Sibling Love

I was a little nervous on how Jake and Julie would react to having another sibling added to the mix. I think I was projecting my fears of taking care of three kids under the age of four onto them because they have literally embraced the arrival of their new baby brother.

Ok, Julie has her moments of jealousy where she tries to climb onto my lap while I'm feeding Caleb or steals his binky, but then she'll turn right around and give him a kiss. Whenever she hears Caleb cry she says, "Uh-Oh, baby!" and runs over to his bassinet.

Jake just loves his new brother to pieces. I swear he has his own special smile that only comes out when he talks about his baby brother. If it involves Caleb, Jake will do anything to be a big helper. Caleb can do no wrong in Jakes eyes. Even if Caleb is screaming at the top of his lungs Jake just laughs and thinks he's being cute. Wouldn't it be nice if Jake felt this way about his little brother all the way through high school and I never had to deal with them fighting? Don't laugh too hard - I can dream, right?

1 Month Old

I distinctly remember being in the hospital and counting down the minutes until Mr.Caleb was one week old. Now where did the last three weeks go? I'm afraid I might get a little redundant here for awhile in my posting because all I want to do is show off my little guy. But you guys don't mind, right? :)

New Baby

Caleb Elijah Stecker joined our family on 8/8/08! He is such a brave little guy. We love him so much and already can't imagine life without him. Newborn pictures always make me laugh once the kids have grown up a bit - they just look so squishy. :) To me, Caleb looks just like Jacob as a baby. What do you think?

Jacob right before being discharged from the hospital.

I couldn't leave out my sweet little girl - Julie right after delivery.

Bear Feet

While visiting Grandma Terri's house one hot day this summer, Grandma pointed out to Jacob that she had bare feet. Jacob quickly responded, "I have kitty feet. Meow!" Ever since, whenever he sees someone with bare feet he assigns them an animal, but always reserves the kitty feet for himself.

(images borrowed from dkimages.com and sportsmanhill.com)

We've got to Hand it to Daddy . . .

Jeremy officially gets the award for the worst timing ever. He went and decided to break his hand at the ward softball game last Monday. He broke the bone running to his middle finger and pretty much shattered the one running to his ring finger on his left hand when his glove caught on the ground as he tried to make a diving catch in center field (I'd be willing to be it wouldn't be "shattered" if he hadn't insisted on playing out the inning and making another catch with his injured hand). He had surgery on Friday and depending on how things heal this week, he might need a follow-up surgery to straighten out his finger.

At my appointment Thursday, Jacob convinced my OB to give him some gloves which came in handy (I know, I'm so punny today!) when he wanted to help fix Daddy's broken hand.

Tagged by Mindy

So Mindy tagged me awhile ago and I somehow missed it, sorry!

Four random things I like about my husband:
1. His BBQ skills.
2. His ability to focus on a task and give it 100%.
3. His willingness to sacrifice what he wants now for what he wants most on a constant, daily basis.
4. His work ethic (when he's motivated, haha).

Four jobs I have had: (wow, it's been awhile!)
1. Intern for IS dept. of Oregon Department of Justice
2. Assistant Office Manager for Eclipse/Orkin
3. Papa Murphy's pizza maker extraordinaire
4. Phone Sales Rep for ancestry.com

Four TV shows I watch:
1. The Office
2. Survivor
3. American Idol
4. Heroes (haven't seen season two though!)

Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. While You Were Sleeping
2. Princess Bride
3. All of the Lord of the Rings Series
4. Pride and Prejudice

Four places I have lived: (hah, only four!)
1. Utah
2. Colorado
3. Indiana
4. Wyoming

Four people who e-mail me regularly:
1. My HLHS group
2. Brian (made this list for two years consistently so he still counts) and in the same missionary vein, my Aunt Deanna and Mary Lyn with updates about my cousins
3. Jeremy's scheduler for ecrossfit.com
4. Margaret (gotta love TOF updates!)

Four of my Favorite Foods: (turning this into pregnancy cravings)
1. Cold Cereal (any type/brand will do at this point - I blame the hormones!)
2. Subway Sandwiches
3. Fried Chicken
4. Chocolate Ice Cream/Chocolate Chip Cookies depending on the day

Four places I would like to visit:
1. France
2. Canada (sounds silly but I've been so close and never crossed over!)
3. Italy
4. Hawaii

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. A new spirit joining our family
2. Walking normally again (aka not being pregnant anymore)
3. Jacob starting pre-school
4. Watching the growth of Eugene Crossfit

Four People I tag:
1. Ali
2. Cheri
3. Emily
4. LaDawn

What's that?

Do you know what this is?

We recently bought a play kitchen off Craigslist that has quickly become the new favorite toy (at least for this month). One day I asked Jake to hand me a donut and he said, "What's that?" I thought he was joking but it turns out that he really didn't know what a donut was!

Jeremy was proud that his kids didn't know what junk food was but I felt sorry for my poor deprived children and took them to the store to pick out their very own donut.

Julie doesn't know what to think, but she's excited she doesn't have to share.

Jake's first bite . . .

After a few more bites Jake declares donuts "yucky."

Julie opts for string cheese instead. I guess maybe Daddy's do know best after all?