concentrate, etc

it turns out that powdered formula doesnt agree with Caleb. he's fussy and gassy all day when he eats/drinks the stuff, and that's no fun for anyone. it happens that we've got a bunch of it on hand because they send it to you free in the mail. our doctor did give us a case of the liquid concentrate, but that's all gone. so now we shell out the big bucks for the good stuff. and he's worth every penny.

---

having one car with a kid in the family is a bit more challenging. is anyone giving away a crappy car or truck for cheap? all I need is something to give me 10 miles a day. or does anyone want to give me a consistant ride downtown at 8:30? unfortunately my corporate-type friends all need to go in at 7:30, which cuts my Caleb time, which is not good.

---

things are going quite well here at work. some really cool projects and some good steady, longterm work. cool carpet websites on the way, as well as the usual random assortment of content managed sites for various professionals and retailers and such. after a couple slow years a little while ago, things are better than ever. someday we're supposed to get around to redoing our site, but we're not a good client to ourselves. plus I've got some good sidejobs going on, to help pay for the aforementioned formula.

---

I added Dan Haase to the blogroll down below. you covenant types might remember Kat Gulick, who of course is now Kat Haase, doing their RD thing with 2 kids at Wheaton. anyway, some pretty cool poetry on the blog as well as a very nice list of classic tv themes.

mountain weekend

as previously mentioned, my parents took us and my sister and her husband to an amazing lodge in the georgia mountains. the initial reason for the gathering was to celebrate my parents 35th anniversary, but it evolved into more like a good excuse for my mom to have her grandson under the same roof for a while. it was good to be with the fam in a beautiful place, eating lots of good food and enjoying snazzy accomodations. we even got some fishing in, and michelle had a blast making campfires. best of all, Caleb did really well on the road trip and we had lots of fun on our first family adventure.

so here are the pictures.

in some ways it was a little strange because he got so much attention from everyone but us. we both ended up missing him very much (and michelle especially). maybe next time we'll remember to keep up some mama and daddy time.

dance and smile

we had a great weekend with my family at an amazing lodge near blairsville, ga to celebrate my parents 35th anniversary. it was our first baby road trip, and he did great. there are lots of pictures, which I'll post when I can. meanwhile, here are a couple animations of Caleb dancing and smiling, which he does quite well: here's one and here's another (the file sizes are a bit large, but hopefully I'll do them in flash instead soon).

family news

michelle has 3 siblings (she's #3), and there is something quite major going on with all of them these days. I've already mentioned her older sister having twins recently (and they have a 2 year old as well). now her older brother is getting married in the spring! a couple years ago it seemed as if he was a committed bachelor, so we're all very excited for them. as for her younger sister, I wont go into details, but she's got some difficult health issues, so please pray for her.

---

my mom is here in town, reveling in grandmotherhood. she's very happy to take the late nite feedings, so we're very happy to sleep all night. the difference in michelle's health has been amazing. so now I'm praying that Caleb WILL sleep through the night sooner than later.

it's a lot of fun to see my son through my mom's eyes. we're a little used to some of his antics already, so it's cool to see her delight in all his little doings. she claims he's the most animated infant she's ever seen, especially with all his facial expressions. seems like he's got a lot of his mama in him after all. maybe he'll look like me and act like her?

first question

this is an honest question: why is it that, when chatting about life with a baby, so many folks are compelled to first ask "is he sleeping through the night yet?"

both michelle and I have noticed this trend, and I'm sure we've asked it to other folks along the way. perhaps we're just concerned for eachothers health? or maybe it's the first easy-to-identify milestone for most kids? but it seems that the hallmark of a "good baby" is whether or not he'll leave you alone for 6 consecutive hours. but we have celebrated the few times Caleb has slept over 4 hours.

yet at 6 weeks Caleb does not sleep through the night. and even though I may have a somewhat different opinion at 1 or 4am, that's ok. he's getting there. and speaking of sleep, grandma is on the way, and she'll be taking the feedings in the wee hours. she's quite excited. and then soon we'll be meeting with all the family at a cabin near blairsville. our first baby road trip!

you didnt think it was possible, but he's getting cuter every day. and it seems as if his gassiness is getting better. michelle's fibro is still flaring, but grandma's help should ease that some. since sleep is hard to come by these days, we've lost track of eachother, and (more importantly) we've been neglecting daily prayer and whatnot. so we've had a couple meltdowns, but this past weekend was good for getting reoriented a bit. we really need to settle into something of a routine, but we'll see how that goes.

this whole parenting thing is definitely exhausting at times (especially for mama), but it's easily the best thing I've ever done. it reminds me of my first reaction to marriage: a lot harder than I thought, but a lot better too.

final garden report

I havent tended the garden since july or so, but still we get fruit. overall this year has been a good garden year, and it probably would have been even better had I taken the time to water, weed and spray in the mid and late season. but alas, the bugs and heat and baby preparations kept me away.

but we still get cherry tomatoes and a few other tomatoes as well, and the peppers are doing ok, although we dont really use them. the cantaloupes did ok, but were a disappointment. we got a grand total of 3, and they didnt taste any better than store-bought. the cukes did well early on, but they got bug-eaten after a while, and didnt have enough sun to get really productive. the squash were all total failures again, thanks to the vine-borer. the peppers did ok, although we didnt have very many, but we dont eat very many, so no complaints.

the first crop of tomatoes was great, except for the "mr. stripeys" which rotted before they were ripe, and therefore got renamed "mr. crappies." the bugs and fungus and whatnot got to most of the other tomato plants by mid season, excepting the superstar of our garden: the cherry tomato. this plant was and is simply awesome. it may be because it got the most sun, but it grew up 6 feet and over 5 more feet, and it would give a handful of tomatoes each day all season long, and it's still going strong. we actually had 2 types of cherry, and they were radically different. this one vined like crazy. if I ignored it for a week, I would come back in with a dozen or so, perfect for snacking. another good tomato plant was the "lemon boys" and they're still doing ok. by now the few other plants that are still producing get some sort of rot or fungus before the fruit is ripe. oh well.

we'll see if we have time, interest and energy for gardening next year. I get into it in the spring, but neglect it in the summer, but we've still done ok. it would be nice to have more sun, but I dont want to wish the giant trees down on our house. I'll definitely at least try more cherry and lemon tomatoes next year. who knows? maybe caleb will enjoy gardening too.

addict? and other stuff

we're starting to worry that we're raising a pacifier addict. this kid just loves to chew on these things, especially when he's trying to work out gas and such. and he has been unfortunately much more gassy on the formula, but we've invested in the gas drops. hopefully that will help. but when he's especially fussy and even screaming, stick the stopper in his mouth and suddenly he's peaceful and happy. it's like magic. almost frightening. I dont know why we're so leery of using it so much. I guess we dont want him to be so attached to these things that he cant do without it. or maybe it's a rugged individualist ideal of not needing help to get through things?

on saturday he turned one month old! for his checkup he was 23" and 8 pounds, 11 oz. He's in the 97th percentile of height, but only the 25th for weight. long and skinny. anyone surprised?

michelle's fibro is definitely creeping back in. it has turned out to be very true that her symptoms improved with pregnancy. hopefully she'll rebound soon, and the chiropractor has helped her headaches and such. I've been doing my best to allow her to sleep in and whatnot, and I think that's helped a bit.

michelle's younger sister Liz came for the better part of last week, and we had a great time laughing and hanging out. she was on baby duty through the night, so we got to sleep through quite a bit. I was quite spoiled in fact, as I noticed I wasnt nearly as patient with him in the wee hours when it was my turn again.

so we've been busy keeping up with the baby, and my freetime on the computer has been consumed with making a DVD of the home videos we took during Caleb's first hours, days and weeks. here's a screenshot of the menu. I think it's turned out great for my first DVD at least. many thanks to Ed for the use of his camera, and for all the nifty software and hardware at work to make it possible. Adobe Premiere is really great, and Encore DVD is cool to, although it's got some 1.0 issues. if anyone wants a copy of Caleb's DVD, send along a blank DVD-R.

there are a few more pictures added to the bottom of the first month section. I know we're biased (as we should be), and we should probably be more humble about it, but we really do think he's the cutest kid ever. not that you werent cute, or that your kids or potential kids arent cute, but we really think he's the most beautiful child on the planet.

free .info domain names

not that .info is a very good TLD, but hey, free is free. go to dotster.com for your 1 year of free .info domain names. make sure to disable autorenew, because next year isnt free. of course if you dont work for a web company (like some of us) you'll need hosting or at least URL forwarding to make things work.

so I present: www.calebwiegers.info

tv will kill your kids

or at least watching it will help kill them faster. yet another reason to turn it off.

formula

after trying very hard for weeks, we've decided to stop breastfeeding and go all forumla, all the time. this was a very hard decision, as we are very well aware of the advantages of nursing, but after much struggle and difficulty, we decided it was best for all of us to go this direction.

I wont go into a lengthy defense of our decision (although I wouldnt mind a discussion if anyone wants), but we truly believe this is what is best for us. sure it's expensive and has some drawbacks, but we're glad that God has given us peace about this important decision, and we're glad to have moved on. we know that He will provide for our needs and pray that He will grow Caleb to know and love Him.

we thought it would be socially a little hard with some folks in our circle, since nearly everyone breastfeeds, but we've been so encouraged by folks responses. now we feel like we can enjoy being parents and enjoy loving our son again, and not have to worry and struggle all day and night.

oh and if anyone wants to help the cause, the formula companies like to send free samples and coupons if you sign up on their websites. so go here and here if you're so inclined.

hometown report

This from palmbeachpost.com. Looks like the old hometown has come through relatively OK.

BOYNTON BEACH

Level of damage: Minor; trees and power lines down; worst damage in northwest

Electricity: Power restored to more than half the city

Water: Safe to drink except that about 40 homes in Venetian Isles and 10 on 36th Court are under a boil-water order due to a water main break

Trash pickup: Regular schedule resumes today

Limb/debris removal: Regular schedule expected to resume today

Curfew: 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Public buildings: City Hall reopens today despite water damage in the west wing

Of note: Boynton Beach Mall expected to reopen Wednesday

a few more pics

I've put a few more pictures on our site (added to a previous collection), although we havent taken very many lately due to the feeding frenzy chaos. but now that's mostly over.

we're looking forward to having michelle's younger sister visit for most of the next week. it will be fun to not only have good family times, but hopefully get feedings and whatnot into more of a routine.

---

hurricane frances is pretty much heading straight for my old hometown (Boynton Beach), and the storm is so big it wouldnt matter much if it was a direct hit or not. although I havent been back in about 8 years, there are some friends and family still in the area, so we're praying for their safety. this brings back memories of preparing for hurricane andrew, which could have just as easily hit us. I surely hope it continues to weaken before landfall.

name

Caleb (hebrew) - faithful, bold, originally "dog" according to some sources, great man in the Bible
Robert (english) - bright fame, after his daddy and grandpa
Wiegers (dutch) - cradle rocker/lullabye singer

---

a bit of a deal for ya: for 15 free (well actually you gotta pay $1.50 shipping) 4x6 prints, go to www.snapfish.com/newparent1. and for longterm, samsclub.com has great prices on prints (18 cents for 4x6, although it's been cheaper), and you can pick them up free at your local sams. our 4x6 prints from our 3.2mp pics have turned out great (tho I photoshop the pics for color, contrast, etc).

speaking of digital photography, I highly recommend adobe's photoshop album software, and the free edition is full-featured enough to keep me happy. lotsa cool features.

weight

thanks to all for your prayers and encouragement. today Caleb weighed in at 8-1, which is back to his birth weight. he's put on 10 oz in just one week! we're very thankful for answered prayers, and the doctor is confident he's well on his way. I doubt he'll ever be chunky, but it's such a relief to know he's healthy and growing each day.