1 Month

My, how things change in a month! This first month of Caleb's life flew by, and he's changed a lot. I got to celebrate my birthday at the beginning of this month. (Yes, I know I look tired, the reason is in my arms) Hannah helped with the cake.

Speaking of Hannah, she has been a great big sister and a big help to me. She loves to help, and will get (clean) diapers, pacifiers, burp cloths, etc. She is having a hard time sharing Daddy and tries to climb in his lap whenever he's got Caleb. Or, she'll ask me to hold Caleb so she can play with Daddy. Hopefully she'll get used to sharing soon.

Here's what we know about Caleb at 1 month:

He is a good eater, just look at those cheeks! And he's already over 10 pounds

His favorite thing to look at is the ceiling fan, any one in the house will do

He loves to hear his sister's voice and will turn his head looking for her when she is close

The only time he likes sleeping on his back is when he's swaddled at night, otherwise he wants to be held or on his tummy

He is in a pretty fussy phase. I'm am trying to be careful with my diet, cutting back on dairy (boo), no broccoli and minimal caffeine (which would really come in handy these days). Some days have been difficult, and I just remind myself that each day past brings me one day closer to sleeping through the night, and hopefully less upset tummy. I'm also fighting off a little cold right now. So, if you think of it, please pray for me. I could use a little extra energy right now.

Twins?

Do you think they look alike?

Hello World

Meet our son, Caleb Samuel Vanoli, born May 19, 2012 at 5:55 am

Some people have asked how we arrived at the name Caleb Samuel, so let me share a little about how we chose his name.
Caleb was chosen based on the person of Caleb in the Bible. He was one of the 12 spies of the nation of Israel when they arrived at the promised land after leaving Egypt. God describes Caleb as "wholly following the Lord."

"But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it."

Numbers 14:24

"I am giving him the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the Lord."

Deuteronomy 1:36

You can read about Caleb here
He believed God and had confidence that God would fulfill the promises He made. I love that about Caleb and pray our little Caleb will someday have that same confidence.

Samuel was also chosen from the Bible. He was the son of Hannah. Hannah was barren and prayed earnestly for a son. She prayed that if God would give her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord for his whole life. God answered her prayer and gave her Samuel, who grew up to be a priest in the tabernacle.
Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life...”
1 Samuel 1:11
You can read about Samuel here
The story of Samuel reminded us of our own struggle to conceive and all the prayers we made for a second child. God has been faithful to answer.

We are all doing well, and Hannah loves her little brother. So far he is a pretty mellow baby. He only squawks when he is hungry or having his diaper changed. He eats twice at night but goes right back to sleep. I love having a newborn in the house again and am excited to raise both a daughter and a son. God is good, we are abundantly blessed.

All About Hannah

This is probably my last post before baby arrives, so pretty soon Hannah will have to share her blog space (along with lots of other things) with a new sibling. So I figured I'd do one last post that is all about her. Not that I can't blog about her alone in the future, but I think just the realization that our family is going to change dramatically again in the next week or so is making me want to give her as much attention as I can. I'm nervous for our family to grow, I have no idea what it's going to be like. But I felt the same before Hannah arrived. It's weird how you can't imagine your family with a child, and then they arrive and from that point on you can't imagine your life without them. The past 4 1/2 years with Hannah have been incredible. It's been such a growing experience and I wouldn't trade it for the world. So here's a few more pics of our precious first-born.

The first ones are from our trip to Disneyland back in January. Hannah loved every minute and loved going on rides. She even went on Splash Mountain. 

Decorating Easter eggs

 Showing off her Easter dress

Riding in the car with her lion Ella

We love you, Hannah Grace, and know you are going to be an amazing big sister!

One Last Ultrasound

I had another ultrasound yesterday because I've been measuring small. Fortunately the baby is growing just fine, weighing in at about 6 1/2 pounds right now. For most of the ultrasound, the baby was sucking on the umbilical cord. Gross. It's always fun to see this little one, but now I'm getting very anxious to meet them! I've also been wanting to do a lot of nesting lately. I stocked the diaper bag, picked out some girl and boy newborn outfits for coming home from the hospital, and I have the biggest urge to organize my closet and clean the baseboards. Maybe I'll get to those soon. 

Chris is working hard on the bathroom remodel. He's now on to the finish work. As soon as the bathroom's done I can clean the baby's room, since that has been the staging area for all the bathroom projects, housing tools, the shop vac, fixtures, etc. I'll post some pictures when it's done, it's going to look great! In the mean time, enjoy some pics of wiggle-worm #2.

32 Weeks

I'm a week behind posting this, I'm now 33 weeks but this is the bump at 32. Can't believe we're only 7 weeks (give or take) from meeting this little, busy, answer to prayer!

Hannah the Photographer

For Christmas Hannah got her very own digital camera. She absolutely loves it and has become quite the photographer, taking pictures of everything around the house. Here are some of her first photos.

Talking to Mimi, Papa, and Aunt Megan on Skype

Self Portrait

Her cousin Jenna

 Hannah's (Big) Papa, her great-grandfather

When Ali was over last week the girls took turns with the camera