Well, it happened! Tonight as I was tickling Caleb he laughed giggled for the first time! It wasn’t long, it was just a short one but without a doubt, a new sound that he’s not made before! He delighted our hearts! We tried to capture it again on video but he would not cooperate and soon tired of the constant tickling so we’re going to try again tomorrow to bring you Mr. Giggles! I’ve been shocking myself at how easily I get excited about the simple things these days. I suppose that these milestones for Caleb aren’t little things at all, but are markers in his development and growth. It’s almost scary how fast he is growing. I’m beginning to understand what countless other parents have told me in the past – that the time flies by so fast you barely have a chance to breathe!

Melissa was gazing longingly into Caleb’s eyes the other day – I asked her what was wrong and she replied, “Was he ever an infant? He’s so big now!” And that’s how it feels – like we’ve always had this baby, and  yet we can hardly remember what it was like to hold him in our arms as a newborn. He’s changed so much already that I barely recognize him in the early pictures.

Life comes at you fast, treasure every moment of every day. I remember thinking to myself in the first couple weeks, “I’m so looking forward to going fishing for the first time – I wish he could talk back to me and tell me how he feels… and many other thoughts.” But now all I want is for him to slow down so I can savor every moment with him. I know Melissa feels the same way. Slow down Caleb!

I’m beginning to understand the universal paradox of being a parent. You wish with everything in you to see your child grow and learn and succeed in this life – but you also want him to stay little forever so you can just cuddle him and take care of him and care for him. It’s an amazing feeling… I love being a daddy!

So last night we had our friends Alejandro and Renee over to watch the opening ceremonies. We took these pictures of Caleb and their son Danilo because we couldn’t resist. I’ll quote Renee’s blog because she said it the best….

Caleb on the left – 10 weeks old.
Danny on the right – 7 1/2 months old.

Almost the same length. Almost the same weight.

Amazing.

Can you say we are proud parents of our little moose baby? In a word, YES!

We reached an amazing milestone today – Caleb began to copy facial expressions! There he was, lying on my lap with his ever-present burp-rag (which we have a plentiful supply of considering the copious amounts of “urp” he spews on a regular basis) under his head.  He was staring up at me with those big beautiful eyes just as content as could be. I smiled at him just as I was just enjoying the calm and the serenity of the moment when within a mere moment, his eyes lit up and he let loose the biggest grin I’ve seen from him so far! You can imagine the reaction I had so I made Missy pause the show we were watching and looked at him with a serious expression again. He just looked back at me contentedly. I smiled big and again, a split-second later, Caleb cracked his big beautiful smile too.

Well, the serenity of the moment dissipated quickly as I began trying all kinds of different facial expressions including suddenly “booga-ing” at him which would make his eyes go wide in shock and then it would resolve into silent giggles as he’d open his mouth as wide as his little face would allow with his eyes twinkling and a look of utter amusement and joy on his face. I have some videos below I’ll share of Mr. Smiles but I didn’t get any of the best ones as he always seems to know when he’s being video taped and doesn’t perform for the camera. You may think I’m just an over-exuberant dad, but trust me, this wasn’t gas!

Anyway, it got me thinking about how our heavenly Father must feel about us. When we laugh and have joy fill our hearts, it must fill his heart just like Caleb filled my heart up tonight. It amazes me how my mood improves when Caleb responds to me in that fashion. His bright eyes and innocence are so refreshing to my soul. And just imagine with me that maybe, just maybe (I’m convinced honestly) that we can affect the Eternal God in the same way!

Well, goodnight for now, but I had to share this and wanted to share a couple of really cute videos. Please enjoy!

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!

Hi everyone,

I know it has been ages since I have posted anything new. I am setting a new commitment for myself to post at least once a week and hopefully much more frequently! I will start writing some great stories about Caleb’s first weeks of life and my continual growth and learning as I live this adventure. I will return tomorrow with a good story!