A Lot About Us

A Lot About Us

About Me

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We are the Caldwells. Justin, Nicole, our little guys, Grayson, Baylor, and Rowan, and our angel daughters, Faith and Avery.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

JOIN ME



Please join me in prayer today for "N" and "M" my friends who are hoping for a successful pregnancy today after their third IVF procedure (2nd FET). You can follow their story here.

Monday, January 24, 2011

GRAYSON

It has been a long time since I did a blog full of updates on my oldest son. Over the weekend he hit the 2 years, 9 months old mark. I can't believe we are 3 short months away from having a 3 year old in our house. Today he is sick. He has a bad cough and a fever. He has been sick since Friday. So today he is laid up on the couch watching movies quietly. That is a far cry from his typical level of activity. Yes, this guy keeps our lives entertaining.

He probably weighs no more than 26 pounds and is as skinny as a minute (a nice southern term to make my non-southern readers giggle). He is getting rather tall and seems to have gone through some sort of growth spurt in the last few months. It is becoming VERY difficult to find pants that stay up on his skinny waist without looking like he is on the way to a flood. Yes, we have tried several varieties of adjustable waist pants and in most instances they sit on his waist but look strangely baggy. It is also getting harder to find shirts that have long enough sleeves but fit around the next and shoulders. I try and try to get calories in him. He eats pretty well for a 2 year old and loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which I LOAD with peanut butter. Even with adding extra calories where I can and still feel like I am training a healthy eater, he stays skinny. I know I was that way as a child so I don't really worry about it.

Grayson has the sweetest personality. He is very tender-hearted and kind. He loves to learn about new things and is constantly asking "why". He loves to help me in the kitchen and regularly askes to get "up counter" to help when I am preparing dinner or baking. He got his own vacuum cleaner for Christmas because he loves to help me clean. He is a great big brother and often entertains Baylor while I am getting things done around the house. No one can make Baylor laugh as hard as Grayson.

He is currently going to preschool 3 half days per week. Beginning in February he will be attending 5 half days per week. We have been on the waiting list for 5 days for a while so I am happy the spot has opened up. I think the consistency of being there every day will be good for him. He has started going to chapel at school and has transitioned to the preschool wing for Sunday school. In both places he is learning lots of bible stories and is starting to ask a lot of questions about God and Jesus. I pray daily that I am being the teacher I need to be for him on these subjects. I know the questions are only going to get harder to answer.

He says really funny things all the time and on most occasions he doesn't even mean to be funny. Just last night, after watching a Pater Pan movie, he commented on the fact that the people could fly. Justin asked him if he could fly. His reply, "I can't fly! I don't have wings. I just have some hands." He followed that with, "Dem are for waving." While he has been sick he keeps referencing his sickness as the "cough in his mouth". He will say things like, "I don't want to give brother this cough in my mouth so I will sit over here" or "I don't feel good. I keep having this cough in my mouth." His sweet, sweet words keep us laughing. He continues to be one of the greatest blessings I have ever received.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

STARTING MY NEW YEAR OVER

Things have been crazy. Since Christmas things haven't slowed down. I love the holidays. It is my favorite time of year, but by the end I typically welcome the New Year along with the slow down it typically brings. This year has been different.

Between snow, ice, sickness, work craziness, and a million other things I feel like we are still in the middle of the holiday whirlwind. I had few resolutions for the new year and I haven't even been able to get those going. The biggest problem is that I look back over the last few weeks and I couldn't tell you what I have been doing. It has been a total blur.

I think the biggest issues have been sickness and snow/ice days. I am a one who thrives with a routine and a schedule. We haven't had a typical week since Christmas. The week after Christmas it snowed and Justin and I went to Orlando for State's bowl game. By the way, that was a totally awesome trip and was made even better by visiting with our friends Kacey and Chris. I just love that girl! Then it was the New Year and we had some family Christmas celebrating left to do. The week after that the boys went back to preschool in the middle of the week. Since they didn't go on Monday and my office was closed that Monday, that week was off. The week after we had an ice storm. This past week the preschool was closed for the Martin Luther King holiday, Justin had to travel to Georgia, and THEN all three fellas in my house got sick in the middle of preparing for my office Christmas party that was last night. Yes, Christmas party. It was rescheduled after the prediction of snow in December resulted in cancellation. Next week? Yeah, the preschool is closed tomorrow for a teacher workday so again it will not be a typical week.

What is the point in all this rambling you ask? Well, I am declaring that February 1 will be my New Year Re-Do. I will start my resolutions then and hopefully the new month and a chance at a New Year repeat will bring the normalcy I was hoping for in January. No, we will not celebrate on January 31st at midnight the way we did on December 31st. That would just be crazy. I am just hoping the idea of it will get us back on track and bring back the routine that makes me feel happy and content.