During the day, Caleb likes to play, play, play! He also loves Frodo as you can see from the picture below...
Of course, Caleb likes to spend a big part of his day eating...but sometimes he just can't get it right...
Finally, the day is over and Caleb is tired out. Usually he will go to bed about 8/8:30 and sleep until 7 or 7:30 and wake up happy and ready for another fun filled day!
Weight: 15 pounds (25th percentile)
Height: 25 inches (50th percentile)
New Discoveries: Grabbing at things (especially other people's faces), holds his bottle, loves his feet, does NOT love rice cereal, and he sucks his middle finger and ring finger at the same time...no thumbs here!
Here are a few updates on our happenings since our last post before Christmas. Enjoy!
2. Christmas at the Miller's: This year, Rhianon and Heath were here with us! We had a blast with them and were so thankful for the time spent with the WHOLE family together! Caleb was happy to finally meet his Aunt and Uncle as well :) Here is a picture of Caleb with Auntie Rhianon.
3. Skate and Capes: For Megan's 30th birthday party, we all ventured over to Livonia for Megan's Skate and Capes party. As you can see, the theme was Super Heroes. We had so much fun! 
4. Caleb is now 4 months old....and SO much fun!! He makes parenting easy...really! He's been sleeping great, eating great, growing great....he's pretty dang awesome :) (brag brag).
As I was laying in bed thinking about all I have yet to do to be officially "ready" for Christmas, I began to think about my little boy...as is the usual place where my thoughts drift. I began to think about how much I love him and what a miracle he is and how,thanks to him, life will never be the same.
Then my thoughts drifted to the manger scene of long ago. I, for the first time ever, truly feel like I can relate to the essence and mood of that scene. I can picture everyone standing around, staring into the manger at the miracle of Jesus...just like we do every day at our little boy. I wonder if they were all just waiting and hoping for Jesus to open his eyes or to smile...and when He did, I wonder if they all said, "Oh look!- he smiled!!" Every little twitch, blink, yawn, or gassy smile, suddenly becomes the most interesting and precious thing in the world!
And to imagine- having that much love for your child- and then on top of that, knowing that you were looking at the gassy smiles of the King and Savior and kissing the chubby little cheeks of the face of God.
Wow.
Thanks to HIM, life will never be the same.
Merry Christmas everyone!
10. There never are enough burp rags.
9. Dogs like to eat baby spit up.
8. I feel more like a cow than a woman.
7. Husbands are BIG helpers!
6. Early mornings aren't so bad when you have a smiley baby to wake up to.
5. Change the diaper IMMEDIATELY when you suspect a poopy...or else it will creep up and out and all over.
4. Don't just pack extra outfits for the baby, pack an extra for the mommy and daddy too.
3. Letting Caleb cry sometimes is okay...even though it breaks my heart.
2. There's nothing like story time right before bed...SOOOOOOOO cuddly!!
And the #1 thing I've learned so far... to thank God every day for our sweet boy.
...to make Caleb happy. He has this one toy that he talks to and laughs at. Enjoy the cutest 2 and a half minutes ever!!.....
Amy: "Can we get a Christmas tree? There's a slim 9 foot pre-lit on sale at Joann Fabrics."
Russ: "I might need a little help."Amy: "Why? It can't be THAT big."
A little while later Russ began to assemble the 12 footer that he bought...
Amy: "Don't you think it's a little too big?"
Russ: "Let's finish putting it up and see."
Amy: "Okay."
Amy: "It's huge. People are going to make fun of us for our oversized tree. I've never seen a tree this big in a house before."
Russ: "It's not that bad. I like it! It's cool. If you're gonna put up a Christmas tree, it might as well be a big one. Besides, it's staying up now after all that work."
Amy: "I'd like to officially go on the record by saying that I wanted the 9 foot slim tree from Joann's."
Russ: "Okay Scrooge."
Amy: "We should blog this conversation."
Russ: "We should title it 'Mines Bigger Than Yours'."
Amy: "That sounds perverted."
Russ: "Yup."
Well, it looks like our little Caleb is right on track and hanging aroundthe 75th percentile in all areas. Currently he weighs 13 pounds, is 23.5 inches long, and has Russ' beautiful blue eyes.
(This is is a picture of Grandpa Cottrell with Caleb when he was only a couple of days old)
Well, we were going to pay for a photo shoot for Caleb's one month pictures and then decided to just give it a try one night. We are pretty happy with the results! Here are a few of the pictures that we took. Enjoy!
So, I asked Russ to watch the baby while a got a few things done around the house....and I came into the guest room (which was also his office for the month of September) and this is what I found. Who knew a guitar case would make such a comfortable place to sit :)
Well, it's hard to believe that one month has already passed since Caleb was born. Everyone always says that they change so much so fast- and it's true!! Yesterday he had his first real smiles. It was the highlight of my day and I pretty much sent the picture out to practically everyone. It's kinda fuzzy because I took it with my phone, but it'll do :) As far as stats- um, we think he's around 11 pounds now...that's pretty much all the stats we have. At his last appt. at 2 weeks, he was in the 50th percentile for height and 75th for weight....or the other way around. Seriously, I don't know how all of you moms keep track of this! Anyway, enjoy the picture...it makes me smile :)
So, many of you have been asking me about how my labor went, so I thought I would post the details for ya'll!
On Tuesday, September 9th, we went for a walk on the beach with my parents, hoping to go into labor on my own (after being overdue by 2 days). I was told earlier that morning that my actual date for being induced would be that Friday (yuck!). In addition to walking, I had plans to drink Castor Oil, which I did after lunch that day. All I got was a bad case of the runs. Gross, I know. After lunch, I decided to take a nap. I woke up from my nap with what I thought might be a contraction. I said to my mom- "Hmm, I think I just had a contraction...but I don't know". Then, nothing for about an hour. So, I decided that it couldn't have been a contraction and that I imagined it...or that I was still cramping from the after effects of the Castor Oil.
Minutes later I had a contraction that felt like period cramps. I told my mom and she wrote it down so we could possibly time them. Then, about 3 minutes later I had another one. Then another 3 minutes later another. In denial that this was the real deal, I decided that I would text Russ and just let him know that he should maybe come home soon from his meeting. For the next half hour or so my contractions were about 1-2 minutes apart. At that point, Russ still hadn't responded to my text, so I called him and told him to get home ASAP so he could take me and my parents to the hospital.
The car ride to downtown was loooooong. The contractions continued to be 1-2 minutes apart yet I still did not believe that I was really in labor. It just didn't seem like it was "textbook". I even told Russ not to call anyone else yet because I was sure that this was false labor.
When I got to the hospital, my mom stayed with me while the men parked the car. I got to the triage room (spelling???) and they checked me and I was dialated to a 4. I remember thinking then, "well, I guess this is labor". 10 minutes later they checked again and I was dialated to an 8. At this point they asked me if I wanted an epidural. DUH!!!! YESSSSSSSS!!!! So they rushed me up to the delivery room and promptly gave me the good drugs. :)
From there I dialated back down to a 6 and things slowed down significantly. A hour or so later (or maybe more...I don't know!) we decided that it was time to start pushing. My mom, Russ' mom, Jen, Rachel, and Russ were my moral support. They fed me ice chips, held my limp legs, took pictures, and managed to help flip me over onto all fours when my heart rate and Caleb's heart rate plummeted drastically. I still don't know how they did that. I remember panic setting in once they strapped the oxygen on and then I felt myself losing consciousness. Scary stuff. Apparently though, getting on all fours works. Our heart rates got back on track and we got back to business. Unfortunately, Caleb didn't want to come out. The doctor started using words like C-section and vacuum. We tried the vacuum and after 3 tries, Caleb finally took his first breath of fresh air!
Every day I think back to where we were a year ago at this time. We were hopeless and had given up. We were told we had a 3% chance of having children of our own naturally and after a couple of years of trying and after countless doctor appts. at the fertility clinic, we took a break from it all only to find out on New Year's day that we were pregnant with our miracle child.
God is good.
Every day we thank him for our little Caleb, our little miracle.
