New pictures

He actually is rolling over in his sleep now and sometimes prefers sleeping on his belly. Most of the time though his arms are out like an airplane!

love, love love these eyes.

Big boy sitting at the table with us in his high chair

He loves looking out the window and would spend all day outside if he could-he is especially fascinated with Bailey and Addison right now.

Cale update

Sleep-
Well, we are getting there. This past weekend he slept 1 1/2-2 hours in the morning and afternoon on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We have been getting him to bed around 8 and he likes to wake up around 2 although lately we have been making him cry it out-which usually only lasts 10-20 minutes and then he is out until around 4:30 or 5, gets up and nurses and goes back to sleep.

Food-
Last Wednesday I believe it was, we started our 1st rice cereal feeding. The doctor said to wait until 6 months but he will be 6 months next Tuesday and sometimes he just still seems hungry, so we decided to give it a whirl. At first he was not too impressed, but no has taken a liking to it-this morning my mom said he scarfed it down! Tonight though he wasn't in the mood for it. So it's kind of hit or miss. We are excited to try vegetables and then fruits in the near future. Can you believe he will be 6 months!

In other feeding news after 6 months I will start to wean Cale of nursing. We have already started to supplement formula. Nursing has not something I have truly enjoyed and with working full time, it's just really hard. I know, I know, breastmilk is best, please don't leave comments saying that I am doing the wrong thing here, because to be quite honest as ready as I am to be done nursing, it's been a struggle for the past 6 months in letting it go-I have felt those feelings of well it's not good enough if he doesn't get breast milk, I can't give him formula if I can feed him. And the truth of the matter is-you do what's best for you and your baby and formula is fine! So we will slowly be transitioning to formula only and I am excited about that! No more pumping!

I will attach some recent pictures of the little man in the next post.

Prayer

On Sunday's we normally just go to church service and go home, but they have had a parenting Sunday school class for adults that has been amazing the past 6 or 7 weeks or so. This past week was about prayer and just how important it is to pray to God. For those of you who may not know us well, Jeff and I have a love and passion for Jesus Christ and will be raising our son Cale to know about Jesus and all that He stands for-with dying on the cross for our sins, and making the ultimate sacrifice. Prayer has sometimes been a confusing thing for me. I think to the verse in Psalm-"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" or the verse in James I believe that talks about praying for the sick that they might be healed. Well, when I hear verses like that I think ok, if I know someone who is really sick and I pray for them, then they will most surely be healed or if I pray about something I may get it. I think sometimes we miss the true point of prayer and it kind of hit me on Sunday. I have many of friends that have suffered loss in their lives or are going through loss right now or dealing with an illness, loss of job, etc. and I really do pray for them daily-pray for healing and restoration. But the answer I get is not always what I think it's going to be. For example, I am going to use my dear friend Kathy here who has found out she has a stage 3 brain tumor. When I found this out I weeped and weeped and was full of such sorrow and concern for her. She means the world to me as a friend and mentor. I haven't had the chance to see her yet, but keep up with her on her caringbridge blog. She has this beautiful amazing Spirit and has seen God work through this tumor in ways that would have never been possible had she not had it. I am not saying that God gave her the tumor, more so what I think is God is using a situation to draw Kathy closer to Him and others that don't know Him. It's amazing to see. I don't think our God is a God that sits up there and says, this family is going to lose a child, or this person is going to get cancer, or this person is going to lose a job. I honestly think we live in a fallen world and because of sin there are things that happen, but I can say that God can use any situation for His glory. I've seen it in my life and in those of the ones around me in my life. Prayer is an amazing thing where God can heal and bring restoration, but that doesn't always look like the healing (like of a disease) or restoration that we may think of. I think about our sweet baby Cale and how innocent he is right now and just how the real world is not always the nicest of worlds to live in. All Jeff and I can do is pray for him and trust that our Lord knows our sweet angel boy and adores and loves him and just prayer for Cale as he journeys and juggles his own way through life and walk beside him instilling our values and beliefs into him along the way and trust that the Lord will take care of the rest and will work through Cale and the lives he touches. Oh sweet boy-I cannot wait to see where the Lord will take you on this journey of life, to walk with you, to guide you, to love you, to support you, to prayer with you and for you-it's going to be sometimes sad, sometimes mad, sometimes glad, but mostly a joyous amazing journey!

First day on the job

Well, yesterday was my last day in my other position and I am so excited to finally have that door closed! Today I started my new position and think I am really going to enjoy the job. I get along great with my co-worker and am really excited about the position and working with older adults in our community. Cale still continues to not nap much and wake up 2 times a night. This weekend I am going to just start letting him cry it out. Somethings got to give and I figure with a 3 day weekend I have 3 nights to play with to let him cry it out. He's actually crying in his crib right now because he is overtired and doesn't want to sleep-good times. Should be a fun night :)

I got it!!!!

Well, after lots of prayer and waiting, I got news today that I got the job working with older adults. For those of you that don't know, gerontology is my background and I have a huge heart and passion for the elderly and it's such a blessing to get back into this field and working with them!!! This is such an answer to a prayer! My position goes part time after this Friday and the stress I have felt has been immense. I have known all along that God is in control, but there are somedays where I have just worried about finding full time status or when I would hear an answer on this job. Thanks be to God, I knew that whether I got this position or not that He has a plan for me and to be honest, I would have been very saddened and upset if I didn't get this job, but would have just trusted that He is in control. I am so thankful that He kept this door open and gave me this opportunity!! We'll figure out tomorrow after talking to my current supervisor when I will start, but it looks like in the next few weeks! Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement. I appreciate it.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!! So enjoyed my 1st mother's day. Wonderful video of Cale made by my oh so talented, amazing husband. Trip to the zoo and Ted Drewes and now we are taking little man to my parents for the night. I am so looking forward to an actual full night of sleep. Can I tell you how excited I am. Did I mention, a full night of sleep and that I am excited-I think you get the point. Don't get me wrong, the time I get with Cale is precious and today was great, but a night off sounds great too! Thanks mom-what an awesome Mother's Day gift. And thank you Cale and Jeff for an amazing family filled day. Love you all so much!

Thought for the day

So this morning our Sunday School at church was awesome. We are doing this parenting class and they were talking about faith, trust, and wisdom today and looking at James. I am sure many of you have heard the verse in James 1:2-4. "Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." What the heck does this joy in trials thing mean? I love how the leaders of the class discussed it today. It just clicked, especially with all that's on my mind right now and all that is on my heart and stressing me out-it's 2 things really my job going part time and still trying to find full time employment and still waiting to hear on a job and also Cale and his lack of sleep during the day and night. Am I supposed to have joy in this, because quite frankly it really stresses me out, wears me out and sometimes makes me upset and angry-yea, that's real joyful. How am I supposed to have joy right now when sometimes I am just consumed with tears. I got it though this morning-joy is trusting in the peace that God is God, that He has a plan and that there will be trials in this thing called life, but the joy comes in trusting and having faith and growing in our relationship with God. I will look back on this someday and see that ah-ha this is why God led me here. Or I am sure there will be some things that I will never understand until I see Jesus face to face at the end of my life, but I truly trust and believe that my God is who he says He is and that He has always led me before and will continue to lead, even in areas so small as Cale's sleep. What does this then say about our children-that we must also teach them they will have to persevere and persist sometimes in life. Don't give up and don't let your kids give up. "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." (vs 5) I stopped to ask myself when the leader read this verse-do I really ever pray for wisdom-not so much. I think sometimes my prayers with Cale go like this "Lord please make this little man sleep, I'm going crazy and am exhausted!!!." I think I will start praying for wisdom on how to deal with him and maybe what we could do differently as far as sleep goes and for wisdom as he continues to grow. When he gets older I think it will look more like praying for wisdom to know when to let him fall or when to catch him. Ok, I end my novel here. Little man just woke up from a power nap (although I will say he took a 3 hour nap earlier-how awesome is that!) I just think it's awesome that I needed to hear God's truth this morning because I have really been emotionally struggling lately, and He spoke to me. I will just keep persevering and trusting that He knows what He's doing and will lead me where I need to be.

On a lighter note

Here's some amazing pictures that Jodie took. Hope you enjoy! Ok-little man finally fell asleep, maybe I can get a little housework done-I'm off!!! Have a beautiful day.

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

Well, unfortunately it is not to sleep right now. That post from a while back-not so much happening anymore. Cale has been waking up 2 times a night since last Thursday night and his naps during the day are pretty much non-existent. We may have a random day where he sleeps a few hours in a row. But for the most part naps are 45 minutes are less or non at all. He's wearing me out! Right now as I type this he is up in his bed talking. He got up at 6 this morning, slept for 30 minutes around 9:30 and has been up since. Even took him for a nice long walk and he fell asleep during the walk for a few minutes, then he woke up when we got inside and was hungry and so we ate and he fell asleep now he's in his bed talking. I am trying not to get frustrated today, but I am. I don't get this no sleep thing, he was doing good. I don't know if he's teething and keep thinking what are we doing wrong? We try to get him down in between an 1 to 1 1/2 hours of wake time, but I guess he's just going through a stage of no sleep. Lord give me patience, I hope this stage ends soon. I love this little man so much, but boy does he need sleep!

Mother's Day

I can hardly believe I will be experiencing my first Mother's Day this Sunday. I sometimes feel like I have to pinch myself to see if it's really real-am I really a mom? There are days that I sometimes can't believe I am a mom and wonder what the heck I am doing, where is the manual for this child! I just want to say though just thinking about being a mom to Cale brings me to sweet, joyful tears. The love that continues to grow for my little man amazes me, touches me, moves me, fills me with joy, and challenges me to grow in so many areas. Cale, my sweet little man, do you even know how much your momma loves you. Words, feelings, kisses, hugs will never be able to come close to the absolute joy and honor I feel in my heart with being your mom. That God would bless your dad and me with you, a true gift from above. I can't wait to see where He takes us as a family, to watch you grow and to also grow with you as a mom, and to see where God takes you in this journey and who you develop into. I only know that the love will continue to grow! It should be Happy Kid's day because truly the blessing of you sweet little boy and being your mom is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me (besides meeting and marrying your wonderful, amazing daddy). I love you with all my heart Cale!!!!

Job Update

Still no more news on the job front. I thought I might hear this week, but it looks like next week I will hear. Paryers would continue to be appreciated. I go through moments where I am like ok God, I am so tired of being patient and why are you not answering my prayer to moments of peace and just resting in His truth that He is God and will lead me where I need to be. Today I feel peace.

Oh no he didn't

Oh yes he did-little man slept last night from 8:30p.m-6:30a.m. Wow! I went in him and checked on him when my alarm went off at 5:45 because I am so used to him waking up still in between 3:30 and 5 to nurse. Although I didn't go to bed until 10:45- it felt good to get almost 7 fulls hours of uninterrupted sleep! Go CALE. Will he do the same tonight? I sure hope so.

I was talking with Elizabeth, Jeff's cousin's wife, whom I adore and love dearly last night. Jeff and I talk with her and Dan often about raising children-they have 2 and do an awesome job so we call for advice a lot. I was talking to Elizabeth about Cale's napping habits during the day. He has gone to not taking the greatest of naps during the day-1/2 to 1 hour at each nap and I kept thinking "we are failing" or "what are we doing wrong." She assured me that we are not failing and that we should maybe try to start putting him down around an 1 to 1 1/2 hours after he's been awake. She said that he may not take long naps. I think Cale is getting overtired and so the being consistent and trying to put him down after 1 to 1 1/2 hours of wakeful time is something that I think sounds like a good idea. Man, somedays I wish there was a manual for kids! Every kid is so different thought-so there would be billions of manuals! She also said that I have got to start taking care of me. I don't do that now-usually go to bed around 11 or 11:30 and get up 1x to nurse and then get up at 5:45. Working full time and not sleeping is beyond starting to wear on me. I was so exhausted last night, I had a tired headache that would not go away. She said that nothing is more important-whether that be laundry or cleaning house when it comes to protecting my sleep. My new goal is going to be 10pm bedtime. I know it won't be easy, but I need to do it for me!!!! Elizabeth-you rock, thanks so much for all of your advice and your listening ear. We love you.

We also love Erin and Mark who watched Cale today and then watched him this evening so we could have a date night. Thank you guys so much! Yes, good steak and time with my most favorite man-(with Cale being my most favorite little man) my hubby was awesome. Then some Ted Drewes and now it's off to finish the movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey and some snuggle time on the couch. Couldn't ask for a better way to end the night-in Jeff's arms. Good night all.