subject to change

nearly all our routines and such will surely change very soon when the new baby arrives. we've been blessed for many months to have a relatively predictable schedule with Caleb, and I think it may be hard to be thrown back into all the unknowns again. but for the record, here's our general routine these days:

out of bed at 7:30 or so. earlier if there's an appointment or we're feeling chipper, but we all love snuggling, so we tend to take our time.
make a scrambled egg for Caleb (with bread and fruit too), fried eggs, bacon and toast for mama, cereal for me. tea if it's cold out.
sometimes sing a hymn or two before we leave the table. we want to be better at having regular family worship times.
Caleb is usually off to play on his own while mama showers and I do the dishes and make my lunch. I try to leave for work by 8:45, but these days with mama being a little slower, it's often 9. Caleb is often sad to see me go, which breaks my heart, but he's also really cute when he's looking out the window as I leave.
as far as I know, Caleb and mama hang out and do good stuff until lunch time (you'd have to get more specifics from her), and afterwards it's nap time for both. he'll usually nap for about 1.5 hours, but if he's kept up later sometimes he'll last 3.
I usually get home around 5:30 to much rejoicing by all, led in volume by the dog, in enthusiasm by Caleb (unless there's a video on), and in kisses by mama. then we figure out dinner together, which these days is often something yummy from the freezer. then we all get to spend time together and/or do dishes and whatnot as needed.
I love playing with Caleb until bedtime, which is usually somewhere between 7 and 7:30. I change him and get his bedtime milk ready (still in a bottle for only this time, although we're moving to sippy for this too) and when all is ready for bed, I take him to mama for his goodnite kiss. then it's milk, book, milk, prayers, and bedtime. he LOVES to snuggle with his blanket, especially the one with the tags still on it (he's always loved tags for some reason), so he settles right in and doesnt usually make a peep for 12 hours. as we have a newborn arriving very soon, and remember not-so-long-ago with Caleb, I realize that all that sleep is a huge blessing for all of us. hopefully little girl will catch on in good time too.
anyway, then mama and I get to hang out for the rest of the night, which is also a big blessing. sometimes we're off to girls or guys Bible study or whatnot, but we're so thankful for the good amount time we have for eachother. we actually have set aside Wednesday nights as our own time to look forward to, just to make sure we have that every week (I highly recommend this if your lives are generally busy especially). lately I havent been sleeping well (probably due to being excited/nervous about baby coming), so I'll stay up reading or watching sports or something, but not too late. then of course we start all over.

I'm sure all of this is subject to change very soon. I just hope and pray that we'll all adjust well to our new life together, and as energy and sleep are sacrificed, that we may be loving and faithful as we ought to be.

long weekend

as mama reports, we had a very good long weekend together. somehow I caught the cleaning bug and did all the floors and dusting and such. still no baby however, despite the nudging from the midwife this morning. we'll try again on Wednesday, but it's looking more and more like Thursday will be the big day.

go, labor on

yesterday (Thanksgiving) we decided to sing some songs of thanks before we got up from the breakfast table. having sung the classic "Let all things now living," Michelle turned to find another in the hymnal. having arrived at her chosen page, I looked up and saw "Go, Labor On" on the opposite page, and of course hilarity ensued (if you're reading this you probably know that her due date was yesterday). Michelle thought this was especially funny, letting out the heartiest of belly laughs, and exclaiming so much that we could see the hangy-downy-thing dance in the back of her throat. Caleb wasnt quite sure what to make of all that, but I think he figured out we were having a good time.

so we decided to try to sing it, but we're both pretty bad at sight reading. fortunately I figured out that we could sing that song to the tune of "Jesus Shall Reign" (aka Duke Street), so we sang out all six verses, stopping to laugh at especially funny and/or poignant lines like "tis not for naught", "what are men?", "while it is day", and "faint not" (if you recall, I briefly fainted during labor last time (I shall never watch them dig for her veins again)). so here's a link to Go, Labor On and our preferred tune is this one.

no baby yet, but we've at least found our fight song. today we got a few more things done around the house, and hung out with Julie and Rich. we also got the Christmas tree up and lit as we jammed to Sufjan, Grisman, and Amy Grant. hopefully by tomorrow we'll have the other Christmas stuff done. we're ready for you baby girl, and when you're ready, maybe we'll sing a bit of "Go, Labor On" as you make your way home.

thankfulnesses

a few of the many things that I'm thankful for:

a wife who is my best friend, who is a great mama, and loves me far more than I deserve; a son who is greater than I ever imagined; a daughter who I'll meet very soon; oh and the cutest and snuggliest dog ever.

an extended family that is so normal it's strange, where the only occasional complaint we have is over-love (just kidding grandma).

a job that's challenging, interesting, satisfying, fun, casual, comfortable and cool, as well as providing funds well enough to take care of our needs, but not too much as to make us complacent.

a house that's a cozy haven for our little family that we're filling up fast; that's across the street from good friends and neighbors; that's in the middle of a great little neighborhood; that has a heater that's still working after 30+ years.

a church that is just like family, where we can worship God together; where we are loved and served and able to love and serve in return; where I get to spend time with the greatest Sunday School kids around; where they let me play music too.

friends that will and have done anything we might ask, some of which I get to see 6 or 7 days a week, where we can work, live and worship in community as our families grow up together.

music that is fun and interesting to play, is often worshipful and always enjoyable, and some great folks to sing and play it with

a God who loves me no matter what because of Jesus, who has given us all things things and so much more, who deserves all our thanks and praise.

thanksgiving card, new site

here's a Thanksgiving greeting from us here at work. I'm pleased to report that I contributed to the voice talent. enjoy.

in other work news, we just launched a new site for which we're quite thankful, as it combines 2 of our favorite things: flooring simulation and ecommerce. so go make and buy your very own custom area rug.

baby builder 2

just like I initially did when he started building wood blocks, I still get all proud of Caleb when he makes various towers with his toys. he loves to build his mega blocks, and he made a tower of 14 of them this morning. he's even learned to straighten it up when it starts leaning.

he also likes stacking his "peek-a-blocks." these blocks are pretty cool, but they're not particularly good for building. even so, he stacks them up one by one, and he got 7 or 8 of them in a tower tonight. of course I think this is pretty cool, and he picks up on that, so he gets quite proud of himself.

but the amazing thing to me is how quickly he learns just by observing. he'd stack 3 or 4, and it would be a little precarious, so I'd (rhetorically) ask him if I could straighten them out a little before he put the next one on. so I would, and he'd build it up higher. after doing this a couple times, he figured out what I was doing and started doing it for himself. if one was hanging over, he'd poke it until it was on a little better. of course this may be completely normal behavior, but it's cool to see him pick up on stuff like that. when I ask him a question (like "point to the baby" in one of his books) or when he's working on a task like building blocks, I love that I can see his little wheels turning.

and there are a few more pictures here, including one of mama at 9 months.

soon

baby girl's due date is very soon. in fact, the midwife wont let us go very far into next week if she doesnt show up sooner. this is a little surprising and disappointing, but it may also be a mind-game on her part: telling us that she'll induce labor next week could possibly get Michelle to relax enough to get the baby to come on her own before then. but the question is, if you know it's a mind game, does the mind game still work?

either way, we're not too keen on inducing labor, as it's universally reported to be much harder that way, so we're praying she'll come before then. we may try a few of the natural remedies to induce labor. but even if we end up being induced, we trust that God has worked out all the details already, and we pray that He'll give us all the strength to work through it. so please pray for us and get your guesses in before it's too late.

new pub downtown

there's a new pub downtown, and it is a wonderful thing to behold. it's called "Hair of the Dog" and is found on 4th and Market, conveniently located in the 1/2 block between where I work and where I park for work.

they serve all the right beers on tap: guinness, newcastle, boddingtons, red hook, etc (about 12 total) and have lots of cool stuff in bottles/cans too. they did a great job making the place look as close to a pub as I've seen stateside, which is impressive considering the space they had to work with. the decor is tasteful and there's lots of dark wood, and the woodwork on the bar is pretty nice. I love the fact that there's only 1 TV downstairs, and you have to be at the bar to see it, but there are lots of TVs upstairs if you're into that, along with pool tables and dart boards. and there was an acoustic band setting up in the corner (bonus points for a mandolin), so I flatter myself by dreaming of playing there for beer someday (although we may have to branch out from doing just church songs?).

by way of contrast, our latest local St. Elmo dive serves only guinness on tap (but that's a good choice if that's the only one), is cash-only, and seems to be generally populated by dirty old men (hence the porn on the walls I guess?). I salute Hoppy for making it a much better place then Safari ever was, but the Dog has done it just right.

I'm not big on the bar scene, but I think it's pretty cool to have a good place to go for a quality pint now and then. their prices arent great (which is to say high/average: ~$4 a pint), but hopefully they'll have some happy hour specials or something. their food prices looked ok, but I didnt try anything. the guinness was quite yummy however. hopefully soon we'll raise a toast to baby girl there.

counting down

less than a week to go, and I'm starting to get impatient, or at least I was last night. I just want to hold my little girl! yet we still pray that God will bring her in His timing, as He certainly knows better than we do. mama's washing the windows and we're trying to enjoy the last few days of calm. plus the neighbors all have the flu, so it'd be nice to have that be done with before we send Caleb over there to hang out while we're out having the baby.

meanwhile a couple random things:

Caleb LOVES his blocks. he's usually carrying them around the house, and we call him peg-leg when he's crawling around with one, as you can hear it clacking on the wood floor every step. so it shouldnt have been surprising that I found a long skinny one in the foot of his jammies this morning. my only guess is that he was holding it while I was changing him and somehow slipped it in there. so he slept with a block cozied up to his foot last night. oh and he's walking quite well now. he can walk across the house on his own now and is clearly having fun with it.

in music news, I just got the brand new release from Indelible Grace, called "Beams of Heaven." very good stuff, but not as mellow as the previous album (which I prefer), and not as many memorable tunes yet. I think there's a couple worth trying to do for church, and nearly all are good listening. and Caleb likes dancing to it of course.

for church this week, we're doing a modernized rendition of I Need Thee Every Hour (the version that's on Randall Goodgame's CD, with a funky F#7 in there). I'm excited to have Shaun on the drum this time, and hopefully we can get Beth Ann involved on vocals soon, as she's trying to shake her "strictly formal" image. hopefully for Chirstmas we'll be doing a version of "O Come, O Come" that's a slight nod to Sufjan's version. Joe loves E-minor, and it loves him back.

liam and cay-wub

Caleb is getting to the age where he enjoys playing with other kids as opposed to just near them. one of his good buddies is Liam, who lives across the street and is about a year older than Caleb.

yesterday Caleb went to the window at the door and spotted Liam and his mom playing in their yard across the street. Michelle was a little worn out, so she was resting on the couch as Caleb started shouting at the top of his little lungs while he banged on the glass. his yells are pretty loud, but thankfully not really annoying, as you can tell he's just excited about something. this went on for serveral minutes, as he was clearly excited about seeing his friend.

and apparently he got their attention. so Liam moved to higher ground to get a better look at Caleb and wave and call out "Cay-wub! Cay-wub!". sometimes it's "Bay-lub" or some equally cute attempt at his name. unfortunately for Caleb mama was too tired at the moment to go over and play, but it's fun to see them become friends. we think their personalities are somewhat similar, although Liam enjoys telling Caleb what to do (having learned this skill from his older sister, no doubt).

we're so thankful for our friends and neighbors, and that we're good friends with our neighbors. hopefully we'll be able to stay in or near beulah land long enough to have us all grow up together.

walking videos

here are a couple clips of Caleb walking. he's gained a lot of confidence, so I think he'll be running around in no time.

here's one in the living room (and a pixelated MOV version for grandma) and one in the kitchen.

3 steps forward

Caleb took his first steps on his own today! he is now 15 months old and quite an expert at crawling, and very cautious, so he hasnt been keen on trying to walk on his own. he's actually been walking fine for a while, but only if he's holding on to one of our fingers. it's not like he's holding on for support, but he's not confident enough to go out on his own. I suspect he may be cautious for his whole life, but he really responds well to encouragment.

so we were hanging out in his room, talking about getting him to walk more, and I remembered that he hasnt been standing much lately. so I picked him up on his feet and told him to stand, just to see how long he could do it. he happened to be holding his blanket. and just as I let him go to stand up, he took three steps toward me! I dont think he knew what he was doing, as the blanket probably fooled him into thinking he was holding on to something stable. of course mama and I went crazy with excitement. and then, still with blanket in hand, he popped up from crawling to standing for the first time too. this he clearly did intentionally, as he had his big proud grin on his face and of course we showered him with praises and encouragement. but no matter what we tried he wouldnt try again, which isnt surprising. he usually thinks the "stand up" thing is a game to fall back down again, but we'll see if he makes any progress tomorrow.

and here we are today on the porch. still no baby girl, but we did get some more stuff done around the house, which is always nice. hopefully she'll be here soon!

come soon, but no rush

just about 2 weeks until baby girl is due to arrive! when Caleb's arrival was a couple weeks out, I was completely hyper about him coming. I just wanted to see and hold my little boy in my arms. I was going more than a little nuts, as you can read here.

and that's true about our little girl too, as I want nothing more than to see her and hold her very soon. I'm even more excited now that we found out I can help deliver her if I want. I'm pretty sure I want to, but just a little nervous that I'll drop her or something. we'll see what happens when the big moment comes.

so I'm excited about her coming, but at the same time I dont mind that she's not quite here yet, as I'm appreciating every moment with Caleb, who is in his last days as an only child. I have no idea how things will change, but I know it will be different for a while at least. we're praying that he'll do well with the adjustment to having a little sister.

so until she arrives we have fun building blocks (he can stack 4 not-very-stackable blocks all by himself), having tickle-fests, playing with the dog, and zooming around the house together. he's at such a fun age that we find ourselves asking if everyone has this much fun with their kids? we're excited to have the love and fun multiply very soon.

a toe in CCM? - need suggestions

my tastes in music are constantly evolving, but one aspect that has remained for a long time is a general distaste for CCM (contemporary Christian music). I actually used to like Amy Grant when I was a kid, and then I was into Petra in my early teens, but that was about it. I've gone from pop/rock to modern jazz to bluegrass to folk to various other stuff since then.

I've always been far more cynical than I should be, and haven't liked pop/rock for ages, so most of CCM is right out. besides not liking the tunes, perhaps the root of the issue is that as I was growing up it just wasnt cool to sing about Jesus like that. sure it's fine in church to sing the old hymns, but something about rockin out for Jesus rubbed me wrong. thankfully, I think I'm starting to get over that.

Michelle has always been more open to CCMish stuff and praise music in general, since she would play guitar for youth group and such, so I'm glad her appreciation for some of it has rubbed off on me. she's helped me drop my cynicism a bit, and listening to the less-poppy Christian radio in town has helped too. I can now honestly believe that the folks singing the songs really do love Jesus, and it's good to sing along too. dang, my arrogance runs rampant sometimes.

anyway, these days some of the guys and I do "preparatory" music for our church service. basically we play and sing a song at the beginning of the worship service. most of the stuff we do I would call modern folk, usually with a foot planted in old hymns. learning and playing these songs has made me hunger for recordings of similarly-styled stuff.

so does anyone know of any albums that have worship songs and/or hymns that arent pop/rock or a schmaltzy boys choir? it seems common for CCM (or almost CCM) artists to do an album with hymns or worship songs, but it's hard to find any that I like. here are those I've found so far:

little videos

so as I continue to play with our early Christmas present (getting ready for baby girl of course), I'm trying out the various options, one of which is shooting the video to an SD card instead of the tape. the drawback is it's only 320x240, but it makes things very easy to get online. so here are a few videos of Caleb doing his thing.

wall-walking and such, one-hand walking, opening the mail and more mail

strange dreams

less than a month until baby girl is due to arrive! mama is in full nesting mode these days, as she's got a bunch of projects going on at once: a wall-hanging for baby girl (with her name on it), a fall wreath for the door, and some other stuff I've lost track of. it's really nice to see her with energy again, although she definitely gets on one-track, but Caleb has survived it so far.

we're trying to enjoy our last weeks with Caleb as our only child. thankfully he has been doing very well lately. his teething has subsided for now, and he really enjoys playing by himself with his Legos. not that he can put the duplos together very well yet, but he likes to dig through the boxes and just play around with them and take them apart. he's also starting to parrot the things that we say, which is a lot of fun as he's been picking up a few words here and there.

we both had strange dreams about baby girl the other night. I dreamed that somehow I missed the birth, but she had really long dark hair (with bangs). when I saw her I was so overwhelmed at how beautiful she was that I just cried and cried. after I woke up I couldnt stop thinking about how cute she was. mama's dream was a bit stranger, as she was a he, and he had 3 eyes. yikes. maybe that's making up for my missing one?

so come on little girl, we're waiting for you! mama wants to finish her projects, and then we'll be ready. I still think the big day will be December 1, but we'd love to see you as soon as you're ready.