Videostravaganza Day 5

Here's Caleb attempting to crawl. Sorry for the fuzzy picture; my phone doesn't take great video in low light.

Definitely more of the motivation and drive Mandi says is in this kid in abundance.

Scott's career as an architect

This is what Scott did during the program part of the ward Christmas party. He definitely enjoyed running wild with the other kids during dinner, and once the singing and trumpet-playing started, the rest of the children were all successfully corralled into being reverent. But not Scott, no sir. He still insisted on sprinting laps around the tables and loudly clanging on the volleyball standards.

So I brought him into the nursery room, or as he calls it "his church class" and we built a tower.

The hits keep coming

Caleb playing with his Grandpa Johnson. Here are some additional photos from that afternoon.

We'll sure miss the Johnsons when we move. We couldn't ask for better grandparents and aunts and uncles for our boys.

Videostravaganza week continued!

Today's video is Scott decorating the tree. We weren't sure if we should bother putting the tree up here in our Idaho Falls house, but Scott had a great time and it was a nice evening.

Videostravaganza week

This week we'll be posting a video a day from the last three weeks or so. Today's offering is Caleb trying to drink from a glass. This kid wants anything we're eating, and is becoming increasingly frustrated that he can't eat and drink everything we do. Reminds us of another little boy we know.

Such aggression at such a young age. Or as Mandi says, focus. Determination. Drive.

Bonus Scott stories!

1. Scott after fake coughing: "Mommy, I got a throat in my mouth!"

2. His latest adjective is "beautiful." As in "Mommy, what a beaauuutiful dinner!" or "A beeaaauutiful band-aid to feel me better" or "a beeeaaauutiful drink of water."

3. "Dashing through the snow, on a one horse open sleigh, o'er the fields we go, laughing all the way! Ha ha ha bobs on tailing ring....." Jingle Bells is currently his favorite song. Any song we hear is definitely Jingle Bells.

4. Today he told Mandi he wanted a sticker not on the back of his hand, but his wrist. What two-year-old differentiates?

5. Thanks to a recent tirade of Mandi's after not being able to drive into our garage, as far as Scott is concerned, the snow is now stupid.

I want that

{insert lady from Napoleon Dynamite's voice here}

Dear Santa,

Could I have this for Christmas? And a 20x28 frame from DI, spray painted black, to put it in? Don't worry about writing in the information, Santa, because I know your small-muscle coordination is infamously poor. I'll do it, and it will be fun (find the image download here).

And while we're on the subject, here's a couple other things I'd like/need:

Thanks, Santa.

Love,

Mandi

Do you hear what I hear?

It's viral marketing time! But it's for a company I love, so I'm more than happy to share. :)

In the past, we've tried emailing yearly updates and mailed Christmas cards separately, but this year I'm excited to combine the two with one of these great designs from Shutterfly:

I like the modern color palette of this one.

This one simplifies the sometimes-gigantic task of writing the family letter to ten top things. Simplicity: I love it. Less stress for me. :)

This design has more space for text for those of us who can get a little long-winded (ahem).

But all-in-all, you can't beat Shutterfly's site. It's great to navigate, and you can limit your search of their literally hundreds of designs (and I'm just talking Christmas cards here, not even including all their other cards and other products, like these awesome calendars) by features such as color, number of photographs, and designers.

Plus, they're always running great specials. I've ordered cards from them many times, and not only has the price been very right (we're talking way less than Wal-Mart, even with shipping), but it's a personalized, high-quality keepsake that I didn't even have to leave my house for. How can you beat that?

And let's not forget the simplicity factor. You just upload your photos, choose your card design, and personalize with your text. Awesome!

Well, keep watching your mailboxes to see which design we choose. Feel free to leave your current mailing address in the comments if you'd like to receive one.

Meet Caleb Barrus

It's been so fun watching as Caleb's personality emerges.

Caleb loves loves loves his toes. They are his favorite.

Caleb really wants to sit up by himself, but he's not quite balancing yet. Soon.

Caleb has two teeth and loves bananas, likes yams, and does not prefer avocado. (oh well, more for me, I guess! :)

Caleb loves to squeal, squeak, squawk, and otherwise tell the world his story.

Scott had to get in on the picture-taking action, as well. Don't worry, that's just chocolate all over his face from dragging a dining chair over to the highest kitchen cupboard and getting into the baking supplies. No one will ever say he's not independent.

And he really wanted me to take a picture of him "taking a nap" on his bear.

Scott's newest phrase is "Nothing to worry about, Mommy!", as in:

Me: Scott, what are you doing in the kitchen?

Scott: Nothing to worry about, Mommy!

Our crazy life

Here's what's coming up for our little family:

I am in White Christmas with Playmill at the Colonial Theatre in Idaho Falls, teaching 12 hours a week at BYU-I, and teaching a growing number of private voice students at home.

Brandon has huge deadlines coming up for both magazines, a brand new mag to write for (Diesel Tech), doing freelance on the side with Demand Media, and watching the boys whenever I'm not home.

Scott is saying funny things every day, running around and screaming a lot, "reading" himself to sleep at night, and is excited to move to a house near Micah and Jonathan and to have a sandbox in the backyard.

Caleb is working on his second tooth, eating bananas, nursing great, sleeping SO wonderfully, rolling/scooting all around, and being an angel baby when he comes with me to work/rehearsal.

I have three callings at Church right now: Beehive advisor (I teach nearly every Sunday), YW music, and Ward Choir Director. Our ward is providing the music for Stake Conference next week, and the YW are singing for New Beginnings and the ward Christmas party.

We are packing to move to North Salt Lake in the middle of December. I am working on building a voice studio down there, and Brandon is looking for a different, higher-paying/additional job.

Brandon's brother, Matt, is marrying Cindy in the Draper UT Temple on Dec. 21. My brother, Daniel, is marrying Adele in the Rexburg ID Temple on Dec. 29.

I might have missed something in there--oh yeah, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nothing big.

Yeah, it's going to be a busy time. :) What are you all up to?

The Justice League: Making Halloween Safe for America

Clark Kent, turning into Superman; Wonder Woman; Batman; Aquaman.

This pumpkin meets with Batman's approval.

Aquaman still needs a little help from Wonder Woman to stand up. After all, he's stronger in the water.

Batman prefers not to wear his mask.

Random October happenings

Caleb's dorky sticking-his-tongue-out smile.

Caleb loves being bundled up like a burrito. Helps him calm down and go to sleep pretty much every time.
Mandi's cool Halloween decorations. Thanks to my mom for the strung-together Happy Halloween part.
Scott loves Caleb and does everything he can to get in his face. Caleb also loves Scott, but prefers his older brother keep his distance most of the time.

Caleb is weirded out. I love this picture.

Scott is modeling his Thomas the Tank Engine tent for the Sears catalog. He loves that thing, and asked me if I would put it up tonight so he "can hide in it."

A plaintive Scott offering a semi-deflated sailboat toy.

Scott and me tossing the ball around. I think here I'm throwing the basketball on the roof and letting it roll off. Scott thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Big news

Well, it's time to make it official: the Frozen Barrus Family will be slightly less frozen in a few months.

We're moving to the Salt Lake Valley.

The impetus for this change was Mandi's desire to get a master's degree in Opera Performance, to further her career goal of getting paid to perform and teaching on a university level.

The problem with this plan is that there is no opportunity to accomplish this goal in Idaho Falls. So we decided to move.

Mandi made a list of schools she'd like to attend, and gave me a list of the cities these schools are in.

Houston, Phoenix, Knoxville, Oklahoma City, Norman, Kansas City.

So I began the job search. I sent resumes to newspapers, magazines, radio programs and other random places where I felt my talents as a writer would be useful. I combed listings on journalismjobs.com and local job search sites in these cities. I wrote personalized cover letters for countless job openings. I talked with friends who had connections to jobs I was qualified for. This went on for months.

In the end? Bupkiss. Only two places even sent me back a response to my application, and both of those were automated.

I had known the economy was bad before I started my search, but good grief the situation is grim.

Along the way, we decided I should start looking for jobs in Utah, considering I had more connections to jobs there than anywhere else, and the University of Utah has a pretty good music program for graduate studies.

Still nothing.

Realizing we needed to move somewhere to start gaining resident status and avoid paying out-of-state tuition, we discussed the option of working from home for my current company, Harris Publishing. My boss, Brady, had spent two years working from home in Colorado a few months before I was hired, so I knew there was a precedent. In addition, there is very little I do at work that can't be done at home, and what meetings there are can be easily handled over the internet.

With that, I approached Brady and asked him what he thought. He said if it was a choice between losing me and letting me work from home, he'd choose the latter, and told me he'd speak to his boss and boss' boss.

A few days later, Brady and I met and he gave me the green light. I'd technically be classified as a freelance writer, but my pay would be the same, so it worked for me.

While technically this new arrangement meant we could live anywhere on the planet, Brady wanted me to stay within driving distance in case I did need to come back to the office for a big project or similar situation. So Utah it was.

Since then Mandi and I have been looking for housing in the Salt Lake Valley, as Mandi wants to be involved with the Hale Center Theater and eventually, the U of U.

My thoughts on the move are generally positive. Last month I celebrated my five-year anniversary of living in Idaho, which is far longer than the time I spent living on my own in Utah, both before and after my mission. And while southeast Idaho is basically Utah North, it's still different.

The biggest positive of the move is being closer to my family. My siblings are pretty much my best friends, and while Brooke is in Massachusetts and Matt is now in Rexburg, 6 out of 8 ain't bad. And then there are the many, many aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents who live along the I-15 corridor between Ogden and Provo... I'm excited to be able to visit them on a more frequent basis than the "we'reherefortheweekendsohowrethingsgreatwegottagobacknow" arrangement we've had for the past few years.

I'm also excited about getting back to the mountains. While it's not exactly Kansas here in Idaho Falls, there's nothing even close to the majesty of the Wasatch Front. They are home to me, as much as I want to deny I'm a typical Utah Mormon. :)

And then there's the aforementioned "Utah isn't as frozen as Idaho" factor. Sure, it snows in the Salt Lake Valley, a lot, but the roads get plowed and sometimes it's 50 degrees in January. When the snows come here, you don't see concrete until the spring thaw. It never gets warm enough to melt the snow off the lawns and driveways, so if you don't stay on top of your shoveling, you have a 3-inch solid layer of ice to deal with until May. It's bad.

So overall, I think this will be a good change. Moving stinks, and I am really dreading the packing-up-and-cleaning process, but it'll be worth it.

I'll have Mandi post her thoughts later.

Babies are cute

Here's a video I took of Caleb a couple nights ago. Mandi thinks he's extra expressive and smiley for a two-month-old, and I just like it when he's in a good mood.

Meanwhile, Scott is developing into even more of a chatterbox than he already was. Non-stop talking about everything from what he wants for dinner to what he did at Nana's house earlier, from the moment he wakes up until he's almost asleep. Reminds me of a certain younger sister I have at this age...

Anyway, he's cute and we're glad he's ours.

Funny Scott-isms

"Oh my peas!" (a quote from Super Why!)

"Imma gonna do it" (in response to anything we offer to help him with)

Us: What does a duck say?

Scott: Cwap, cwap! It's cwapping!

Speaking of Caleb, Scott informs me at least 20 times a day that, "he's just a liiiiiiiittle baby" :)

On Sundays, Scott gets really excited to go to "church church". Just to be clear, it's not any other kind of church, it's church church.

Scott loves to read his "Boot o' Mowman stowies" every night. The other night, he opened the book and started "reading" to himself: "And it tame to pass..."

I was talking with Scott about the First Vision; he made little cards in nursery that illustrated the story. We talked about how Joseph Smith read in the Bible, prayed, and then received a vision.

Me: Who appeared to Joseph Smith in the woods?

Scott, after much serious thought: Cookie Monster!

Scott, whenever he sneezes: Mommy, I bless youed!

Whenever Scott is touching the computer (it's off limits), I ask him what he's doing. "I'm checking my three dollar!" he usually says. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds important. :)

I often tell Scott I'm so proud of him when he accomplishes "big boy" tasks all by himself. The other night, I thanked him for letting me change his diaper (he didn't run away from me that time when I asked him to come lay down), and he said, "I'm so proud of you, Mommy."

Caleb's first pictures...and some of us, too

I love what Brandon said to me after the whole ordeal was over: "You know, family pictures aren't any fun when you're an adult, either. I remember, as a kid, thinking 'No, not family pictures again. I hate these.' But it's even worse when you're the dad, and you have to wrangle the crazy toddler!"

Yes, Brandon, it's true. But so important. :)

Our circumcision decision

Wow, I so wish this insightful post had been available when Scott was born. After much researching and pondering, we decided to leave Caleb intact, and I wish we would have done more research for Scott. But we are being the best parents we know how. :)

I don't want to judge anyone else in this matter. It's a very personal family decision. I just know that I appreciate finding information, especially from the scriptures like this. Please read it, it is very good.

Brothers

He now understands the concept that it's a baby. :)

"He's cwying. But he's still cwying!"

Kisses. "Muff!"

Love. Can't wait for you to be best friends, boys. <3

Caleb's Birth Story-Short n' Sweet version

This is the short and sweet version. If you'd like to know all the details, read here.

On the evening of Friday, July 2, we met up with an old friend of Brandon's to walk around the Greenbelt and see the temple. I was feeling some contractions, but was in denial that I might be in *real* labor. When we got home, Brandon blew up the birth tub and tried to fill it with water, but we didn't have the right hose connection, so we decided to figure it all out the next day. I asked Brandon to time my contractions, and they were pretty long and close together, but they didn't feel strong enough to be *real* labor, so I decided that I would try to go to sleep, and if I could, then I wouldn't worry about it. If the contractions kept me awake, then I'd call the midwife.

We went to bed and slept very well. It was probably the best night's sleep I'd had in a long time. :) So we got up and got ready for ward breakfast and the parade, my parent's BBQ, and the fireworks that night. It was going to be a fun day! But my contractions came right back as soon as I got up. Went to the parade anyway, because I'm stubborn like that and was still in denial about being in labor. :)

After about an hour of being at the parade, it was 11AM and my contractions were starting to get strong enough that I couldn't talk through them. I still didn't think I was in labor, but I thought "I'd really like to go home and get in the tub so I can relax and get these contractions to go away". :) We left Scott with my parents at the parade and walking back to the car I had to stop and lean on Brandon everytime I had a contraction. I called the midwife when we got to the car, but I was still in denial and told her I didn't think it was real labor yet. She told us to go home and time the contractions for another half hour and let her know.

Driving home the 7 minutes it took, I started to need to vocalize to get through the contractions. At that time, Brandon started to realize it was the real thing because he remembered me vocalizing like that from Scott's birth when things started to get serious. :) We got home and told the midwife it was definitely go time.

Brandon hurriedly tried to figure out a way to fill up the birth tub, but couldn't make it happen. So a water birth was out, but that's ok. We'll try it next time around. :) I ended up laboring and giving birth on our bed (don't worry, everything gets covered in plastic and waterproof stuff).

We got home at about 11:30AM. Valerie, the midwife's assistant, got there at 12:05PM, and Kathy (the midwife) arrived at about 12:15PM. I felt like pushing at about 12:39PM and Caleb James Barrus was born at 12:44PM. It was fast and exciting, to say the least! Remember, if you'd like to read more detail, follow this link.

He is beautiful and healthy, I am healthy, and we are so glad we got to give birth at home!

Caleb James Barrus - A Birth Story

Caleb James is here!
Born 3 July 2010, 12:44 PM
at 38 weeks, 3 days gestation
8 lbs, 8 oz. 20 inches

(if you'd like to compare/contrast with Scott's birth story, you can read it here)

*Also, just a disclaimer. This is really detailed, and might be boring/grossing out to some. Here is a link to a short n' sweet version, if you prefer.

Friday, July 2 started out pretty normally; Fridays are one of my days off from teaching at BYU-I, so I usually catch up on housework and teach a few private lessons here and there with my Idaho Falls students. I was feeling very pregnant, so I cancelled most of my normal lessons and had only one "emergency" coaching to do. Then we had a BBQ with some friends in the ward later that night. All during the dinner, everyone was saying how I finally looked pregnant and asking me how I felt. I felt ready to have a baby! Well, in body, anyway. In mind, half of me was just ready to "get my body back", but the other half of me couldn't let go of all the preparations I still "had" to make (like mopping the floor, cleaning out the fridge and bathrooms, filling up the birth tub, making all the casseroles, buying new nursing bras and sewing nursing pads, etc, etc, etc) before the baby was allowed to come. Well, my body had other ideas. :)

During the BBQ I was having intermittent contractions, but they weren't any more bothersome than the Braxton Hicks I'd had in previous weeks. We left a little early to put Scott to bed and get some sleep ourselves, when Brandon's good friend and former roommate called and said he would be stopping in town in 20 minutes on a roadtrip, and could we meet him at the Greenbelt and walk by the temple? Well, of course we could. Scott was pretty keyed up from running around at the BBQ, and a stroller ride might be just the thing to help him calm down. So we went on a walk.

As we strolled and chatted with James, I noticed the contractions start to strengthen, but I could still pretty much walk through them. I thought, "my body must be preparing for birth in the coming weeks. I'm probably getting to a 2 right now. That's so nice."

When we got home from that excursion, I put Scott down, feeling contractions all through "Clifford the Big Red Dog Goes to the Beach" and "Love You Forever". Then I went downstairs and told Brandon I wanted to set up the birth tub for the coming weeks. You know, just so it was ready. For some time in the future.

He did a great job blowing it up, but when it came to actually filling it with water, we discovered we didn't have the right kind of hose-to-faucet connection, so we left that to the next day. Then we headed downstairs to relax and watch some TV. Oh, and I made Brandon start timing contractions. Just to have as a reference for when *real* labor started. You know. In a few weeks.

At this point, they were a minute and twenty seconds long and about 5 minutes apart. Our midwives told us to call them when contractions were 60 seconds long and 5 minutes apart. I should have called them then, but I didn't think the contractions were strong enough to be actual labor. They were making me moan a *little*, but they weren't bad. Plus, they were all bottom pressure, and online it said that *real* contractions would start at the top of the uterus and move down. That's not what I was feeling, so I was good, right?

Let me pause here and say that I felt vulnerable this time around, not knowing what going into labor naturally really feels like. I'd been induced with Scott, and so I felt like I wouldn't know what *real* labor contractions felt like or when I was really in labor. I think that's another reason why I was in denial for so long. :)

So, I should have called my midwives Friday night, but by the time the contractions were that strong and long and close together, it was midnight and I knew what they would have said: try to get some sleep. If you can't sleep within an hour and they get stronger, call us and we'll come. So I went to sleep. And slept the night. In fact, I slept quite restfully. :) (what a blessing!)

However, when Scott came in at 6:30 AM on July 3rd to tell me he was SO hungry and wanted some "breakstist", contractions started right up again. I remember changing Scott's poopy diaper that morning amidst a contraction that I had to breathe through and thinking "I am in labor! I should NOT have to deal with this!". Then I immediately told myself, that no, I was not in labor, let's get dressed and go to my parent's ward breakfast.

We had a huge yummy breakfast at 9AM and headed to the parade, which started at 10 AM (me contracting the entire time). We met up with my parents and got settled in to watch. I told Brandon he needed to start timing my contractions. He only had his phone which doesn't time seconds, but we figured at about 11AM that the contractions were over a minute long, between 4 and 5 minutes apart, and really strong. We packed up and left Scott with my parents. The people behind us at the parade route were good-naturedly giving us a hard time for leaving early, but I told them we were leaving to have a baby, and they moved out of our way pretty quickly after that. :)

Walking back to the car was really hard for me. I had to stop moving and lean on Brandon for support each time a contraction hit me. But between contractions, I could still move really well. Brandon said, "You're going to call the midwives now, right?" He's so good at not putting pressure on me. :) I think he was starting to get a little nervous at this point. :)

We got to the car and I called Kathy. I told her I had some "pretty good contractions" and how long they'd been lasting. I said I wasn't sure if I was really in labor yet, since I'd never felt a *natural* labor. She told us to go home and time them for another half hour and let her know how it went. I agreed. I had needed to pee for awhile, and thought if I emptied my bladder that would let some of the pressure off and the contractions would calm down (as was my experience with Braxton Hicks in the past).

We got home, me moaning through every contraction. Brandon at this point was thinking "Oh, I've heard these sounds before. She's really in labor. I better speed." But did he say anything to me?! NO. :) I wish he would have told me that I was labor for real, because I was still in denial. :) And trying to deal with the pain and pressure in a bumpy car. :)

We got home and, after shouting instructions to Brandon (put the baby carseat in the car in case we need to transport to the hospital, fill up the birth tub with water as a fast as you can so I can labor in it, put a water proof sheet on our bed), I went to the bathroom. There was bloody show, so I told Brandon to call Kathy and tell her to come right away. Then, I knew it was for real. We were having a baby, and very shortly, because when I was on the toilet, I was afraid to empty my bowels because I also had the urge to push, and I didn't really want to have the baby over the toilet! This was at about 11:30 AM.

With Brandon's help, I made it upstairs to our bed between contractions. I could no longer move or stand up or sit up during contractions, and I definitely had to vocalize to get through them. Brandon had come to the conclusion that the birth tub would not be able to be filled, so that wasn't an option anymore. :( I tried getting into our tub thinking I would labor in there for awhile until the midwives got there, but it was muddy from our garden hose and also felt really hard and uncomfortable to me. I just gave up on the idea of being able to labor in water, let alone giving birth there. But that's OK. Concessions must be made during birth, because you never know what life will throw at you! So I labored leaning on my bed in a kneeling position for a contraction or two, but felt most comfortable laying on my right side on my bed.

So the next minutes are really hazy to me. Brandon tells me that Valerie (the midwife's assistant) arrived at 12:05 PM, and Kathy (the midwife) got there at about 12:15 PM. Kathy, in her haste, actually ran into our neighbor's condo on the other end and asked them whether we were upstairs or downstairs. They kindly told her it was the wrong house and showed her where we were. :) I remember grabbing Valerie's hand when she got there and telling her "I'm *so* glad you're here" because I wanted to push and I was just holding it back until they got there. Then my water broke (in a quite spectacular burst, appropriate for the 4th of July weekend, I might add :) at 12:36PM.

Brandon during that time was running around trying to fill the birth tub, picking up the clutter, getting the baby carseat ready, applying counterpressure to my back during contractions, and whispering encouraging things in my ear when I ordered him to. :) He is so great at dealing with a bossy wife. :) The midwives scurried to get everything ready, but Brandon says that he didn't think it looked like they were able to do everything they wanted to before I asked them when I should push. I was really worried about pushing because midwives do not typically check you to see how far you are dilated (they'd rather that you listen to the cues your body is giving you). But they will check you, if you ask. I was torn. I HATE being checked, but I was worried about not knowing and pushing at the wrong time and the baby getting stuck or something. But Valerie said a very empowering thing to me: "When it's time to push, you'll know because it will feel good. If you push too early, it won't feel right and you'll know to back off. Wait until the feeling to push is so overwhelming that you can't hold it off anymore, and it will be time."

So the next contraction I had, I decided to do a little experiment and push. It didn't feel so great. The next one, though was the one. I told them (more like wailed it out, I think :) I felt like pushing and began doing so. They ran over from across the room where they'd been preparing things and Kathy helped brace my arm and left leg. With that contraction, the head crowned. This was about 12:39PM or so. Valerie told me the baby had lots of hair. At that point, I didn't care. :) But it was a nice peripheral fact, like if you were at the end of running a marathon and someone told you that there was a rainbow over the mountains behind you. Brandon was standing to the back holding the flashlight up to give lots of light to the business end of things.

With the head crowning, I was in the "Ring of Fire" and I knew the "breaking in half" sensation of birthing the entire head was coming. I was scared of it, and so I held back. Kathy encouraged me not to do this, but to push with the next contraction. There was quite a break before the next contraction (probably also a result of my trepidation--isn't it interesting how our thoughts affect how well our bodies work!). But during that time, I made up my mind to "get mad" and push that baby out! So with the next contraction, Caleb's head was fully born.

I remember thinking then that all my work would be over. The body would just slip right out and I'd be done with all this pushing. But no. :) Caleb's head was blue and the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, and he didn't cry right away, so Kathy told me to hurry and birth the shoulders. I said "What if I'm not having a contraction?" (not wanting to be rushed), and she said to hurry and do it anyway. :) So I pushed out the shoulders, and he cried right away after that. That was 12:44PM. Then Valerie got the cord unwrapped, and immediately gave Caleb to us. Brandon came up on the bed with me, and we just got to love our baby for a little while. It was sublime. Kathy asked if it was really a boy, we checked, and it was!

I got him on the breast (even though he was more interested in licking at first than in suckling), and we just got to snuggle. It was so so lovely not to have Caleb rushed away to be cleaned or to have to cord clamped and cut right away or anything like that. We just got to BE, as a little family. Beautiful.

Then, after a little while, we got the rest of the business done, like delivering the placenta and clamping and cutting the cord (which Brandon got to do). I did spill a bit of blood before the placenta was delivered, and Kathy was worried about it, so she asked my permission to give me a shot of Pitocin and I gave my consent. There were no problems after that. I just have "road burns", no real tears. There was a bit bigger one near my urethra, but they felt it didn't affect anything structural and will heal fine without a stitch.

So for the official documentation, Kathy counted that I began active labor at 11AM when we decided to leave the parade. She didn't count the night before because I slept so peacefully and was not awakened by contractions (which I am still so thankful for!). So I was in active labor for about 90 minutes and then pushed for about 15 and there he was!

Caleb is so beautiful, healthy and strong, and calm as can be. His development is perfect, and I'm so happy that we could welcome him into the peaceful atmosphere of our home. Brandon felt he was much more involved this time around, and I felt more confident knowing the environment I'd be laboring in. Even though it wasn't in water, it also wasn't in a hospital room that I've never seen before, and where I don't know the unspoken rules of what's acceptable and what's not. It was in my own cosy home, and I'm so happy.

Welcome, Caleb James!

Born today at 12:45 p.m. Weighs 8 pounds, 8 ounces and is 20 inches long. I'll let Mandi tell the birth story, but the whole process went pretty quickly.

We're not sure that Scott understands that Caleb is his little brother yet. We'll give it some time.
We did attempt to gender goodwill in Scott to Caleb by giving the toddler a Buzz Lightyear action figure and told him it was from the newborn.

Anyway, both mom and baby are doing great. If you plan on visiting, let us know in advance and feel free to bring a meal. :)