Happy 4 Months, Caleb!

Dear Caleb,

You're now four months old! Spring time is finally here and with it, so is the warm weather, beautiful blossoming flowers, and all things green. This month has been one of trial and extra stress since mom had to return to work. That first week back was the toughest--a lot of tears where shed on everyone's part. Mom cried the most especially when she had to leave in the mornings, but what kept her going was the fact that at the end of each day she got to see you!

Thankfully, others have been there to take care of you such as Dad on his days off, and when he has to work, Papa, Uncle Nathan, Oma, or GramMarty have been able to help as well. While the bulk of your days are now currently spent with the Chappelears, your GramMarty had the chance to come to town and spent an entire week with us! She and you enjoyed your days together and it helped ease the burden of gathering all of your stuff and lugging it off to Papa & Oma's. (Not that we're complaining about free babysitting by any means!!!!) Oma has been able to watch you about once a week and she loves her time with you as well. Between the two of them you're getting lots of spoiling by your grandmas and we know you're eating it up!

This month we officially found at that the red blotches on your knees, back, head, and elbows is eczema. At first we just thought it was cradle cap but as time passed it got worse and finally Dad took you to the doctor where it was confirmed that your skin is just super sensitive. It's been difficult pin pointing what the cause is and how to help you. We've changed laundry detergents, tried different bath time washes, lotions, creams, etc. The only thing that seems to help is hydrocortisone, but even the pediatrician recommends that only when absolutely necessary. She has advised Mom to watch what she eats to see if there may be certain foods that are causing you to outbreak more since you're still nursing. I'm sure we'll have more to update you on next month as we continue to battle manage it.

In other news, it's hard to believe that it was this month a year ago we found out we were pregnant with you! It was such a whirlwind of emotions we felt when we discovered we had a bun in the oven. You were our unexpected planned pregnancy :-) and we wouldn't change this journey for the world! So much has changed in just over a year, like the fact that you're now here!!! A year ago, you were about the size of a sweet pea. Now, you're growing in leaps and bounds and rolling over like a champ! You're growing right in front of our eyes and it's such a blessing to witness it.

You've also had a lot of firsts this month as well. You celebrated (via Skype) GramMarty's 51st birthday, met oodles of cousins, put your feet in the grass (and thoroughly enjoyed it), met and had dinner with your sweet Great Aunt Beatrice, wore your first cloth diaper--Charlie Banana, and met former U.S. Presidential candidate Virgil Goode at Subway with Ashley Warrick (though  you were too busy crying to care). Today you received your second set of shots and you handled it like a champ, pouting only a little while still pulling off a handsome toothless grin before we left the office. Mom is suuuper excited about next month since it means the end of school is approaching and summertime is right around the bend! You continue to amaze us! We're thankful for another month with you and look forward to next!

With love,
Mom & Dad

Happy 3 Months, Caleb!

Dear Caleb,

It's amazing how fast time is flying by these days! You've had quite a busy month. While last month marked your big debut, this month saw a lot of action as far as you getting out and about. We're much more comfortable now with taking you out than we were a month ago, and as we're learning it's getting to be much easier--of course you're a pretty relaxed baby, so you make things easy on us. (Of course it also helps that you like getting out and meeting new people, too)!

You're becoming much stronger, and you can hold your head up--we still have to support your neck in order to make sure you don't let it "flop" when you get tired, which we learned the hard way. You've gained 1 pound 4.5 ounces since last month! You're still lean, but you've grown 3/4 an inch, which is CRAZY- seriously slow down, you'll be taller than us before we know it! You've started bearing weight down on your legs and can hold yourself up so long as someone is holding on to you. Holding your head up is no longer holding you back, and because you can do it so well, you love to look around. You still aren't mobile yet, but you can roll onto your side. Pretty soon you'll be rolling onto your stomach! You're also starting to speak up more, but in spurts and not consistently, though we're sure if you're anything like your momma then you will be soon enough!

You experienced your first Easter, though we weren't feeling very well that day so we actually didn't make it out to church. We're hoping we'll find a church soon that we can call "home" so we can have you around other babies and be able to have some social interaction. We still call Redeeming Grace Baptist Church our home, and we're not sure we can even find a church home quite like it, but we are hoping to dedicate you there in front of family and friends this summer. Ultimately, we want to raise you the way the Lord directs us to. We want to be there for you, reading and encouraging you every step of the way. It is a privilege that God has allowed us to be your parents. We love you!

Before we end this letter, there's one thing, I as your mother would like to say: I've truly enjoyed these past three months at home with you and I can't imagine going back to work. I've been so blessed to have had such a long maternity leave with you. It breaks my heart to know I won't be here with you like I want, but I know you'll be in good hands--you're dad, Papa, and Oma will be taking care of you throughout the week when I return to work, and even GramMarty is planning to stay a week or two to help us out. I'll have to work for seven weeks before summer vacation and then we'll get into all kinds of shenanigans then! I love you my wonderful boy! We can't wait to see what next month brings!

Love,
Mom & Dad

Happy 2 Months, Caleb!

 Caleb,

What a privilege it's been to watch you grow and start truly coming to life this past month! Your father and I have loved every minute of seeing your little personality starting to come out. It's hard to believe how fast another month has gone by, and this month you experienced a lot of firsts (see picture below)! We were thrilled to get out and about with you as the month of January kept us indoors. I'm not sure if we intended to keep you inside for six weeks like some suggest, but you didn't seem to mind spending day-in and day-out with your mama and daddy.  And boy did we get you out!

We had some company the second weekend of February (2/8)--we hosted a Pampered Chef party and later that night your Great Aunt Mary and her sons Grayson and John Wilson stayed the night with us. Your Aunt Mary is a superhero! She helped us with breastfeeding and gave us some insights into making it easier. She also managed to take care of you in the middle of the night and still get up early the next morning to fix breakfast and buy us some much needed items like baby wipes, soap, laundry detergent for you. What a joy and blessing she was to have around, we can't wait to see her again and for you to meet Caitlin!

Your first official outing was to Roanoke, but your biggest and first real trip was to your PawPaw and GramMarty's in Mobjack. Within a matter of minutes of getting there Great Granny and Great Grandpa stopped in to meet you. We stayed indoors much of the weekend since it was too cold to really take you out in your stroller, but we did take you out to eat with us for the first time with our good friends, your "Uncle" Marcus and "Aunt" Gina and their little boy (who we hope will be your best buddy) William. We also had breakfast with you Great Aunt Kim and Great Uncle Dru as well as with my cousins Ashley, Allison, and their families (your second cousins: Logan, Parker, and Madeline). You were pretty zonked for most of that visit since the car ride there was an hour to and from Yorktown. We made a quick pit-stop at Chick-Fil-A to meet Ethan & Ashlee, then we jetted out of there for the Leverett family get together. Though not everyone could make it, you met: Kelly, Gavin, Mallory, Peyton, Great Aunt Cindy, Great Uncle Dennis & Great Aunt Joanie.

The next day we took you to church for the very first time! There you met a lot of great and wonderful Christian people, who all enjoyed meeting you. You stayed in the service with us until you wet your diaper then the waterworks were on! However, April kept you in the nursery so I could sit and enjoy the sermon. It was like music to our ears to hear Van preach again! That day they had a special guest, Beky (a missionary to Togo whom you met in January) who spoke to the church and they hosted a luncheon immediately afterwards for her. You got passed around all over the place while we ate. When we finished lunch we drove up to Richmond to spend time with the Davis family. There you met Great Grandma, Great Aunt Kathy, and Great Uncle Maurice, Luke's friend Scott, and some of Adam's friends: Kyle & Fio (who recently got engaged) and Katy. We hung out at Uncle Luke's house while he, PawPaw, your dad, and Luke's tenant Logan put up the rock wall Uncle Luke has been dying to put up. We believe when you're old enough you'll probably climb that thing all the way to the top! Your dad got a call that he would actually have off the next day so we drove back to Mobjack that night and hung out a little more with your grandparents before jetting off to see "Uncle" Marcus and William again and then we headed home! We, and you, were completely exhausted and it felt great to be back in our own home again!

Some things we've learned this month include:

• How to distinguish the different cries you have (mainly between fussing and when something truly is wrong)
• You love getting your diaper and clothes changed 
• You love to coo (we figured that's your way of "talking" at the moment)
• You are always uncertain of taking a bath at first, but then you warm up to it
• When you're awake and in someone's arms you constantly like to look around to see what is going on---we've bumped heads on many occasions

Unfortunately, you did get "cradle cap" this month. It's basically really dry skin that apparently lots of babies get. It doesn't seem to bother you, but it is a pain seeing it all over your head.When we visited GramMarty & PawPaw though it started going away, wahoo! Your doctor's visit for this month went really well. We found out you're in the 11% for head circumference, 26% for weight, and 92% for height. So you're definitely long and lean--in fact it's difficult finding pants that fit you, we're hoping that changes soon! Don't forget to check out the collages keeping track of your stats, milestones, and fun facts for this month. We love you and can't wait to see how much you grow and change next month!

Love,
Mom & Dad

Happy 1 Month, Caleb!

Caleb, 

I can't believe a month has passed already! Our journey from birth to home was a rough one. You can read about that here. We're so thankful for all that God has done in your life and in ours. First you made your grand appearance at Morehead Memorial Hospital, but due to a complicated delivery were transferred to Brenner's Children's Hospital which is part of Wake Forest University Baptist in North Carolina by helicopter! I can't believe you got to have your first helicopter ride already, dad was jealous, but not for the reason of your transference. You stayed four days at Brenner's and were discharged to go home on December 31, 2012. You made it home just in time to ring in the New Year. And ring it in you did, with lots of crying and adjusting to life at home.

That first week home was a bit rough on us all. I experienced the typical baby blues, but it only lasted a week thank goodness! What was really tough was that Oma wasn't able to stay with us like we'd hoped because she got bronchitis. Instead, GramMarty stayed with us taking care of some household chores like washing dishes, keeping up with the laundry, fixing dinner, and taking care of you so we could get some rest. Auntie Hazel also came down that week and boy was she a big help!!! She came in and took care of getting all the Christmas decorations down (almost) single-handedly, got the house sparkly clean -- I mean cleaned everything to a "T," and even took on some of the night shifts of feeding and changing you so we could get some extra sleep. Your Papa & Uncle Nate came over a few nights to visit as well. Once Oma was better she did her share of seeing you and your Pawpaw stayed until he had to go back to work and returned as soon as he could to see you and take GramMarty home. It did us good to see so many people and to have so much help because by that Friday (January 4th) Dad had to return to work. It was a bit scary being home alone, just the three of us. We weren't sure we'd be able to do the job, but God provided us the skills necessary to be your parents and we've LOVED it!

We went to the doctor three times this first month. You had your first visit on January 3rd second on January 10th and both with Dr. Self at Martinsville Pediatrics. Your third visit was with the NP on January 22nd (we had you checked out because I thought you had thrush but you didn't). At that first appointment you were 8lbs 12oz, 9lbs 5oz by the second, and 9lbs 12oz by the third! It'll be  interesting to see how much you gain by next month! We call you our little piglet for a reason. ;-)
Be sure to check out both the banner pictures which include some fun facts, stats, and milestones from this month!

Some things that you'll probably want to know when you're older is "Was it tough taking care of you?" And the answer is: yes and no! You're an excellent baby, you're not colicky which is great, and we're following the "on-demand"  schedule which means we take care of you, when you show signs that you're hungry, sleepy, want to play, etc. although you've pretty much set your own schedule (e.g., you wake up every night around 4-5am). You're not fussy and you're pretty relaxed no matter what's going on. Plus, you didn't pee on us, which was awesome, although you did get your Oma pretty good the first time you met her! You sleep through practically anything thanks to all the noises that you heard at Brenner's Children's Hospital when you were in their nursery. The only thing you seem to struggle with is burping--you hate that and always cry when it comes time to do so (especially since we burp you after every ounce to two ounces). You also struggle with latching on for breastfeeding--you prefer the bottle for sure! You hated your first bath and cried all the way through it, but after that first one you realized it's not so bad after all, especially since we're there with you! All in all it's been a good month, we're looking forward to more sleep in the next and of course making more memories! We love you and we thank God for Him allowing us to be your parents!

Love,
-Mom & Dad