Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays!

What a great holiday season this is. It's so nice to have some time off after a crazy year.

Christmas for Caleb started early this year, with early gift exchanges with Auntie Sarah and Uncle Mark before they left on their big trip to the Phillipines. Caleb has definitely been having cousin withdrawal... every time he sees a picture of one of them he goes nuts.

Caleb and I met Aunt Amanda, Uncle Spencer, and Cousin Will in Ames to do a trade-off with Grandma Cindy before Christmas. It's always fun to see Will and watch the two of them interact. It's too bad we aren't closer, but they really do love playing together. Caleb did great on his 4-day adventure with Grandma and Grandpa, although he was really excited to see us when we picked him up. Skype and Apple's Facetime are both great for visiting with family when visiting isn't an option. We're so thankful for the technology advances that make the world a little smaller.

We spent the Christmas holiday up in the Quad Cities with Eric's family, which was great! It was so wonderful to see Great-Grandma Sally and the rest of the family. Grant made it back from Japan and we enjoyed seeing him. It was a restful visit - which isn't always the case with a lot of people under one roof (as I'm sure you all know) - and for that we were thankful!

It's fun looking back at pictures from the last year and to see how much Caleb has changed. From 5 months old to 17 months old, he seems like a completely different little boy. And to think that this time next year Caleb will not only be 2 1/2, but will also be a big brother! It's hard to think of Caleb as the big anything, but we have no doubt that he will enjoy the role of oldest child and seasoned veteran.

Family Photo Shoot Pictures:

https://plus.google.com/photos/116317704957344582919/albums/5663797886524058337

Here's some more pictures from this fall. Enjoy!

https://plus.google.com/photos/106477809142921264380/albums/5692024390168109009?authkey=CPTRmrPby4mCbQ

We hope your holidays continue to be enjoyable and that you all here in the midwest continue to enjoy this ridiculously mild weather!

All our love,

Stephanie, Eric, and Caleb

1 Year Old

We are happy to announce... about two weeks late... that Caleb, Eric, and I all survived our first year as parents and child! It's been a good year. To think back that this time last year, we were just figuring out what it meant to take care of a baby, to live on less sleep, and to shoulder the responsibility of having a child totally dependent on us. It's amazing.

I think back on my transition to motherhood, and it is a pretty unbelievable change. On July 16th, I started maternity leave with no real concept of what that meant. Sure, as all first-time moms do, I had an idea. Diapers and crib set up in the new room, carseat in the backseat of my car, 9 month maternity clothes prepared to give way for nursing tank tops and 6 month maternity clothes while my body would make the slow transition back to normal. Sleepless nights because of discomfort would give way for sleepless nights with a hungry baby. And of course the childbirthing classes to prepare me for the average 12 hours of labor that on average happen 3 days after the due date for first-time moms.

These things were true, absolutely. But I definitely wasn't prepared for the disconnectedness of seeing Caleb for the first time, the disbelief that Eric and I were responsible for this new life. And then only a week later, laying on the couch never wanting to let go and let this little boy grow up.

The changes in me I didn't forsee... Starting with being terrified I was going to forget him asleep in the car in the 100F heat of late July while on an errand I was used to doing by myself; then my heart skipping a beat when I walk away from the grocery cart for a second and realizing he's with dad for the afternoon. Starting with worrying I'm not going to wake up when he needs me; now leaving on fans and no baby monitor, because my mind can sift through his nighttime noises without ever really waking up. How being away from Caleb for a day at work is just enough to make me want to hold him and play all evening and ignore all other activities. How leaving him for my first day back to work from maternity leave was so hard I wanted to quit and never go back.

I wasn't prepared for the change in Eric and my relationship, how having children makes you look at each other differently, how you spend more time looking at your baby than at each other. I wasn't prepared for my body changes, the toll that pregnancy takes and the continued toll of nursing for 11 months. I wasn't prepared for the stress of working, even part-time, and juggling daycare, church activities, Eric's activities, grocery shopping, food, laundry, cleaning (that one took a huge backseat), and trying to maintain healthy relationships - with both old friends who don't have children and new friends who do.

All of these things are the transitions of parenthood. I am so thankful for those who have made this past year easier, who have been understanding, supportive (with meals, childcare, love, emotional support, smiles, grace, understanding, and advice). Mark & Sarah, all of our corpus group, Jeff & Maria, Leslie T, Charity M, Kelli A, Sara G, both sets of Grandparents, Amanda Fontana, Aunt Nancy, Juli H, Joe & Michelle, Nathan & Jenilee, just to name a few. You have all made the past year easier in some way or another, and we are grateful to you and your friendship.

Here are some pics from Caleb's first year birthday party to celebrate the year. Here's to moving forward - older, wiser, and seeing more and more how blessed we are!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100226088369060.2543411.16903682&l=78173b0ce7&type=1

Summer!

It's summertime! Today was definitely summer. Not exactly sure where the 93 degrees came from today! Yikes! Caleb, Eric, and I enjoyed the new kiddie pool in the driveway and are looking forward to many more days to come in it out in the sun.

It's been so long since we've posted! It's been a very busy few months for us... probably the busiest of our lives. Eric's been trucking along with his master's degree and research work, along with having a lot demanded of him at work. My work has been pretty busy with project installations, requiring much more than the 3-day schedule that I am supposed to be working. It got even busier when my coworker left the company suddenly for a job closer to family. Caleb has been at a new daycare since the middle of April, and that has also had it's fair share of adjustments.

We are so thankful for summer! Eric isn't taking any classes this summer and his work has been a bit less demanding of overtime. My job has finally slipped back into the 3-day schedule it's supposed to be, and things are starting to look a lot better with Caleb's childcare situation. We have found ourselves breathing a lot easier in the last two weeks and are so thankful! We even had time for a date a couple of days ago with Caleb's first official 13-year-old babysitter. He did great and so did she!

Caleb started crawling on April 2, and is really close to walking now. He pulls up on anything and turns everything into a push toy - chairs, the stroller, Grandma Sally's walker, a box sitting on the floor, etc. He's started to say some words - he will say "mo, mo" while making the sign language for "more." He says "Mama" and "DaDa" as well as "Papa" and it seems like he might be saying "ball" and "doggie" sometimes, but those aren't very consistent. He is starting to be really fun - waving to say hello and goodbye, claps when he is excited, and is generally quite a flirt.

Caleb's baptism was May 22, the same day Nadia & Ramona Swanson were dedicated. We were incredibly blessed by the experience. The image of Caleb being marked and brought into the kingdom of God like that is really neat. We talked later about the idea of Jewish 8 day old circumcision and how it's similar to our infant baptism... marking the child for God before he has the opportunity to make a decision for himself. It puts new weight on our responsibility as parents to continue to make those decisions for him while he is still too young to decide for himself, and then to lead him to make those decisions on his own when he is old enough to. We really appreciate our parents more and more as we go through this parenting experience.

We've done some traveling recently. We went to Florida to visit Eric's aunt and uncle in April and had a great time. Caleb was a hit. We also went to a Golding family reunion over Memorial Day. Minus us getting sick on the trip, we had a great time traveling with Amanda & Spencer & William (4 months old). Caleb really enjoyed company also. Again, Caleb was a hit with the family. The same was true this weekend at Eric's cousin's graduation party, especially with his 5-year old second cousin. :)

Here's more pictures!

March to June

And more...

Caleb

Love you all,

Steph, Eric, and Caleb