Noah at 6 months

  My first Christmas Tree!  

 My first bite of cereal with Daddy...yummy!

I sure do love my Mommy

 I can sit ALL by myself!

 I love Big Brother Jacob

 Jacob loves to play with me!

 I like to ham it up for the camera!

 Yeah, I'm a chunk!

 I sleep like an angel for my mommy!  Sometimes she lets me fall asleep nursing.

 I love my big brothers; they sure are a lot of fun!

 Bath time was a little shocking for me!

 I really do look like this most of the time.  Mommy says I'm the happiest baby ever!!!!

 My most adoring quality: I'm WAY too cute!

 I sure enjoyed a beautiful fall here in Connecticut!

 One morning while mommy was taking a shower, I did this.  Pretty cool, huh? I thought it was funny but mommy was a little freaked out.

I'm pretty easy going.  Put a camera in my face and I'll smile!

Noah is 6 months old!  He weighed in at the doctor's office today at 17 pounds 8 ounces (50th percentile) and 27 inches long (75th percentile)!  He had more shots, including his flu shot.  He did great with them and even slept normally for the day.  After making Noah cry it out a month ago, he is sleeping wonderfully!  He is usually up at about 6 am.  Brian is long gone by that time, so I pull Noah into bed with me while he nurses, and we both just lie there and wake up slowly.  He goes down for his morning nap between 8:45am and 9am and then wakes at 10:30 am.  He is back down at 1pm for his afternoon nap and sleeps until at least 2:30pm.  If he wakes at that time, he is back down around 5:30pm for an early evening nap.  If he sleeps until 3pm or 3:30pm, then he can usually stay awake until I put him to bed at 7pm.  He nurses to sleep most of the time, but if he has just nursed recently, I just lie him in bed and he falls asleep without even fussing most of the time.

Noah is definitely attached to me.  He loves to be with me and if I'm holding him, he is content.  He loves to sit on the floor and play with his toys while he watches his big brothers.  He has been such a joy because he is so laid back and easy going.  He started sitting about a month ago but won't roll over.  He has no desire to be on his tummy or back on the floor.  He loves to giggle and is the most ticklish little boy.  Noah will play in the kitchen in his exersaucer while I prepare lunch or dinner.  Life with him has been such a joy and I'm so thankful that God knew better than us and placed him in our lives when He did! 

Caleb is 2 years old

My 2nd baby is 2 years old today! I can remember the morning we went in for his birth like it was yesterday! I was so nervous about my 2nd c-section, but everything went perfectly. Within 1 hour and 21 min of arriving at S&W, we welcomed Caleb Andrew into the world at 8:21 am!

Caleb has brought a whole new dimension to our family and has changed us all for the good! Brian has been able to bond with Caleb in a way that he never did with Jacob. Up until a couple of months ago, Caleb was quick to go to Brian and sometimes preferred him over me. Currently, mommy is the only person Caleb wants. This is probably a result of how much Brian is working.

Because of Caleb, Jacob has learned to share not only mommy, but also his toys and belongings. He has an instant playmate every day. Jacob was quite aggressive towards Caleb the first 6 months of his life, but that has turned into more patience and kindness being directed at Caleb. Jacob has had many instances of practicing those virtues!

Caleb has taught me that with each child, your heart expands exponentially with love. I have learned that you can love a child differently without preferring one over the other. Caleb has always had such a mild temperament and a joyful smile. His little face lights up the room and my life. He is quiet and will play contentedly by himself for a long time. Caleb is patient and loves to manipulate small toys in his hands, trying to get them to work the way he envisions them working. He has such a sweet personality and it is fun to see his excitement for new adventures in life. Being able to relive childhood thru your children is one of the many gifts of parenthood!

Some new things Caleb is doing:

• says "wuv wooh" (love you)
• says "tank tu" (Thank you) without being prompted
  
• can do 25 piece puzzles by himself
• would do puzzles all day if I let him
• likes Super Why and Dinosaur Train on PBS
• enjoys "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story"
• loves to eat and will eat just about anything
• carb loader - he loves fruit bars, goldfish, any bread!
  
• learning to count and knows a few colors
• insists on mommy rocking him to sleep each night while I sing "Jesus loves me"
  

Some days I feel like I don't really know Caleb, even though I know him better than anyone else. I think some of this is because of his lack of communication. I think he is aware that he cannot speak clearly and that people don't understand him. As a result, he doesn't speak a lot. However, it doesn't seem to affect him as he is not frustrated or upset about it. His needs are being met and I enjoy the moments that he does speak and I get insight into his little world!

Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet Caleb! We love you and are so thankful to God that He gave you to us! Below are some pictures that chronicle his birthday!

Caleb waking up to mommy singing him "Happy Birthday!"

Jacob wanted to sing to him, but he got shy and hid in the bathroom.
So we sang to him while he was in the bathroom.

Every morning, Caleb has to haul his nineys (blankets) down the stairs.
Once they are downstairs, he forgets about them.

I don't get many pics where all three boys are looking at the camera and smiling!
They are so cute, sometimes I wonder how they could possibly be mine. ;-)

Caleb and I with his Elmo cake!

Caleb blowing out the candles!

Caleb was a little shy to blow them out.

Hanging out on a beanbag with Jacob.
We went to Prescious Preschoolers that morning!

Chillin'

The boys enjoyed their new towels from Jaime!

Caleb with his new shirt from Jaime!

I'm 2

Noah and Caleb

Time to open presents!

Opening his presents

Caleb and all his presents!

Brothers

Life with three little ones moves so fast and sometimes faster than I want. For a short period of time I will have a particular discipline issue or something that is weighing heavily on my heart. Then it will disappear and something else will come up. But lately, things here in our home have been very peaceful. For the first time in a long time, Jacob and Caleb are truly becoming best friends. I have always tried to encourage kindness between them, but something has finally stuck with them. Caleb has always been happy to be around Jacob, but those feelings have not always been reciprocated by Jacob to Caleb.

Most days, Jacob enjoys playing with Caleb and having him around. He will take his hand and walk him around the house, just talking to him and playing with him. They will disappear off to their room and play for 20-30 minutes very happily. Jacob will shut the door and tell me that they need their privacy!

Caleb wakes up every day asking for Jacob and gets so excited to see him. The few times I have taken just Caleb to the store, he is always asking for Jacob and seems to be lost without him. I have come to realize that seeing your children treat each other kindly is such a beautiful thing. As a parent, the only thing that warms your heart more is your child showing their love and affection for God and you as a parent.

They love to cuddle on the couch!

My little Cowboys

I took this pic of Noah today and didn't even realize that I had taken a similar one of Caleb at almost the same age!

Noah (5 months, 2 weeks)
November 18, 2019

Caleb (5 months 3 weeks)
May 8, 2009

"The Year & Our Children" - Book Review for Sophia Institue Press

I picked up “The Year & Our Children” by Mary Reed Newland thru Sophia Institute Press. This book is a great resource for any Catholic Family looking to celebrate their faith in all the important holidays of the Church calendar. Mary Reed Newland encourages families to celebrate secular holidays such as Christmas and Easter by putting the focus of Christ into the holiday. She outlines ways to celebrate important Church holidays such as Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week, Immaculate Conception, Pentecost, All Saints and many more. She gives various ideas such as: food, prayers, activities for the children, various church traditions and so much more. One idea I particularly liked was a charade for the life and conversion of St. Paul. Mary Reed Newland also helps parents to encourage their children to have a deep love for Christ, their faith and helping them to live a life worth of Christ. This book helps parents to get to the heart of their child. I would strongly recommend the book for all Catholic families looking to celebrate their faith year round and not just at Christmas and Easter!

You can get the book at:

http://www.sophiainstitute.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=328

The Year & Our Children

Mary Reed Newland

My Dear, Sweet Caleb

My heart hurts for Caleb right now. My dear, sweet baby is so precious to me and I feel so helpless. I have started to realize how behind he truly is in his speech. We don't interact with other children much as we don't have any friends here in CT to play with. We were at the library the other day and I heard other kids, close to his age and he sounds nothing like them. I guess I kept thinking that any day, his little brain would kick in and just start talking better. Well, he does talk, but we don't understand him. He fails to make so many of the important sounds that he needs to make in order to form words and be understandable to others. Jacob was always so advanced in speech but I forget how well he spoke even early on. I still think of Caleb as my sweet little baby who shouldn't be talking yet, but how wrong I am.

I received his report today from the Speech Language Pathologist. In the areas of personal-social, receptive language and self-help/adaptive skills, he was in the normal parameters for other children his age. In gross motor and fine motor skills he was advanced. In regards to expressive language, he has a moderate to severe phonological impairment with fewer than 65% of his consonants being correct. His default word is always 'Da-Da' if he is unable to say a word. What does this mean for Caleb? I have no idea. I'm hopeful that in our first session, the speech language pathologist will spell it out for me. How much therapy will he need? Will this get better and when? When I research phonological impairment online, it seems that with intensive therapy, the outcome is good. I am confident that we can help Caleb. I will do everything in my power to see that he has the best outcome possible. This is all a part of God's plan and I'm confident that the good Lord knows best, so I will put my faith in Him and trust Him. Be not afraid!

Caleb has such a sweet disposition. He has a natural love for life and wants to share it with everyone. He is naturally a little shy with a very mild temperament. He is quick to love and slow to anger. He is easy to redirect. He has a contagious smile that lights up my life. He is always next to Jacob, wanting to do everything he is doing. He loves Jacob, quick to apologize and give hugs. He loves to randomly find me in the house just to give me a hug and then return to his play. He is a sweet boy, my baby boy that I cherish so much. All I want for my children is the best and to see him struggle with this breaks my heart. He tries so hard to speak. He rarely gets frustrated. When I guess what he is trying to say and am wrong, he just smiles sweetly at me, shakes his head and says "No". Other times he just shrugs and goes onto something else. For the most part, his inability to speak correctly does not seem to bother him and I'm thankful for that. But I also think that is why I have not been concerned, life just goes on and Caleb adapts and finds other ways to communicate.

Caleb has a deep love for animals, especially farm animals. His favorite animal is the "ow" or horse. He loves fruit snacks, pop-tarts, hot dogs and cheese. Caleb is very physical and I'm not surprised that his gross and fine motor skills are advanced. He loves to run, tries to jump, kick, anything that involves a ball or climbing! Caleb enjoys legos, puzzles and small plastic men to play with. The Imaginext are some of his favorite toys. He is great with small pieces and will sit for a long time trying to put something together. He is very patient and meticulous when he puts his mind to it! Caleb loves books and enjoys us reading to him. Here are some recent pictures of him that melt my heart!

He was playing with his farm animals in this picture!

Caleb running!!!

Caleb running to me to throw leaves on me. We had so much fun playing in the leaves!

It is hard to picture Caleb without a smile, because that is who he is!

I love you little buddy!
You are so precious to me and I can't imagine my life without you!

The boys after baths

Just to compare...........

Noah - November 2, 2010 (5 months 1 week)

Caleb - March 25, 2009 (4 months 1 week)

Jacob - September 8, 2010 (4 Months 3 Weeks)

A Prayer for Mothers

I came across this prayer this morning in my Mother's Manual and wanted to share. It touched my heart because these are all emotions and feelings that most of us women have over the course of a day or week. It should give us all strength and peace to know that we can turn to our Lord and our Mother for help!

Mary, Help Me

Dear Mary, I who am a mother, have you for my mother. Thank you! I really need you , Mary, as my Queen, my mother, my friend.

For the energy and spirit to arise each morning with a joyful heart - My Mother Mary help me.

In the difficulties and setbacks of each day - Mary help me.

When I feel tired or depressed - Mary help me.

When the outlook is bleak and there is no one to console or encourage me - Mary help me.

When I feel impatient with my family - Mary help me.

When others are impatient or rude to me, by your gentleness - Mary help me.

When others speak angrily or loudly to me, and I feel like snapping back, that I would answer calmly and gently - Mary help me.

When my plans don't work out, my efforts seem in vain, and I feel discouraged - Mary help me.

When I try my best and others don't understand - Mary help me.

When worry and anxiety clutch at my heart and it is difficult to be at peace - dear Mother Mary help me!

When there is no one around to support me in trouble - Mary help me.

Dear God, grant that through Mary's intercession, all things in my life and my family will work out for good. May I grow day by day to be more like her, My Mother, my Queen. In the name of your Son Jesus I pray. Amen.