The Daily Gaijin

Life...

Life with two little ones is certainly full, but wonderful. Elise is quickly approaching her second birthday and getting a little more independent and a little more opinionated with each day that passes. She is very sweet and practically adds a new word to her vocabulary every day.

We can decipher most of what she's trying to say and with a mixture of pointing, acting, and context clues we can usually figure out the rest. Elise is very sweet to Caleb and wants to include "Baby" in most everything she is doing. Except for a few rare moments, she is quite kind and loving to him. I am still getting a laugh from the scene that I came across last week when I was in the kitchen and they were both in the play room.

I was gone for about a minute and heard Elise saying "neigh, neigh, neigh." I wondered what was going on and went to check. To my surprise I found Elise straddled over Caleb riding on him like he was a pony. I was both frightened and found it rather amusing as well. I'm told that second children are usually a bit tougher because of events like this one. I'm sure it won't be long until Caleb will be holding his own against his big sister. For now, he will have to deal with her enthusiastic cuddles and sometimes overwhelming shows of affection.

Caleb is a wonderful and calm little man. He is smiling and giggling so much and when he can get a word in, even "talking" some to us. He found his thumb a few weeks ago and seems to enjoy Elise's entertainment while chowing on his finger and rubbing his hair with the opposite hand. I am finding myself much more relaxed with #2 and really enjoying how cuddly and chubby and sweet he is!

One Month Old...

It's hard to believe that our little Caleb is already a month old. It's been a busy month and we're still learning how to manage life as a family of four, but the joyful moments far outweigh the overwhelming ones! Here is a photo update of our adventures (and visitors)...

Grandpa Sam and Grandma Judy come to town!

I'm one month old today.

Fun times with Uncle Sam.

Hanging out with Brent (my cousin), Lindsey and Chase. So fun!

Aunt Emily and the kiddies.

Josh and Elise at First Landing State Park - one of our favorite new hangouts.

Josh, Elise and "The Snowblob" - Elise's first snow day.

Quality sibling time!

More Caleb!

Welcome Artie Art Arthur!!!

Artie Art Arthur!!

. . .perhaps the perfect name for a baby - what better way to carry on the Arthur name than to have it three times! Unfortunately, Rebecca did not follow my logic, thus, we

are excited to announce the birth of Caleb Asher Arthur, 7 lbs 2.5 oz, 20 inches, born at 9:39 pm on February 25th, 2009 at 39 weeks and 5 days gestational age.

Here are the bullet points (Rebecca proofread this so that I don't get in trouble for forgetting the important things!): Rebecca was blessed to have a very smooth delivery.

I managed to cancel my afternoon appointments to attend her OB appointment at 3 pm yesterday. Although Rebecca wasn’t contracting yet, we were suspicious that we might end up getting admitted, so she dropped off Elise with our neighbor, KK, and brought a suitcase along to her appointment. Incidentally, Elise thinks the baby is in her stomach – so today is likely to prove a bit confusing for her. . . At the appointment, the ultrasound suggested that Caleb was below the 5th percentile for weight and our OB was concerned enough that she decided to admit us for induction.

Fortunately, Rebecca was already at 4 cm and 75% (for the non-obstetricians - that means "well on the way to having a baby") so we hoped it would go pretty easily. We were admitted to our L&D room at about 5 pm and the next 4 and half hours were a blur. For those interested in the gory details – Rebecca now proudly endorses epidural anesthesia, which resulted in a very comfortable and quick delivery.

After her water broke around 6 pm, she had a few painful contractions, got the epidural and then labored for about two more hours. We were all surprised (and pleased) with how quickly things went from there. Our OB came in and checked Rebecca’s cervix around 9:30 pm and exclaimed “break down the bed, this baby is ready to deliver!” 4 pushes and about 90 seconds later, Caleb was introduced to the world!

It was kind of fun having my co-workers being Caleb’s first pediatricians; they were apologetic for Caleb’s poor heels getting a few extra blood draws due to some initial low blood sugars that resolved in a few hours. We slept off and on through the night and Caleb fed well. Rebecca’s mother and sister drove down yesterday evening to take care of Elise; this morning, I will be bringing them all to the hospital to introduce Elise to Caleb for the first time! Should be fun (and funny)!

For the etymologists among you – Caleb means dog – we chose the name because of the Bible story of Joshua and Caleb, the men who told the truth when no one else would, Asher is Hebrew for joy or blessing (as you may recall, Elise’s middle name, Amani, is Ki-Swahili for peace) and Arthur means bear - grrrrrr! Thanks to all of you for your prayers, emails and calls. We can’t wait to introduce Caleb to all of you! Enjoy the attached pictures - let us know if you want more; we've got hundreds!

Love,

Josh, Rebecca, Elise and Caleb

Baby Update...sort of!

Today I am finding it a little crazy to believe that our little boy is due in just two weeks. We have some things ready to go, but it seems like the to-do list keeps growing instead of getting shorter! I guess that's just life...oh, and life with a toddler, too. Elise is lovely, but she really likes to un-do about as much as I can "do" in a day so its quite hard to feel like the house cleaning has made much of a positive change at the end of any given day. I would clean all night if my legs weren't swollen up like tree trunks by the time the sun sets! Oh, the joys of motherhood. Still, that being said, we are truly looking forward to meeting little Mr. Arthur in just a few short weeks. Hopefully he'll come a little on the early side so that Josh can take a whole week off to spend with us. (Otherwise he'll be stuck in the ER at the Children's hospital....booooo!)

We'll let you know when there's more news from Norfolk!

Our little cookie monster!

Elise continues to be a sweet little girl...for a number of reasons! She recently had the chance to make some cookies with both Josh and I (guess who let her eat more dough?!?!) It is hard to resist a little batter covered face when she is vigorously signing "more please."

Christmas 2008

We enjoyed the holidays with a little family vacation to Charleston, SC followed by a few days back in Pennsylvania and Delaware with both of our extended families. Charleston was a beautiful and relaxing city and we had a wonderful time touring around town, taking in the sights, and seeing southern culture at its finest! Here are a few photo highlights from the holiday season: