Half Birthday!

Today is Joye and Caleb's "Half Birthday!" In other words, Caleb is 6 months old and Joye is 27 and a half! Wooohooo! No need to send gifts for this grand occasion.:) We'll put some fun Christmas pictures on here soon, but we thought we'd show you this picture first. People have been trying to decide if Caleb looks more like me or Joye for a while now. Well, this picture doesn't lie!

We'll post more in a couple days. Until then, enjoy the rest of 2007!
Love ya,
JJC

Almost 6 Months!

We thought we would give a quick update with some pictures before we left for Wyoming. Here are some cute pictures of the little man. It is so fun to walk through each stage of life with him. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Love you,
JJC

Looks like he needs a teddy bear to cuddle with instead of the bumper!

Precious...

He's a little wobbly, but he does pretty well sitting up now.

Not quite sure what to think about the new seat.

Oh, now he knows what to think! His first attempt at "solid" foods was a success.

Merry Christmas!

Hello! We hope that each of you are doing well. It is a good time of year for us because things typically "slow" down a little. It is nice to be able to take a breather, spend time together and with our family during this Christmas season. We are looking forward to spending time with our family in Wyoming this year for Christmas and introducing Caleb to Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins he's never met. It will be a good time and good to see Johnny's side of the family again.

Caleb is still growing strong and is developing more and more of a personality. He is one active little boy, that's for sure!

Enjoy this time of year, stay warm, and love each other!

Peace and Love,
JJC

For those of you who didn't receive our Christmas card...

5 Months Old!

Well, Joye and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on Sunday and Caleb turned 5 months old on Tuesday. No, we didn't have a party, but we can't believe how fast time is going by and how big our little man is getting.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family here in Nampa, and we're looking forward to Christmas in Wyoming - where there might actually be snow!

Here are a few recent pictures. Enjoy!

We love each of you!
JJC

He found his new favorite sleeping position.

Typical guy...already sticking his foot in his mouth.

4 Months and a week!

Caleb got shots today. Poor little guy. He's doing well and it was a normal check up at the doctor's office. He weighs 15lb. 6oz (50th percentile). His head is 17 1/4" roundish (90th percentile). And he is 26 3/4 inches long (95th percentile). So, he's growing well. He is rolling around now which is pretty fun. Here are a couple of pictures for ya!

Love you all!
JJC

Lookin' good!

Just hangin' out with his hand in his pocket.

And friends are friends forever...

Joye went to McCall last weekend with some girlfriends and took these pictures. With Caleb is our friends' Jeremy and Melissa Mueller's son Miles. He's six weeks older than Caleb. Best buds forever!!!

Also, Caleb rolled over today from his belly to his back. The video is fuzzy, but you can see him roll!

Hello!

Hey all! Here are a couple of pictures and videos for you to enjoy. The video quality isn't that great, but it is from a camera phone - so what do you expect?!

Love you!
Peace,
JJC

Little smiles.

Gettin' ready to go.

I think I can, I think I can...

Caleb is laughing...

3 Months!

Caleb turned three months old this week! We had a big party at 2:30 this morning. Actually, Caleb got his first cold at the end of this week so we had a rough night last night. He's not quite sure what to do with sneezing and coughing and a runny nose. He has such a look of shock and confusion when he makes a noise he's not sure about.

Caleb found his thumb last week and while he doesn't suck on it very often, he's learning to control his arms a lot more and beginning to put his hands in his mouth. He's giggling a lot now and reacts to "peak-a-boo" - his little smirks and giggles are priceless!!

He's getting big and out growing the plethora of clothes we were given as gifts. We've already got quite a pile of clothes that don't fit him (including many clothes he's never worn). Is it pathetic that we were sad when he no longer fit into newborn clothes? 6-9 month clothes seem to be the ones that fit him the best right now (just in case you needed to go shopping;)).

Joye is getting back into the swing of things at work - she really loves her job and that makes it nice, but it is a hard rhythm for her to get into. Caleb is doing really well at daycare and Mrs. Lyndsey (that's what we call her when we talk to Caleb about her) really loves him and we are really happy with the whole situation. I'm keeping busy with the youth ministry and love my days off more than ever now that I get to hang out with Caleb all day.

Last Sunday was a very special day in our lives. We gave Caleb to the Lord. Grandpa Hampton (Boppa) performed the dedication and it was very, very special. We were blessed to have so many family members be a part of this special time - we were overwhelmed by love. Our good friend Ryan Ketchum played the piano and sang a song (click here to see and hear the original song and video by Mark Harris) for us and for Caleb right after the dedication. Joye and I sat in the pew watching and listening and crying as our hearts were filled with a profound sense of responsibility and love.

Welp, that's all the catching up for now. Thanks for stopping by and checking in on us. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy. We're working on getting a video camera so we can start showing you all of Caleb's "firsts."

We love you!

JJC

Look at that belly!

HIYAH! He likes to make this pose when he's playing with us. Joye thinks it's hilarious!

How you doin'?

HIYAH! Again.

Peak-a-boo!

Big day!

Today was Caleb's first day of daycare and Joye's first day back to work. It was as expected - really hard! Caleb did great at the daycare, but it was tough for both Joye and I to let him go for the day. I was going through withdrawals around lunch time wanting to come home and hang out with Joye and Caleb for a while. I can't wait until Friday when I get to spend the whole day with him! It's just a weird feeling to think that for three days a week, he will be spending more time with someone else than with us. Hmmm...maybe that's the way parents feel about their teenagers.:) However, we are both very pleased with where Caleb will be spending three days a week. It is a great place with a really great lady taking care of him during the day. The routine will be me taking Caleb to daycare in the morning and Joye picking him up in the afternoon. Normally, this should work out pretty well.

We are having fun with Caleb. He is getting more and more of a personality - one day at a time. Smiles are frequent now, especially in the mornings. I love waking up with Caleb in the mornings - he is so happy it seems - full of smiles and even occasional giggle.

We would appreciate your prayers as we all adjust to this new schedule and lifestyle. You are all loved!

Enjoy these cute pictures.
Peace and love,
JJC

Shots today!

Caleb had his first set of shots today.  He did very well, actually.  Joye and I probably cried more than him!  They measured him today as well and he is 12.1 lbs, 24 3/4 inches long, and his head is 16 inches round.  He's in the 80th percentile for length, 25th for weight, and 40th for head size.  So, whatever all that means, he is doing a great job of growing!

Peace and love,

JJC

Chick magnet.

Sitting up with a little help from Mr. Pillow.

2 months old!

Well it's been a while since we've updated the blog, so here you go! Caleb is 2 months old today! He's getting big, that's for sure. We had an appointment two weeks ago and he was 9lbs 9oz and measured at 23 1/2" long. He's growing up so fast!:) 

Let's recap the first two months of Caleb's life. So far, he's traveled about 8,000 miles. He's gone to Alaska and back, and to Wyoming and back - quite the traveler already! He did great on both trips - we couldn't have asked for him to do any better, really. He took his first step yesterday and is feeding himself with a bottle - ha! Now that's wishful thinking!! Seriously though, he's starting to squirm around quite a bit and we keep thinking he's going to be on his belly every time we check on him in his crib. While we were in Wyoming, he gave us his first little giggle and real smile. And tonight was Caleb's first experience at youth group. He's had a pretty eventful first couple months of life, that's for sure.

Joye and I are looking forward to the coming months as a fairly normal schedule begins for us. It will be nice to get into a rhythm again after a long, crazy summer. Joye goes back to work in a month or so and we think we've nailed down daycare for Caleb - an answer to prayer actually!

Here are a few pictures of the best looking guy in our family (and the best looking lady too - in the last picture!:)).

Enjoy and we hope to see all of you soon!

Love you all,

JJC

One happy boy!

Slip the jab!  Slip the jab!  One, two!  Slip the jab!

Sleeping in mama's arms...precious.

North to Alaska!

Well, we've been in Alaska for about a week now and we're having a really good time. The trip here couldn't have gone better. Caleb was a trooper and did very well the whole way. It's amazing how many people stare at you in the airports when you are carrying a baby.

Caleb has met all his cousins on this side of the family. We can't wait until he can start running around and play with all of them.

I'm having a blast fishing. We've worked hard when we've been open and we're headed out early in the morning to fish a normal fishing period tomorrow. Unless they extend us into Tuesday, I'm going sport fishing with a couple others. I can't wait to hook into one of those Reds - there's nothing like it!

Joye is having a good time catching up with all her cousins and the rest of the family here. She is doing a wonderful job being mom and wife.

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy. We've got some really neat pictures of Caleb - his Aunt Jana has been helping us with some great photo opps, but we're going to save those for now.

Enjoy these photos! We love you all.
Johnny, Joye, and Caleb

Caleb and Josiah
They are 4 months apart - Caleb is 4 weeks and Josiah is 5 months. Josiah likes to play with Caleb, but Caleb doesn't really know what's going on yet.:)

This is just us with the view overlooking the bluff.

Now this is what we came for!! A 66lb King! So far its the biggest one the processor has received this year.

We looked over during dinner and found Caleb just chillin' in the swing with is leg kicked up on the tray. That's how he rolls.:)

This is the view walking down the the bluff to the beach. Beautiful!

Life is good!

Okay, so here are a few pictures for ya. Caleb is 3 weeks old today! He's getting so old, isn't he? We'll be off to Alaska next week for a couple of weeks. It should be an interesting flight, but we can't wait to be in AK with family and I can't wait to take Caleb down to the beach to pick some fish!!!!  We love you all and hope to see you soon.  Enjoy the pics!

This is his favorite sleeping position - just like his dad.

Nice PJ's!

He might be picking his nose here...

This is where we hope Caleb sleeps for a long time tonight.;) 

(Thanks to Jana and Wende for the nice decor!)

This is where we change his diapers! Fun, fun!

Caleb is two...weeks old!

Time is flying and Caleb is growing! We took him in today to check his weight - he is now a healthy 6lbs 13oz. He's gained about an ounce a day since our last appointment a week ago. Joye is doing very well adjusting to a whole new lifestyle being at home for a while. I'm back to work this week and going home for lunches is a lot more fun now!:)
Hampton's out!

Caleb is one week old!

Here's Caleb and the infamous infant hiccups. The video quality is poor but hey, not bad for a camera phone, right?

Time flies by...

It's hard to believe that it's already been a week since I was pacing back and forth in a hospital room, Joye was lying on a bed about to give birth, and Caleb was just a few hours from life outside of the womb. It's only been a week and we're already saying "time flies by."

Caleb is doing great now as a one week old. When we left the hospital Saturday afternoon he weighed in at 6lb. 3oz (he lost 6oz the first few days - which we hear is normal?). On Monday we had a check up and he weighed 6lb. 4oz. Today before he was circumcised he weighed in at 6lb. 6 1/2oz. He gained 2 1/2 oz. over night so he should be back to his birth weight in no time. He's turning out to be a pretty good eater.

It has been fun to have lots of family around during a time like this. Joye and I are so thankful for a family who loves and cares about us so much. Thank you so much for the way you love us - it means a lot to our little family.

I know all you want to see right now is pictures of Caleb, but a couple pictures of my mug have to be a close second, right?:) Enjoy.

We love you all!
Peace,
JJC

One down...

Well, we made it! We stayed our first night at home last night and I'm awake enough right now to make a post! Woohoo! Joye did great last night and so did Caleb. He only woke up twice - 3:30 and 7:00 in the AM. He ate like a champ and went back to sleep - that's what we like to see. He was up for a little while after the 7 o'clock feeding and we got to play with him a little bit. He's kicking and squirmng his little feet and hands like crazy - a pretty active little boy.

It has been awesome sharing him with those who are close and we can't wait to share him with those who are far away! It is amazing how much he has changed even in the first 5 days of his life.

Who do you think he looks like?

Peace and Love,
JJC