When I went into Caleb's room for the last time yesterday, ready to get him up from his "nap," this is what I found. (Notice the belly button.)

When I pray for Caleb, I often pray that he would be bold and courageous in following the Lord wholeheartedly. Times like these demonstrate he has the determination and passion necessary to do something wholeheartedly. Now to work on the "following the Lord" part.

Lately, I've been trying to not only ask what God would want me to do in a certain situation, but also what God may want me to remember or to learn from that situation. In between trips to settle Caleb back in his bed yesterday, I thought of a few answers to that question:

• God is enough. He will sustain Caleb and me, even when we don't get as much sleep as I think we need. In Christ, I find reserves of patience, love, energy, and forgiveness that I do not have.
• Both Caleb and I need practice in obeying God and making right choices even when we're tired. Lack of sleep is not an excuse for poor choices. One day Caleb and I will need to make a difficult choice to do the right thing instead of what we may want to do or what may be easy to do. I'd rather practice during naptime than in the middle of a real crisis.
• When God doesn't respond the way I want him to, maybe it's because I'm not listening to him. The last thing Caleb wanted me to do yesterday was to put him back in bed and leave the room. Yet I know that is what he needed. I recently read Psalm 81: "If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways...I would would satisfy you." God knows what we need and he promises to meet our every need, but so often I look elsewhere.
• I was also reminded to see this as an opportunity to demonstrate love, mercy and grace instead of an opportunity to simply exercise my parental authority. It doesn't mean Caleb gets away with disobedience. But in the midst of my disobedience, Christ died for me. Is it beyond Him, therefore, to give me the patience and persistence to put Caleb back in bed for the twenty-fifth time without getting angry? God is so patient with me. Can I extend the same kind of patience to my own son, much less people who annoy me more easily than he?

I must need to really learn and remember these things because today we're 1 hour into nap time and no one around here is napping.

Jail Bird

I'm currently listening to the springy-door stopper in Caleb's room being repeatedly "sprung." It's supposed to be nap time. Caleb's tired. He almost fell asleep in the car earlier. He was rubbing his eyes when we were reading books.

But he's in his new room, with the new bed. The new bed doesn't have bars. So my energetic little toddler is enjoying his newfound freedom--springing springs, clinking drawer pulls on the dresser (until I removed the dresser from the room), playing with his laundry basket (until I removed the basket from the room), playing with the pillows (until I removed them from the room), and doing something that sounds like an Irish jig. Poor kid will soon be sleeping on the floor because he's been playing with the bed. Just kidding.

He used to fall asleep playing with his belly button. Maybe now that everything else is gone, he'll have to start playing with his belly button and subsequently go to sleep.

Nope. The spring has been sprung.

Days like these are good reminders that my hope isn't in nap time, but in God, who sustains me even when nap time doesn't happen. When God said that I shouldn't have any gods before Him, he meant sleep, too.

Knowing that God is able and will sustain me even if Caleb never naps again, I'd still like to help Caleb get the nap that he needs. Any suggestions for keeping an energetic toddler in his bed long enough for the antsy-ness to wear off and the sleep to kick in? By the way, nights are going well in the new bed, but we're 1 for 3 on naps in the new bed.

Laundry Day

This is what happens on laundry day, when Caleb has access to Luke's closet.

Video: The Foot Book

For a time, we read The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss constantly (until we hid it in the sofa). Then we read it constantly again after we found it. Some Dr. Seuss is good, but I hit my limit before Caleb does. Thankfully, this book has found its home in the public library again. Anyway, this video is from December. Since then, Caleb's hair has grown a couple inches, and his feet have only gotten faster.

Christmas 2009: Pictures and Video

I hope late pictures are better than no pictures!

Discovering presents under the tree...

Putting the toy together is as much fun as playing with it!

Successful negotiations

Sledding (you'll notice this didn't make Caleb's list of highlights)

Playing with cousins and army men

This cool new toy earned a shriek of delight every time Caleb saw it for the first few weeks after Christmas.

It even came with a box!

Christmas Highlights

It seems silly to be writing about Christmas highlights at the end of January. As you can see, I'm a bit behind.


My highlights from this holiday season:

• Trying to communicate the wonder of Christmas in toddler-speak, and in turn actually thinking about Christ.
• Singing "Joy to the World" at the piano with Caleb and listening to Pandora's instrumental Christmas music.
• Surprising Luke with a video game he hadn't picked out, but that he actually enjoyed playing.
• Relaxing while Caleb slept well during our travels (no 5 AM or earlier wake up calls this year).
• Being able to spend time with far-away family.
• Reading a really great pop-up version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with Caleb. (Thanks, Jason and Amanda!)
• Celebrating on Christmas Eve morning as a family before traveling to see the rest of our family (good music, good food, good company, good times) and watching Caleb enjoy each gift as he opened them. (He wanted to read each book that he opened, and he had time to play with the toys he opened before moving on to the next present.)
• Seeing the Baker intuition for gifts in Caleb when he spotted his wrapped presents under the tree and immediately identified what they were. (see video)

After interviewing Caleb, here are some of his highlights:

• Grandma's blueberry pie and sugar cookies (and Grandmas lobbying efforts to secure him the pie and cookies).
• Playing with his cousins in boxes and with army men.
• Finding the treasures on Christmas trees.
• Finding bananas in his stocking at Grandpa and Grandma's. (Caleb was also very proud of his negotiating skills. He managed to finagle Uncle Paul's fruit away from him for the low price of a shiny Twix. Silly Uncle Paul! Who would want a shiny wrapper when you could have bananas, apples, and oranges?)

Pictures and video to follow soon.

Octopus Hug

Whenever I start writing in a new journal, the first page always intimidates me. In fact, I've purposefully skipped the first page before, simply because I didn't want to try to think of something worthy enough for the first page of a journal. After all, isn't the first sentence supposed to pull your reader into an octopus-like hug, winding tentacles around your brain and heart until they just have to finish reading?

After a recent hiatus in blogging, I have that first-page phobia again. What can I write that will actually be beneficial? What do I have to say that hasn't already been said? Why am I taking my time to do this?

I'm hoping to return to the habit of blogging with a clearer sense of direction and purpose. And since I often lose my focus and forget my purpose, I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts to help me remember why I'm doing this.

I hope my blog will be...

• A personal writing outlet.
  Often the threat of an immediate audience and potential scoffing scares me away from this purpose, but writing is one of the ways I process life. I'm not a "writer," but writing helps me clarify my thoughts, redirect my focus, and have a bit o' fun.
• A place to document family milestones.
  Anything from birthdays to first steps to an unsolicited "thank you" from Caleb counts. I too easily forget how much is happening in our lives and how fast time is flying. Writing about milestones may help me remember and be able to answer you when you ask, "What have you been up to lately?"
• A place to inform family and friends of our extraordinarily ordinary (or ordinarily extraordinary, depending on your perspective) lives.
  I'm not a great phone communicator, so this is one way I can share with my family and friends what we do around here. And besides, I can't send pictures over the phone! (Some of you may be able to, but we in the pre-cell-phone-and-data-plan era cannot.) Therefore, you actually get to see Caleb's first attempts at crawling and to hear about Luke's accomplishments at work.
• A place to celebrate.
  I hope to celebrate God's goodness and faithfulness in the little things (like this and this) and the big things (like this and this). I hope you'll celebrate with me.

What my blog will not be...

• The whole picture.
  Poopy diapers may be part of my life right now, but I'm not writing about them. I spend enough time dealing with them; I'm not about to spend more time writing about them. In the same way, you won't get a complete picture of our lives just by reading this blog. Some of the most important family milestones won't appear here because either it's too personal, too difficult, too ugly, too mundane, or too wonderful to write about.
• A place to complain.
  Life is good, but not all the time. I don't plan to complain about the times when I don't see how good life is. If I do start to complain, you have permission to correct me. You don't need to hear about how difficult my life is; usually I'm wrong anyway.
• High on my priority list.
  This is a hobby. I'm not writing about using my crockpot everyday for the next 365 days or some other crazy goal. When life gets crazy or my attitude needs adjusting, expect me to disappear for a bit. I'd rather regret spending too little time with my blog than regret spending too little time with my family and on things that really matter in the end.

By the way, what do you do when reading a book about an octopus with a very active kid? Since I have no idea what an octopus really says or does, I've been teaching Caleb that an octopus gives hugs. What else do you do with 8 arms?