Visiting Santa & The Zoolight Safari

Over the Christmas holidays, we took the kids to see Santa at the Galleria. To our surprise, Abby Grace was slightly reluctant to sit on his lap at first but then got over it after Caleb had a seat. I think that the two girls in front of us worried Abby Grace a little bit because they weren't real interested in sitting in his lap either. But Abby Grace did tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas--a house, ball, and presents! That night we went to the Birmingham Zoo for the Zoolight Safari with the Butlers. Abby Grace loved the train ride and carousel, and Caleb just slept through all of it!

A Little Update on Caleb & Abby Grace

Okay, so life with two makes it a little difficult to find time to blog! So, needless to say, I am a little behind on things. Anyway, we are enjoying Caleb very much. It's hard to believe that he is already 7 weeks old! He's a pretty good baby that loves to be held! I am still nursing and boy, does this little guy love to eat! He eats about every 2 hours during the day which sounds like a lot but the good thing is that he eats in no more than 10 minutes flat. Sometimes even less than that... I think he is a snacker! However, he seems to like to take 1 long nap during the day and will go a lot longer without eating then. At night, he's gone about 4-5 hours at the most without eating. So we are getting closer to a full night's rest! It's not so bad though. He has also started developing some personality. He probably started smiling at us at about 5 weeks and now smiles all the time. He loves his Baby Einstein play mat and will laugh at the star that lights up. He also loves for anyone to talk to him and play games with him like patty cake. We have noticed since day 1 that he is a very strong boy because he has always been very good at holding his head up and putting all his weight on his legs to stand up. Abby Grace is still loving him very much and calls him her baby. She loves to kiss on him, play with him, hold him; you name it! Thus, we have been pretty lucky so far with the sibling relationship. We are also very glad to say now that Abby Grace has given up her paci! She put it in her stocking a few nights before Christmas for Clifford (our Elf on the Shelf) to take to Santa in hopes of getting more presents. She asked for it over the next few days, but we just tried to get her mind off it. And now she just says she wants her bunny, blanky, and milk (and sometimes she will say "and something else"). Now, we just need her to learn how to use the potty! Oh, the joys of parenthood!!!

Leaving the Hospital

In the pictures below, Caleb is getting ready to go home! Of course, Mommy had to dress him up, and he didn't seem to mind at all. He also really liked his carseat (one of the few hand-me-downs of Abby Grace's that we could use!) We were glad to finally leave the hospital; it was a nice stay, and all the doctors and nurses were great. However, we didn't get much sleep and were ready for our own bed at home.

Proud Family

Big sister Abby Grace sees Caleb for the first time. He's wrapped up with Mommy to get his body temperature a little higher. In no time though, he was ready to be held. Proud Abby Grace holds Caleb in the picture below... She brought a balloon for Caleb; however, she did not want to let go of it to take a picture!

Daddy finally gets to hold his baby boy!

Abby Grace shares her bunny with Caleb as Grammy proudly looks on!

Joy's parents proudly hold their grandson, their #14 grandchild!

Granddaddy seems to be used to boys!

Caleb's Arrival!

One of our first family photos!

We arrived at St. Vincent's Tuesday morning, November 4th, around 5 AM as Joy was scheduled for induction. She was 3 cm dilated at 6 AM, and Dr. Woods broke her water around 6:30. After some heavy contractions, Joy was ready for an epidural! The contractions were still intense, and Joy thought the epidural wasn't working... Turns out that she was feeling so much pain because she had completely dilated and was ready to push. In fact, the nurse had to hurry to get all the equipment together for the delivery. Unfortunately, Joy still had to push for an hour or so, and the nurse decided to call in the doctor for some extra help. Dr. Snowden came in and even brought in Dr. Woods for reinforcement. At 10:50 AM, 3 contractions later, Caleb was delivered! Joy was thrilled because the doctors did not even have to use forceps or the vacuum like they did with Abby Grace, especially considering he weighed a whopping 9 lbs., 4 oz. and was 22 inches long! He is already taking after his daddy! It was wonderful delivering early in the day because it allowed us to spend lots of time with the grandparents and of course Caleb's proud big sister, Abby Grace. She adores Caleb and was so excited to give him his first present!

Abby Grace shown holding Caleb for the first time! (She was also very excited about the balloon she had gotten him).

Halloween

After all of our activities, including Boo at the Zoo, Trunk or Treat, MDO Class Party, and Trick-or-Treating, Abby Grace has come to love Halloween and all the CANDY! These pictures above show Abby Grace in our neighborhood trick-or-treating on Halloween.

At Hunter Street's Trunk or Treat, Abby Grace found the time to take some pictures with some friends!

Here are some pictures too of Abby Grace at her mother's day out class party.

Caleb Update #2

Well, today was supposed to be the day... unfortunately, we're just not ready yet. My doctor is not comfortable enough with his whole progress to induce today. So she has a set induction scheduled for next Tuesday at 5 a.m. It's okay because he would have been 10 days early today. However, I am hoping he does come before next Tuesday... we'll see. Please keep us in your prayers... Thurs., Oct. 30 sounds like a great birthday to me!

Pumpkin Carving

After going to the Pumpkin Patch this past Thursday, we finally found time to carve our pumpkin Sunday night. The following pictures show Abby Grace and Daddy proud of their work, and then there is a picture of us outside with our new pumpkin!

Pumpkin Patch Visit

We went to the Pumpkin Patch at Shadowlake in McCalla last Thursday when Brian finally had a day off! It was a great place for us to visit because it was not crowded at all. Abby Grace basically had the whole place to herself! The picture above shows Abby Grace and Mommy (and Caleb) on the "train." Mommy was hoping that between the train ride and walking so much, that Caleb might come out--no such luck!

Then we went to look for a pumpkin, and as you can see, Abby Grace was very proud of the pumpkin she picked out!


Also, while we were there, Abby Grace and Daddy rode on the hayride and played games. Her favorite thing though was playing on the inflatables, and it was great because she was the only one on them! The picture below shows her on the slide inflatable.

Boo at the Zoo!

We went to Boo at the Zoo the first night it opened, and Abby Grace had a great time! It was a little pricey but worth the visit just to see her in her Minnie Mouse costume and having fun! Abby Grace's favorite part was riding the train, but she also liked seeing the barn animals, trick-or-treating, storytime, the lightshow, and riding the carousel!

Caleb Update

Little Caleb's due date is Nov. 8; however, we are hoping he comes sooner! We thought his birthday was going to be Oct. 20 because I woke up at 3 a.m. with contractions and ended up at St. Vincent's. It was great timing because Brian was on call at UAB, so I had to call him to come home in the middle of the night! So we probably didn't get to the hospital until 6 a.m. only to have them send us home about 5 hours later! I had contractions the whole time I was there, just no progression! Oh well, I guess we are still early!

So I went to the doctor today and no real earth shattering news except my progression is continuing, but she wants him to be more in stage for delivering. She plans to take him next Wed., Oct. 29 if she sees change come next Tues. when I go back. I am hoping he comes earlier--we'll see!

Our First Post

We decided that it might be good to begin a blog for our family and friends, especially since we are moving at the end of this year, so here it goes!

Currently, Brian is a 3rd year internal medicine resident at UAB and after teaching for 6 years, Joy now stays at home. We have a little girl, Abby Grace, who is 29 months, and we are expecting Caleb Nov. 8, 2008 (or earlier we hope!). In June, we will be moving to Charleston, S.C. for Brian's gastroenterology fellowship.

For our first posting, I thought I would show pictures from the past few Auburn games, which includes Abby Grace meeting Aubie, pictures from the Auburn/LSU pep rally, and our fun tailgate group. Abby Grace was thrilled to see Aubie up close and in person! In fact, it's really neat how much she has already come to love Auburn, even at such a young age (and at a time when going to Auburn football games is, what can we say, frustrating). Still, WAR EAGLE!

So, I guess you can tell we are Auburn fans! Both Brian and I graduated from Auburn in 2002 and just love it and try to make it down to Auburn as often as we can!