Too cute!

 I forgot to mention in the last few posts that I'm back to work. My first day was two weeks ago and it went really well. I did a whole lot better than what I thought I would. Getting ready in the morning went fine until I had my shoes on and two of my favorite guys staring at me, Mike and Brod. That's when the tears began. I was able to compose myself by the time I got to the hospital, but I saw a friend and the tears returned. I was fine after a half hour because the floor was crazy busy and I was not left with much time to think about my sweet son. Each day has gotten easier to leave. For me it's been nice to work. I'm only gone two days a week but it's been enough time away that when I return I'm excited about changing diapers again :) Also I'm able to not take my time with Brod for granted and truly cherishing every minute with him. I love being a nurse and I'm so glad I get to continue my job. Because the first few weeks of B being here were so difficult, I thought returning to work would only make me feel sorry for the new mothers. Yea no, not true. In fact it only makes me want more babies! Imagine that :) Stay tune I guess........

 We don't have pics yet, but last weekend Mike and I bought our first real "toy" a pop up camper! We've been wanting one for a couple years now and got real serious the last month. Well on Sunday a new Craigslist ad popped up and it was our dream camper (honestly) for 1/2 our budget! Too good to be true! So Aunt Meghan watched B as Mike and I drove 4 hours each way to pick it up. Friday the inside of it will be bleached and cleaned like crazy, some minor repair work and then hopefully in two weeks it's first camping debut :) We can't wait!

 The Brodster has a new toy, and goodness does he view this saucer as his job. He has lots of playing to do. He is beginning to make purposeful movements which has been great to watch.

 He also loves his jumper thing. We don't think he knows yet that he gets to control himself in this. He's always so surprised when he bounces or swings around.

He has begun to grab things in his hands! This is his first ever picture of him carrying a ball! :) One step closer to him throwing a ball for Trig :)

Doctor visit

Our sweet little man had his 2 month (yea a bit behind considering he's 11 weeks) doctor visit today and is growing like the cutest weed you've ever seen! He is officially 11 pounds 10 ounces and 23 inches long! He has gone from the 10% tile in height and weight to the 25% tile! We are so proud of our little man :) He received three shots today and I think momma cried more. Just thinking about it makes my heart split into two. Brod was so brave! Everything else checked out perfect! Next visit we'll discuss beginning rice cereal, so crazy!

 Mike and Brod were having a deep conversation I guess. I love how he loves staring at his daddy! This pic reminds me again of how much Brody has taught us about God's love for us. In the Bible it says to take on a childlike faith, we have learned what that childlike faith is. Brod trusts us to take care of his EVERY need without even thinking about it. Here, he is listening to his dad's every word. It's just insane thinking how much I love Brody. I would do absolutely ANYTHING for this kid of mine but yet....God loves Him and me more than I love Brody.  It's so hard to wrap my brain around that kind of love the Father has for us! Also with his shots today. Even though it hurt me so much more than Brody, I allowed them to happen to save him from diseases/illness later on. So many times the Lord allows us to go through hardships/trails that hurt deeply but He has a plan later on down the road that we have to trust. And just how I swept Brod up as soon as those shots were complete and held him so tightly, the Lord sweeps us up and holds us in His arms. Thank you Lord for teaching us so much through our son!

 Brody having some Trigger time :)

 We thought it was time to ditch the car seat in the stroller and try just the stroller. Brod loved being out and seeing everything! Yes, he's a little flimsy and needing to be held up with blankets, but oooohhhh so cute!

 Such a sweet face!

 

I think this may be the 1st all family picture taken. We've attempted them sooner, but it's just way too hard to get 2 pups and a baby focused long enough.

Great times

The last few weeks, well 9 to be exact, our sweet little man hasn’t enjoyed naptime one bit. He would wake up crying after 20-30 minutes. Words can’t express the amount of frustration this brought! I began to hate any mother’s advice on napping when your child naps because I thought, “How do you nap when your child is screaming?” Anyways…..Mike found the cure. We never swaddled B with his arms in because we thought he hated it. Well that was the code for naptime and bedtime. Turns out he loves it and has taken on the saying sleeping like a baby :) I have had a few very regenerating naps lately also :)

We also found Brody his first pair of sweet little newborn sized jeans! He has 0-3 month ones but they don’t fit yet. Let’s just say he was one stylish boy at church Sunday. 

Brod and I head to my sister-in-law’s house Mondays. His cousin (my niece), Ashlyn, LOVES baby Broody (no typo, that’s what she calls him). She made this picture for him and insisted he look at it while he slept:) Too adorable! It now hangs on our refrigerator.

The 3 of us ate at Red Lobster tonight. MMMMM so good! Mike ordered some crab legs and Brod couldn’t stop staring at them :) He was either freaked out by them or he was dreaming of the day he gets to eat them :)

Side note now....our little man is sleeping a solid 8-9 hours at night! Our newest schedule for him that started this week is 9 am to 9pm. He is eating every 4 hours. He does wake up at about 6 am to be fed and then right down till 9. We are so proud of him :)

Hollywood came calling.......

Yesterday was an eventful day, to say the least. You may remember back in August I blogged about a movie being filmed in the 'ville starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Olga K (can never remember the last name). They were back in town over this weekend to finish up filming. I had felt like EVERYONE except me had seen or met any three of these people, I had given up all hope....until I got the phone call ;)

Some friends of ours called us saying that the crew was filming in their front yard and Ben was sitting with Olga in on their sidewalk! We of course quickly loaded up Brod and headed over to the shoot. Thankfully we knew the police officer patrolling the barricade and she allowed us to enter and precede to our friends home. I spent the next 1/2 hour in dream land watching the filming and Ben just hang out not even 20 feet from the window! A knock was heard on the door and a woman from the crew was asking to use our friend's restroom. She came in, did her business and as she was leaving spotted Brody. I told her all about him and she said, "Do you mind if Olga holds him and we get a shot of him?" Okay so mind you I had no clue at this moment who Olga even was. All I was thinking was this lady is going to take me to the crew so of course you can get a shot of  my son! She took me right outside, just feet away from filming and introduced me to everyone! Came to find out this was the directors wife!!! I kept telling myself, "Act cool, act cool, act cool!" Then.......Ben walked by!!!! She looked at me and asked if I knew who Ben was. I took a big gulp, I know my heart stopped for a second, composed myself and said, "Umm, well yea, I'm a fan of his" Remember all cool though :) She then pulled me along saying, "Let's go meet him". He had just gotten into a van to be taken to another shoot but she opened the door and said, "Ben I would like you to meet my friend Ashley and her boy Brody." This was my moment to shine. My moment I had waited for and dreamt about for months. I had practiced and rehearsed all that I would say to him from the moment I heard he was in the 'ville. I was ready!................YEA RIGHT!!! Nothing I rehearsed came out. There was no inviting him to dinner, there was no inviting him to church, there was no autograph signed no picture taken no message for him to give to his wife, Jennifer, none of that! Bummer! No regrets though. I reached out my hand (yes our hands touched!) and welcomed him to Bartelsville. He asked about Brody and thought it was cool that his birthday was New Years Day, and that's about it. The director quickly closed the door and the driver took him away. I stayed cool and collected as my heart was pounding and my head was screaming, "I SHOOK BEN'S HAND!!!! AWWWWWW!!!" The directors wife brought me back to the filming as we watched a lady being shot. That lady then walked over to Brody and said, "It's baby time!" It was now I finally realized they wanted to film Brody for the movie!!!! Could this day get any better!!??? I handed her to Brody and taught her some of his favorite positions of being held. As she walked closer to the camera I whispered to her assistant person, "Who is this actress?" She told me Olga (something) and she was one of the leads in the film. I felt like I should have known her so my questions ended there and knew I would Google her when we got home. For the next 30 minutes I got to be right behind the camera as Olga held B being filming away. It was everything I imagined Hollywood would be! B was terrific, a born star! The second he caught gglimpse of the camera his eye's came wide open and he "did his thang" :) Everyone was in love, especially his VERY proud parent's! After filming I spent some time talking with Olga about Brody, about her start, Bartlesville and her home in Ukraine, she was very friendly. We got some pictures with her and Brody and then we left. Of course on cloud nine!

When we got home I Googled this Olga girl and oh my word! Little side note first off: Mike is a HUGE James Bond fan, HUGE! I've never liked these movies at all and have told him from the getko our children will never watch these movies with you or get involved with them how you do (we own the entire collection by the way). Okay back to the story. Our Google results revealed that not only has Olga stared in many top leading rolls, she was the lead girl in the last James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, AS THE BOND GIRL!!! I thought Mike was going to cry when he realized he had met and his son was held and filmed with a Bond girl!!!! A small dream of his had come true and he didn't even know at that moment! He had so many Bond questions he could have asked her. But it's okay....we still met her! Mike has walked around all day saying, "My son was held by a Bond girl!" And I've walked around all day saying, "I met Ben Affleck!"

So there you have it, our brush with fame. It will for sure be a day we'll never forget about and have so much fun telling Brody about and showing him the pics :)

P.S: we can't post the pics of B with Olga till the movie comes out

As of lately

Just some pictures to enjoy from the last week :)

 We got Brody a Bumbo Chair and he loves it. He looks like a little man in it :)

 

A friend of mine, Heidi, had her first little son 5 weeks after Brody. We've had a great time getting our sons together and "surviving" this new motherhood chapter of our lives.

A great lunch at McAlister's

We are still trying to get used to this sleep deprivation thing, but at least the pictures are priceless! :)

8 weeks

Sweet little Brody you are 8 weeks old now! It's so hard to believe how quickly you are growing!

• You are such a happy boy while your awake. You love smiling and talking to us with your "coos" and "oos"
• You love laying on your back and kicking your hands and feet
• You love looking at pictures in books during story time
• Your not a fan of tummy time even though we still make you do it :) Your neck is getting so strong we don't need support it any more
• You are nursing every 3 hours during the day and daddy gives you a bottle (filled with mommas milk of course) twice day
• You are usually asleep for the night by 10:45 pm and have been making it until 5 or 5:30 am! I rock you while singing a worship song or two, we pray together and then down you go (bedtime has become one of my favorite times in the day)
• Your not a fan of nap time during the day. You get a nap about 2 hours after your feeding and stay asleep for only 30 minutes! Your a crazy boy! So unfortunately we let you stay in your crib the remaining 30 minutes until your nap time should be over to try to teach you the need for sleep. Your not very happy about this :(
• You sometimes take your pacifier or you sometimes take your fist. Overall though, you don't need them
• You just started wearing size 1 diapers (they look huge on you!)
• You weigh 10 1/2 pounds and are 22 inches long!
• You love staring at Gunner and Trigger. Gunner adores your and Trig just wants you to play with him so badly! All in due time :)
• You love walks in the stroller and being outside (even though the weather has prevented us from being out a lot)

We love you so much sweet boy!

Results

After delivery my placenta was sent off for testing because it looked wimpy and dead. We got the results back last week and they found nothing! No visible blood or anything else they look for. So unfortunately we don’t have an exact answer as to why it stopped nourishing sweet little Brody. I’m going to have my blood tested one more time in a couple weeks and just re-check the clotting factors (or something like that) and maybe that will give some more insight, but who really knows. We do have some answers as to what that means with future pregnancies. I’m going to be monitored like a hawk from the first visit. Doctor will be performing ultrasounds during every visit monitoring the exact growth of little one, I will be sent for non-stress tests at the hospital during the 3^rd trimester to monitor how little one is doing and more than likely will not carry past 38 weeks. I asked doctor if he would have been monitoring Brody that intensely how early he would have taken us. He said he wouldn’t have hesitated at 34 weeks (being sent to Tulsa of course) but for sure by 37 weeks. That again reminded us of how the Lord was holding sweet Brody in his hands and taking care of his every need! Oh how we praise you Father for our little guy that you were so faithful in giving to us!

These are just cute pictures on including :) Everyone loves a naked baby!

Brody loves looking at these monkeys on the wall. In the middle of him crying, we can lay him on his changing table and he quickly quiets himself down by just gazing at his friends on the wall :) He has lots more, however, we havn't found the right tape to keep them on the wall.  

Two totally different days

Yesterday was a LONG day with a very not happy baby. When I exhausted all ideas to try to make Brody happy, I failed miserably! So....what else could I do but grab the camera and capture some of his not greatest moments ;)

 

He is still so adorable!

Then, today happened and we had a very happy baby! :)



 Sorry, I didn't turn the pic. I LOVE LOVE LOVE a happy boy!

6 weeks

The snow is almost melted now with the 60 degree weather we've been having! Oh Oklahoma, how the weather changes so quick! We've been having lots of fun here at the Kaelber home. Tons of smiling and cooing going on (also lots of grunting). Just when we think we couldn't love Brody more, we wake up the next day realized we really do love him more than the day before :) His sleeping patterns are getting better. His night time feeding is at 11:00 pm putting him asleep between 11:30-12:15ish. We let him sleep as long as he wants and lately hasn't been waking up till between 3:30-5:30 am. Mike gives him a bottle and then back to sleep till his 7:00 am feeding with me. He loves laying on his back kicking his legs and arms. He loves staring at faces, his monkeys that hang on his wall, and pages in books. He hates his carseat but as soon as the car begin moving is sound asleep :) The only way he likes his swing is if we put it on the highest level! It looks as if he may fly out, but he loves it :) Oh our son! His gas is getting a bit better. My newest concern is that he may have some reflux issues. I've called the doctor and we may  take him in this week for it if he doesn't get better. He LOVES his cousin, Ashlyn. Loves staring at her and smiling as she sings sweet love songs to him. He's just a sweet happy boy who we love so much!

He enjoys tummy time. His neck is getting so strong!

Aunt Meghan wins the prize for first babysitter. She came over the other night while Mike and I went out for dinner. They had tons of fun together! It was fun also to get out with my husband, even though all we talked about was the Brodster.

He is just growing so big! He's out of his premie clothes and now in newborn clothes! He loves being in just his diaper, so much freedom I guess :)

Days of playing are long and exhausting, but so worth the snuggle at the end :)

We dedicated Brody Sunday at church. Mike has been excited for months to be able to do it. He did a great job as he handed Him over to the Lord and asking the church to pray for us as we raise him.

Such a sweet boy!

"Say the word and I'm gone..."

"Just say we are moving and I'll start packing" are the words Mike woke up to me saying this morning. We woke up with another 12 inches of snow this morning and everything closed....AGAIN!!!! Maybe I'm going stir crazy with staying inside day after day with a newborn, but I'm ready for sun, my bathing suite (I'm not sure anyone else would be ready for me in a bathing suite), the ocean, and sand between my toes. I went on a "picture vacation" just now and have stared at this pic from Kauai for awhile now. It encompasses everything I want to be doing right now.

I'm sick of the cold

I'm sick of the snow

I'm sick of being inside

I'm sick of my house being so messy

I'm sick of being tired

I'm sick to my stomach that due to 2 weeks of snow baby announcements haven't even come in the mail yet because the mail truck can't even get out! (You'll probably get your announcement once he's walking!)

I'm sick of Wal-Mart running out of food (yes true story, good thing I produce my son's milk)

Now to our many blessings that I will choose to focus on today:

I have a warm home that keeps us safe

If I had to go out we have 4 wheel drive and could maybe get around

Mike has been home A TON lately due to the church being closed!

We have a sweet little son that loves and adores us

Our sweet son has started smiling this week and cooing

Our sweet pups still love us even though they don't get worked out much lately

We have an awesome God who continues to pour out His blessings on us today!

1 month and a blizzard

We are surviving the effects of Oklahoma's 2nd EVER blizzard with 15 inches of snow in our backyard! We've been spending our days inside by the fire snuggling and napping :)

I layed Brody in our bed real quick so I could go to the bathroom (don't worry I can see him from our bathroom). I was just gone for maybe 2 minutes when I found him sound asleep like this.

Sweet man has been sleeping in his crib at night! It was a bit hard on me "letting him go" but I think it's for the best for everyone. Every night he's doing a little better with sleeping longer and longer (we are so proud of him). He loves sleeping with his hands raised in the air, that's how we know he's sound asleep.

We haven't given him a fohawk yet and thought after his bath would be the perfect time. He's just too cute. Bath time is fun as he loves it! The highlight is always when he pees. It's actually kinda picturesque. He has fun letting it "fly" and it leaves Mike and I on the edge of our seat never knowing when it's going to come :)

Last night this is how the Brodster decided to fall asleep! When he is crying, we've learned, he really likes to be raised in the air. After about 5-10 good reps he's off in sleep land ;) We will be giving Brody the credit for our very in shape arms here soon :)

Lot and lots of snow here in the 'ville! We had to take Brody out for his 2nd snow 1st blizzard. Don't worry we were outside for a total of 2 maybe 3 seconds and aunt Meghan was waiting inside with a warm blanket and snugly arms. Brody was just a bit taller then the snow!

Aunt Meghan made this way fun 1 month thing (I'm not real sure what to call it). We saw it in a magazine and it seemed like a fun idea. We hope to take pics like this every month.

The pups have loved the snow. At first during the blizzard they weren't fans. They just didn't think they could go out in the snow. So Mike shoveled a pathway for them every couple hours. Once the wind stopped we got the ball out and set them loose :) The snow goes up to their bellies!

The ball would obviously get lost and Trig would shove his face in the snow looking all over for it. We thought for sure he would never find it.

This pic was taken on accident. This was the first glimpse of Trig right after finding his ball that was lost. He was searching for about 5 minutes and then with his head lifted proudly he brought the ball back! We couldn't believe his determination, we were VERY proud of him!

All in all it's been very fun being snowed in, we have no complaints. The church has been closed meaning Mike has gotten to stay home, which we love! I keep telling him because the driveway and side roads are not cleared he can't go to work tomorrow. Yes, I know we are both from the Midwest and can handle the snow, but I do look for any and every excuse for him to always stay home :)