Week 18 = 4 months!! January 25

Many of our friends are popping out babies left and right. We recently met two friends that are new to the world, sweet Dayton and Ade. It amazes us how much difference there is in just 3 months. They both seemed so tiny, so fragile, and so new to the world. It is hard to believe Caleb being that small and it is even harder to believe that he was only there 3 months ago. There are so many changes that happen everyday.


Speaking of changes...Caleb loves his feet, he has fun new noises everyday, and he is sleeping ALL the way through the night (7 pm to 7 am.) We feel like we are always saying this, but Caleb is in such a fun stage. He is always happy, cheerful, has a big ol' gummy smile, and adores playing with his daddy.


During the past month we also went back to the urologist for a post-op appointment. We found out that Caleb will most likely have another surgery before the year ends. There is another potential blockage along the ureter, on the bladder-side (his surgery last month was along the kidney side.) He is taking a laxative daily and we will return to the urologist on March 9 for another check-up. We will hopefully know more at that time but are just praying for God's miraculous hands to heal this little body.


We wake up everyday and feel like its Christmas morning. We get the same excitement walking into Caleb’s room as we did when we were kids racing to find presents under the tree. We can’t wait to see what new expressions Caleb will have each day and to share the many laughs he brings. (We know Christmas has been over for a month know but we are still holding on to the joy the Christmas season brings.)

See more of Caleb's photos

New Year's / Baby Announcement

First House = First Christmas Lights

As we were taking down the Christmas lights (or should I say as Craig was taking down the lights) we realized we should post some pictures of Craig's hard work. We lite up the block with all these white lights and Julie wants more next year. We shall see!! We had a lot of fun decorating our first home and too bad we could not have kept them up longer. 36 days to be exact (a lot longer than most people). The tree in the front, we added more strands of lights every weekend. We were not satisfied with just 3 strands.

What you can't tell from this far away picture is the priceless look on Craig's face. Oh, wait let me zoom just a minute.

If you can't tell Craig is VERY afraid of heights and would do anything to get off the roof very soon.

It is really hard to tell in this picture, but there is actually snow/ice on the ground, tree, and roof.
Julie loves Christmas (she is still singing Christmas songs to Caleb). She can't wait for Christmas next year!
Oh Christmas Tree...How Lovely are your branches!

Happy 2009

We had the joy of celebrating the New Year with some friends from our Community at church. Caryn, her sweet boys Stacey and Wyatt, Laura, and Brad helped us enjoy the night. We had a yummy dinner, enjoyed some sparklers, laughed a lot, and were in bed by 9 pm.

(This picture is copyrighted by Caryn, ours did not capture the boys excitement)

Happy 2009 Everybody!!

Caleb's First Christmas

We packed up everything, including the kitchen sink, and headed down to Austin but first we stopped off at the American Airline Center to watch the Mavericks play the Grizzlies. But, the main reason was to see some old friends (Craig's soccer buddies from back in the day). We left after the game and drove into the midnight fog and arrived in Austin around 1:30am. Caleb did so well and slept the entire time!! We fed him and then he preceded to sleep "through the night."

Richard, Michael, Chaz (yes it is the original Comets 75 shirt), Marcus, Jason, Scott, Craig, and the newest member of the soccer team, Caleb- ready in his soccer shoes (MIA- Junior)

Christmas Eve- We "slept in" and then went to lunch with Julie's Family.

Craig, Julie, Aunt Jen, Uncle Tony, Papa, Mimi, TJ (3 1/2), Caleb, Sarah (1), Cristalyn (5)

We went to the Candle light service at Hyde Park Baptist Church, Julie's grandmother's church. Then the entire Kreiger family got together at Julie's grandmother's house for the traditional snacks, pictures in front of the Christmas Tree, and opening presents.

Christmas Day- Craig's parents came over to Julie's parent's house for lunch and were joined by Julie's Uncle (Uncle Willie.) Julie's aunt and uncle (Aunt Karen and Uncle Gary) came in town for a for visit and to meet Caleb. Also, Julie's parent's friends (Mr. & Mrs. Clark) came to meet Caleb too.

We ended the busy day with a movie at Julie's parent's house and Craig began getting very sick. Friday- we had a "World Famous Breakfast" at Julie's parent's house and then went to Craig's sister and brother-in-law's house (Aunt K-10 and Uncle Allen) to spend the day filled with family fun, talking, and a lot of relaxing.
The Cousins: Jack (6), Lucy (1 3/4), and Luke (4 1/2)

Until Monday afternoon we watched movies, tried to get Craig feeling better, spent more time with family and friends, ate a ton, and enjoyed counting our sweet blessings. We almost forgot Santa (aka Papa "dressing up") came to the Kreiger home on Saturday.

This year instead of giving gifts, sending out a ton of Christmas cards, and receiving gifts we put our money together to donate to Advent Conspiracy. This is through Living Water International. People are dying from the lack of clean water. In fact, it's the leading cause of death in under resourced countries. 1.8 million people die every year from water born illnesses. That includes 3,900 children a day. The solution to this problem is directly beneath our feet. Drilling a fresh water well is a relatively inexpensive, yet permanent solution to this epidemic. $10 will give a child clean water for life. That's not an estimate. It's a fact. And here's another fact: Solving this water problem once and for all will cost about $10 billion. Not bad considering Americans spent $450 billion on Christmas last year. Our hope is that, by celebrating Christ in a new way at Christmas, the church can serve as the leading movement behind ending the water crisis once and for all.

We hope you had a blessed Christmas and spent more time reflecting on the gift of Jesus than you did on any material gifts (and continue to do so throughout the year!)

Week 13 = 3 Months!! December 25

We are sorry that it has been so long since our last update. We have had a busy past month from Caleb's surgery to his recovery to doctor's appointments to Christmas and so much more. Well, it is hard to believe our little guy is now 3 months old (or 13 weeks old or 91 days old or 2,184 hours old or...well, you get the picture). We are writing this post when Caleb is 104 days old, we are reminded of a sweet video called, 99 Balloons. What a great reminder of the gift of life. If you have already watched the video, you can understand why it is hard to even mention Caleb's growth and development. At his "2 month appointment" (which was really 2 1/2 month appointment because of his surgery) he was weighing in at a whopping 14 pounds and 25 inches long (95% and 97%). Caleb did so well with his immunizations, he is a real trooper. Poor little guy has been through so much.
He is becoming quite the entertainer. He has the most precious open mouth grin and loves to laugh, giggle, squeal, and yes, he still has toots (no these are not little toots they are full fledge man farts.) Daddy is so proud of his flatulent son! Go Tigers!! Maybe he likes UT orange better - notice the old man face...

Yep, that's my pho-hawk. Not a toupee...