Happy Baby

Elliott is one of the happiest babies we know. He can be starving, exhausted, and cold and still be cooing and smiling. He's had a very upset tummy the last couple of days but you would never know it by his demeanor. We praise God for the joy the he exudes.

Elliott has recently been falling in love with Caleb. Even when Caleb is across the room paying no attention to him Elliott will smile. Here are some pictures of Caleb doing goofy things to make Elliott smile. It worked :)

Caleb flapping his finger back and forth on his lips to make a funny noise:


The result:

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Caleb turned 2 on Thanksgiving Day! We are definitely thankful for him!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for our little man and his fever. It never progressed into anything else (we're thankful!) and stuck around until Wednesday night. He was fever-free on his birthday and had an enjoyable day. He wasn't completely his normal self but we were definitely praising God that morning when he woke up with a normal temperature. We think we made his day an enjoyable one and were so glad to have both of our families here to help.

We started off the day with a birthday doughnut. Did I mention that he didn't wake up until 10 o'clock that morning? Nothing better than sleeping in on your birthday! Doughnuts are definitely a special treat. He licked all of the frosting off, gave it to Ben, and then asked for another. Funny kid!

After breakfast we got him dressed for the day in his new John Deere shirt (thanks Timmermans!) Then we had him sit in Ben's big chair for a special surprise.

He loves to watch a movie called "Birthday Balloons." It's an adorable 20 minute Little Einstein show. He's in love with the little girl on it named Annie. In the movie, it's Annie's birthday and all of her friends come and give her balloons, one at a time. Then they blow away and they go on a mission to get them back. We got enough balloons for everyone to give him one. There were 8 of us, including Elliott. Caleb sat in the chair and we marched in from the other room, one at a time, each carrying a balloon. We sang the balloon song that they sing on the show and told him happy birthday.

I have never seen him make the face that he made. It was a mix of awe, delight, extreme happiness and joy. It almost made me cry I was so excited.

After we were finished, he pretended he was the "Little Einsteins" and that his balloons got stuck in the vines (just like on the show!) It was adorable.

After that, we finished getting Thanksgiving lunch ready. He didn't eat anything (a combination of still having no appetite after being sick & just having had a huge doughnut.) He did, however, manage to reach up to the table and swipe his fingers through his "Grandma Great Charlotte's" cool whip on her pumpkin pie. She didn't mind!

Even though he woke up at 10, he was more than ready for a nap at 1:30. He went to bed and took a couple hour nap. When he woke up we opened presents. He was thrilled with all of his loot: a police car that he can assemble and disassemble, a farm set (complete with another John Deere combine), the Little People Nativity set, some play food, and Little Einstein's fruit snacks.

Next it was time for cake. He requested a "Boo Tactor Cake!!!!" I did my best and this is what I came up with. He was excited! Can I just add that I'll do anything for my little man but blue and black frosting are definitely not among my favorites--they make your teeth so disgusting!

The face he made for the balloon parade was similar to the one he made when we were all singing happy birthday to him. I love it! He's so stinking cute! (These pictures are a little blurry because I was taking pictures with the camera with my left hand and video taping with my right hand! We'll have to get some better ones from the grandparents who were snapping pictures like crazy!)

His first birthday was a blast but I loved his 2nd birthday too! He was really into it and responsive, making it just a little more fun.

Now for some birthday boy stats:
35.4 pounds
38 inches tall

Favorites:

• food--fruit snacks
• game--tackle
• book--"If You Take a Mouse to the Movies" or "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" or really any from that series
  
• craft--cutting with scissors
• drink--milk
• friend--he talks about his girl friends the most--Tali & Lulu but loves Baby OwNo (Owen) and Baby Hannah too! Secretly he has a crush on Tali's mom and Lulu's mom but don't tell him I told you....
• song--any song, this boy LOVES songs but he especially likes the songs we make up about combines
• toy--combines (and now his fake food!)
• movie--Madame Blueberry
  

He can say most of the ABC's but his favorite and always correct part is "H-I-J-K" which he yells with much enthusiasm.

He can count to 10 but prefers to count like this "1, 6, 9, 10" with the same enthusiasm as above.

He knows most of the letter names and a word or two that starts with each. (i.e. G...God!, D...Daddy!)

He sings and talks to his monkeys in his bed when he's going to sleep. He usually tells them something about combines. Go figure!

He likes to find new and exciting ways to disobey his Mommy and I am blown away with what he comes up with. It's hard not to laugh sometimes! One example is a couple of months ago he decided to start saying "OK, Bob!" to me when given a command instead of "Ok, Mom."

Overall this boy has such a sweet, sensitive heart combined with some pretty masculine traits. For example, he will come up and give me a big hug and say "I wub oooh, Mommy!" and then in the next breath throw himself on the couch and roll off! He's always trying to conquer something!

He gives us hugs after diaper changes and after he's been disciplined and says thank you!

He doesn't forget ANYTHING you tell him and will bring it up 4 months later without any warning.

We are so blessed to be his parents. We can't believe he is already 2! We thank God for this delightful little man everyday!

Birthday Fever

Our boy is sick again and we would covet your prayers! He has another fever that spiked right around noon today. As of yet there are no other symptoms. Pray that the fever will zap whatever is trying to settle in his body; pray that the fever will stay low and leave quickly; pray for wisdom for whether or not we should take him to the doctor; pray that Elliott will not catch whatever it is; pray that he will be completely healed by Thursday (the sooner the better)--it's Thanksgiving AND his 2nd Birthday! Being sick is no fun for him any day...ESPECIALLY on his birthday!

The Gospel in Progress

We're working on teaching Caleb the Gospel. He still has some concepts to iron out!

Here is a conversation that took place in our house this morning:

Me: Caleb, God doesn't want you to be angry. God wants you to choose to have a happy heart. Mommy read in her Bible this morning that Christ died to sin so that we can be slaves to obedience which leads to righteousness. Caleb, God says {cue little diddy that I made up to help teach the concept} Throw away your ______

Caleb: SIN

Me: and clothe yourself with _______

Caleb: WITE WITE NESS! (righteousness)

Me: Very good, Caleb. Mommy has to put on righteousness. Daddy has to put on righteousness. Caleb needs to put on righteousness. And Elliott needs to put on righteousness.

~~~brief pause~~~

Caleb: Elliott, NO! Elliott no wite wite ness. Elliott put on powder!

Next weeks lesson: Romans 3:23--All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Even Elliott!

Potty Time!

Caleb is approaching the 2 year mark and has shown some readiness signs for potty training. They started WAY before we moved but are getting more and more evident. I'm not really interested in training him if he is not ready. BUT I'm also not interested in 2 kids in diapers for another year :) So, we are encouraging him to use the potty, especially for pooping!

Caleb frequently pees on the potty before bath time. This was the first time he ever pooped in the potty! Go Caleb! He was so excited. He's done a good job repeating this event a few times since then. Since potty training is a skill, we reward him--2 M&M's when he pees and 1 Tootsie Roll when he poops. Ben came up with the Tootsie Roll idea (get it??) He's a funny man!

This week Caleb is sick and has had some yucky tummy troubles so we haven't been pushing it. But when he gets better, I think I will get brave and start to really "encourage" the process. Perhaps with a "No Pants" day spent in our kitchen, hallways, and bathrooms (the rooms without carpet!) My not-so-definite plan is to do this when my mom is here after Thanksgiving so that she can help with Elliott. Any of you potty training professionals have any good ideas for me? I'd love your help!!!!

"Look, I did it!" He's so proud!

Flushing it down! This is apparently the best part!

"Where did it go?"
He's showing you his muscles in his new rocket underwear, that's why his arms are like that. Grandma bought them for him and he loves to wear them (over his diaper). They glow in the dark!
Grandpa & Grandma were so proud of him that they sent this red combine for him to play with. He LOVED it! It looks like the one he rode in. Thanks, Grandpa & Grandma!

Pumpkin Patch

It is GORGEOUS here today! We have been crazy busy around here and I was bummed that we hadn't yet made it to a pumpkin patch. But today was a normal day--there was plenty of time for an excursion--and it was perfect weather, not to mention that it's Halloween. We called up our delightful neighbors and asked them if they were up to going and we made it a date! It was great! It wasn't big or extravagant but it was close to our house and cheap. The kids had a blast! They ran around like they'd been caged up for years or something (except Elliott, he slept in his car seat the entire time! I guess he wasn't impressed.)

As always Caleb has recounted the event in detail:
"Cayden go pumpkin patch. Pick pumpkins. HAY! Run in hay! Red tractor--broke. Hee (see) red tractor. Cayden up! Lulu, Abby, Eeefin (Ethan), Mawmaw (Molly) pick pumpkins. Drive ban (van). Mawmaw, Kenin's (Kevin's) ban."

Now for the pictures:

The gang's all here (just none of them are looking)

Caleb & Lulu--being cheesy

Caleb picking out his pumpkin. He could have gotten a big one but insisted on a little guy!

They look guilty don't they? They loved running through this maze.

My little pumpkins!

Caleb was worried because the tractor was leaving and he wanted to watch its every move.

Goofy kids!

Huge tree. Big tractor. Little boy.
My favorite picture ever!

Brothers?

What do you think? Notice any similarities? These pictures were taken around 6 weeks for both of the boys.

Staring at the beloved bears whom we lovingly refer to as Ted, Teddy, & Theodore. Our boys have a fascination with them at this age!

Can you tell who is who? There are 2 pictures of each boy!

Caleb's Ride

Caleb loves tractors--farm tractors, construction tractors, tractor fruit snacks, anything tractor! One tractor that he's loved learning about recently is the combine. Here is snippet of what I hear all day long:

"Hahmine pick porm! Big red hahmine! Pick beans! Pick wheat! Porm no green...BROWN! Feed animals! Big red hahmine park in barm! Cayden ride Ronron's hahmine. Grandpa turn key. Grandpa wheel. "click click" ride in hahmine. Cayden pick porm! Sssshhhhhoooooooooot out back. Wagon! Deen wagon!"

Translation:
Combine picks corn! Big red combine! Pick beans! Pick wheat! Corn not green...brown! Feed animals! Big red combine park in barn! Caleb ride Ronnie's combine. Grandpa turn key. Grandpa wheel. Grandma ride in combine. Caleb pick corn! Shoot out back! Wagon, green wagon!

You might guess that when Grandpa made it possible for Caleb to get to ride in Ronnie's big red combine that he was nothing less than thrilled. By the way, the above conversation was an example from before he actually rode in the combine. He was just thinking about it and making things up. Now, he recounts the actual details of the event! He was scared at first (those combines are much smaller in all the books we have!) but he has literally not stopped talking about it since he got to ride. It's the first thing on his mind as soon as he wakes up from naps or bed. This boy has combines on the brain!

Now for the pictures:

Just after climbing into the combine, Grandpa got some soy beans out of the hopper (or the shoot, as Caleb calls it.)

Caleb, Daddy & Grandpa getting ready to go out to the field

Watching intently as Grandpa drives this big red combine

Uncle Ronnie (RonRon!) gives Caleb some corn that was stuck in the combine. Caleb has not let go of it since. He even takes it to bed with him.

Best Buds--Caleb likes to do everything Grandpa does!

After he got over the initial fear of this dog, he was so interested in her. Here he is feeding Lady a treat after she sat at his command.

Sitting in the Skid Steer with Grandma. He is asking her to put the shovel up.
"Driving" the 4-wheelerNow for a real ride! We took it out in the field and around the farm to see the cows. I don't know who enjoyed it more--Caleb or Daddy!

We had so much fun at the farm! We praise the Lord for my Aunt Carol & Uncle Ronnie who let us come take over their farm that morning. It was such a gorgeous day and we will forever treasure the memories we made. One thing is for certain--we'll have to go back. Caleb won't stop talking about it :)

Hey, Brother!

Caleb loves his new little brother! It is such a blessing from God that this boy of mine adores his little brother the way that he does. I've never really known a toddler who loves babies as much as Caleb does. Whenever he sees one, he immediately wants to kiss their head, and pat them, and hold them. And if another baby cries, any baby at all, he wants me to hold them. It is very sweet. I thought I'd share some of the wonderful, brotherly-love moments with you that I've been touched by:

1. Caleb got a cold right after Elliott was born. (That is a story in and of itself. My sick toddler was MUCH MORE exhausting than my newborn baby!) Anyway, we really tried to protect Elliott from getting sick. Who wants their 3 day old baby to have a nasty cold? Now, as you have just read, Caleb loves Elliott and wants to constantly touch him and love on him. So keeping him away from Elliott was not a task for the weary! To help him understand, we told him that he could kiss Elliott's head when his boogers went bye bye. Until then, he needed to kiss him on the foot. Later that night we were sitting at the dinner table. Caleb found the blue bulb syringe (we call it the booger sucker at our house!) This said instrument is not my child's favorite thing. He whines whenever we use it on him. On this night, however, he had a goal. He proceeds to shove it up his nostril and suck out his boogers. He did this for probably 3-4 minutes and then proudly announces in a yell, "BOOGERS, BYE BYE! KISS ELLIOTT HEAD!" My heart immediately melted into a pile of mush. He was bound and determined to kiss his little brother! Let's just sum it up and say we let him kiss his head ;)

2. For the first month of Elliott's life, I was really careful to try and make sure Caleb got to spend some one-on-one time with me. Since Elliott is super content, especially in the morning, I would usually go in to Caleb's room by myself when he woke up. I would put Elliott in his crib or bouncy seat for a while. Caleb would greet me and then immediately ask where Elliott was. Then we'd have to go find him so he could give him a kiss!

3. When I was pregnant we always told Caleb that we were going to have a baby. He loved to kiss my belly and say "baby" randomly throughout the day. One term we didn't use a lot was brother. Somehow Caleb picked it up really fast after Elliott was born. And no matter what Elliott is doing--eating, swinging, sitting in his bouncy chair, and yes even sleeping--Caleb will stop whatever he is doing, run over to him and really loudly say, "Hey, Brother!" He is a proud big brother.

4. One of the things Caleb loves to help with the most is giving Elliott a bath. He splashes water on his feet to "keep them warm." The end of the bath is his favorite part. And I genuinely appreciate his help here. He sits on the chair with the towel on him and "catches" Elliott for me. If you've ever bathed an infant, you know how hard it is to pick up the slippery little babes and get them in the towel before they get chilled. Caleb is a huge help. Of course, once he "catches" him he looks at Elliott, kisses him on the forehead and says, "Hey, Brother!" everytime without fail!

5. The other night we were driving home from a wedding late at night. Caleb was sound asleep and Elliott was starting to get hungry. Elliott started to fuss a bit and Caleb, with eyes still shut and without even moving says, "Toe-tay, Elliott!" (Translation, "It's ok, Elliott!") It was so sweet! He protects him even while he's sleeping!


Those are just a few of the ways that Caleb loves Elliott! We have so much fun together. I am praying that even as they grow they would continue to adore each other that way.

And Then There Were Four

Many of you are probably wondering how things went with Elliott's birth since Caleb's was sort of...well, difficult! I thought I'd share some of the details just to brag on God's kindness. Wow! He sure did amaze us.

Since Caleb was so big and stuck for 4 hours before I finally pushed him out, the doctor was adamant that we not have a repeat scenario. An ultrasound done at 34 weeks indicated another big baby so we went ahead and scheduled the induction 9 days before my due date. I was hoping that the baby would decide to enter the world on its own accord and we not even make it to the induction date. At 36 weeks when I was already dilated and effaced I was very hopeful that baby would come on its own. Since we wanted to wait until after the 1st of September to have the baby (insurance switched that day) Ben insisted I not do anything to help that baby come before then. So I laid low (well, as low as you can with a BUSY toddler boy!) Anyhow, September 1st came and went and so did the 2nd, 3rd & 4th. No baby. Bummer! I was very disappointed! Poor Ben had to put up with all of my emotions. He's a good sport!

We went to the hospital on the morning of the 5th and were right on time for our 7:30 appointment. Needless to say we were the only ones on time. We got everything checked in, they hooked me up the the IV, blood pressure monitor, and baby heart monitor. Then we waited...and waited...and waited. I started to get antsy knowing how long it took with Caleb--we started at 7:30am with him and it was 9:45pm before he was born. My doctor had been on call the night before and had quite a few deliveries so she went home to sleep. She asked another doctor to come break my water but that doctor was a no show. After 2 hours of waiting I started to cry. The nurse, feeling badly, decided to call the doctor again. She then proceeded to call another doctor to come break my water. And we waited some more. Finally, at 11:10, my doctor came in herself and did it. I was having a blubber fest when she arrived but I tried to pull it back together. She apologized a zillion times and then broke my water. As quickly as she came she was gone.

So here we were with my broken water and the directions to wait for an hour to see if any contractions start on their own. After 30 minutes of nothing, the nurse encouraged us to start the pitocin. We agreed. I was more than ready to get this show on the road! It took about an hour before the contractions got really intense. Then it took me about 20 minutes to convince the nurse to let me out of bed. (She was wanting me to get the epidural immediately--I wanted to wait since it stalled me out when I got it with Caleb.) Ben and I worked through the really intense contractions for about an hour and a half. The bad part about being induced is that you go from nothing to full born labor in a matter of minutes. So you have no contractions and then you have the strongest contractions possible every 1.5 to 2 minutes for the duration of your labor. There is no build up--just immediate intensity! So after an hour and a half of that I decided to get the epidural. After I got it I think my exact words were, "Why did I ever consider not getting this? Don't ever let me do that again, Ben!" Since I was more comfortable, we both took a nap. Hilarious, I know! Oh yeah, forgot to mention that this entire time I never dilated anymore than I was when I got there...I was stuck at 4. My doctor told me to expect a baby about 9:00. So the epidural came at 2:30, the nurses switched at 3, and everything from then on was AWESOME! The epidural didn't cause me to stall out this time but instead pushed me full stream ahead. Yeah hoo! The doctor was WRONG!

I started to feel some pressure around 4 but it felt like my catheder was coming out or something. The new nurse (who was fabulous) checked and made sure it was in there correctly. It was. When she left I decided to start watching--everytime I felt the pain was at the height of a contraction. Interesting. I called her in and told her that I thought it was the baby. She checked--I was almost complete. By the way, my epidural with Caleb was so strong that I never ever felt any pressure. I couldn't feel how to push with him. And so this was a new experience. They quickly prepared the room and called the doctor to let her know. Well, the doctor informed us that she had to step out for a class or something and that I had some choices. I could either a) start pushing now and I had an hour to get him out before she'd have to leave; b) wait and labor down and push when I felt like I needed to push and hopefully she'd be back by then; or c) wait and push and there would be another doctor there to deliver me. Well, I was not about ready to start pushing. I remembered far to well the 4 hours of pushing with Caleb and I wasn't going to start pushing early just so my doctor could make it to her appointment or whatever. At this point I didn't care if she delivered me or not...p.s. Why would you schedule a class on the same day you scheduled an induction? I don't get it! Anyway, I said no way. But the nurse was equally adamant that I try to push 2 times and she would monitor to see if the baby was coming down. If it was, then she'd call the doctor. If I wasn't, we'd quit and wait until I was ready. I reluctantly agreed.

So it was 5:10. She had me push once and screamed..."Cross your legs. Promise me you won't push. I have to get the doctor." Then she ran out of the room. Ben and I looked at each other and busted out laughing. Are you serious? So the nurse, the tech, and the doctor all come running in. They get the mirror ready so I could watch. Everyone was giddy and dumbfounded. They told me to start pushing. I pushed twice and they announced, "It's a boy!" I just kept laughing and saying, "Are you serious? I pushed him out in two pushes? That was crazy!" We were so joyful! Wow! What a beautiful memory.

So we got to enjoy Elliott for a couple of hours before they weighed or measured or bathed or tested him. It was sweet. He breastfed like a little champ. We called people to let them know that he arrived but we didn't know any of the stats yet. All we could say was, "We think he's smaller than Caleb was." He was much smaller. 7lbs 15 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. That compared to our 10 lb .1 oz, 22 1/2 inch first child. No wonder it only took two pushes.

So the entire pregnancy we didn't agree on boy names. Neither of us could find one we really liked. We brought a couple of names to the hospital with us in hopes that we'd figure it out while we were laboring. We decided on Elliott at about 4:45! However, it was supposed to be Elliott Lucas Krueger but when he was born Ben decided it would be Elliott Paul. We liked Elliott because it means "My God is Lord" and Paul is my dad's middle name. We also hadn't even thought of the spelling until about 4:45. We wrote it in cursive and print a few times and Ben decided on 2 L's and 2 T's at the same time he decided on Paul. In the hospital that night I remembered that Paul means small. I think that is humorous since Elliott seems so tiny to us. He is just so small! Newborn diapers fit him, newborn clothes fit him, you have to support his head, he has a tiny baby cry, etc.

That's the story! Elliott's pregnancy was much more difficult than Caleb's but his birth doesn't even register on the same chart! We were overwhelmed by God's kindness to us. We only stayed in the hospital for 25 hours and then came home. I felt awesome, Elliott was doing great, and Ben would sleep much better in our bed then on the pull out chair thing in our hospital room. My recovery wasn't much of a recovery--I didn't even really feel like I'd given birth. The only thing that was sort of hard was the shrinking of the uterus. Apparently it hurts more after every birth. OUCH! It hurt this time. But that only lasted 2 days.

More posts later on how we've been doing since we've come home! Hope you got all the juicy details you wanted! Here are two pictures showing our family growing--one was taken on Labor Day, a few days before Elliott was born. The other was taken the day after we came home from the hospital.

I Finally Did It...

....that is, I entered the blogging world. I've been reading blogs for quite a while but haven't had the desire or motivation to create one for myself. But since we have moved and don't get to see many of our friends and family as much as we used to, I decided it was time to help keep you up to date. Considering you are probably more interested in our boys than Ben and I, we will probably try to post mostly about them. We're guessing that will be ok with all of you. Enjoy!