Another First

Yep, we're just full of firsts these days! Caleb is now sitting on his own...accept for the occasional topple, which sadly we all find mildly amusing! :) He generally ends up on his tummy and then looks up with a shocked expression on his face like he can't figure out how he got there! :)
And the biggest new first is...our first tooth! Ok, I can't get a picture to document it cause it's just a tiny little stub, but it's there...you'll just have to take my word for it. We were all very excited until I remembered that biting often comes after teeth...and we're still nursing...oh well, it won't be the first time. :)
Other then that, it's a pretty typical week in South Texas, accept it's still cold and cloudy. I'm a happy with the weather type of person...so I'm ready for some sunshine. Hope you have sunshine and the joy of the Lord wherever you are!

Eating toast

There are so many firsts in a baby's life, but this one is a first for me to. I never let Kaden eat the baby toast cause I couldn't handle the mess :) (you have to admit it makes a really gross mess!) But when you have a kid that loves to chew anything, and wants to eat everything what are you to do! And guess what I've learned...baby's wash!

Change in Weather

Well, I wanted to include a few more pictures of our Texas snow. We actually got about 4 in.! Needless to say it was cold and dreary all week. Until today! Today the boys and I went out for a walk in the desert, and we're hot! Weird weather!
This is also the first time Caleb got to ride in the wagon! Kaden was so proud to be able to help hom sit up. He is such an awesome big brother!...and the little one is pretty cool to! :)

Del Rio Snow Day

Yes, it's snowing in Del Rio! The whole city is shut down! Yeah, for us cause Matt is home all day! Boo, for mom who may have to stay at the hospital over night cause they can't get a new shift in. I personally am not a big fan of snow or ice AT ALL! But our little boy is pretty excited so we may venture out in it for a bit after nap time. What cracks me up is (as you can see from the pictres) that there really isn't that much snow...compared to say North Dakota, but everything is shut down...it was -50 without the windchill in North Dakota and I still had to go to school! :) Oh well, we're enjoying the day anyway. Enjoy your day where ever you are and whatever the weather.

The picture

As promised here's a picture of Kaden's "boo-boo". He's doing great today, and tearing through the house like nothing ever happened. Praise the Lord for quick recoveries!

ER Visit

Well, Matt's worst fear finally came true. Kaden was playing, not even running, but tripped and hit his head against the fireplace. He ended up with a nice gash right about his left eye...talk about heart stopping. Praise the Lord, Matt and I both stayed calm :) and did all the right things, apply pressure, tilt head back, keep the child talking, etc. And Nurse Grandma came rushing over as well. We decided it was best to head to the ER just to reduce the scarring. So after waiting an hour and a half (there were like two people in the waiting room:) the doctor decided just to steri strip the wound together. We were so grateful, Kaden didn't have to get stiches! It was traumatic enough holding him down to clean the wound with antiseptic...by the way he was screaming you'd thought we were amputating...but he was a big, brave boy and did very very well. Matt and I are just so so grateful to the Lord that it was not any worse then it was. No pictures of the wound tonight...but I'll get some documented evidence tomorrow! :) Just needed to tell about our evening. Parenting is such an amazing experience. You can't explain to anyone whose not a parent what it means to have your heart outside of your body, and how you can love and care for a child so much it hurts. It's just amazing to think that God loves us the same way. When we hurt, He hurts with us and longs to scoop us up and make it all better. Thank you Lord for your amazing love!
Jesus loves you all!

Play time/ Nap time

We had another first today! We got out the johnny jump up for Caleb...and he absolutly loves it! For anyone whose ever been around him can testify, the boy never stops moving!...until he falls asleep! Which is exactly what happened this morning! He bounced and jumped himself to sleep! I love it...it's just so so precious...definitly a picture to save for the highschool year book! :) Kaden also wanted his picture taken while he was eating lunch with his cars...yes, we have almsot all of the cars from the Disney Cars movie! He must get his collecting gene from his daddy!
Other then that, just a typical Del Rio Saturday. We spent the morning at the fair grounds looking at goats, sheep, pigs and bunnies at the 4H show...after an hour all the goats start to look the same...but you can't complain about free entertainment! Have a great rest of the weekend!

New Ride

Well...you know that rule, "the younger sibling is always more spoiled then the older siblings!" Well it's so true! :) Jeremy drove his new MOTORCYLCE over to my house today! What did I get when I was 16...contacts! What does Jeremy get a motorcycle! :) Oh well, I'm happy for him and as you can see he's very happy as well...and as for Kaden getting a motorcycle...he'll just have to imagine what it's like riding one while he sits on Uncle J's!

All By Myself

Kaden completely dressed himself all by himself today for the first time! So of course I had to take a picture. He is looking very fashionably dressed in his camo shorts and Spiderman T-shirt (he even did his own underwear which are in his top drawer!) never mind that it was only 40 this morning and we had to go to school...so we did end up changing the outfit, but I wanted him to know I was proud so I"m posting it up here for the world to see! :)

TOES

Just wanted to let everyone know...cause I know how exciting this is :) That Caleb found his toes today! Ok yes...not an overly exciting blog post but each new stage is something to celebrate. And he's just so cute holding on to his toes and rolling around! :) Hope everyone's having a good weekend.

Five months and one day

Well, Caleb is five months old already! He is turning into such a loveable happy baby...although we do have our moments! He's weighing in right around 16 lbs...which is big until you consider that Julies baby is three months old and is 16 lbs! :) But as you can see in the pictures he's nice and chunky just the way we like him! We started him on solids three days ago, and he's doing great...only cereal and carrots so far and we're not yet fond of the carrots, but he's excited whenever it's time to eat.

Papa Van and Grandma Shawn

Just a few pictures of out short time with Matt's family...short because the airlines caused them to be a day late, then Matt, his dad, Kaden, and I were all sick on Monday ( They all had a stomach bug, I just had my normal sick thing) and then they left a night early to catch their plane and to spend one night on the Riverwalk in San Antonio...which just happened to be drained this weekend! So not all we hoped for but we enjoyed every minute we had!

Happy New Year!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year! May the next 365 days be filled with God's grace! What an awesome time to be alive and have the privelage of serving the Lord! I can't wait to see what joys and trials lie ahead! I've finally gotten back on the blog after 10 days of vacation....miles and miles of driving, from South Texas all the way to mid-Iowa and back, Kaden getting sick once we got home, and now Matt' s dad and Shawn visiting...so we're still in the midst of fun! I'll try to get visit pictures up soon. So you'll have to keep scrolling through the blog to catch up on all our Christmas fun. May the Lord bless and keep you all!
Jesus loves you.

Christmas in St. Louis

I'm kind of doing the picutres backwards since St. Louis was the last place we visited intsead of the first...but oh well..you all are smart and will be able to figure it out! :) We visited our friends the Moores in St. Louis. It was such a blessing to spend some time with their family. And with four kids running around Kaden was in Heaven! Chris came with us and we saw the Arch...but the best part was just the time spent together.

Christmas in Iowa

Not as many pictures from our Iowa Christmas...and the very best part was when Bethany and Emmalee came down to see us...but I can't figure out why I don't have pictures of Bethany...must be cause whe was snapping all the pictues...so if you want to see what an awesome time we had you have to check out Bethany's blog! Beth, I love you. THank you so so so much for coming to see us. You'll never know how much it meant! On the down side, now I miss you more!

Christmas on the Farm

Well...we're back and in one peice! We're so thankful for the safety the Lord provided on our trip...especially on the way up when it didn't stop raining on us for 16 hours of strait driving! By the time we got to the farm we we're all going crazy from the sound of rain on a car roof! :) We had an awesome time, with so so many blessings along the way. I'm going to put up as many pictures as I can. The one's near the bottom are of me , Matt, Chris, Jeremy, and our cousin Joanie... we call ourselves the blacksheep cousins...long story. The one with all the little ones is all the greatgrand kids...nine and counting. Then there's a shot of the whole family...36 in all..,and like I read on some of your all's blogs, all of us crammed into one small farm house with one bathroom! And then just some random shots of life on the farm...it's one of my favorite places to be!