Announcing......

Pictures, pictures and MORE pictures! Why?? Because my darling husband got me an awesome camera for Christmas. Just LOOK at how the volume of photos of my kids has increased just since December 25th!

We started the day at our house with a nice breakfast. We made eggs, and I had prepped some sausage balls with (hidden) spinach (sneaky mommy!) Then we went to Alex's sister's house to open gifts with her kids.

Here is a rare picture of me with my beautiful kids!


Alex's sister gave Grace this super-cool giant zebra - every inch of it is covered with something stimulating and fun for years! Caleb likes it too.

Yes, Caleb is funny and cute...but this is a face we see all too often. What's Christmas without a tantrum (or 6)?

An even rarer picture of Alex!!



We had the wonderful pleasure of having my niece, Maya, visit us for a couple of weeks. She was here on Christmas. She's the sweetest little girl!



My parents gave Caleb this basketball hoop. He's in love. He loves basketball. So many things about Caleb make me happy. But when he started playing with this, I was SO happy because after he would make a shot he would exclaim, "I did it!" I'm so happy to see him express that he is proud of his accomplishments!

Here is Uncle Aaron and his girlfriend, Mandy with Gracie Grace. Uncle Aaron is just awesome with the kids - what else do you expect from a guy who's able to be a goofball?


It's been really cold here the past few day, so we've been nice and bundled up!


Grace's new favorite plaything didn't cost us a penny! Her foot!

Our new tradition over the past 3 years is that on Christmas day my friends the Stapletons come over since Lourdes is visiting from Dallas with her family and my mom makes pizza. This year was really interesting with three toddlers, Sienna, Maya, Caleb, Grace and Ellie (who's six weeks younger than Grace)

Christmas is upon us!

Yikes!! I don't even know how this happened - it's December already!

I successfully convinced Alex to take some pictures of the kids...I think that I've laid the guilt on pretty thick about having no pictures.

Here Grace seems to be holding her breath in fear that Caleb will decide to roll on top of her.


The happy, pretty girl.


This is Caleb's favorite way to wear his hat...sideways. Because he's cool like that. I wish I had popped the collar for these pictures. :)


We went to Coraline's first birthday party - it was a blast! Happy Birthday to Cora!
There were tons of fun toddler-toys there. Like these cymbals, which we never, ever intend to actually own in our own home. Because I'm not THAT crazy!


Grace had fun, too. She was passed from person to person and spent some time hanging out with Kino, who is 6-months old. Yet another young suitor to jockey for Ms. Gracie.


Caleb enjoyed the frosting from this carrot muffin, and then proceeded to eat my delicious chocolate cake....note the evidence in the 'cymbal' picture above.



In other Christmas news. We put up a 'mini-tree'. For a second there, I considered getting a fake tree, so as to avoid the pine needle mess. Or not have one at all. But, in the end, I just couldn't stomach either option, so I decided to get one of those little 3-foot ones and we have it on an end-table. It's working out perfectly. Each morning Caleb asks to turn on the the 'luz'.

I'm also trying to figure out how to introduce Caleb to Christmas. Clearly, we tell him that this is Jesus' birthday and we talk about that. We pray to Jesus and God before meals and before bed. My mom got him a 'little people' toys nativity scene that is just awesome and he knows baby Jesus. But I also don't want to steal away the fun of Santa. So for now, I've told him that Santa brings Caleb presents for Jesus' birthday. I have some time to tweak this, I imagine that next year we'll have far more cognitive understanding of these concepts.

Crazy, Lazy Days

Happy Thanksgiving! What a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving weekend we had. We spent Thursday at Alex's sister's house. My parents and my brother, Aaron, joined the Fagundo/Leal festivities. The whole shabang was comprised of my family, Alex's family and his brother-in-law's family - a lot of people in all. Everything was delicious and it was wonderful to be surrounded by such a nice extended family.

Originally, we had planned for me and the kids to go with my parents up to Chattanooga for the Loftin (my mom's family) Thanksgiving. However, Alex and I recently made a weekend drive to Orlando with both kids that was 5-hour living nightmare each way. There were many times on that trip that we looked at one another thinking....what did we DO...implying both the craziness of this trip and also having two babies so close together. Needless to say after that - I didn't think a 12-hour drive to TN was advisable.

Friday, we re-did Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house and our very, very good friends, the Bortons joined us with their baby, Micah. Micah James is one month older than Grace and is jockeying for her affections.

After my last post there have been many requests for more pics of Grace...here I am happy to oblige - they aren't the best but they will do..

First, though, Caleb was an Indian (Native American) for Halloween...how cute is this!!??







This is approximately the distance that Caleb does all of his interacting with Grace...she gets almost no unsupervised floor time...and should probably spend more time on the floor than she does currently.


Caleb loves Grace. He calls her Gracie (and Ace). He tells her good morning (g'mornin Ace) and 'Sorry Grace' when he has been punished for being too rough with her (rolling on her, kicking at her, jumping up and down beside her) Having a big brother is very hard, I speak from experience.


My long nickname for Grace is most often, Gracie-Grace, or Gracie-girl.


So Caleb has a favorite movie..Disney's Cars. Here he is enthralled in it. I must say that this move is really, really excellent. I've seen it about 10 times in the past month and I'm not even tired of it - it's still entertaining and funny. Caleb is getting some Cars-stuff for Christmas.

The firstborn

In the days of two children, it's important not to forget the firstborn. Although, I must say that is truly impossible to do, when he is SO successful at monopolizing one's time and getting his way. Ahh, my strong-willed son.

Also, in true second-born fashion...the pictures of Grace are scarce scarce scarce. Poor thing. I'm convinced now that I need to purchase my own small camera just to get pics of my kids. For example, today we will be heading to the zoo in costumes with friends while Alex is shooting a wedding. Which means that I have no camera to document the fun!

Here are some pics of Caleb and one, not too thrilling one, of me and Grace.




Pensive....not even posed. :)

It's like cirque du soleil at my house when Caleb rides his 'moose'. He typically stands on it and rocks violently back and forth. He never falls - he's got amazing gross motor skills - an athlete in the making maybe?

Caleb is hilarious - his already large vocabulary is really mushrooming - he's so bright! and funny. Grace is doing fabulously - she's just beautiful and precious - there really is something about little girls that just melts a heart. I didn't realize that.

I have begun to feel an intense sense of the importance of these amazing lives that God has entrusted to me. I am humbled by the significance of it - and truly know that I cannot succeed on my own in growing children who will have eternally significant lives. Everyday, many moments that I look at them, my heart and soul is reminded to honor God with my life so that these amazing kids will do the same. They have truly helped me to pray wholeheartedly that my life will be a mirror that reflects Christ to them.

End of Year Special

Sorry it's been a while (why am I always apologizing at the start of my blog posts?)

Anyway, a real post to come...This is too good not to spread the word!!

Abigail Todd Photography (aka the talented chic who documented Grace's birth) has an end of year special for South Florida clients only. She is such a great photographer, but super gifted with families and kids. Now, in preparation for those snazzy Christmas cards - S.Fl. clients can shoot for no session fee!

Check out the details here.

So...what's up?

We are happy to say that we are now a family of FOUR! Grace Fagundo arrived on August 12 at 6:29 a.m. It was an awesome, perfect birth - we arrived at the hospital at 3:30 a.m. and I would say I was really only in labor for about 3 hours before that - and for most of that I wasn't even sure that I was really IN labor.

The last ultrasound we had about a week before she arrived said that she was BIG - almost 9 pounds at that time with 3 weeks to go. However, as per usual, they were off - she was 7 pounds 13 oz and 19.5 inches long. She arrived so quickly that it was totally drug-free. We had been praying for God to give us a good birth and he answered our prayer beyond our wildest dreams. In retrospect, it was really almost easy. Don't get me wrong - it hurt, especially at the end, but it was totally manageable.

We were really blessed because we had a friend and fellow photographer - Abigail Todd - there to document the delivery. She was a client of Alex's about 5 years ago when he shot her wedding, since then she and her husband moved to Louisiana and she started her own photography business. She is very talented and started a unique service there shooting 'birth sessions' which go from pregnancy to delivery. Since she is relocating back to MIA, she wanted to start building business here -- so voila! We had her shoot ours - it is amazing. I mean, I was THERE, but being a central participant who is really focused on the matter at hand - it is so special to be able to see what was going on. Seeing my mom and Alex's reaction through the birth is just awesome.

What you can't see in one picture is that my mom arrived at 6:11 (there is a shot, not shown, with the time) - Grace was born at 6:29 a.m...my mom just made it! (as did the doctor, mind you who got there right after my mom!)

Check it out at Abigail Todd Photography Blog. I believe that there will be one more part after what's posted, so check back again, too!

Vacation continues

So far our vacation has been great! We have spent several days at the beach, just hanging out...only about 100 feet from our beach house! On Tuesday, Alex's sister and her family arrived. You would have thought that Caleb was counting the minutes until his cousins, Isabella and Nicholas, arrived. Even though they are much older and in elementary school - he adores them. He chases them around the house, plays with them - and they totally oblige him. Nicholas carries him and wrestles with him - which is just the best thing in the world to Caleb. He has been having a blast - he must get so bored with mommy and daddy. This makes me really excited for when Grace gets to be old enough that they can play together, because Caleb will clearly enjoy it.

I definitely feel relaxed, but not necessarily rested. I am not sleeping well at night. I've reached the point that it is very difficult to find a comfortable position when laying down. And after much tossing and turning, when I do find that position, I generally have to get up to use the bathroom. So annoying. The house has really soft beds, which isn't really great for me right now, and has made getting comfortable a little more difficult and made my back hurt. I will be visiting my chiropractor when I get home! Also, we've been sharing a room with Caleb...this is not how we usually do things. Caleb has slept in his own room since he was about 5 months old - so this arrangement is not ideal. Several nights he woke up and saw us (read, me) there and screamed for an hour for me. Nothing is wrong w/ him, he just wants to be picked up. After a couple of nights of doing that and having to sit in a chair until he fell asleep - we decided we would do a same-room cry it out method. The first night was about an 40 minutes of crying, and then Alex just laid him down and showed him that we weren't going to pick him up, and finally he went to sleep. Last night, he woke up once around 1:30 and Alex got up, laid him down and did that twice and he fell back to sleep. So that was much improved.

In case you didn't remember - we are in fact vacationing on an island that is only accessible by boat or charter plane. And, there is in fact a tropical storm here around South Florida. So what to do with an 8-month pregnant woman? Tomorrow is our check out day, anyway, but we are juggling the storm trackers to determine when best to leave. We thought about leaving today, but it looked fairly certain that we would end up driving in the storm across the state - not a good idea w/ 40 mph winds. So we are going to leave at our predetermined time - tomorrow morning and hope that the predictions remain accurate with the storm passing us this evening, so that it is in the Gulf by tomorrow morning. Either way, we will have a rough boat ride - it won't be fun. In good weather the ride to the mainland is about 15 minutes - so it will take longer. Hopefully it won't be raining too much that we and our stuff get wet on the way.

I will be happy to be home close to my OB. He has actually been popping up in my dreams somewhat frequently, so on some level I must have some anxiety about being so far from him at 35 weeks pregnant.

Holy cow - 1 month blog lag

Yikes - well let's just skip over the past month, I bullet point the highlights:

• Caleb got sick (as usual), then he stayed sick, then he was hospitalized, then they finally pinpointed some potential causes for his constant illnesses, then they prescribed a bunch of meds for 'silent' reflux (read, no other symptoms) and RAD (reactive airway disease, a way of saying he may develop asthma).
• Since getting out of the hospital about 3 weeks ago he hasn't been the slightest bit sick, no runny nose, no cough, no nothing.
• Caleb is eating like it's going out of style. He's back into a bunch of the foods that he dropped from his repertoire. The other day he ate an entire pint of blueberries by himself in 2 days!
  

We are on vacation now. Alex and I got to pick this one and all of his family (parents, sister and her fam) are in North Captiva Island. It is only accessible by boat or charter plane. The house is gorgeous. There is truly nothing to do here except hang out, go to the nearly private beach or go to the pool. There are no paved roads here and no cars - everyone gets around by golf cart. There are only 300 houses on the island and this is almost off-season, so it's pretty quiet. Alex and I are loving it. It feels really indulgent to have so little to do.

On Sunday, Alex, Caleb and I checked out the 'island' church service. I was expecting something pretty non-specific in terms of worship style. How wrong I was. It was just us and the couple who do the service each week. I would say they are 70 or so. They used to be missionaries in the Brazilian amazon back in the day. The service was in their living room, and they set out chairs, each containing a Bible and a hymnal. The living room contains a little electric organ. The service was very Presbyterian in nature, a prelude on the organ, a hymn, responsive reading, a scripture reading, a hymn, and then a brief sermon, this one was on Mary and Martha. Caleb was pretty good, playing by himself for the first half, but then he got tired and hot as they had all of their windows open for a light breeze, but by 11-ish it was getting warm. That was really Caleb's first official church service. At our church, he stays in the CF (Christ Fellowship) Kids area, not the service.

I'll post more as the vacation continues and when we get home, I'll post some pics of the vacation.

iTithe

I am proud to announce....iTithe. Over the past several months, Alex has been working with developers somewhere in TX to create an iPhone app.

iTithe is an app designed to help Christians keep track of their tithes and charitable giving. It is especially designed to be a tool to help those of us who may not have regular incomes (ie., don't have a paycheck every 2 weeks). If that's you, you know that it can be difficult to remember whether you tithed on a particular job or contract. This was Alex's inspiration - as a photographer he has irregular income and also receives payment on each contract in stages - a deposit, and then usually 1, sometimes 2, additional payments - and then maybe some extra income if a couple wants upgrades to albums or wall art prints or something.

So in iTithe, you can enter an income amount and source and then keep track of when you tithe on it to your home church. You can also, separately, keep track of charitable gifts.

If you have an iPhone we would love for you to download it, the app is just $1.99, and then review it!! You can also check out the iTithe website.

What is a tithe? I'm sure some people are asking themselves that. Well, in the Bible, God commands Christians to tithe. A tithe is a tenth of what you earn. A tithe should be given to a believers church, as opposed to charitable gifts which are given above a tithe and may go to any organization you may want to support. The principle is simple - God is the creator of all things, I believe that all I have is a gift or a blessing from God - so what I have is really His. As such, I want to give back to him the portion he requests - gladly - in thankfulness for what he has so generously provided to me.

If you want to see more - check out the 'Tithing principles' section of the iTithe website.

whew...

Seriously, no one told me that NOT working would be so exhausting. Trust me, it's still WAY better than doing all this stuff AND working which is why I was about to have a breakdown 2 months ago- so I'm not really complaining.

Generally, I go to the child care center 2-3 days per week w/ Alex. I'm very happy because since I've been there we've implemented some positive new practices:

• Our Health Department approved (90% of our kids qualify for free b-fast, lunch and snacks) has been improved - now almost all fruit we serve is fresh- except peaches, which would be too hard to get in ripe and store, etc. The kids get fresh fruit at least once per day and now they eat fresh stuff like: bananas, pears, apples, cantaloupe, watermelon and prunes. So far, they seem to be loving it. These were changes we could make w/out having to get our menu reapproved; it was simply swapping canned to fresh. The next step down the road is to look at the actual cooked meal components. Other food changes include switching ice cream 1x per 2 weeks for yogurt and graham crackers; and swapping crackers w/ American cheese to crackers and cheddar - b/c I don't believe that American is an actual 'cheese'.
• The oldest kids - the pre-k kids (4-5 yrs), now enjoy 'family-style' meals. Rather than sitting at tables waiting for someone to serve them their food - which can take up to 12 minutes for the last kids to be served, now each meal component is in a bowl on the table and the teachers help them serve the appropriate measurement of each component. This has significant decreased meal 'down-time'.
• A friend of mine from my previous life, is the dental director at the Health Department, they have a mobile dental unit. They will be coming one day per week for a month to do exams, fluoride and dental education to the kids.

I think that Alex and I may be crazy. Evidence: are kids will be 18 months apart; we just decided to totally renovate our master bathroom and relocate our teensy closet into a new space (formerly a section of our garage). This should take us into early July- THEN we can move Caleb into a new 'big boy' room - currently our guest bedroom, where Alex and I will be living for the next month or so. Caleb's current room will remain a nursery for the new baby - we will just girly it up a little. By the time Caleb's new room and the baby's room are completed - I should be about ready to give birth.

Also - we have a name for the girl - Grace. How appropriate.

Master of Disguise

I have quickly learned that being a mother of a toddler necessitates becoming a master of disguise...of food.

I wouldn't say that Caleb is a picky eater, I would simply say that he doesn't care much about eating. He eats to live, not the other way around.

In typical toddler fashion, he likes a food one day, and not the next. So I'm learning some tricks...hiding food.

1. a new staple for when I don't know what to cook, but want to ensure that he eats: pancakes. So - how to disguise other foods in them....Banana pancakes, banana strawberry pancakes, and the new one of last night - PB&B pancakes - peanut butter and banana pancakes. I simply mash up whatever I'm 'hiding' and mix it in the batter. The wonderful thing about pancakes is that they reheat well and they FREEZE well, so I can always pull them out for later since one batch of batter makes WAY more 'silver dollar' sized pancakes than needed for one serving.

2. Spinach - nearly tasteless and easy to hide. Tonight, I made whole wheat corkscrew pasta w/ meat sauce and then diced up spinach really small and mixed it in. I was unsuccessful in getting him to eat much of the ground meat (he's not much of a meat-eater), but I'm sure the spinach got in there - and I prefer it that way!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of my favorite moms out there!! This has been a great weekend, even if Alex did have to shoot a wedding today...really, who gets married on Mother's Day? In his defense, Alex didn't know it was mother's day when he booked it...the date does change every year. However, we celebrated w/ his mom and sister yesterday at his parents house. While we were there, Caleb got to practice his new swimming skills - he LOVES the water! He also had a nice fall after dinner when he tripped over Daddy's foot and landed face-first on the tile. Actually since it was almost bedtime he actually landed pacifier first - which somehow scraped his gums and we had a little bleeder. He's ok, although today his frequent little stumbles have been accompanied by slightly more tears than normal.

Today, we had a quiet morning at home, the three of us, until 11, when I went to put Caleb down for a nap...while rocking him a little he and I BOTH fell asleep in the glider and woke up at 12:45! nice.

Here are some pics from the swim class that we started last week. We are going to Ocaquatics Swim school. I thought that the activities were really well-planned - it was like a Mommy and Me or My Gym activity class in a pool.









And - as an update - YES, I finished working. I am loving it!! Although, I must admit that I have exceedingly busier than I anticipated. This is mostly due to trying to catch up on some of those things that don't get done when all parties in a home are working, and the timing of some special events. We had house guests for two nights - Alan and Diane Sams, the parents of my best friend Jenn. The were headed off on a cruise to England to visit Jenn for several weeks, so I asked them to stay with us. We had a GREAT time and spent both nights talking way later than Alex and I usually stay up. I had several appointments (OB, hair, dentist) and also had to do some prep to help at the school for a Mother's Day breakfast for the kids' moms on Friday morning, and I also volunteered to make baked ziti for all of the staff for Teacher Appreciation week. That luncheon was also held on Friday - so Thursday was a busy, busy day. I didn't stop from 6 am when Caleb woke up until 10 pm.

Countdown correspondence

Today is Wednesday...my last day is Friday - the countdown is in full swing!

I am doing pretty well. I only got teary-eyed ONE time today, and there were no witnesses (great!). This is impressive considering that I was taken to lunch by my awesome staff (the original ones before my department grew), my great friend Susan (CEO's assistant) and Mo, our CEO. When I arrived to work, I found a beautiful gift bag on my desk and inside....the most thoughtful gift I could imagine! They had gotten me one of those photo mugs...you know where you have photos printed onto the mug. Well, they had made a collage of photos of me with my friends and coworkers over the six years that I've been at The Trust. It was awesome. That's what made me cry a little. I was worried about the lunch - but the conversation was light and fun and thus tear free.

Today I also began packing up my office. This won't be too difficult of a task b/c most of my stuff will stay put as is. I'm only taking personal items and some books or notes that will be particularly useful for consulting later down the road.

So - speaking of tears. I must have just hit an emotional stage of this pregnancy b/c yesterday I got teary and/or weepy a couple of times. Once, while driving home these songs came on by an appropriately named band 'The Weepies'. They are an awesome folk-rock type band that I wouldn't say are particularly melancholy, but they do make me feel nostalgic. Second, while Alex and I were watching American Idol, 'Big Mike' sang some Shania Twain song that sounded to me about moving on after someone dies (although I think it's about a break-up) so I started crying. Third, Alex told me a very sad story about one of the brides at a recent wedding - I won't get into it - I probably would have gotten teary about that even if I wasn't pregnant. And finally, we've been watching the movie Armageddon in pieces for a while now and finished last night. That was the kicker. Alex was teasing me that he thought he would need to change his shirt after the movie b/c I cried all over him. I was kind of a mess at the end of the movie - but it's really sad when Bruce Willis decides to stay on the asteroid to detonate the bomb and says goodbye to his daughter....so sad.

Wow! Weelicious Wonderful

I have several goals for my upcoming foray into being more of a homemaker (along w/ overseeing our child care center - but still).

1. More time for Caleb and baby girl in August
2. Help Alex with running our businesses so that he can ALSO work less
3. Improve spiritual health
4. Improve family's physical health.

1. and 2. will be addressed by having quit my job, beginning in May.

3. Not working like a crazy-person will give me more free time. More free time = more time for God's word. I have also joined Bible Study Fellowship. I'm finishing up the current series (John) now in the evening through May and then in September when the new series on Isaiah begin in September I will do that one during the daytime (ahh, the liberty of having day-time free!)

4. Getting healthier. My goal is to take time to walk and/or do other activity outside with Caleb everyday. Now that I will have more time to think about and prepare meals, I want to make healthier, meals with fresh ingredients.

So - this just might be the best blog I've read in AGES. If you have babies or toddlers - this is for you! Weelicious

Now that Caleb is eating 100% table food, I am often faced with the challenge of trying to think of meals that Alex and I want to eat, that Caleb would also eat. This is really difficult - especially right now since Caleb is just over a year - he flip flops on what he eats. Some days - he loves veggies or fruit; the next, he won't touch them. The only stand-by guarantees are applesauce, bananas, and yogurt.

As I've been poring through this website, I have found that I save almost every recipe to my recipe box! They are delicious and healthy (and easy) recipes! So far, I haven't cooked any - but I have several printed out a waiting for me!

ENJOY!

countdown begins!

Wow! So much to share since my last posts...

1. The countdown has begun at work - only TWO WEEKS to go! I still get very emotional and nostalgic at the thought of saying goodbye to my wonderful, wonderful coworkers whom I care about so much. However, as the work and projects keep coming--I have to admit I am SO relieved to see a light at the end of this tunnel. Not even, that light is the dawning of a new day - it's just so close!

2. Caleb is now walking and walking. About a week and a half ago you could practically see the switch flip in his brain that told him, "Hey this walking thing is way more efficient than crawling, even if I do fall down a lot." Since then - walking comes first.

3. Vocabulary is growing. Caleb says Mama and Dadda - although Dadda comes far more frequently. Dog started out really clear as Daoh (like "ahh" with a D on the front), but it is now a two syllable word that sounds like dod-do. Which is just weird since we have made a point of always calling things what they are, so we say "dog" not doggie or anything else. Dog is said to almost anything with 4 legs - he also says it if he hears barking. Somewhere along the line he picked up 'Bird' (burr) - and very accurately says it to anything that flies (we saw a lady-bug in a cartoon - that was a burr).

4. In case you don't follow me on Facebook - #2 is a GIRL! At first, we had to adjust b/c we kind of thought we wanted another boy. But now - we are all warmed up to having a little girl. Although am nervous about one thing: I have had very, very short hair for over 10 years - I don't think that I even know how to put up a ponytail - I'm very concerned about learning to do a little girl's hair.

Why does a salad cost more than a Big Mac?

I received this from a friend. This graphic was recently published by the Consumerist, with the few words, “This is why you’re fat.” Find an article talking about it HERE.

Please accept my resignation

No - not from blogging. In fact, I think that you will find that my blogging should be increasing soon.

I have resigned from my job. That's the big news I spoke of in the previous post. It was an easy - yet difficult decision.

My last day will be May 5, eight weeks away. Given my position I wanted to be able to give them as much as time as possible to come up with a transition plan.

We've been thinking about this at some level or another since Caleb was born. It picked up intensity when we found out we were pregnant again. But the bottom line was this - Alex and I are insanely busy. I can say confidently that everyone who knows us rarely knows anyone busier than the 2 of us. It has been taxing and stressful.

Some time ago I heard Andy Stanley preaching on a podcast about making wise decisions. He spoke at length about this verse, Proverbs 22:3:

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

He talked about how he and his wife made that verse their prayer - that the Lord would help them to see danger and give them wisdom to take refuge. He talked about how God's answer to those prayers had led them to make decisions that really couldn't be explained otherwise.

This is how Alex and I feel. We see danger in the pace of our life. We love the Lord. We cherish our marriage and are so thankful that it is strong. We want more than anything to raise Godly children who deeply love the Lord and seek His will for their lives.

The pace of our current lives would lead us away from accomplishing that ultimate goal of raising Godly children. I am so busy and over-extended that I often fail to study the Word as I used to and should. I fail to pray as I used to and should. Alex is such a wonderful leader of our home and encourages me to read and pray.

We are always so tired and stressed out. Lately Alex has had a cold for weeks that won't go away and I get daily tension headaches. Both of these are directly related to our current lifestyle.

Something has to give; and we decided to choose what that would be while we still could.

I'm excited and nervous about this new stage in my life. I am sad to leave The Children's Trust. It has been such a wonderful place to work. I am mostly sad about leaving the wonderful friends and colleagues that I have worked with for the past six years. I am also sad about not being a part of the good work that is done as a result of The Trust. The place is doing so much to improve Miami.

However, I know that I will have no regrets. As we move forward our goals are to grow and strengthen the spiritual and physical health of this family. There are behaviors that I want to instill in Caleb and this means ensuring that I live them daily. We will be changing things for the better.

Food

Since the day of Caleb's surgery to implant Eustachian tubes in his ears he has had SUCH an improved appetite. Not only is he eating more (most of the time) but since the surgery he has rarely (may once or twice) had baby food - he has been eating table food. So here are foods that I'm happy that he seems to like:

Lightly salted edamame
other green veggies (peas, green beans)
Crazy for bananas
Trying now veggies cooked in lentil stew

He is basically willing to try anything that he sees us eat. But some days he likes the food (almost always the first time) and then he doesn't. Like strawberries - some days he'll eat them all up, other days he'll spit them out. I'm less happy about how much he LOVES all things made from bread - but oh well.

He is often moody in his high chair - I think he ultimately hates being restrained in things - he also dislikes the car seat. That moodiness makes it so that he ends up of gagging some b/c he's complaining w/ food in his mouth.

He's teething something crazy - getting 4 molars, and one other tooth.

Updates

Hello everyone!

What a whirlwind life has been lately....

So - in news (to some, not all of you)


This was actually taken in November when I found out one morning before heading off to work...I know - what a day! I'm 13 weeks now. Generally I can't complain...but, I do some. I'm not as nauseous as I was with Caleb, which is nice. I am EXHAUSTED. Which I was with Caleb too, but I had time to sleep then. I also have a chronic cough which is getting annoying and making my abs hurt. #2 is due August 26. Caleb will be 18 months old.

I'm also thoroughly worn out because Caleb has had 6 ear infections since September (that's about 1 per month if you counted). And has had chronic ear infections since mid-January. He's had 3 this year already. We went to see a pediatric ENT at University of Miami a week and a half ago and he said that Caleb is WAY above the threshold for Eustachian tubes in his ears. The threshold for him - 3 in 5 months or 5 in a year....remember the math we did a moment ago? yeah. We are ready, this last month and a half have been really hard on all of us. These ear infections have been accompanied by days of high fevers, wakeful nights, clinginess, etc. I'm worn out. Also, related to that, I'm certain - Caleb has been 17 pounds since his 9-month check up. He'll be one year in 2 weeks - that's not good. He doesn't have a good appetite and doesn't eat or drink a lot. I know he's not ever going to be a chubby kid - but to not gain weight in 2.5 months? That's not good.

I will likely have other big news coming soon - but we'll let the anticipation build for a while....

Shaleen.