Waiting for Baby

We are so excited to meet the new addition to our family but are really enjoying these last few weeks with Caleb.  The room is ready, the bags are packed, the plans are set (as set as they can be not knowing the day or hour).  Julie's doctor told her that the "process is beginning" (dilation, etc)-So fun!

Caleb is so ready for his brother to arrive that he is obsessed with this baby doll that Mammy is letting us borrow.  He carries him around, sets him on the couch with "baby" type toys, wants to pray for baby (there is a difference in Caleb's baby and Mommy's baby and we pray for both), and our favorite is he will set the baby up and say "Baby, Watch this!" as Caleb runs to do some neat trick.  Caleb also loves seeing babies, pictures of babies, and hearing about when he was a baby.  We have had fun looking at old pictures when he was little and going through his baby book.  Here is a picture of Caleb, the naked baby-he changes clothes often but is typically naked, and a bowl of Christmas decorations Caleb thought were for the baby to play with.  (We pray often that Caleb learns to be gentle with his brother than he is with the baby, as well as being a good big brother, a leader to him, and that they would be great friends).

Here are a few fun pictures of us being silly.  Julie is 37+ weeks! 

Doesn't Julie's belly look fake in this picture? This is a picture of Craig asking her to "look confused with why she is pregnant."

We are so excited to meet this little guy and our loving/cherishing our last few moments with Caleb having our undivided attention!  We will keep you all posted for the any new news.

Baby Sprinkles

A few weeks ago the sweet girls from our Community took Julie out to a yummy dinner at La Duni and they all really enjoyed the quality girl time that was much needed in many of our lives.  Thank you girls for being such a wonderful support to us and our growing family! Y'all are the best!

Julie's amazing Co-Leader of our Sophomore girls, Cori, threw a Baby "Sprinkle" party for us last night.  The girls had a blast making Julie feel small as they stuffed their shirts with balloons, ate baby food, went on a scavenger hunt around the house, created bubble gum babies, took their prediction of the day/weight/name of Baby 2, and prayed of our family and our boys.  Such sweet girls and we are so grateful to have them (and their families in our lives!)



Caleb's Kidney Update

Monday was a long but good day!!  Caleb had a VCUG (Voiding Cystourethrogram is an x-ray examination of the bladder and lower urinary tract by putting a die through a catheter into his bladder and watching the flow). 

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am (with a very empty stomach), at 9 am had a renal sonogram to measure the size of his kidneys, and at 10:15 am had the VCUG (which he was sedated for).  We were finally released at 11:15 am and had time for a quick bite to eat at Brother's Pizza (Caleb's favorite-he would have eaten an entire pizza if we let him but we were told to go slow in giving him food).  Caleb took a quick nap in the car on the way to the urologist for our appointment at 1:00.  We heard a glowing report that he still has an enlarged kidney, but that is something his little body will grow into.  We were told that we could take him off the antibiotic that has helped to reduce urinary tract infections (which he has been on his entire life).  Dr. Strand recommended he stay on the Miralax to keep things flowing until he is potty trained.  He wants to see us in 6 months to double check the progress but this is far better than we expected!!! Praise the Lord!

Caleb was a trooper--there were only a few hard parts in the day: getting the oxygen level from his finger, sitting still for the sonogram, and wearing the mask over his face to receive the sedation.  He fortunately, came out of the anesthesia really well and was incredibly brave despite being hungry, confused, and able to understand a whole lot more than when he was a baby.

Thank you all for continuing to ask for updates, for praying for healing, and for supporting us through this long road.  Again, we just thank the Lord for his provision, comfort, healing, and the medical team that served us.