Merry Christmas! (A Little Late)

Merry Christmas! Here are a couple quick pictures from the last couple days.
We'll post more this coming weekend when we are home.
Have a safe and happy New Year!!!

Leaps and bounds

Happy 2 Month Birthday Caleb!
(well as of yesterday on the 18th)

Yesterday Caleb had his 2 month doctor's appointment and
we found out we have a very long baby!
He is now two feet tall which is the 90% for his age.
His head circumference is also in the 90%.
His weight however is in the 50% at 11 lbs. 8oz.
Caleb is becoming a big boy, growing by leaps and bounds...
Do you think it is too early to start putting bricks on his head to keep him from growing!?!

Our cute little one

Here's some fun video of the things he does best! Well, ok, there are no videos of him pooping. :)

Fun smile

This is a picture Grandpa Schack took a few days ago when we got together to celebrate Jon's (Daddy's) birthday. Isn't it great!?!

7 weeks old

Here are some recent pics of Caleb in his 7th week... time is going fast!

Time with friends Evan and Jensen:

Aunt Katie

Aunt Katie has been visiting us for 6 days. She just went home this afternoon back to Arizona. We loved having her stay with us! Katie and Caleb were able to spend a lot of time together while we were busy with some church events. Katie also got to spend time with the dogs... hopefully she'll return! Anna was spade and has to wear a cone so she doesn't pull on the stitches, so she was kind of a grumpy dog and hasn't been too fun to be around. By the end of the week though the dogs sure did accept her as part of the family!

Caleb is all bundeled into his car seat. The cover keeps him nice and toasty, plus he gets to play peek-a-boo with it!

First cold

I, as a new mother, have been dreading for this day to come... my baby is sick! :(

Caleb has his first little cold. He has a stuffy nose and small cough. We're hoping it doesn't get any worse so that he continues to sleep at night and isn't unhappy all day. Tis' the season to get sick though, I suppose it was going to happen sooner or later.

There has also been a new awareness Caleb has been having - he lets us know when he has a wet diaper! He never seemed to be too phazed when he had a dirty diaper, but all of a sudden the last couple days he has let us know when he wants to be changed. The last two nights he has woken up screaming and doesn't stop until I get his diaper off.... yey. If only we could teach him to just tap us on the shoulder to wake us up so that we know it's time to change him...

Mara

Thanksgiving

We had a great time visiting the Ostermeier and Longhurst extended families over Thanksgiving. We ate LOTS of food and had a good time relaxing.

Uncle Ethan was Caleb's new favorite buddy at the end of the weekend.


Caleb met lots of new people this weekend, including Mommy's Godmother Joann.

Caleb got to meet Great Grandpa and Grandma Longhurst for the first time.

Opa & Caleb must have eaten too much!

Happy Thanksgiving from Caleb!

Smiles and coo's

The smile picture from Caleb's one month birthday may have been more than gas! Caleb has been smiling a lot this last weekend and he is becoming more vocal with lots of little coo's and ah's. It is such a rewarding and glorious feeling to see your child smile back at you! I'll try to keep the camera close by the next couple days to see if I can catch him smiling.

Caleb has also started another baby characteristic - Spitting Up. He rarely spit up until about this last weekend where he has been soiling his clothes and mine at a rapid rate! Nothing like smelling like sour milk! Oh the joys of motherhood :)

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving in Muscatine. We will post pictures of his first Thanksgiving I'm sure! He even has a couple turkey bibs to wear to celebrate the weekend.

Mara

Growing boy

Caleb is already one month old today! He seems to be growing like a weed already. It's fun to see his facial features changing and his legs sprouting longer. Here are some pictures that show his slightly chubbier cheeks, his wide eyes that are starting to follow everything, and what seems to be one of his first smiles!

Oh, he also found mommy's hair for the first time tonight and held on with the kung-fu grip that only a baby can do!

Road Trip

Caleb's first big roadtrip!

We all went to O-town for the weekend. While we went to the musical "Wicked" with Mara's family, Caleb got to spend lots of time with his Schack Grandparents and the Eben Great-Grandparents.
Caleb turned 3 Weeks Old on this trip!







Aunt Rachael and Uncle Ethan enjoyed holding Caleb.


















Great-Grandma Eben made a quilt for Caleb.

Below is the first four-generations picture Rose has been in! She was quite excited as the Grandma!

Check-up

Caleb is now 2 1/2 weeks old already! He had a check-up at the doctor's, and he is a growing boy. He is now 9 lbs. 2 oz. and is 22.5 inches long.

Last night was quite interesting - Caleb slept almost all night long! He had no interest in waking up to eat, even though I tried getting him to. He didn't wake up enough to eat a good amount until about 5 am, and then he went directly back to sleep until 8am when I woke him up again! I of course will not take this as hope that it will be a common thing, I have a feeling we'll get lucky and he'll wake up every hour tonight to make up for last night.

Mara

Caleb's first Halloween was a success! He ended up wearing his "Baby's first Halloween" outfit, that made him look like
a little jail bird.

The pumpkin outfit was a little too big for him.

We had about 40 trick-or-treaters we believe, and Caleb slept through most of them... so he made up for it at about 10:30 pm when he became really fussy.





Cayden stopped by in his "Peas in the pod" outfit and looked adorable!

Which one is Caleb???

Halloween costumes

Caleb's first Halloween...what do you think he'll dress up as today? (nothing yet...or all the costumes would be dirty before trick or treating tonight) Will he be a pumpkin? The pope? A rabbi? The Michelin Man? Peyton Manning? A doughnut? A hula dancer? Lawrence of Arabia? The Incredible Hulk?

And will the puppies dress up?!






How about Jon's Luv Bug...?

Stop by tonight for some candy and find out! (or check back on the blog tomorrow, if you live more than 5 miles away from the World's Largest Strawberry)

Happy Halloween!

And Be Orange! (all you Wartburg College folks...)

New discoveries

Caleb has had lots of new things lately...

He now has eyebrows! You still have to look closely, but they are there!
He has lost his umbilical cord.
He slept all night in his bassinet Wednesday night!!!! (Other than feeding time of course)
He had three clothing changes within an hour this morning due to leaking diapers - his record thus far.
And he has a new friend! Cayden is almost 7 months old and towers in comparison to Caleb. It's amazing how quickly babies grow!

Visitors

This weekend has been quite busy. We had a whole bunch of visitors from Mara's family. Rachael (sister) was able to come for two days which was really nice since we don't get to see her much. She gave Caleb the cutest tigger rattle and a fun shirt...

On Saturday, Mara's Dad, Grandma, and second cousin-Barb came for the afternoon. This is the first great grandchild on my Dad's side and they are thrilled!

Great Grandma O

Four Generations

Today we went to church for the first time with Caleb and everyone was excited to see him. The big question of the morning - "Are you getting sleep!?" - The answer is "some". Caleb seems to have his day and night mixed up, so he sleeps like an angel during the day and is wide eyed all night. Hopefully we can get this changed soon!

Oh the joys!

Caleb is fully breaking mommy in with things coming out of all ends!
Last night I was feeding him and the next thing I know, my stomach felt wet... his diaper was leaking and it was going all over me! Jon got a good laugh about it!
And then today was my first "fountain" experience - I was changing his diaper and had just reached for another wipe when I noticed a stream of water shooting everywhere! As soon as I got it cleaned quick and a diaper under his rear, he pooped without the diaper closed - it sure was a close one!!! However, once again, daddy got a good laugh out of it. I'm glad I can be of such assistance to my husband's enjoyment in life. :)

More hospital pictures

Here are a few more pics from the hospital.

Aunt Katie's froggy outfit. Caleb loves to fold up like a frog against our chests.

Naptime...

My cuddle bug

The beautiful hospital gown and the adorable Caleb