We Love Caleb!

His cute self taking a nap!

First sponge bath at home! He seemed to really enjoy being naked...and clean!

Ya gotta love the hooded bath towels! I think I'll have one for him until he's 6 feet tall! :)

After giving him a couple of these now, I think I've decided that after a bath is one of my favorite times with him. He's clean, content, and I could hold him like this forever...of course i haven't held him like this long enough to get soaked with pee or anything else too unpleasant. :)

After a couple weeks he started to look into our eyes and study our faces! Does it ever get old?

Our first family picture! It's amazing how quickly he has become such a huge part of our lives! It wouldn't seem right without him! We love you Caleb Matthew!

Grandma and Grandpa Boersma!

To me "Grandma and Grandpa Boersma" are the NAMES of my grandparents, so it's taken a bit of getting used to hearing MY PARENTS being called the same thing. I think I've adjusted now that I've heard it said more than a couple times.

We got home from the hospital Thursday afternoon and Mom and Dad arrived that evening!

Caleb sporting his "I'd rather be biking with Grandpa" onesie! We decided that all he needs now is a baby sized bandana for his head to complete the look!

Proud Grandparents making sure Caleb is ok! It was SO good to have them here but harder than ever when they had to leave.

Dad and Matt having the classic "I'm-a-Daddy" man time!

Mom was a HUGE help for a whole week! She cooked amazing food (including the best zucchini bread ever-i think we ate 5 loaves), cleaned, watched Caleb so I could sleep, and was pretty much the best mom ever! But that's pretty much a norm for her! :) Thanks mom! And thanks to dad for being a bachelor for a week so she could be here!

Yes, Caleb is truly loved by his Grandma and Grandpa Boersma! I think we'll be getting a LOT more use out of Skype from now on!

September 13...Caleb is BORN!!!

...I woke up at 3:30a.m. from a popping/wet feeling, jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom while calling out to Matt that my water had broken!!! Thank you God!!! Maybe this was His plan in the first place but it sure seemed like He had answered my prayer. Either way, I was so thankful that I didn't have to wait another week!

Our desire was to give birth as naturally as possible. Of course things never go exactly as planned, so there were a few things that were different than we had hoped for. I DID make it through without any medication though!!! If you're interested in details, let me know and I'll tell the whole story. For now, I'll just say that I think ANY woman who accomplishes this deserves a HUGE award!!! I still look back and have a hard time believing all that I felt and went through. Matt was AMAZING and I honestly don't know if I could have made it without his support. The above picture is right after Caleb was born....Matt said that at this moment he was feeling SUPER proud of me. I'll admit that I'll never be so willing to accept such praise! :) I felt pretty proud myself! :)

We were a bit pre-occupied the whole time at the hospital and didn't do a very good job at getting appropriate pictures for public viewing. :) Sorry. This is pretty much the only one soon after birth that I can post and you can only see his eye. You'll just have to take our word for it that he was CUTE right from the start, and only a "wedge head" instead of cone! :) (sorry for the blue and underline. i don't know how to fix it)

Here's one of our WONDERFUL nurses...and a little more of a view of our room.

Proud Daddy right before leaving the hospital. Again, sorry for lack of pictures. I didn't even think of it until a few days after being home. Something about only getting a few hours of sleep in two nights...giving birth....learning to breast feed...healing...etc.

And here's our little guy ready to go home!!!...oh, almost forgot the details...

8lb.5oz. 19 in. long. Born 9/13/11 at 7:20p.m.

LOVE the flowers from mom and dad! I considered them my "labor award!" Thank You!

more pictures and stories to come....

Last Pregnant Pic

I think we took these at about 40 weeks...

This shows more accurately how I felt most of the time for the last couple weeks of being pregnant....SOOOoooo ready to meet Caleb and be done with pregnancy.
We went for a check-up 3 days after Caleb was due and were told that I had progressed less than anyone the doctor had every checked after their due date. Logically, it seemed Caleb wouldn't be showing up soon or naturally as I had hoped. But I know my God and that He is above logic, so that night I asked if He'd allow Caleb to come soon. I knew He didn't have to answer but I also knew that He likes to hear the desires of His kids. So I asked and went to sleep around 1a.m.......

39 Weeks!

He's almost here!!! Of course we're super excited!

Thank you for praying for our decision about Matt's second job. We decided to move on from it, which was a great decision but definitely is continuing to teach us about trusting and resting in God's care and provision. Please pray that God will lead us to what He has next to provide for our family. Thanks. The great thing about only working one job instead of two is that Matt has been able to take time to get ready for Caleb's arrival! Here he's testing out a carrier by filling it with food to get closest to what Caleb's weight might be! :)

I'm SO GLAD to be on maternity leave! I've actually had time to rest, exercise, connect with good friends and hear mommy and labor advise, wash tiny little clothes, take more time with God, and run tons or errands! I have no idea how I would have been prepared for Caleb's arrival if I was still working. The pool has been a wonderful way to relax and enjoy the summer that I feel like I've missed this year. It's amazing how being in water makes Caleb seem so much lighter! :) SO nice to have Matt join me as well, now that he's home more! Even if our summer is only a couple weeks long, I'm thankful for it!

One more week til his due date, although we're ready now! The Dr. said he's dropped, but it doesn't really look like anything has changed. No other progression to report other than braxton hicks contractions on and off all the time. Overall I've been feeling pretty good. Sometimes I wonder if Caleb might just push his foot all the way through my side, I laugh when I feel like a waddling penguin, restless legs often keep me awake at night (but I've enjoyed getting extra time to pray for friends around the world), and I've been taking advantage of getting to eat extra dessert without gaining pounds!

Can't wait for the post where we'll have a 3rd face included in our family picture! :) We're so anxious to finally get to SEE him! SOON!!!

2.5 weeks to go

Just a couple recent pictures for those who want to see Caleb growing!

A non-posed, normal life picture at a friends house.

I was planning on working as long as I could up to his due date, but now that he's bigger it's pretty tough to get up and down with toddlers and little kids all day long. It was SUPER hard for me to make the final decision to go on maternity leave, since I'm so used to working full time and I have the belief that I'm being lazy if I'm not helping with the finances. I've grown up with a strong work ethic, but I'm learning that sometimes it's a little extreme. Matt was helpful in reminding me that I'm PREGNANT!!! which means that a living being is growing inside of me! It kind of gave perspective that it's okay to rest. :) Once we made the decision, I was SO glad, as the rest of the week just got more and more physically challenging. I also didn't realize how much my job was taking of me mentally and emotionally. It's nice to now be able to focus on becoming a mom and have time not only to rest but to prepare in every way- spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically...and just get the practical things taken care of as well- laundry, shopping, etc.

Only a little over 2 weeks to go...hopefully!!!

Church Friends

Here's a group picture from the church shower that a friend took.

A few friends from work gave a shower for Caleb last weekend, but i forgot to bring my camera (blame it on pregnant brain). A friend said she'll send me her pictures, but you never can tell how long that will take. So i MIGHT have pictures of that someday! :)

Only about 4 more weeks to go! It's hard to believe we'll get to finally hold and see him so soon! He's definitely growing...constantly kicking, squirming, pushing on all my organs (a bit hard to breath these days) and making life a little more challenging. I'm still working but most likely will be finished in a week or two. Now is the fun part of washing little clothes, putting sheets in the crib, and buying items still needed from the store!

If God reminds you, please be praying for endurance, encouragement, truth, wisdom and clear direction for us regarding Matt's new job. It has turned out to be a very difficult company to work for and we're at a place where some challenging decisions need to be made. Our peace comes from the fact that God knows every detail about what is going on and is just as much in control as ever. Sometimes His ways and timing are hard to understand, though. Thank you for standing with us in this.