The first days...

I had forgotten how completely exhausting the first days of life are. In some ways it seems so cruel, how much healing and adjusting my body is experiencing, all while getting only a couple hours of sleep at a time. But both Chris and I agree, the blessing of having Caleb here far exceeds the hardships of these first days.

It truly is amazing to see our family of five together. The girls absolutely adore their little brother. They are eager to help, eager to look at all his little parts and smother him with love. What I appreciate the most is how incredibly patient the girls have been with Chris and I as we figure out how to navigate our daily life with new born in tow.

Caleb changes so much every day. His face gets fuller, his head less pointy and his eyes open up more.

We've all enjoyed taking inventory of his little parts. He has amazing long fingers and toes and when his was born his finger nails were so long we joked that they looked like talons. He has the sweetest pouty lips and likes to tuck his hands up under his chin when he sleeps.

Chris' mom came and stayed with us the first day Caleb was home. It was such a blessing to have her here and to have her help with the girls. She's such a wonderful grandma, always so loving and attentive to the kids. After dinner, she and Ella played hair dresser while we all brainstormed middle names for Caleb.

We've had the name Caleb chosen from very early on in the pregnancy, but for whatever reason, we had a very hard time settling on a middle name. Chris and I really wanted it to be the right name, a name that would grow with him and be meaningful in some way.

After making our list and consulting other members of the family, we finally chose a middle name for our little guy...



...Caleb Alexander Frerichs.

Caleb and Chris have the same intials, C.A.F. My hope is that Chris will be a man who Caleb looks up to, and strives to be like. My hope is that they will share many passions and adventures together and that their shared monogram becomes symbolic of a deep bond between father and son....



Already I see a bond there.

Kalai and Ella are staying with my parents this weekend and Chris and I are savoring every moment of this one-on-one time with Caleb. What a gift Caleb is to us. It's hard to believe he's only been here for four days, because I can't really remember what it was like before he got here.

Thanks for checking in on us. I can't tell you how loved we feel right now. :)

He's here!

What a day!

Caleb arrived at 2:34 a.m. after an intense, but efficient labor. He's a good sized baby boy at 8lbs. and 1oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. He's a good nurser and a great cuddler. Having a cold wipe on his bottom is the only thing he's really cried about today.

Of course we are all in love. Chris' mom is here, which is such a treat. We have been taking pictures through out the day, but we'r all ready for bedtime, so I will post those tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for your love and excitement over our newest family member. I think he's pretty special :)

Still waiting...

Caleb's due date, October 31st, has come and gone and we are all as anxious as ever. This past week we have busied ourselves with various things, a lot of walks, fun family outings, sewing projects and some much needed yard work. And now we are really going nuts because there is nothing left to do!

Last Wednesday our dear friend, Auntie Nikki, made a special trip up from Oregon to stay with us over the weekend, with the hope she would be here when Caleb was born. Nikki has been such a special person in my life since high school and has also been a special person in the life of my children from day one. She was the first person to come visit us in the hospital after Kalai was born and she was actually there with us at Ella's birth. She is the best Auntie two little girls could ever ask for, and she takes the job very seriously. I am so very thankful for her!

Halloween was a very full day. Nikki and I started it with a walk down to the farmer's market. Then she took the girls to a movie and Chris and I took another walk. At that point in the afternoon I had started to have contractions every five minutes or so lasting nearly a minute. We called our midwife to give her a heads up and started getting the kids ready for trick-or-treating. We were joined by two of our favorite friends, Willa and Roza. Willa and Ella were fairies and ironically (honestly we didn't plan it) Kalai was an angle and Roza was a little devil. Too cute!

Our neighborhood goes crazy at Halloween. We get hundreds of trick-or-treaters and some people go all out on the decorating. This house was one of the best. Spooky!

By the time we got the kids home and in bed my contractions started to subside. By 11:00 they had dropped to every 10-15 minutes, and I figured I should just go to bed. In the end we got a trick in stead of our treat on Halloween. As Ella has so wisely concluded, "all boys are tricksters." Apparently Caleb is no exception.

November 1st was a beautiful day and we took the kids for a bike ride around Lake Padden.

Chris, Nik and I were close behind to pick them off the ground, give them a little push up the hills, and to give them a lot of verbal encouragement to keep going. Ella just learned how to ride a two wheeler last month so she was a little timid when it came to the hills. But they both made it around the lake with a minimal amount of crying and screaming.

Unfortunately, Caleb decided Nov. 1st wasn't his birthday either. This morning we had an appointment with our midwife who said that I'm 3 centimeters dialated. Yeah! I have had a few contractions sprinkled throughout the day, but nothing to get excited over. I'm staying optimistic though, it's only 10:00 and there is still the night ahead of us. Nikki leaves tomorrow, and it is my hope that she'll get to meet Caleb in person before she leaves.

And needless to say Chris and I are SO ready to meet our little man...we actually think we'll sleep better once he's here! :)

It's so hard to be patient.

Waiting...

Dear Caleb,

When will you arrive? We are all so anxious to meet you, to see your sweet face and hold you in our arms. Family and friends have been calling, your grandmas and grandpas are on high alert and so much has already been done to celebrate your upcoming birth. You have no idea how much love awaits you...

I thought for sure you were coming last night. My body was achy, you are positioned so low and I had finally packed our bag. At bedtime we told your sisters that if I went into labor, we'd wake them up in the middle of the night to take them to a friend's house. But the night proved to be uneventful and when you sisters woke up this morning they were disapointed to find your bassinet empty. Ella cried and said, "It's taking forever for Caleb to get here! I wanted him to get here today." Kalai put her mouth to my tummy, as she does every day, and asked "Caleb, when are you coming!?" Your sisters are so ready for you...

Your dad calls me every morning from work to see if I have anything to report. He's been working so hard to get our home ready for you, his son. He painted the walls and put in new floors in the bedrooms. He's sealed every crack he could find in our drafty, old house to make it as warm as possible. He talks about how excited he is to share his love of the outdoors and building and exploring with you. It was my prayer, before we even knew that you were coming, that God would bless us with a son. I know he'll be such a good daddy to you. And I know that you will grow him in ways that will be amazing...

In these last weeks of having you inside my belly, I've tried to savor every movement you make, every hiccup that comes and the incredible intimacy that only a momma and her baby can share. I have wondered what you will look like, what your temperment will be like, how you will change our family. And I have thanked God again and again for you, a wonderful blessing, a new adventure, a new chapter in our life...

For months now I have busied myself organizing your things, making our home more cozy and comfortable and planning the best I can for your arrival. But now I'm ready. I'm ready to stop being busy preparing and start the journey of knowing you. I'm ready to see you, hold you and watch you grow. I'm ready to share you with your Dad and sisters and all of our loved ones. And quite honestly, while it has been an honor to carry you for these past 9 months, I'm ready to have my body back...

Son, I'm ready when you are :)

All my love,

Mom

Ella's first day of preschool

I can't begin to tell you how EXCITED Ella was to start preschool this week. She has been patiently waiting for this moment for months now. Ella began talking about going to school not long after she turned 3. And when we found out we were pregnant her desire to go to school grew even more because "all big sisters go to school."

This past spring I decided to take Ella to check out the preschool at the church just down the road from our house. The night before our visit I told her it was very important that she went right to sleep because we were going to visit preschool the next day. We didn't hear a peep from her that night. The next morning I got out of the shower and heard Ella running around the house yelling my name. At that point in time, it normally took a lot of coercing to get Ella out of her pjs in the morning, but when I step out of the bathroom I found her running around completely naked yelling "Mom! We need to hurry! Help me get dressed so we can go to school!" We both enjoyed our visit to Little Epistles preschool and decided that it would be the perfect place for her the following fall. Ella of course thought she'd get to return the next day. You can imagine her disapointment whe I told her she'd have to wait 4 more months until fall time and school started again.

So Ella has been patiently waiting for the leaves to start to fall from the trees. Needless to say, on Tuesday morning she was the happiest 3 year old on the block because her first day of preschool had finally arrived!

With her new back pack and luch box all ready to go, we set out on our convenient 1-block walk to school. Daddy even swung by just as we were leaving to give Ella a big hug before school. (She really liked that.) I told Ella I would miss her and that I would be so lonely without her at home with me. She gave me a sympathetic look and said, "Don't worry mommy, you have Caleb. And I'll come home. I promise."

When we arrived Ella got right to work at one of the stations set up by the teachers. In between colors she checked out the classroom and all of the kids that were arriving. The preschool is so bright and happy, a perfect place for kids to play and learn. And her teachers are so kind and friendly. Her class is small, only 9 kids, and Ella is one of two girls. She didn't seem to be too concerned about most of her classmates being boys. They are more her speed anyway.

They start every day with circle time. Ella sat on the "E" because that's her letter. Ethan was a little upset that Ella got to the "E" first. Hopefully she will be good about sharing her letter. The teacher sang a song about a bee to help the kids introduce themselves. Ella was the first to yell out, "my name is E-L-L-A." "And what does that spell?" her teacher asked. "Ella!" I'm happy to see Ella seems to have no problem speaking up and participating in class.

I don't think Ella could have been any happier sitting on the rug, singing songs with her teacher. She let me go without a second glance, eager to play with her new friends at her new school. She attends preschool twice week, which means every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I find myself in a very quiet house with some extra time on my hands. I'm definitely appreciating it knowing that in about 6 weeks I'll have Caleb to keep me company.

I just can't believe that my baby has started preschool! The time goes by so fast...

First day of 3rd grade

Can you believe how big Kalai is?! This summer a definite change occured in our little girl. Not only has she grown taller, but she also started caring about her clothes and changing her earrings every day. She's become much more chatty and has started talking back. She'd do anything to have a sleep over - at her friend's house - and would watch silly Disney channel pre-teen drama all day if you let her. I wasn't really prepared for this change, but here we are on the first day of 3rd grade, and Kalai just seems so much more grown up to me.

We all had a great morning. It started bright and early at 5:15. Chris and I have decided to wake up early during the week so we can have some much needed conversation, a cup of coffee and some bible study time together before we start our day. While it was very challenging to get out of bed, it was so worth it. The girls were up by 7:20 and easily fell right into their new morning routine. Kalai and I walked and Ella rode her scoot bike the three blocks to school.

Kalai was excited to be returning to Columbia Elementary. Since kindergarten she's started every grade at a new school, so it was nice for her, and the rest of us, to be returning to a familiar place, faces and friends. Kalai's new teacher is Ms. Smith, who I have heard really great things about, and Kalai has a few of her favorite class mates from last year in her class again.

On the flip side of an excited first day of 3rd grade, it was a lonely ride home for Ella. Ella will be starting preschool this year but not until next Tuesday so she's having to be very patient. She and Kalai had a lot of fun being home together this summer that it was hard for Ella to be without her sissy today. I made plans for a trip to the library and assured her that we'd have a lot of fun together....

...but she gave me the "I miss sissy face" and rode on quietly. We ended up having a fine day and 3:30 rolled around before we knew it. Because Kalai didn't have any homework we played at the school for a while before heading home for dinner. And amazingly, the kids were in bed by 7:30, just as scheduled :) I'd say it was a very successful first day of school...and now this tired momma is ready for bed. Hopefully tomorrow will go as smoothly as today did.

The last day of summer

Well, I'm back from my spring/summer hiatus. I guess I got a little distracted by all of the beautiful weather we have had here in the Northwest. We had such a great summer filled with many fun memories... all of which I will do my best to share as I slowly go through the mess of pictures I have dumped on to my computer. I honestly can't believe that summer is over and the kids will be heading back to school tomorrow.

But it is true, fall is here. Last friday the wind started to blow, the dark clouds moved in...

...and when we woke up on Saturday the leaves had fallen from the trees, covering our yard and side walk.

The sudden change of season inspired our girls and and the neighbor boys to get to work raking and sweeping all of the leaves into piles. It didn't take long for these little entrepenuers to see the earning potential of their yard cleaning services. They decided their business plan was to save the earth by creating and selling compost created from the leaves they collected. They plan on giving all of the profit to the poor and to the pound. As of today they have made $9.00 from the neighbors. Kalai of course is the boss and is in charge of collecting and keeping the money (you can see the money bag in her hands above.) The kids have been so excited by their business venture that they get right to work when the neighbor boys show up at our doorstep at 9 am and work all day. And today they asked me to make them business cards.

It will be fun to see how far they go with this idea. Of course tomorrow school starts which will significantly cut into their work week, but think of all the leaves that will accumulate by the weekend. It's so inspiring to see them work hard and be so eager to be generous with what they have earned.