So here we are. It has been nearly 8 weeks since Caleb’s birth and besides his birth story, I have not written anything else! What a bad blogger! Go ahead, slap my virtual hand!

Well, I’m back in business! In an attempt to find some normalcy to my life, I am once again returning to the virtual “pen” that I call a computer and keyboard to catch you up on the past 7 weeks. Instead of going into detail that could take pages and pages and cause some crippling pain in my hands, fingers, and wrists… I’ll stick with the basics and then let a bunch of cute pictures speak for themselves!

Ever since we brought Caleb home from the hospital our lives have changed forever. I’m sure that for any of you parents out there, you can certainly commiserate with the feeling. Sometimes, it’s a beautiful feeling, sometimes it’s frustration, exhaustion, or any of a thousand different emotions. Bringing Caleb home has brought tears to my eyes, a smile to my lips, and plenty of disagreements fights between my wife and myself. One of the beautiful things about a marriage grounded in the Love of Christ is how after each fight, we forgive each other, let go, and grow more in understanding and love for each other. We are so far from perfect – we can only take it one step at a time and pray our way through this life.

With the introduction of a new person into our lives, I have begun to really think about what it means to be a parent. This fragile (well, not so fragile as evidenced by the continual head butting he is doing to my face tonight in an attempt to hold his own head up!) little life is not just a “baby” but a person, complete and whole. This person will not only be our son for the rest of our lives here on earth, but will also be our son for all eternity. It got me thinking. The only thing in this life that we can take with us is people. No amount of money or things will ever leave this earth with us. Only people – the souls who share in our faith and love for each other and God will be able to spend all of eternity together. I am not here to preach. I do not stand in any kind of judgement because that is not my place. It is simply the truth of what the Word of God teaches. This little boy named Caleb is an eternal soul wrapped in a human wrapper. How we raise him – how we love him – how we teach him – all have eternal impact on his life… and ours. It’s hard to imagine sometimes, but this little guy is not someone’s kid we are babysitting, but our own son. My own flesh and blood. It boggles my mind to think that we’ve created this life – Melissa and I created this beautiful little baby who was given his breath of life by the Creator God – and he will be apart of our lives forever! How amazing is that? As a parent, you want to be a part of your child’s life all of your life, but how often do we stop and think that even when we leave this temporal earth, that we will again see our loved ones in eternity? Well, think about it. Realize the beauty of the truth.

Now that I’ve gone off on a rabbit trail, I will share some of the milestones we’ve already encountered in these 7 weeks!

About 2 weeks ago, Caleb began to smile. Well, more like half-smiles. And no, it was not gas. I can tell the difference… well, I can hear it most of the time too! The first time we caught it on camera, I about burst!

Caleb's First Smile!

Well, as the days progressed, he began to crack those smiles more and more often to the point now where you can get him to smile just by smiling yourself and making a cute noise. It brings joy to my heart to see him do this!

Before I show you a bunch of cute pictures, I need to say that about 3 weeks ago, he was already at 10lbs 13 oz. He is as long as Danilo, his buddy who is 6-months old. I would estimate his weight to be somewhere around 12lbs 6 oz at this point! He’s a healthy big boy!

These were taken yesterday as mommy and daddy played with him!

Mom!! You're kissing me too much!

Happy Momma, Happy Baby

What was that?!

No more pictures dad!

Ok, well I guess I'll let you take more, your finger makes me happy!

Woah!

Look! I'm acting silly like daddy already!

Oh yeah! Funny face time!

Happy Baby!