Samson, Samson, Samson" as she flipped through the pages as if she was looking for something.  Then she proudly pointed her sausage finger on a page and exclaimed "Samson!!  Samson, strong.  Samson has long hair.  Samson lion"  In the story's 3-5 sentences it discussed all of those things she was declaring.  The amazing part is....we had not read that story in several days or weeks!  We were SHOCKED...I never knew whether she was really listening to all these bible stories but SHE IS; this encouraged me so much!!!  It also reaffirms how important it is to put our children in loving and godly environments because they really are soaking up everything.  I will be even MORE protective about what her little eyes and ears see and hear!

Rebecca and Abraham:  Along the same lines, we occasionally read from a Children's bible which includes longer more detailed stories.  I love this book because every story points back to Jesus at the end.  Recently, we read the story of Rebecca and Abraham.  During the story there is only one sentence that mentions Issac's name but there is a picture of the three of them.  We have read through that bible several times and we only seem to make a big deal about baby Jesus, not any of the other babies.  After recently reading about Issac I decided to point out the picture of baby Issac, but all I did was point to him as I read the one sentence with his name.  A few days later she did the same thing as with Samson---flipped to that story and named every character.

Noah:  Lastly, we have really been trying to figure out a way to conceptualize obedience to Addison.  One day when reading about Noah's ark (one of her favorites...especially the part about animals) I decided to start talking about how Noah obeyed God by building the boat and etc. etc.  So for several days she would open the Noah book and say "Noah Obeyed God".  Then one day I said "Noah obeyed God just like Addison should obey mommy and Daddy".  I sorta left it there thinking should would not even connect the two thoughts let alone what obeying means.  Sure enough, the next day she pulls out Noah's ark and says "Noah obeyed God.  Addison obey Mommy and Daddy".  Of course I gave her lots of praise!  Now I know some of you think she is just repeating what I am saying, but the milestone is remembering the word OBEY and connecting the two ideas.  We use the word OBEY a lot when we are disciplining her (both proactively and reactively), so I hope that soon she starts to understand obeying is something GOD wants and that she should do.  I maybe naive but her hearing about God extra isn't a bad thing right?

The point of those stories was to say how completely amazed I am with how much our children learn even when we do not think they are listening.  They are listening AND learning.  So fun!!!!!

Visiting Santa 2011

I am SO doing posts out of order because I am so behind!!

Visiting Santa was so fun this year!!  Addison was very excited and kept saying "Santa's Lap, I sit Santa's lap" the whole way to the mall.  When we arrived, she started blowing kisses to Santa and waving and pointing.  Addison was so exicted she could harldy stand it.  As we walked up to Santa she kept saying hi and grinned ear to ear.  NEXT, it was time to make Santa a reality---it was time to sit in his lap!  Addison FROZE when she sat on his lap; no tears, just frozen.  We snapped the picture and as soon as she came off his lap she was back to grinning and blowing kisses.  It was too funny!

Since then Addison has been talking about sitting in Santa's lap constantly.  Every Santa she sees she says "I sit in Santa lap!".  She is so funny!

Seeing Santa

Excited face

Waving at Santa

And he has no clue whats about to happen :)

Addison's Special Day

About two weeks after Caleb was born and it was just the four of us at home, we wanted to take Addison to do something special, just for her and just about her.  We wanted to reaffirm to her that she is still special and loved, especially very soon after Caleb was born.  We knew Chick-Fil-A would have to be included in Addison's Special Day because she loves to eat there, loves to dip her food, loves to play in the indoor play place and loves to "see the cows".  After thinking long and hard we decided to give build a bear a whirl.

Addison picked out a cat to make and although she was a little timid about the whole thing, she enjoyed it---especially brushing and bathing her new stuffed cat.  We named her...Joy Cat!!!  It was a fun day for all of us.  She loves picking up her cat and pressing the button in her hand to hear Daddy talk (we recorded him on it).  She grins every time she plays with it.  And we are excited to get her a few little accessories to go with the cat over the next few Christmas' and birthdays!!

 Checking everything out before picking out our stuffed animal.

She picked out the cat!

She helped stuff the cat by stepping on that little pedal.

She is waving at the cat as it gets stuffed.

Getting the cats heart...she LOVES hearts.  It was hard to tear it away from her to put IN the cat!

Bathing and brushing the cat was the best part!

Hugging our new friend!