Ch...Ch...Changes..and Caleb Updates!

Well our big boy is just two months away from turning 2!! And that's sooo exciting. This past month he has done way more changing and has learned SOO much more than even in previous months! I will get more into that later though...

But right now, the changes!

So my office moved from downtown Dayton to outside downtown Dayton in a really cool building located in Tech Town! We used to pay for parking, and we paid between 75-85 dollars a month (depending on if I was late with the payment). But then once we moved, no more parking fees! The new building is very modern and quite fun! I love my new cubicle, and it just feels like a new and clean slate for our office. (I have some pictures below - not the best, but came from my phone).

Our new building

The ceiling from the entryway

Entering our office

Enjoying my new office! 

Part of my cubicle - I love the orange stripe! It's so fun!

Another fun change for me is I was recently given the project manager position of a project I have worked on for 10 years! This is going to give me a chance to really show what I can do and hopefully helps me learn how to be an effective, efficient, and good manager and leader!

So all in - very excited about the new changes from this past month! But, changes didn't just happen in my work life. Mister Caleb is also changing rapidly!

He is definitely a little boy and no longer a baby (though, he will always be my baby)! I don't know how this happened or what changed, except that Caleb will now lay down in his bed and go to sleep on his own and sleep THROUGH THE NIGHT! :) YAY!! This Momma is so happy! It's really quite sweet...not sure how it all started, but he drinks water before going to bed, and we say our prayers and rock maybe a couple of minutes in the rocking chair to settle down (he's not asleep), and then he shows me he wants to go into his bed. I lay him down, put his blanket on him, and give him his bed-time penguin (this is very recent too), and there is no crying! He just goes to sleep! And he sleeps the whole night! Oh my gosh! It's so wonderful! And it's really quite precious to see him hug and love his little penguin as he goes to sleep. See - changes can be really good!! :)

Also - this little guy is talking SO MUCH more! He is talking in sentences! He repeats a lot of what we say now (gotta make sure we are careful and don't say anything we don't want him to repeat). And he has just added so much more vocabulary this month. It just spiked up majorly!

I won't be able to get it all down here, but some of my favorites are;

• "hereyougo" - Here you go! I guess I say that a lot! ;) So once he gets something from me or I have fixed something for him, he says "hereyougo" 
• "It's a wewo sign!" - He says that when he sees a yellow sign. He knows the color yellow and knows what signs are! 
• Actually...in general, when he points to something he always starts with "it's a (word)" 
• When I ask him something, he usually will say Yes! He can say no and has said it a few times, but when I ask him to do something and he doesn't want to do it or gets mad, it is usually a whine instead of a "no." 
• He knows a lot more animals now - "elefun" for elephant, "mahkey" is monkey, "pingen" is penguin, "birdie" is birdie, "doggie" is doggie, "kitcat" is kittie cat, etc. He is really annuciating words a lot better! 
• He now tries to call people more by their names. G-Pa is "B-Pa," but then I recently discovered that he calls Grandma the same thing. So both of them right now are "B-Pa." 
• He recently saw a photo of Jen and said "An Jen" for aunt Jen! 
• He has gotten better about asking for what he wants to eat. He will ask for "Ba-Kah" (sound of a chicken), "Bagen" for bacon, "pech" for a toddler pouch that has veggies and fruits, "go-gur" for yogurt, "See-Rul" for cereal, etc. 
• He knows the colors yellow, purple, pink, and sometimes red and green. 
• He is getting better at singing the ABCs. If you point to a letter, he knows many of them just by pointing to them. The book I made with photos of things that start with the letters, we go through and I say "A is for..." and then point to the picture, and he gets at least 22 of the 26 items! It's hard to say Xylophone for X. LOL! 
• He sometimes knows how to count 1 through 6. He definitely knows the number 1 2 and 3 when he sees them. He sometimes knows the others (4 through 6). It's good he knows 2 since he is turning 2 very soon! 
• If Mommy is doing stuff and he wants me to pay attention to him, he always says "All done!" as he points to my computer, phone or whatever I am doing.
• He says "kiss" now when we give him kisses or when he sees Mommy and Daddy kiss! So sweet! 

Again - this is just some of the things. I couldn't possibly remember everything because he always seems to learn something new that takes us off guard! ;) 

Caleb also had his first Easter Egg hunt this month at church! He was really excited about the steps! He kept going up and down the steps. And he learned on those steps how to step up and step down without holding the railing! Such a big boy! But when it was time to hunt for eggs, he didn't want to go. LOL! That was until he saw all the pretty eggs on the ground. Then he had fun! But once we were done with that, he had to go back to the steps. 

Easter Egg hunt! 

Caleb's loot!

This month we are celebrating Easter, G-Pa's birthday, and hopefully enjoying some more of this wonderful spring weather! And then at the end of April, our very first vacation (with the three of us) to Virginia Beach and to see Aunt Jen and Uncle Wes! So exciting! Looking forward to many memories! 

But until then...I leave you with Caleb laughing! He has the best laugh! :)

Christmas 2.0 and Caleb's 21 Month Update!

This past month has been quite busy! The last weekend in January, we celebrated Christmas 2.0 with my sister, Jen and my brother-in-love, Wes! It was soo nice to spend time with them as a family! We hadn't seen them since the end of summer last year, so it was very much needed time!

We opened up some presents and enjoyed some Christmas food (Dad's Christmas Lasagna), and watched Christmas movies (see - it really was Christmas 2,0). We also went to my parents property for a bit, and Caleb enjoyed playing on G-Pa's trailer. Instead of playing "Peekaboo," Caleb says "I see yo!" And that's not a typo. He actually says "yo" instead of you. And he played that a ton with his Aunt Jen!

"I see yo!" 

"I see yo!" 

Caleb and Aunt Jen were buddies for sure during that time, and Caleb made everyone laugh so hard. He is really growing into this cute, funny, little boy! He has us all wrapped around his finger!

A couple of weeks later, we celebrated Valentines with our cutie pie! We got him his first Magna Doodle (which he LOVES), an Elmo book (My Fuzzy Valentine), and a yummy chocolate/peanut butter snack! Todd and I will be celebrating later this weekend our own Valentine's time. We each make our Valentines, so I look forward to seeing what Todd did for me. And I will share what I did for him after this weekend (don't want him to accidentally see).

Caleb Update:
So here's an update on our little Mister: He is hovering around 25-26 pounds, and he getting taller. He was 32.5 inches the last time we measured him (November), but I bet he has grown a little more since then. Before we know it, we will have to get him a big boy car seat! :)

What a face! He looks more and more like a little boy every single day. 

He is definitely our big boy!

He has learned so many words and is using many sentences now! Some of the cute words/sayings:

• Let's Go! (when we have to leave to go outside)
• Go! Go! Go! (if the car is still, and he wants to get moving)
• He now says Elmo fully instead of Mo! 
• "geh sum to eat" (Get something to eat!)
• EAT! (sometimes he just says EAT because he is hungry)
• He can say most of the Alphabet. His favorite parts of the alphabet to say is R, S, T, U, V - not sure why that is his favorite,. He can sing the ABCs and in tune as well, but he misses that middle part (L, M, N, O).  
• "Puh well" - Puzzle
• "Cen Cen" is chicken. He used to only make the chicken sound, but now he tries to say chicken.
• Toes - he says this very well! He loves his toes! 
• Horse - seriously he says this correctly and very well! 
• He says "Yes" more when we ask him questions. And if he doesn't want to do something or have something, he will either say No, or kind of grunt "Eh"
• With his new magna doodler, he actually recites letters (like A, B, C) when he is "doodling." We think he is trying to write, even though he can't write. But we were excited he wanted to try and do that. 
• We are working on his name. We go through all the letters with him and he knows most of the letters of his name. L and E trip him up sometimes. 
• He can now say "Jesus" very well! I have these old pictures passed down from my great mother that have pictures of Jesus on them. He knows them! 
• B-Pa - recently he called his G-Pa this! 
• He will typically repeat words you ask him to say or his version. So he is learning more words all the time. 
• We have worked some on the numbers, but I think he sometimes gets confused with numbers and letters. However, our sitter, Jane, has told us that he will count to six (with a little help). I haven't heard him yet, but that's encouraging. He does say "Se vay" for seven. 
• "Veeyo" is video! And when he wants a "video," he means he wants us to put on Elmo. We get Elmo's World and many of his songs on YouTube. And we use Chromecast to put it on the TV so he can enjoy it! 
• He will actually say as a sentence - "want a veeyo"
• If he wants to go for a walk, he will say "Wok" for walk and grab your hand!
• When he points to something, he will usually say "It's A (Fill in the blank)"
• "Want to Dah" - want to dance
• We have the Periodic table as a shower curtain, and I taught Caleb that the sign for Radioactive means "Boom!" - So when he sees it, he says "Boom!" 
• He is doing really well and learning all the time! I love seeing him learn. It really makes me soo happy to see him do so well! 

We have had some nicer weather more recently, and that means he gets to go outside or "Ou Side."

He is still a pretty picky eater. We are still working on that. But, green beans are his favorite veggie for sure. His favorite foods are: bacon, green beans, bananas, grapes, cookies (the nutritional bars by Plum Organics), chicken fries (shaped in the form of a fry), peanut butter to dip apples and bananas in, and apple sauce. 

We feel so blessed as parents to have our big boy! He makes us so proud! Every. Single. Day!

Here's to Caleb's 22nd month....just three more months til we have a 2 year old! Until then, I leave you with this cutie pie!

Caleb is 20 months old and the Start of the New Year

20 months old! When I think he only has 4 more months til his 2nd birthday, I just don't know where the time went. This 2nd year is going by MUCH faster than the first year. He is astounding us every week with the newest things he is saying and doing. 

So as with other posts, here are some new words or modifications on words that he is saying now:

• Saturn - yeah this one astonished me a couple of weeks ago. One of the books he has includes a photo of Earth and Saturn, and he so matter of factly said "Saturn" when he saw Saturn. I was amazed!
• "Obot" for Robot. There are a few books he has that have robots in them. 
• "May Say" - medicine. I hate that he knows this word, but when you deal with coughs and/or teething, he is going to pick up on the word
• "Bable" for table.
• "milk" for milk
• "book" for book. He never really said book before. He just knew what we were saying when we said book. But he would never say the word until this past month. 
• "MoMo" is Elmo
• "Peegee" for penguin (this is definitely an improvement from when he used to say Pa for penguin.
• "Suh" for sun
• "Sy" for slide
• "vac" for vacuum - (not too bad if you ask me)
• "Spoo" for spoon
• "Hi" for hi. He says this a lot now when he sees us
• "Peas" for please

He can say a few phrases too. He says "Get this" and "Mommy peas" (Mommy please), "I want Daddee", and "What is that?" He is doing better with phrases...and because I am kind of tired as I write this, I can't remember every phrase. But he is doing well! 

And I mentioned he is a helper, but it's fun to say "Caleb, please put this back." And he picks up the toy and puts it right back in its spot! Or if Todd says "bring this to Mommy," he does it! He also likes to tease people. If someone asks him for a cracker or for something he has, he will sometimes act like he is giving it and then take it right back (totally smiling and teasing them)! 

He is quite a pro at puzzles too. He was at my parents over a week ago, and they had a puzzle from when I was little and he had no trouble putting it together! Now these are for kids his age, but it's just impressive that he just knows what to do with these puzzles! 

He takes apart stuff like our remote, buckles, etc. And with our Christmas lights we had up, he wanted to plug them in and tried to (many times). UGH! Scare me to death. But he knows what to do because he has seen us do it. Just don't want him to get electrocuted. I do see an engineer in our future (if he wants to) because he really wants to understand how things work. I love watching his brain work! 

So all in all - he's growing very well and learning a ton! I wish I could say I have learned how to handle tantrums better, but I haven't. Screaming can be soo hard to deal with sometimes, but I am trying. He is soo independent and wants to choose the things he eats and does! 

We had a nice Christmas and New Years and are looking forward to a delayed "Christmas" with my sister, Jen and brother-in-law, Wes in just one week! They couldn't come visit us until the end of January, so we are just celebrating again! Plus - when my sister is in town, I am there! I miss her so much! She is without a doubt my best friend! I think we talk several times a week (via text) so that helps at least. But a text can never replace the time spent in person! So I am anxiously waiting for another week to go by to see her!

In recent news - I had a car accident! I won't go into specifics, but I am quite mad at myself about it. It was mainly because of the poor snowy conditions, but I should have also been more careful. Thankfully, I had already dropped off Caleb to our sitter, so he wasn't involved. Annoyed about the situation honestly, and this car is old. We are still holding onto the car for a while as it is still driveable. I will be quite sad when it is finally done. So far we are going on 13 years with this car! This was the first car I ever owned myself, and it has been through so much. So we aren't ready quite yet to get rid of it, but the time is coming! 

I used to enjoy snow, but after all our family has been through in the past year and a half, I am more or less just ready for spring. I look forward to taking Caleb to the park again and going on walks. Even Caleb isn't sure about the snow thing. He hates being bundled up (until he walks outside and realizes it's so cold). He isn't interested in snow yet, even though I have tried to play with him a little in it. He doesn't even like walking on the snow and freaks out a little about it. I think maybe next year he might like snow a little more. We'll see. I think all in all, we are just ready for pretty birds chirping and flowers blooming again! And temperatures above 30 degrees! 

I think that's about it for now....I look forward to sharing about our time with my sister and brother next month! Until then, stay warm and stay safe and enjoy another picture of this cutie pie! 

The Blessings of 2015

So this year has been rough, but I would rather focus on the blessings from 2015 and think on those things. I know in previous years, I always wished away the years. I always looked forward to the next year as an escape. But I have also learned that you can find blessings (even small ones) during hard times and hard years! After all, we are told in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." 

So, no I am not listing out resolutions. I would rather list out the beautiful blessings that did come with 2015 and hope for some more beautiful memories in 2016! So here I go:

January - 

• We rang in 2015 as a family of three. It wasn't our normal plan and we weren't with our friends (as in previous years), but we were together as a family and still made it special. Caleb didn't sleep much before midnight, as I think he sensed some fun was going on! 
• Caleb also learned to crawl and stand up on his own in January! Quite exciting! 

February -

• Caleb's First Valentines Day, and fortunately, it was spent at home together as a family. Caleb only had to stay in the hospital from RSV for one day and came home the day before Valentines Day! So while it wasn't overly romantic, it was celebrated with the product of our beautiful love! 

March -

• Caleb stood all on his own (without support)! YAY! Plus, we started practice walking with him as he holds our hands! 
• I celebrated 10 years with CH2M! Quite an accomplishment!
• Celebrated my Dad's birthday! 

April -

• Caleb started walking six steps all on his own! And he just got better as the month went on! Go Caleb! 
• It was warm enough to go outside and have Caleb experience his first swing ride! 

May - 

• Mommy and Caleb had more park outings
• Celebrated Mother's Day with the cutest little boy and my sweet husband! 
• Caleb turned 1!! Can't even believe it! He had a wonderful day! 
• My sister Jen and my brother-in-love, Wes surprised us by coming to Caleb's birthday! So we got to see her throughout Memorial Day weekend! 

June - 

• We lost our old sitter because she decided not to watch Caleb anymore. And within a couple of days, we found our new and current sitter, Jane! She is incredible! So even though I was initially upset about the other sitter, we are SOOO much happier with Jane! 
• More beautiful park outings! Caleb is all about nature! Sticks and walks! 
• Caleb started holding our hands going down steps! 
• Celebrated Father's Day! 
• Went to the annual Independence Day picnic with our friends in Columbus area, and Caleb chased after a dog and enjoyed fireworks! 
• Celebrate every day there is no infection in Todd's arm! 

July - 

• Caleb's vocabulary continues to grow....
• We put balloons in the air on July 2nd as a family in memory of Gabriel. We intend on doing this every year to honor the beautiful, yet short life of Gabriel Taber!
• Enjoyed Independence Day with my family
• As a family, we went to a petting zoo where Caleb had a ball seeing chickens, birds, sheep, a donkey, horses, cows, and a kitty! We had a lot of fun! 
• As a family, we went to Newport Aquarium and had a ball! Caleb loved seeing all the fish, and the penguins of course! 
• Celebrate every day there is no infection in Todd's arm! 

August - 

• Todd's last scab came OFF!! YAY! This was huge! No sign of infection! Todd returned to work (for good) as well! 
• Enjoying lots of walks and park time with Caleb! 
• Caleb climbs and talks a ton! He just jabbers and climbs on EVERYTHING! 
• Caleb and Mommy went to Caleb's first pro-life rally! 

September - 

• Celebrated Mom's birthday! 
• Celebrated My birthday! 
• Todd surprised me by sending beautiful birthday flowers to my hotel when I was out in the field for my birthday! 
• My favorite season begins - FALL!  

October - 

• Enjoyed fall leaves together as a family at the park, etc. 
• Went to pick out Caleb's first pumpkin
• Caleb had a ball trick-or-treating with his grandparents! He was the cutest puppy dog! 

November - 

• Celebrated our 7 Year Wedding Anniversary
• Todd and I went out for a long weekend to Indy to celebrate our 7 Year and honestly, we were celebrating the end of infection/arm trials. We celebrated being able to get out as a couple and enjoy time with each other! 
• Celebrated Todd's birthday! 
• Took beautiful family photos! 
• We survived a whole year since Todd's accident, and he still has no sign of infection and his arm is healed! Praise God! 

December - 

• Enjoyed putting up our Christmas tree, and Caleb especially loved it!
• Enjoyed time as a family at Clifton Mill and looking at all of the beautiful Christmas lights! It was a perfect night as a family, and Caleb couldn't get enough. He actually sat through 3 showings of the Trans Siberian Orchestra light show! He was soo excited about the lights! 
• We celebrated an early Christmas with Todd's Mom
• We celebrated Christmas as a family on Christmas morning, and then my parents came over for a nice Christmas day! 
• Caleb continues to learn more and more! 

Year As A Whole - 

• God provided for us financially to get through all of the hospital bills, etc. When you have 7 surgeries/hospital stays for Todd in 2015 alone, and a hospital stay for Caleb, you tend to rack up the hospital bills. Thankfully, our insurance is pretty decent, that instead of tens of thousands of dollars, we just had to spend a few thousand dollars. (JUST - I am kidding with the "just". That's a lot of money folks, but God provided)
• He also helped us as a family. I was still learning as a new Mom and God gave me the strength (emotional and physical) to take care of Caleb and Todd for a good 6-7 months in 2015 alone (not counting 2014). 
• God helped Todd through much of Todd's emotional stress. I don't care what you say, or if you are the strongest, most macho guy there is - 9 surgeries and frustration after frustration with the healing process, you would have emotional stress too! Plus, as a guy, it's hard. I am not a guy, but guys want to take care of their family. Not the other way around. And even though I am not a guy, I do get that. But God helped Todd through that, and I believe Todd knows without ANY doubt that I am always there for him. In sickness and in health! Always. 
• Todd and I are healing in our own relationship struggles. We had some tough times earlier this year in our marriage, but God has been working on us. So I am thankful that we are doing even better. 
• When very few people in the Christian community were there for us (seems blunt I guess, but it's true), God still was. And He provided when others didn't. But I did experience more compassion from people who don't claim to have much of a Christian faith, and that was even more eye opening. That doesn't change my opinion on who Jesus is at all. It just means that the Church needs to actually practice what Jesus taught (Not even saying all of the Church is like this, because I know there are really good, practice-what-you-preach, Christians out there). Plus, I fear this discounts the few, but amazing people who were there for us! Because I truly am grateful for them.  ~ But I digress. I just know that I learned who I want to be, and I am thankful that I have been able to help others out this year, if nothing else but to be a listening ear and to show them love and compassion. Honestly - that's all people want when they are going through a hard time. They don't need to be preached at. 
• My prayer life has been pretty strong. I don't spend hours on my knees, but I do spend time there on my knees (more than ever before). I pray in the car, I pray when I am on a walk, when I am up with my son in the hospital because he is struggling to breathe, when my husband can't sleep because of pain, after an argument with whomever, morning, noon, and night. I pray! And it's not all rosy prayers either. Let me be honest - this year, I prayed a lot of prayers where I cussed! Most people know I don't cuss as a general rule. I don't think it is very Christ-like and I don't want to be a person that uses inappropriate language. BUT - I did. I was even more real than ever before with God. But I learned back in 2012 when we were going through our loss of Gabriel, that God could handle it. So I wasn't afraid of ruining my relationship with God. I knew He already knew my hurt feelings. I was letting it out. And I knew He would love me anyway. God just wants us to be real. Just like any relationship you have, you need to be real! 
• And on the subject of prayer - our son is starting to learn how to pray as well. I want Caleb to learn as early as possible that praying is just talking to Jesus (your best friend in the whole world), and that He will always be there. Always. It's not fictitious. It's not a fairy tale. I know because I have been in the middle of praying (talking with Jesus), and then someone will text me and God had told them to reach out to me and they knew things I didn't tell them. So you can't convince me that prayer isn't important or that it's useless. I hope to teach Caleb as early as possible that he always, always, always has God! 

I pray that 2016 is better than we could have imagined, and I am hopeful for some new and special memories. I am hoping that Caleb will get to experience the ocean and visit his Aunt Jen and Uncle Wes in April/May. I am hopeful that Todd and I will get to have a nice anniversary vacation that even requires an airplane trip (last time we did that together was in 2010)! I am hoping for so many other things as well. But even if those things don't happen, we are a family! And that's one of the biggest blessings of all time! I love my family more than words could ever say!  

May you all have a wonderful 2016! I pray it is full of blessings (little and big ones)! 

Caleb is 19 months old!!

Wow...can he really be 19 months?! Another photo comparison above - one year apart at Christmastime! He could fit so perfectly in one arm. But a year later, he is just so big (or as Caleb says "soooooooooo biiig") :)

His vocabulary is just growing soooooooo much just this past month! So as with other posts, here are some new words or modifications on words that he is saying now:

• culcul - circle
• keckle - freckle (whe he points to all of Mommy's freckles)
• Bi - for Bike
• Sta - for star
• He knows more animal sounds and makes a rooster sound, a dog sound, cow sound (sometimes), duck sounds, bear or lion sound (grrrr), chicken sound, horse sound, bird sound, and sheep sound. 
• He really tries to sing the ABC song. I can tell because he will say S T oooh (for U), C, D...he loves to sing it. He is doing better and better with the alphabet
• beekee (for binky "pacifier"). He has been using that more for his teething. But we are trying to not give it to him too often because we don't want him addicted to it. 
• Hot - for hot. Whenever he hears the microwave or when he sees us taking something out of the oven, or even when he sees Mommy's curling iron, he says "hot." And he has learned to not touch. 
• I woo for "I love you." :) This one melts the heart for sure! 
• Tee - eee for TV
• Veee - oh - for Video
• Wai for light
• Apple saw - for apple sauce
• Yes for yes. 
• He has started saying no too. ;) 
• And while this isn't an improvement per se on truck, he says "guck" but then he growls! Who taught him that?! Ha! He sounds like Tim the Tool Man Taylor from Home Improvement! :) 

And I am probably forgetting a couple more words...hard to keep up on all the words. But more and more we understand what he wants. 

He has become quite the little helper in the past 2 months. I meant to mention that last month, but he will close doors (whether it is the refrigerator or our front door, etc) if we ask him to close a door. If we say it is time to clean up the toys, he helps put his blocks away and put all the puzzle pieces back in the puzzle. He loves to help push a stroller or cart in the grocery store, and he loves to help put away his Jumparoo (after he is done playing in it). When we ask him to give us something, he is usually pretty good about getting it and bringing it to us. 

We are teaching him that throwing things when he is mad is not right. If he throws something because he is mad, we will sit with him and ask him to pick it up (no matter how long it takes). He is stubborn and won't do it immediately, but eventually he learns and picks it up. We are trying to instill in him that you don't throw things to get what you want. He is gradually learning. 

He has been sleeping pretty well, with the exception of some nights of bad teething. He has only 4 more teeth to get! We have all the canines now. So we are just waiting on the 2 year molars (which he is already going through pain on as his fingers are more frequently in the back of his mouth). 

The past month has been pretty nice! We enjoyed Thanksgiving with my parents. We saw Christmas lights at Clifton Mill. And we visited Grandma G (Todd's Mom)! 

Christmas lights at Clifton Mill

Christmas lights at Clifton Mill

Visiting with Grandma G

Grandma G gave Caleb his first candycane

This was a favorite gift that Grandma G got him. Elmo puppet book! 

We have also been getting over sick. Okay - mostly me. I had a very nasty sinus infection that Caleb seemed to avoid getting. I am hoping and praying that for at least the next couple of weeks, we can all be healthy and no one gets sick! 

Oh and in pretty big news - Todd is no longer on any antibiotics! YAY! So in the next month, we will monitor him to ensure no signs of infection. If no signs of infection show up in a month, we should be good! :) Which will then mean that Todd can resume helping me with diapers and even watching him on Thursdays! So please keep in prayer about that for us! 

We look forward to the next couple of weeks as a family and also with family and friends for Christmas and New Years! I pray you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year! Remember the reason we celebrate - Jesus! He is the hope for us all! Much love! 

And I leave you with a picture of our 19 month old! He's just so cute! 

Many Celebrations (Our 7th Anniversary and Caleb Turning 18 months)

On the left, Caleb was 6 months, and now he is 18 months! Wow!

When I take a look at the photos above, and see how much he has changed, I am in disbelief. My baby really has turned into a little boy! He is such a joy to us and we really can't believe how fast he is growing up and learning so many new things! The selfish momma in me wants him to stay little, but I am also quite proud of him. He impresses me on a weekly basis! And even though he is a strong-willed child and can sometimes try my patience, I heard several people say that God made him strong-willed for a reason. That his strong will is only going to help him grow into an independent, secure, confident young man, and that he won't give into peer pressure as much either. Right now, he is exhibiting his will because he is trying to be more independent and I applaud that in him. And that will be an advantage to him someday as he figures out what God wants him to do as well. I believe his strong will and his name go hand in hand. His first name means faithful to God, and you need strong will to be a faithful servant of Christ, especially in this world! So if I am raising a very strong-willed boy, then so be it! 

So as with other posts, here are some new words or modifications on words that he is saying now:

• He has said "pa pee" for puppy. But now he is going more towards saying "da" for dog! 
• "Shoo" (it used to be sooo, but now he is adding in the "sh")
• "Ha" for hat now that it is colder out. 
• He will make a grrr sound when he sees a bear or a lion now
• "sah" is for sock now when we put on socks. And he gets excited about socks because he knows it means we are going outside. 
• He actually says "Soooo Cold" when I say it's time to get his jacket on! haha! 
• He will say "Bock Bock" when he sees a chicken or when we given him chicken
• "Balloo" for balloon
• Kookee for cookie! He loves cookies (even if he doesn't know the ones we give him are good for him)
• "me sen" for medicine. I hate that he knows this word, but with teething or when he has gotten sick, he hears me say it and will repeat it. 
• "Hai" for hair. He loves to twirl my hair. It is definitely a comfort for him!
• "BaiBai" for bacon. This boy LOVES bacon! 
• "Tatoes" for potatoes! I heard him say it once as we don't feed him a lot of potatoes, but he has said it. 
• He will make chirpy noises when he sees birds. He can say "Bir" for bird too. But he mostly like to make the noises they make. 
• He growls now when he sees a lion or a bear! hehe! 
• "Cuck" for truck
• "tuttle" - is for turtle
• "za" for pizza! LOL! 
• In his alphabet book, he sees the letter O now and says "O!" :) Very exciting!

We have also been doing more and more prayers at night with him. I say it's time to say our prayers, and he has learned how to put his hands in a praying form. He usually is quiet while I say our prayers and knows when I say "Amen," that we are done. I also try to say a prayer in the morning when we are driving him to Miss Jane's. Just want him to learn he can always talk to Jesus and start developing that relationship. We sing a lot of songs about Jesus, so he knows His name for sure. And his favorite song still happens to be Jesus Loves Me! :) 

This past month, Caleb was able to go trick or treating with his grandparents! They had a ball!! Todd and I were away for a long weekend for our anniversary, but Caleb had lots of fun being a dalmatian!

 Seriously - the cutest boy ever! 

Trick-or-treating with G-Pa!

Such a sweetheart!

Todd and I went to Indianapolis and stayed downtown! It was lovely, and we did A LOT of walking. We also went to Turkey Run State Park and did a lot of rock climbing and hiking! We saw a lot of different sites and enjoyed time with each other that we haven't had in quite some time! It was definitely a special time! 

Downtown Indianapolis

Turkey Run State Park with Todd

The two lovebirds on our hike! 

Celebrating 7 Years at Ruth's Chris

We also celebrated Todd's 36th birthday and I did the best I have ever done on a cake decorating! I keep getting better! :) 

I look forward to Thanksgiving as we have much to be thankful for! With the past year being so hard, I look forward to a very low key, no drama time! I pray it stays that way too! :) But in all seriousness, we have much to be thankful for! I know I am grateful for my husband, and I am grateful for his recovery! He has made a lot of great strides over the past few months since his last surgery.I am grateful for the world's cutest and sweetest boy because he helped us both through this past year of heartache. His joy was so infectious that it helped us! I am grateful for my loving and supportive family (my parents and sister and brother-in-love)! I am grateful for the prayer warriors who stood with us during this past year. I am grateful for my closest friends! I am grateful for a job that has been more than understanding this past year! I am grateful that even though this past year was rough on us, I am still getting some great opportunities in my company.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones, and that you enjoy this upcoming Christmas season remembering the reason we celebrate! May God Bless you all! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Year Later....Great Is God's Faithfulness

So this time last year, as most of you know, Todd has a very bad accident on some ice where he shattered his elbow! And every single Dr. told him that he managed to break it in the worst way possible! So comforting, right?! Well, just two days after his accident, he had to have surgery to put in metal that would help with the healing process. We thought this was the worst of it all. Unfortunately, we had no clue what the next year would entail.

Laid up on the couch on Thanksgiving Day 2014 with his little boy! 

During the week of New Years, we found out that Todd had an infection, and so he would have to have another surgery to remove it. We did not know at the time it was MRSA! For those who know little to nothing about MRSA, this is bad stuff! We went through a total of 9 surgeries in 9 months time to get rid of the infection and also remove the metal once the elbow bone had healed! MRSA is so bad that it can even lead to amputation or death! We're not talking a simple "infection"! Thankfully - it never came to that point. But Todd scared himself to death with the research when he found the worst case scenarios. And let's face it, we ended up with some bad scenarios. To finally rid of the stuff, we had to have a pick line placed inside his body (close to heart) where he would have to inject the antibiotics himself twice a day! We also had a home health care nurse that would come once a week to take blood and change bandages, etc. During this time and every time he had a surgery for a few weeks, I would have to help him with a sponge bath. I also changed out a lot of bandages. I am quite a pro at wrapping up bandages now. I also know infections and whether it is a sign of a problem or not a problem. I think we both got a psuedo-medical degree in this process - haha!

Saying it as a summary in a single paragraph (as shown above) really doesn't grasp the whole ordeal. You see, Caleb was just 6 months old when he had the accident, and I became a "single parent" for a good portion of the next 6 months of his life. Todd was on pain killers and trying to get better for a good portion of the next 6-9 months as well. And I'm not sure how many of you have had to take pain killers, but he wasn't always "with it" because of the drugs. It was necessary to help him with the excruciating pain he was going through. And many times he would wean himself off the drugs sooner than when the prescription would run out as he was afraid of ever becoming addicted to the stuff.

And an accident like this doesn't just affect the one who is in the pain. I'm not saying that it was harder on me (I couldn't possibly say that, as I didn't have the broken elbow nor all the infected areas)...but it was hard. Because on top of taking care of our baby, I had my husband to help get dressed, washed, bandaged, etc. I also had to arrange my work schedule to make it possible to take Todd to appointments and surgeries, and then also make sure my son had care, whether by our sitter or by my parents. And seeing your husband go through this for months, it was just hard. It was hard not being able to "fix" it. Or when your son wants his Daddy, but he can't be in his arms, it was so tough! Todd was upset because he wanted to be there, and he couldn't, and Caleb didn't understand what was going on. I think that is why to this day, if Todd is around, Caleb is attached to him. Those two are two peas in a pod, and Caleb wants all the time he can get with his Daddy.

Every month that we thought we were on the mend and it would end, then the sign of infection would show up. And we heard from many well-meaning people during this time that we should have switched doctors because it was their fault or whatever. I understand the thoughts, but some people are more prone to getting infections than others, and we had done our own research as well. He was one of the small percentage of people that get MRSA. But the more you have your arm open, the more chances of risk you get too.

Thankfully after the IV of antibiotics, Todd was able to take pill form antibiotics (the highly potent form was $12,000 for a month supply) and no more needles! He used to hate needles and was afraid of them, but after going through this ordeal, Todd is a pro now. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.

Fast forward to today - he is taking antibiotics until the end of the year. This isn't as high of potency, but Lord willing at the end of this year, we will be done with antibiotics for Todd. His arm is healed, and he will likely only ever have 75% of muscle control in that arm (as in surgery #7, they had to remove some muscle that got infected).He is making great strides in working his arm through natural use therapy, but it has been tough. Todd has moments where he is sad that it will never be 100%, but it isn't worth another surgery to try to fix it as the risk of another infection is way too high.

So that's just the physical part of this ordeal. On top of that there was the emotionally, spiritually, and mentally draining aspects.

As a man, you don't want to be sitting on a couch having your wife take care of everything. He wanted to help even though he couldn't. I was only so patient for this past year, and I definitely had moments of complete exhaustion where I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore. I cried more times than I could ever count. So did Todd. Our life revolved around keeping Caleb healthy and unscathed by all of this, and helping Todd with his recovery. Our marriage took a bit hit during this past year. Our family life was quite hard.

And spiritually - it was hard. I'll be very honest, the "church" wasn't there for us as I expected. I don't want to dredge up all those feelings again as I feel I've moved on, but we just didn't have the spiritual support that we expected. I think this experience really just emphasized to me how I want to act when others go through tough times. I refuse to be selfish, and I hope I can be an encouragement to others when they are going through a tough time. I will aim to be Jesus to those people who need help because they need support and encouragement.

And even though it was so hard, we still saw God's faithfulness. Some of these things we didn't really see for several months. But we did see many instances where God didn't abandon us:

• The many prayers we received from people who couldn't possibly be here for us. We literally had prayers from people all over the globe! 
• A year later, we still have to deal with the last of antibiotics, but his arm appears to be free from infection and is healed. 
• Todd can lift his arm up to the highest shelf at home and even in the grocery store. Thank you, God! 
• Todd can carry groceries and carry Caleb! Thank you, God! 
• Todd is back to helping out at the house and has been working for quite some time now. 
• Caleb's bond with his Daddy has only enhanced. 
• Spiritually speaking, I also believe we were weakened in our own strength so that we learned how to depend on God solely. 
• God gave us the special gift of Caleb a few months prior to his accident. Some would say that having a baby with such a horrible experience would be impossible. But, our Caleb kept our family tight and together. His laughter, his joy, his life, his learning - all were things that kept our family going. I have always been a worrier, and at the hardest emotional times this past year, Caleb's smile and laugh soothed that pain. He was an integral part of our healing and coping through this rough experience. Caleb is truly the biggest blessing of our lives. I know without a doubt, that if Caleb hadn't been around, I believe Todd and I may not have lasted. I am so grateful for our son for so many reasons. He is our shining star for sure! 
• Caleb is still growing and learning and doing so well! He is excelling in his motor, verbal, and social skills and has been unscathed by this past year! Thank you Jesus! 
• Financially speaking - God provided. We had to pay many medical bills at the end of last year (on top of the bills from having Caleb earlier in the year), and we had many more medical bills this year! I am thankful for good insurance through my company as it could have been worse! 
• We survived on less than 75% of Todd's income for a good portion of this past year despite all of the medical bills too! 
• Even when our old sitter decided to stop watching Caleb, God provided us with Miss Jane who is an amazing woman that Caleb loves. She is a Godly woman that prays for our family and is such an encouragement to me. 
• Though he had to have surgery a week after Caleb's first birthday, we were together as a family and with friends and had a wonderful time! 
• We gained an appreciation for what it means to be compassionate.In my prayer life and also in response to others needs, I learned even more what kind of person I want to be for others. I pray on my knees more than I ever did before. I believe I am a better listener than I used to be as well. 
• It's true when God says He will give you what you need when you need it. I never thought I would be able to handle it all. But God gave me strength I didn't have. I didn't have it and yet He supplied it! Thank you Jesus! It was an impossible strength that He made possible! 
• My husband and I have been able to get away and reconnect like we needed so badly! We had a wonderful anniversary and appreciate each other more than I think we ever did before! There is no doubt about love for each other. I mean, you can't show much more love than when you have to clean your spouse or help him get dressed because he can't do it himself. He doesn't doubt my commitment to us and neither do I doubt his. I love him more this year than I ever did 7 years ago on our wedding day! And I believe our vows have much more significance this year than ever before! 
• Family time is more precious. You just never know what can happen or when, and there is a deep appreciation for every moment we have with each other!

I know there is likely more, but I think this is a pretty good list explaining God's faithfulness in the midst of this storm. I wish I could say I don't worry anymore about stuff, but I do still. I am a work in progress. But I don't doubt God's grace, mercy or love. Life can sometimes suck big time, but God is always there holding us up. And I believe whole-heartedly that in our brokenness, we continue to learn dependence on God and not ourselves.

So this year as I think of what I am thankful for, I just wanted to say thank you to the few that were there for us physically and for those that prayed for us!  I believe we couldn't have survived this past year without those prayers! To my family - my son Caleb, my parents, my sister and brother-in-love, and the Creamer family, you are the best family a person could ever ask for!

And to my Lord and Savior - thank you for holding us through the bad times. Thank you for helping us get through the storm. Thank you for loving us even when we were mad and blamed You.

So hold your loved tight this holiday season. Appreciate the time you have. Never take those moments for granted. And take time to really think about what you are thankful for. And I guarantee most of that list will be the people God has placed in your life. Take time to tell them how much you love them and appreciate them. We are not guaranteed the next hour...so make it count!

God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Most thankful for my beautiful, little family!