The best things in life…are usually the small things…like a Sunday afternoon picnicing at the park with your family!

1. The Bottle!  Matt gave Jeremiah his first successful bottle!  I was all prepared for it to not work again…that when J started pushing the bottle out with his tongue…I started saying “oh here it goes”.  Matt said calmly, “he can see and hear you-you probably just need to leave”.  So I went to Old Navy and got Caleb some new shoes with his birthday money, and while I was gone Matt got J to drink the whole bottle!  Way to go!!
2. The johnny jump up!  We almost had a crisis and a melt down when Caleb was trying to get into the “swing”.  We had to explain that this was J’s swing and his swing was outside.  Once there was an understanding, we had a blast watching J in his swing!  He really just sat there propped up, but he pushed of the ground occasionally and enjoyed a good push from Caleb from time to time-so the swing really swung like a swing of course! 🙂
3. Rice Cereal!  Jeremiah is four months old today!  Happy birthday my sweet boy!  We went to the doctor yesterday for his check up, and we were told he could start getting rice cereal and next week to start baby foods!  This is a good two months before we started with Caleb, but when the doctor said it may help him start sleeping through the night…Matt and I were like ALRIGHT!!  Soooo…you can tell by the picture-it wasn’t a success, but we will try again soon!

Caleb was so much fun for his whole birthday celebration!!  We had a little party for the kids in his playgroup on the Monday before his birthday.  They had cupcakes in the shape of pigs and juice boxes-a perfect snack for a growing toddler!  We had been talking about Caleb’s birthday for weeks. 

 Caleb had imitated how to blow out candles and was so excited to say he was “TWO”!  When his real birthday came, he was so so fun!  He knew just what to do with the presents!  He was excited about every single one.  Matt and I got Caleb a T-ball set, a nerf basketball goal, and a few other small things-all for less than $30!  We were so excited because we knew he would like everything and it didn’t cost that much.  We better enjoy these birthdays-I know gifts only get more expensive as they get older!  Of course it rained on his birthday, but that didn’t stop us from getting that T-ball set out! Our living room was transformed into a baseball field real quick!   What a memory!  We had a relaxing day as a family, and that night our families came over to share in our celebration of Caleb.  (We missed Grandma Bebe and Grandpa George though! )Caleb put on a good show and thanked everyone for his gifts.  One of my favorites things we did was have everyone write down things they loved that Caleb does now or says right now.  I’m going to scrapbook these mementos so we don’t ever forget this fun stage! 

Our lives completely changed when Caleb Scott Deuel came into our world, and we could not be more thankful for him!  He brings so much joy and love to our family!  He has one of the most tender hearts-and constantly keeps me on my toes to be the best mom I can be.  One moment a few weeks ago  I was completly worn out and Caleb was having a rough morning-so it was tense in our house!  🙂  I was trying to respond back to an email and after quite a few no’s being pointed Calebs way (for touchingt the keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, computer screen, etc) I picked him up and carried him back to his room and shut the door.  The poor guy just cried and cried sitting on his bed like any good kid would :).  In that moment I think removing him was the best situation, so I didn’t lose my cool all together…but after a few minutes I hated myself for what I had just done.  I let an email come before my son…and acted out of anger and frustration.  I ran to his room and scooped him up and just cried tears into his curly head.  He had no clue what was wrong with his mama, but he could sense I needed him and he just hugged me back.  I apologized and we prayed together saying we needed Jesus.  You know what?? Jesus met us and our day was radically changed!  I need this boy to bring me to my knees as much as he needs me.  Thank you Jesus for the blessing of this precious boy!   

We had a blast with Caleb on his birthday. Here’s a couple of short clips. We’ll get more pictures and stuff up soon.