Abby's 1st Couple Weeks Home!

These past couple weeks at home have flown by! Abby will be 2 weeks old tomorrow! I cannot believe how well the transition home with Abby has gone. Grandma Mary was here for the entire 1st week, and we couldn't have done it without her! She took care of Caleb... He's a bit chunkier now! She was hoping to cook more, but like me was too tired by the end of the day because of dear little Caleb. We had yummy takeout several nights! Thank you for all your help, mom!

Caleb really enjoys his baby sister! He always knows where Baby is and loves to pat her all over! He calls her "Baby" or "Sissy." He seems to have reverted to some of his more baby-ish tendencies as you may see in some of the pictures. He's more cuddly and is obsessed with the pacifier.

Abigail has already surpassed her birth weight: 10 lb 2 oz when we had a weight check on Wednesday! That was a big relief for us. She is a very easy going baby! The Lord knew we needed her in our life! It certainly wasn't our timing, but now I can see His hand perfectly. She is the perfect addition to our family!

Enjoy the pics! Keep praying for us!

It's a Girl!

Abigail Grace Redoutey
Born: April 4, 2009 at 4:37 pm
10 lb. 1 oz. and 21 inches long

We are so excited to welcome Abigail to our family! We are glad to be home and doing well as a family of 4. Abigail was born on her Great-Grandpa Russell's birthday! Caleb loves his baby sister. He doesn't pay her too much attention yet, but is very aware she is around. He will be her protector I'm sure! One cute story: yesterday after we came home from the hospital, Abby's hat had fallen off and I told Caleb that was baby's hat. Well, he picked it up and brought it over to her! So sweet!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Walking 101

We shared with you a little bit of Caleb's first tries self-feeding with the spoon, well here are some of his 1st steps! We are so proud of him. Just like crawling... he had to wait a while, but once he's ready he just starts taking off. We'll try to show more later, but we ran out of memory on the camera while shooting. Caleb learns to walk just in time for his brother or sister to arrive.

Yeah Caleb!

"March"ing in like a Lion

Staff vs. Senior Game at Pinckney High School

We had fun watching "Dr. J" play some b-ball!

Caleb learning to walk with daddy!

We're in Frankenmuth... do I look German?

Sleeping with Pooh Bear in my mouth!

Well, we had quite the busy weekend, which reminded me of how fast our time is quickly flying by! Friday night we went to watch Jason play some b-ball at the high school where he's been student teaching at. It was fun to see him in that environment and now to be able to picture where he goes every weekday! He has 3 more weeks of teaching in the classroom, and 5 more weeks left of student teaching. The end is in sight! After the game we went to Zukey Lake Tavern, which apparently is famous in MI. I definitely had the best burger ever!!!! I thought the picture of Caleb walking with Jason in L&L (our grocery store across the street) was so cute! He looks like a little man! Sunday we went to Frankenmuth to celebrate Great Grandma Redoutey's 80th birthday! We had a great lunch and had lots of fun seeing everyone. Caleb enjoyed being the center of attention and played a lot of peekaboo at the table. This morning I was waking Caleb up from his nap and noticed he wasn't just sleeping with Pooh bear... he had Pooh bear in his mouth while sleeping! No wonder it's always disgusting! :) I had to take the picture before he woke up.

Self-Feeding 101

I so appreciated everyone's comments on my last posting. It seemed to hit home to many of us! Caleb is finally recovering from being sick for about a week and a half.... cough, cold, 2 teeth coming in, fever sometimes! I'm so glad he has his personality again... I think. :) I'm just kidding! Caleb just has such a strong temperament sometimes, and I wish he could just talk and tell me what's wrong. We do our best in communicating right now as much as we can. I just want him to know that we love him! Caleb now has 7 teeth that are in. He is still cruising around the furniture, but hasn't walked on his own yet. I do wonder if that might not be a good thing with Baby #2 coming in just 3-4 weeks. :) Caleb loves to play with the coasters on the coffee table right now. He spins them around, drops them on the floor, picks them up, and does it all over again! He likes to pat mommy's belly when we talk about the baby. I'm not sure if he understands or just thinks my belly is the baby! We're getting so excited to find out if we're having a boy or girl. Either way, we'll be soooo excited! Hope you enjoy the video of Caleb. Haven't taken too many pictures, but thought I'd share something we're working on.

A Mother's Take on I Corinthian's 13

My mother passed along a few parenting books to Jason and I that she and my dad read when my sister and I were young. I've been reading one of them recently called A Mother's Heart by Jean Fleming. It's got some wonderful insight on developing character as a mother. This morning while Caleb was drinking his bottle next to me in bed I was reading a little bit and came across the author's own paraphrase of I Corinthians 13. I thought it was quite interesting, so I decided to write my own paraphrase this afternoon while Caleb is napping. Hope you enjoy!

"If I try to keep my house clean and in perfect order, but do not show love to my family -

it is all for nothing.

If I create the most beautiful drapes and pillows, delicious meals, always look attractive, but am not loving to my family -

I am nothing.

If I'm busy teaching Sunday school, playing for choir, teaching piano, meeting with friends, going to Bible study, but fail to give enough love to my family -

I gain nothing.

Love is patient... changes diapers, cleans up after meals, does laundry, comforts the sick - over and over and over again.

Love is kind, even though I'm tired and 8 months pregnant!

Love doesn't wish I was another woman -

who has no kids so she can go shopping or go on a night out whenever she feels like it.

Love doesn't try to impress others with my son's achievements... or my own.

Love doesn't scream back at my son.

Love doesn't feel sorry for myself because I didn't get to do what I wanted to do today - read, take a long shower, nap.

Love doesn't react in anger quickly.

Love doesn't remind my husband that he's forgotten to take the trash out... again.

Love doesn't rejoice when another woman's children are going crazy on a plane and mine is not.

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The Music Man

Shooting Hoops!

"Getting down" to Beach Boys
Starting to move a little

"I'm not going to touch, mama! Just listen!"



I know these may not be the best pictures ever, but today I was just thinking about how much Caleb loves music! I kind of thought he might like music with having a pianist for a mom and a dad who can put anything to song! I mentioned earlier that Caleb loves the stereo! So, today I popped in a little Beach Boys and sure enough... he crawled right over and started bopping along. "Barbara Ann" is his favorite!

What fascinates me is the kind of music he likes though. For those of you who don't know this about him, I hope you find it interesting too. We travel a lot since my family is in Illinois, so sometimes we have had to try various things to keep him entertained or to help him go to sleep. One trip he just wouldn't stop crying and go to sleep even though it was way past his naptime, so Jason decides to pop in his opera cd. Immediately, Caleb went quiet and didn't make another peep thanks to "O Mio Babbino Caro." It now works like a charm consistently!

Most recently, since we purchased our new to us minivan, we have found out Caleb loves Ladysmith Black Mambazo! This is a famous acapella African group that Jason introduced me to when we started dating. Turn on a little Ladysmith and Caleb is soothed, entertained, or put to sleep!

I appreciate our son's eclectic taste! He makes life interesting!