Emily's 4th birthday

I'm going to try to back track a little to remember a few of the important things over the past couple of months. Emily turned four August 8th about a week after we arrived to San Francisco. We had her birthday party Saturday July 27th in Louisville before we moved. It was difficult to plan a party and her gifts while also packing, finalizing the details for the move to SF, and getting everything wrapped up for the sale of our home. I look back now and I don't know how I didn't have a complete mental breakdown! Somehow it all got done which was nothing short of miraculous. Of course I wish I could have added a few more special details to her party, but I did my best considering the circumstances.

We decided to have a party at Lakeside Swim Club with our family. Dinkney and Poppy, Nan and Pop, and Stephen, Becca, Cooper and Maddie attended. Laura and Will were on the mission field and Jen and Ed were driving back to NC that day. Wish it would have worked out that Jen, Ed, and EB could have been there, too since they had just been in town, but this Saturday was the only time that worked for everyone else. (We had a hi/bye Party at Nancy and Don's the previous weekend.) I was looking forward to showing my brother and his family Lakeside for the first time. I knew the kids would love it. Unfortunately, it rained on and off during her party. :( There was NO ONE there except for our family. Luckily, our tables were sheltered from the rain, but it was a cool, cloudy July day and I was disappointed that it didn't work out for everyone to swim. Well, the kids played a little in the kiddie pool, but it wasn't as I had hoped. Oh well.

We ordered pizzas for the party and also had fruit platter, drinks, and cake. I LOVED her cute little Barbie doll dress cake. Funny story about the cake: a few weeks prior to her party, Emily saw a demo doll cake at Heitzman Bakery. Well, she just HAD to have it! She wanted to walk out of the store with it that day! There were tears shed and I tried to encourage her that the demo cake was old and wouldn't tasted good. We could order one for her birthday. She must have asked about the cake a dozen times! She was very particular about what she wanted right down to the type of doll and the color of the dress! I was so happy to see her eyes light up when we FINALLY able to get her the special cake she had asked about for weeks.

Our family was very generous and Emily got lots of nice presents. Jeremy and I gave her a Trek Mystic bike for her birthday. It is mint green and pink with a sweet little basket and ribbons. She loved it and was so happy. She learned to balance on her Strider balance bike really well this past year; however, we decided to leave on the bike training wheels to make sure she understood how to do the brakes and steering first. Since moving, we haven't had a chance to take off the training wheels and work with her on the balancing. I'm really in no hurry since she just turned four. She still likes to use the balance bike occasionally, but prefers her big girl bike best. And now she also is begging for a scooter!

After the pool party, Nan and Pop, and Stephen, Becca and the kids came over to hang out the rest of the afternoon. It was the last time we would see them before we flew out of Louisville July 31st. The memory that I like to think about from that afternoon is little Emily and Cooper (3 yrs.) sitting together on our back porch, popsicles in hand, making each other laugh. They were so silly and giggly. Sometimes these two can fight like siblings so to see them happy together that day was really special.

Here's a few photos of the birthday girl that we took before the pizza was delivered. Dinkney and Poppy were a  bit late since they were helping send off Jen and Ed for NC. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of them with Emily. 

I took Emily in for her four year old check-up a couple of weeks ago. We are going to Alameda Pediatrics which is only about a mile from our house. She was 3 ft. 5 1/4 in. tall and weighed 38 lbs 5oz. She's in about the 75th percentile. She's grown so much in a year! I can remember when she got a bunch of new 4T pants and skirts. I was cinching up the waists as tight as I could this spring and now I've let out all of the adjustable waist bands. She's really filled out and grown tall. Sometimes when she enters a room and I first lay eyes on her, I expect to see someone four inches shorter. Her voice sounds the same, but the person I'm looking is now so much taller.

Four year old Emily has been challenging. I didn't think three years was as bad as many people made it out to be, so maybe Emily was saving up. At four, she hasn't completely given up whining. She knows that we hate it and that she will be disciplined for it so that makes it even more frustrating. You kind of expect a 2-3 yr. old to whine and when they are still doing it at four, it drives you bonkers. At four, she is SO smart and nothing gets past her. She can fixate on something like you wouldn't believe (e.g. asking about the birthday cake for weeks). She never used to whine for special things at the toy store or grocery or if she did, I could change the subject pretty easily. We've had several episodes where she has cried when I didn't get her something from a store. She throws some pretty impressive fits when she doesn't get her way. It's like she thinks, "if I can just get them to understand, they will give it to me." Hearing, "no" sometimes does not compute. So, I just send her to her room to whine and cry until she gets it out of her system. She knows that she can come out when she's done. Luckily, she doesn't throw big fits in public, but she will cry sometimes.

On the bright side, it is fun to be able to do more and more stuff with her. She can go on hikes with us and hang in there pretty well. She loves to pose for photos; she's so photogenic! Emily has a fabulous imagination. She has had a pretend friend named, Honey, for at least six months. Honey is a boy. She talks to him and they do all kinds of things together. Honey was her pretend friend before we moved, but he became a prominent member of the family after we moved. It made me sad that for the first few weeks, she didn't have anyone her own age to play with. She just had Mom and Dad, Caleb, Honey, and the occasional random playground kid. I'm relieved that we have a church and preschool where she can make real friends again.

On her actual birthday, we were in San Francisco at our temporary apartment. 

Sweet and silly Emily expressions!

Jeremy and I got her a huge cupcake, balloons and a princess "tent." 

So I packed a big "4" candle and you know what? I couldn't find it. It turned up when we moved out, of course.

She loved riding her bike on this promenade by the water which was right behind our apt.

Caleb is understandably looking hesitant and scared that big sis is holding him. Shortly after this photo, he squirmed, she dropped him and we caught him by a foot before his head hit the concrete. Thank God for Daddy reflexes!

The baby, toddler, and preschool years are going by very quickly. Next year she may be in kindergarten! This is something Jeremy and I have to pray about this year and hopefully come to peace about our decision. Technically, she can start school next year, but she would be one of the youngest in her class. (In California, you have to be five by Sept. 1st; her birthday is Aug. 8th). I'm leaning towards keeping her home with us another year, but that may change depending on how much she matures this year. I can make arguments for either choice so we will see. I don't want her to be gone from us every day, but kindergarten isn't a full day in Alameda so maybe it would be just fine. Anyway, it is something to pray about.

I'll leave with this quote from Emily:

"Mommy, I love you more than cupcakes, popsicles, and parties!"

Y'all that's a lot of love. See why I don't want her to grow up any faster?

And I'm BACK! Well, kind of...

I'm not sure when I'll ever be able to sit down and type up a real blog post complete with photos and all, but just want to say that I'm back! Kind of. I mean I have a house and a desktop computer again and an internet connection. Right now I need to take a shower while Caleb naps and of course I need to unpack some boxes. Since my last blog post, we sold our house, said our good-byes and moved out, flew to San Francisco, moved into our temporary apartment in San Francisco, house hunted, celebrated Emily's 4th birthday, "vacationed" in San Francisco, signed a lease on a house in Alameda, started the new job at Twitter, moved out of the temporary apartment, moved into our new house, and Emily started preschool this week. Each one of those events I just mentioned could have a blog post of its own! Now, the real work begins--unpacking and trying to make this place a home. It seems unfair that the hardest part of the whole move is saved for last. I hate living in chaos and disorganization. Little by little we are making a dent in the boxes, but unless I hire a mother's helper, it will probably take a month to completely unpack, let alone decorate. Some of our furniture doesn't work well with the layout of this house. So, I also need to buy a few new pieces (e.g. a small eat-in kitchen table).

So, let me just say that we are fine. I'm not overly sad. I'm more overwhelmed than sad. I really like our island community in Alameda. I love the perfect weather. I feel sheltered here from the bigness of San Francisco, but we can be in the city in about 20 minutes in light traffic. Unfortunately Jeremy's commute is 45 min to an hour by bus and BART. However, he no longer has to spend time maintaining the yard and landscaping so that has helped him have quality time with us after work and on weekends. (Our landlords have a gardener that comes every Wednesday morning.) I do have a hard time looking at photos from home or photos of our old house, so I'm not ready to post those yet. The kids are great. Emily really ramped up playing with her pretend friend, Honey, last month. I'm glad she started preschool this week and can make some real friends. Jeremy and I both realize that we enjoy doing new things, meeting new people, living new adventures. Of course the logistics part of moving can be frustrating and overwhelming, but we regularly experience simple joys like "discovering" a new beautiful waterfront park a mile from your house or walking down the street to a wonderful cafe in your neighborhood or finding a beautifully restored old theater. These things happen regularly and it makes life interesting. I'm glad we can find these simple joys just outside our door because it is pretty crazy and messy in our house right now.

Addendum 1/7/14: Photos from our last days at our first home.

Emily's big girl room. 

We found Jeremy's old skateboard as we were packing and just had to get a photo of our cuties riding it.l

Good-bye Minoma Ave. You were a good first house.

Good-bye to our little nursery.

He looks sad to be moving, doesn't he? 

Ten Months Old

Baby Caleb is now ten months old and I have to say he's just the best baby ever. I realize that I'm hopelessly biased, but he really does have the sweetest temperament. Most days I have to remind myself to take the time to really rock him and cuddle with him while I still can. For his naps and bedtime, we just put him in bed with his lovey and blanket and he's out. He grabs the lovey, clutches it tightly to him and then he's OUT. It is crazy to me that that is all it takes. Of course, you have to time it right. You can't just put him in his crib and walk away if he isn't READY to sleep so you do have to know his schedule and cues (which are pretty obvious.) He cries and rubs his eyes if you wait too long to put him to bed. As I write this, I realize that we may really screw him up when we move to San Francisco and he encounters a THREE hour time difference, a new house, new pack n play (at our temporary residence), and a different schedule. You better believe I'm packing his fave cuddle blankets and lovey.

Family photo at Lakeside

New Milestones and Discoveries

Caleb is becoming a little mimic. He finds it hilarious when we do the same motions that he does or vice versa. He is starting to wave "hi" and "bye" more frequently.

He claps his hands, especially after we clap.

He can climb up stairs. He climbed up half a flight of stairs easily today. It's time to move! (We took our gates down while showing our house.)

He is pulling up on EVERYTHING. He can take cruising steps by taking side steps along the couch, the tub, etc. when challenged with a toy that he wants to reach.

He has started doing this REALLY big cheesy grin where you can see most of his teeth and his eyes slant almost shut as he scrunches up his little nose.

Eating more finger foods and more complex combinations of foods. His appetite has gotten huge.

His babbling sounds more like real words. Sometimes I'm convinced that he is really calling Jeremy and myself "Dada." He also says "baba" and "yeah."

Our little man still prefers Army crawling and it looks like he will do this as his main locomotion until he walks. He is amazingly FAST! He digs his forearms and elbows into the floor and pushes off with bent knees and his big toes.

Separation anxiety has started. He doesn't like me to leave the room he is in. He cries and comes crawling to look for me. He is more wary of strangers, but he is usually fine as long as he doesn't see me. Then, of course he wants Mom to hold him instead. So far, we haven't had any huge tearful good-byes at the church nursery.

Swim time at Nan and Pop's house

Caleb with his great uncle, C.A. (mom's brother)

Cheesy grin I described earlier!

Caleb with great aunt Rita and great uncle Larry (Mom's sister)

Not ready for this! What a pitiful face!

Chillin' with cousins Maddie and Cooper

Caleb loves his pool floats

The kids with their great grandmother, Memommy

Eating/Sleeping Habits

His sleeping schedule is about the same as last month. I'm still nursing him for probably 95% of his feedings, but if I have to miss a feeding, I usually have to substitute a formula bottle and pump later. We haven't tried to drink out of cups yet.

Good Bye Parties

We have been busy over the past few weeks with getting together with family and friends. Our social life has been very full and it makes me wish that we were more intentional all the time about seeing friends and family more regularly. On July 14-15th, we headed to Bowling Green to say good-bye to our extended family there. Mom had a light dinner and ice cream party at her house and several of my aunts and uncles and a few cousins stopped in to see us. The saddest part was saying good-bye to Memommy Meisel. She is 90 yrs. old and I cherish every moment we have to spend time with her. On Monday the 15th, my Aunt Cindy had a party for us at her home with the Lee side of the family. (Sad that we didn't take photos of that party.) We got a few photos on our i-phones. Aunt Cindy had a cute cake make for us that said #Good luck. Loved the Twitter hashtag. How perfect! We had a great time catching up with everyone and I was very encouraged by all of their support. They were all so genuinely happy and excited for us that somehow it made me feel more confident about our choice to leave home for a few years. 

We've had some mid-week date nights lately. On the 16th, we checked on the Silver Dollar restaurant with the Pritts and Brown families. We had a blast. We've all decided we need to recreate that night in San Francisco soon. Then, this week we had dinner sans kids with Ed and Jen. Our kids are precious, but they make it near impossible to have a civilized leisurely talk during dinner. So, we all enjoyed our time together at Havana Rumba and coffee afterwards at Heine Bros. 

We went to the annual church class party at the Dunn's house on the 20th. We still have one more week at church, so we didn't have to say too many good-byes just yet. Then, Don and Nancy had a hi/bye party for us and Ed and Jen on Sunday the 21st. Nancy invited her brothers and sisters and we had a few of our friends over for that. I failed to get a photo of everyone, but the time was more about connecting and communicating than documenting everything. 

Hanging out with Greg (a work friend) at the Hi/Bye party

Caleb with great aunt Sara Jane (Nancy's sister)

Caleb with great aunt Debbie and great uncle David (Nancy's brother)

The Oakley Family

The Reiss Family

Grandkids!

And a note for little Caleb:

Caleb,

So proud of your many accomplishments this month! Looks like you will probably walk before your first birthday. You started cruising and climbing stairs this month. We will do our best to keep you safe before we move out of our 2-story home! You are an active, happy baby. You love to play hide and seek, peek-a-boo, and to chase us (or be chased.) During our party weekend in Bowling Green, your big cousins crawled on the floor with you and you loved all of the attention and having them on your level.

You have a strange affinity for plastic bottles. You love to hold it and crunch it up to make sounds. When we go for long walks to the park, you love to hold my water bottle!

We still have to discipline Emily to not be too rough with you. It is pretty much a daily occurrence that she makes you cry. I think this is probably a sibling thing and we will have to keep you two from picking on each other until you're in high school. You don't hold grudges against her though. She's one of your favorite peeps. Before too much longer, you'll be saying her name.

I'm hoping that you will be a good traveler. You're taking your first airplane flight on the 31st. Mom and Dad are a little apprehensive, but too busy to worry about it much. Dad and I pray every night that God will bless our family and make our move as smooth as possible. Our friends and family are praying for us and I truly believe that God is going to bless this next chapter in our lives.

I love you, sweet boy.

Mom

Prayers of my little one

Em has finally started saying her own prayers. I say finally because for the longest time she would either list her "thankfuls" every night as prompted by me OR she would say or sing a few memorized prayers. It is precious when your two or three year old says "God is great, God is Good..." at the dinner table, but it is even better when they say a full prayer out loud in complete sentences completely from their heart. It is so precious that my heart just melts. MELTS!

My heart smiles because she almost always starts with, "Dear God, it was a beautiful day." Then she starts naming the people she loves and the fun things we did that day. She is starting to learn that we can pray for other people. We try to pray for Hunter and Hudson a few times a week because they are so far away from home. We have been praying for one of my friend's children who broke his leg. (He's the same age as Em.) She usually thanks God specifically for baby Caleb and tells God how cute he is. 

This week I'm going to miss my little girl's prayers and sweet cuddle time at nap and bedtime. I'm tearing up just typing those words even though I'm thankful that she's going to stay with my parents for five days. Five days is just a long time. Mom has wonderful things planned for every day--a trip to KY Down Under, a trip to a butterfly sanctuary, pool time, library time, church, etc. Emily will have a blast--WAY more fun than she would have here as Jeremy and I work our butts off trying to get this house ready to put on the market this week. Also, Em is my biggest mess and trouble maker. I'm almost giddy at the thought of cleaning my house ONCE and it will stay that way for a few days instead of minutes. I'm incredibly thankful for my mom and dad for helping us. I'm glad that they want to spend quality time with her and that they have the energy to keep up with her for almost a week. I know Emily will make wonderful memories with Nan and Pop this week. I'm hopeful that we will be able to accomplish a great deal now that Jeremy's finished with his job and we only have one kid. 

Jeremy and I have been aggressively decluttering our home and selling or donating items we no longer need or want. Little by little, the basement is looking better and more organized. It has been hard work, but I feel a little bit lighter every day. We held a yard sale last weekend and made about $480 on stuff we no longer needed. Most of the stuff was $10 or less, but it adds up. At times, I've had a hard time letting go of some things. For example, I donated an armoire and other home goods to God's Designs, a company that does "Extreme Home Makeover" projects for deserving, needy families. Even though I no longer needed it, it had sentimental value as a gift from my parents after college. Then, I remember that I've used it for almost 13 years. I most certainly got our money's worth out of it and now it was going to a needy family versus sitting in our basement collecting dust. As I sort through our past that has long been in storage boxes, I'm trying to discern what is truly important to keep and what needs to go. Some decisions are hard, but I don't want to hoard things that could be a blessing to others. God has blessed our family in countless ways. Giving back a portion from the overflow of blessing should not be a hard thing for us to do. These donations are not even "first fruits." They are things we no longer love or need. It is sad that it is takes moving to California to motivate me to deal with it all.

I was thinking tonight about how even when you are grown and independent, you still need your parents sometimes. I think Jeremy and I kind of pride ourselves on handling things ourselves and being financially independent. It has been very humbling to need help with this move. I don't like to ask for help or to feel so needy, but I'm in a situation where we are moving incredibly far away in a very short time and we have two children three and under. In the past few weeks, both of our parents have helped us with the children and house prep. We've had friends come over and help with the kids or with odd projects. I AM SO THANKFUL. I'm realizing how much it means when people ask specifically to help and give you permission to call them. It is so much better than having to "cold call" a friend to use their truck or ask for some favor. It is easier to ask for help when someone tells you to call if you need anything. I hope that I will remember that next time I'm in position to be a blessing to others. 

Nine Months

Caleb is now nine months old! I'm glad to say that we finally had his baby dedication at church. Jeremy and I were incredibly motivated to pick a date once we realized that we would be accepting the Twitter offer and moving. It worked out really well to have it on Father's Day Sunday. I thought it was particularly special to dedicate our baby boy on Father's Day and I think it was meaningful for Jeremy, too. We chose Psalms 127:3-4 as his verse. "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth."

Since Caleb's baby dedication fell on a holiday, we did not attempt a big open house party. We are WAY overwhelmed right now with preparations to get our house ready to sell and move. We couldn't handle a big party, but we did have my parents and Jeremy's parents over for lunch and dessert. Also, Stephen, Becca and the kids came up for the baby dedication and to spend the day with us.

Baby dedication at SMBC 6/16/13

First Father's Day with Caleb!

Kisses from cousin Madelyn, 18 mon.

Emily always seems to find Uncle Stephen's lap!

Kisses for Dad! We got him a cool Louisville Slugger i-phone cover and a handmade card.

Emily and Pop

I think this is the first 3 generation photo I have with Poppy, Jer and Caleb

Dad, Stephen, and me. Missing Laura in this shot!

We couldn't get Emily off her bike long enough to take a photo with Pop, so we did a little improvising!

We recently announced to our friends that we were moving. I sent an email to our class at church explaining our plans. We posted a photo of Caleb on facebook with him wearing his San Francisco Giants onesie. I had people guess where we were moving. Funny thing is that we've had this Giants onesie since Christmas well before any potential San Francisco job. This is the ONLY clothing Jeremy has bought for Caleb. Another San Francisco coincidence???

9 month stats
Height: 28 1/2 in. (60-70th%)
Weight: 19.2 lbs. (30th %)
Head Circumference: 17 1/4 in. (25th%)

Caleb had his nine month doctor's check-up today. He only had to get one shot and he cried big crocodile tears. Emily was concerned that she was going to have to get shots, too, but Dr. Johnson and I explained that she was off the hook today! Caleb has been around the 40th-50th percentile for weight and he fell off a little this month. Dr. J. says that this is normal in active babies. We definitely have an active baby. He crawls around the whole house during most of his awake hours.

We are now going to the pool regularly. Yeah for summer! These photos were taken during our first pool visit in June. The water was still a bit cold and Caleb did NOT like it as you can see in the below photo! We went to the pool Sunday and he was a much happier baby and floated around in his "boat" completely content. Jeremy was working the afternoon we went to the pool, but he came over on his lunch break to take photos of little Caleb during his first time at the pool. (What a great dad, right?)

Too cold, mommy!!!

"If you hold me like this, I'll be fine."

My pretty blue eyed girl

I love how content and sweet he looks in this one!

And finally in other baby milestone news:

~Caleb still army crawls everywhere for mobility. He can hold hands/knees position well. We often find him like this in his crib, but he prefers to crawl on his belly.

~Pulls up to tall kneeling

~Pulls up to stand. We found him standing one morning in his crib. Cutest thing ever to see your baby smile at you when you come in the room and the little booger is standing up waiting for you!

~Picks up items neatly with finger/thumb. He now loves to eat puffs! He has this little snack when we need to buy a few more minutes with him content in his high chair.

~Transitions from belly to sitting and sitting to belly smoothly

~He protests much more if Emily takes away a toy!

~Actively searches for items he knows you are hiding from him.

~Interacts more with Emily in the back seat. She faces forward and he faces backward so they can see one another. She LOVES to make him laugh during car rides.

~Bounces to music. Baby boy is learning to dance! :)

Sleep Schedule:

Caleb goes to bed at about 7:30 pm and wakes up between 7-8 am. I'm thankful that he sleeps so well. I always nurse him before bed and cuddle and rock him. Sometimes he will fall asleep on me. Most of the time, he is pretty fidgety--like he can't get his nest made. So, I lay him into his crib and he immediately grabs his lovey and tucks it close to him. I cover him up and walk away. If he fusses at all, it's just for a minute or two. I can't believe that we never had to sleep train him. He still falls asleep with his bottom up in the air and legs tucked under him. It is the cutest thing. By the time Jeremy and I go to bed and check on him, there's no telling what position he has worked himself into--on his back with arms outstretched, on his side, on his belly, horizontal in the crib, or up next to the bumper!

He hasn't taken a paci in a long time, but I've noticed that he makes a sucking motion with his lips while he holds his lovey. He has learned to soothe himself without the paci. Caleb takes two naps. Morning nap is about 9:30-11 am. Afternoon nap varies depending on what we have going on. Usually he sleeps from about 2-4pm. I try to keep him up a little later in the afternoon so his nap will overlap with Emily's more, but he tends to start getting tired at around 1:30 pm.

Eating:

Caleb now has FIVE teeth! He got the bottom two teeth in first. Then, the lateral incisors started coming in. He was starting to look like a little vampire baby, but now the top central incisors are poking through and one has almost caught up to the others.

He is able to eat small chunks of food now (bananas and other soft ripe fruit.) He mostly eats stage 2-3 jarred baby food fruits, veggies, and some meat combinations (apples/chicken is a favorite). I make a small amount of his food and then we let him try small bites of our food when appropriate. We are working on letting him eat more finger foods for himself. He nurses about 5x/day.

Temperament:

He is really an easy going baby. Very social. Loves to interact and talk with you. Loves to play peek-a-boo and bouncy games. He is curious. If you leave the room, he will come find you. If a door is partially closed, he will push it open and crawl through. As long as you keep him well rested and fed and give him a little attention every so often, he is content. The time of the day that is the hardest is from about 5:30-6:30 pm. I'm trying to get dinner on the table. Caleb isn't getting as much attention as he would like and he's getting tired. By this point in the day, he has already played with a lot of his toys and he just wants to be held or have us feed him and put him to bed. It isn't a good time to try to put him on the floor with a pile of toys. He's SO over that! But, it is hard to cook with a baby on your hip! Lately, Jeremy has been getting home later and it is really hard on me. Frankly, I go a little bit crazy at this hour because I'm tired, too at this point. I'm really scared about how I'm going to survive in California if Jeremy has a long commute home from work.

And a note to baby boy:

Caleb,

I'm so proud to be your mommy! You have a great personality and you're so stinkin' cute! I think you will be very outgoing like your mama and daddy. I've enjoyed watching you grow and develop this month. A month ago, you were just learning to go from sitting to crawling. You more or less fell into that position. Now, your movements are confident and smooth. I love going to your room to pick you up in the morning. You are in such a sweet mood and well rested. Lately, you are waiting for me and standing up at the end of the crib. You see me and light up with your cheesy vampire grin. Sometimes, I get really silly and play with you. I hide from you behind the crib bumper and poke my head up over the rail just to see you smile and laugh over and over again in anticipation of where I'll be next.

This month Daddy and I had to make a really hard decision. We have a great life here in Louisville, but Dad got offered a really cool job far, far away and we decided to take the opportunity. In some ways it was a difficult decision, but in other ways, we had a peace that we were doing the right thing for our family in the long run. You're too little to understand this now, but living with regret is no way to live. We would rather try and not succeed, than let life pass us because we are too scared to take a chance. Son, I hope that if you are ever given a chance to do something special, you will go for it and not be afraid to fail. I hope that one day we will be able to tell you great stories about our adventures in California. I'm planning on taking you backpacking in Yosemite so you had better get ready!

I know that sis has a strong bond with our KY family already, but I worry a little about you. Who will love on you in the church nursery? Who will take care of you when Mom desperately needs a break? Who will be our family when your sweet grandmas are two thousand miles away? I hate that our family will miss some of your baby/toddler years. They go by too fast anyway, but I would rather us be away now while I can keep you safely home with me than for us to be far away during your school years. Those are the years you will be making childhood memories. I don't think your grandparents are happy about this AT ALL, but to their credit, they are trying to be supportive.

Caleb, we are so very thankful for you. I love you always.

Mom