Hobbit Halloween

Yep, we were hobbits :)  In honor of our love for Tolkien, we donned ourselves in attire straight from the Shire.  And Caleb was the cutest little hobbit we've ever seen!  We couldn't stop laughing and smiling as he ran around in bare feet and let his cloak whip behind him :)

Eli already had a hobbit costume from our days of dressing up as Lord of the Rings characters in college (he was Frodo, I was Legolas), so I made a trip to the thrift store to concoct some costumes for me and Caleb, and voila!  We were the Horn Hobbits :)  I must give a shout-out to Caleb's Grandma Horn who made his cloak.  Isn't it fabulous?

This is our first family picture!

Hobbits love to blow smoke rings :)

That cloak is so perfect!

our tiniest hobbit

We went trick-or-treating and Caleb was very intrigued.  Eli carried him and Caleb faithfully held his pipe in one hand and his candy bucket in the other hand the entire time!  He had a great time counting his stash when we got home.  He spent at least a half-hour pulling out each individual piece of candy and setting it aside, then putting each individual piece back into the bucket, over and over again.  He was very methodical about it.  Oh the joys of perusing a Halloween haul of candy!

Trick-or-treating!

admiring his candy

We love dressing up and we love trick-or-treating.  It's so much fun to have kids so we have the excuse to do this again!

At Home

Kai is nearly a week old and we love having him home with us!  He's a sweet baby who wakes up a bit too often at night and sleeps a bit too often during the day but who steals our hearts anyway :)  He smiles in his sleep and sometimes opens one eye as if to check that all is well in the world and then drifts back to sleep.  We love to snuggle him and kiss him and stare at his sweet face!

Caleb is mostly indifferent to Kai.  He doesn't show much interest in his brother yet, but it's obvious that Caleb knows he's around.  Every so often he'll stop running around and look at Kai as if to say, "Yep, there he is."  This morning, when Kai's pacifier fell out, Caleb went over and tried putting it back in.  It made my heart happy :)

Eli is home this week and although it's wonderful to simply be home and adjust to life with two little boys around, we're going a little stir crazy.  Let me rephrase: Caleb is going a little stir crazy, which makes us a little stir crazy as well.  So yesterday we headed to the zoo.  It's by far Caleb's favorite place to be!  And we were the only people there.  I kid you not.  We didn't see a single other person walking around.  Maybe the snow flurries drove other people away, but not us!  And apparently the big cats liked the snow too because they were all out and about!  The lions, the tiger, the puma, the lynx - all of them were giving us a show and Caleb was enthralled.

If you look closely, you can see Caleb's face in the reflection of the glass.  

He was beyond excited to see the lions up close and personal!

One happy boy :)

 Still so excited!

When we got to this window, the tiger literally ran across the entire enclosure to say hi to Caleb :)

Kai was content to sleep in the stroller the entire time.  

His first zoo visit and he saw nary an animal!

We are thrilled to have these two precious boys in our life.  We know we don't deserve them but we are eternally grateful that we've been blessed to call them our kids!  

Family of Four

He's here!  Our beautiful boy is here: Hezekiah James Horn.

Kai was born on Thursday, October 24, and we couldn't be happier to have this precious little man join our family!  He's a bundle of joy, a big bundle of joy, and we can't stop kissing and hugging and snuggling this sweet boy who's changing our life.

After waiting the full 40 weeks of a typical pregnancy, we were eager and ready to meet our baby.  We didn't know if we were having a boy or girl and we were beyond excited to find out!  That, combined with the fact that my doctor was eager to get this kid out of me for fear we were having another big baby (Caleb weighed 10lbs 2oz), we chose to get induced the day after my due date.  Sounds simple enough, right?  We had no idea what a long week we had in store...

We went to the hospital Monday morning for the induction.  Long story short, it didn't work.  We stayed overnight and tried being induced again on Tuesday, which failed again to bring our baby into the world.  One of the nurses joked that I must have an amazing uterus because our kiddo just didn't want to leave it!  But it was truly exhausting, mentally and emotionally and physically.  The anticipation of having a baby was replaced by fatigue and disappointment.  We were sent home Tuesday night with no baby in our arms.  I was still pregnant, and frustrated for being so.  We spent all of Wednesday at home with Caleb and then I returned to the hospital that night to begin another form of induction overnight.  That, combined with pitocin on Thursday morning, seemed to do the trick.  Third time's the charm!  By 6:19pm, our son finally decided it was time to meet us.

As it turns out, my doctor was right to worry that we had another big baby on the way.  Kai came into the world weighing a robust 10lbs 8.5oz!  We could hardly believe it!  When he was placed on the scale, which I couldn't see from my angle, Eli and the doctor and the nurse all started laughing.  When Eli told me how much our son weighed I thought he was joking.  Praise God that the labor and delivery went perfectly fine!  I'm crediting Caleb with prepping my body to deliver another big boy :)  We've got another moose baby on our hands!  We are thrilled, simply thrilled!

We named our son Hezekiah James.  We knew that choosing such a unique name would probably require an explanation, so here it is: first, I should probably confess that years ago, long before we were thinking of starting a family, we used to joke about having a kid and naming him Hezekiah because wouldn't that be hilarious?  Who would name their kid Hezekiah, right?  Haha!  Well, after joking about it for so long, the name actually started to grow on us until we downright liked it.  Then, when we found out what it meant, "strength of the Lord", we were even more intrigued.  And of course, King Hezekiah in the Old Testament is someone to be greatly admired.  "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel.  There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.  He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses" (2 Kings 18:5-6).  Lastly, when we realized we could shorten his name to Kai, which we both love, we were sold.  Yes, Hezekiah is a bold and unique name choice, but we know it's a strong name and we are praying that our son will live up to the meaning of his name.

Caleb, who is 17 months, has been a little intrigued but mostly indifferent to his new brother.  Caleb had a long week too.  Between being entirely off-schedule all week (due to our being in the hospital twice as long as expected because of the failed inductions) and catching a nasty cold in the beginning of the week, he had enough to deal with.  So it's been up and down since Kai was born, but we are managing.  We're expecting him to adjust sooner than later and hoping that he'll find great joy in having his "little" brother around!

meeting the next moose baby :)

I love my boys!

We are so thankful for Kai's safe arrival and we know how incredibly blessed we are to have him in our life.  We praise God for creating him and for granting us the gift of caring for him in this lifetime.  He is absolutely precious and we are humbled to be his parents!

Maternity Photos

Several weeks ago our dear friend Angela took some maternity photos for us.  It was a lot of fun and I was so excited to have some photos that capture this phase of our life.

Well, before she could edit all the photos and get them to us, Angela recently discovered that half of the photos had mysteriously disappeared.  They weren't on her computer and weren't on her camera.  (I think a computer monster ate them in the middle of the night!)  We were both devastated.  But, by God's grace, there was one night this entire week that both Eli and I were free to do another photoshoot, which happened to be the same night that the weather was absolutely perfect for an evening in the fall, and also the same night that Angela's husband was available to watch all the kids while we took photos.  It was divine intervention!  So last night we met at the Rose Gardens by Lake Superior and took several new photos.  It was a lot of fun again and now we have a complete set of maternity photos!

The original set was taken when I was 33 weeks pregnant, and now I'm 39 weeks.  You can see the difference 6 weeks makes!  I know I'm huge.  I know I make strangers uncomfortable when I pass by.  I know I attract stares and whispers everywhere I go.  But I am so close to the end and I don't even care what people think!  I like to pretend that I have a beautiful pregnant glow despite my incredibly gigantic belly.  I'll keep telling myself that :)

Jack-o-lantern

Caleb acquired a pumpkin from his Grandma and Grandpa Horn, and yesterday he and Eli made a jack-o-lantern.  It was fun!  Caleb wasn't interested in the pumpkin itself for awhile - he only cared about stirring up the seeds and guts in a bowl.  But when there was a candle lit inside, he was extremely delighted!  He loves candles and loves to blow them out.  We even have a ritual of blowing out a candle right before he goes to bed every night.  So we figured he'd like a jack-o-lantern, and he certainly did!

Combined with the cool weather and the colorful trees outside, this pumpkin makes it feel like autumn is officially here!

I Love This Man

I love this man.  Because he's kind and compassionate.  Because he's patient and encouraging.  Because he's fun and enthusiastic.  Because he's endearing and wise.  Because he's handsome and humble.  Because he's joyful and friendly.  Because he loves the Lord.  Because he loves us too.  I love this man.

And today is his birthday so I especially get to sing his praises on this day!  Caleb and I were beyond blessed to have him home with us all day.  He didn't have to work at all, not even to round on C-section patients.  He was here when we woke up this morning and is still here at the end of the day.  It's been a wonderful day because we got to celebrate this wonderful man in our life!

We celebrated bright and early with some presents.  Eli was particularly stoked when he unwrapped this hammock!  He's been wanting one for awhile and I was eager to give it to him.  Even though the weather is getting chilly, there's still time to enjoy it before autumn is over.  It's the perfect outdoor reading nook :)  He wants to take it with him when he hikes the Superior Hiking Trail next year.

After a day of playing and eating and napping and playing some more, Eli blessed both me and Caleb by strumming the guitar for a bit.  We love it when he plays but it rarely happens with his busy schedule.  It was like a birthday present for us!

And so we celebrated the man we love by being with the man we love, all day.  And we were oh so happy!  Eli loves being home with us.  There's nowhere else he'd rather be, ever.  And that's another reason why I love this man.  There's truly nowhere else he'd rather be, ever.  Oh, how I love this man!

Caleb's Confections

"Hello!  Welcome to my cooking show, Caleb's Confections!  

Today we're doing a demo outside.  Come join us out on the deck!"

"You're going to love what we have in store for today: Leaves!"

"First, we must select the freshest ingredients.  We only use locally-grown products in my kitchen!"

"Do you see how this leaf is at the peak of freshness?  Mostly yellow with a tint of green still in the veins.  Perfecto!"

"Before we do any cooking, we must inspect each piece as if it would alter the course of our recipe for better or worse.  Only the best will do!"

"We take the ingredient inspection very seriously, furrowed brow and bulging cheeks included."

"To begin, we pick the choicest leaves and saute them on low heat."

"When those are ready, add an entire branch with more leaves.  The branch will bring out the barky flavor necessary for our dish."

"How's it going?  Does everything make sense so far?"

"What's that you say?  I'm the most amazing chef in the world?  Gosh, you're too kind!"

"Holy cow!  In the midst of your adoration I almost forgot the most important ingredient!"

"Come on, it's right over here."

"Uh oh, my Mama says I can't go down the stairs right now, even for the ingredient I need.  Hmmm..."

"That's okay!  The thing I needed just fell off the tree right behind us!  What fortuitous timing!"

"Okay, we just added the final ingredient and now I've simply turned the heat down to let it simmer."

"I find that singing 'You are my Sunshine' is about the right amount of time to let it simmer until it's reached perfection."

"Okay, we're all done!  Now I'll just wait for my Guest of Honor, my Daddy, to come home and enjoy this taste of heaven with me.  Thanks for joining me for this episode of Caleb's Confections!"