8 Weeks

Eight weeks ago today we welcomed this guy into our family. What an entrance he made, and what an emotional day it was. Caleb joined us at 2:09 a.m. and by 7 a.m. we were being told he was fighting an infection but uncertain of what it was. After some chest x-rays, a spinal tap, and lots of prayers - he was being treated for pneumonia.

At one point during the day one of our friends from church sent an email referencing Psalm 91. She encouraged us to put our own name in the verse. "He (Tara) who dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the almighty." Throughout the passage there are many places you could include your own name.

I'm so thankful that we have an awesome God who loves us and allows us to rest under His complete power.

As shown by the picture, he is very healthy! He is smiling more each day and giving Mommy and Daddy some more rest throughout the night. For the past 3 nights, he was only up once. Of course, declaring this will be sure to backfire on us tonight.

Tradition

For as long as I can remember Aunt Kate has always loved Halloween. It's her holiday. This year was no different. Last year she came and delivered a pumpkin for Jake all carved up in Elmo fashion. This year Jake got to be more involved. And of all the choices she brought with her, guess who he chooses? Elmo. We cleared the kitchen table and they went to work. At first Jake wasn't to sure of the pumpkin "guts." By the end he kept wanting "more guts." And if you know Jake, he gets pretty adamant. So Kate kept scraping to appease his "gut" fix. As little as his 2 year old attention span is, he sat and helped for almost the entire process. Until Vitale's arrived!

Before Aunt Kate left tonight, Jake got out his halloween costumes. That's right, plural. We have several to choose from for him. We are borrowing these from a friend. The contenders are a monkey, elephant, and dog. I'm hoping the monkey wins. It fits the best of the 3. However, he is a bit concerned about the fir around the neck and surrounding the face.

Looking forward to getting together with some friends and their kids this weekend! Let the torture of picture taking begin!

Fall

Today we ventured out to Post Family Farms in Hudsonville. What a difference a year makes! Jake was so into all of it. His favorite part were the goats. He is still talking about them and wants to look at the pictures we took. We took Grandpa (Bapa) and Grandma with. I think they liked the fresh donuts the best. My highlight was running into Liz Greeman and her girls. I'm still laughing at our brief time we had together, and looking forward to seeing them soon. Caleb was oblivious to it all, as he slept the entire time in his new stroller.