Bumbo Seat Pics

Here's a few more pictures from the last few days!

John Bunyan Book Review

John Bunyan
Christian Encounter Series
by Kevin Belmonte

I enjoyed reading this biography of John Bunyan, part of the Christian Encounters series by Thomas Nelson publishers. This book gives a great overview of Bunyan’s life and the circumstances surrounding his writing of The Pilgrim’s Progress. I’m not a huge biography reader, and so this book was just the right size and had just the right combination of historical facts and storytelling to keep me engaged through the end. The book is 142 pages long, plus a few ending sections (appendix, notes, etc).

I loved reading about Bunyan’s conversion to Christianity, his endurance and dedication to preaching the Gospel even in the face of certain persecution, his young wife’s bravery and defense of his calling, and I especially appreciated the brief summary of both Part 1 and Part 2 of The Pilgrim’s Progress. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in The Pilgrim’s Progress or learning more about John Bunyan. It’s not a hugely in-depth look at Bunyan’s life, but just enough information to feel like you know who Bunyan was and what inspired him to write one of the most widely recognized pieces of English literature, The Pilgrim’s Progress.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program.

Thumbs and Books

My parents are coming to town this weekend and I'm so excited! It's been about a month since my mom saw Caleb last and my dad hasn't seen him since Christmas! I know this little boy has changed a lot since Christmas, so it should be fun watching Dad catch up on all things Caleb.

Speaking of catching up, our sweet boy has turned into a major thumb sucker! He's always gnawed/sucked on his hands, fingers, or anything he can get close to his mouth. But over the last few weeks he has mastered the art of separating his thumb from the rest and more often than not he will fall asleep with that little thumb stuck tightly in his mouth. We've tried to give him a pacifier instead and usually he will take it, but before long that paci falls out and in goes the thumb. I have to say it's kinda cute.Other than that, he's been very smiley and talkative - it's been so fun! Last week Stephen went to Los Angeles for the Shepherd's Conference, so Granna and Aunt Jayci came over in the evenings to help out and play. It was great - Caleb loved it and it was a huge help to me!

On a non-baby note, I've joined a book review website called BookSneeze to review books for them. It's pretty cool because I just browse the books they have available for review and pick one, then they mail me the book (for free-no cost whatsoever!), I read it and post a review on my blog and then on a site like amazon.com. Once I've posted my review, I go back on and request a new book. From what I can tell, all the books on BookSneeze are from Thomas Nelson publishers, which does primarily Christian literature. I'm in the middle of my first book - a biography of John Bunyan. I'm hoping to finish it in the next day or two so you should see a review on here shortly.

I've been trying to be much more intentional about my reading this year because I always have a list of books that I really want to read and at the end of the year I find I've only knocked out a few of the books from my list. So there's books that I've been meaning to read for YEARS that I just never get around to. Well I decided this year would be different! I guess you could call it a New Year's Resolution. I've already finished three books and I'm halfway through two others. That may not sound like much, but for this full-time job working wife and new mom, that's a big deal! So all that to say, you'll hopefully see at least a sentence or two on here about the books I've been reading lately. I'm excited to share them with you!

3 Months

Our little man is 3 months old today! Here's some pics from this weekend when GiGi was in town.

Finally An Update

Sorry it's been so long!!! Going back to work, caring for a newborn, and being a good wife to my husband combined with internet problems at our house have led to majoy blog slacking on my part. Our internet still isn't fixed, so no promises on when the next post will be, but here's a brief update for now. I'm going to use mostly pictures to cover the last 2 months.

Caleb is almost 3 months old now. He's been smiling and cooing a lot over the last few weeks, which we are LOVING! He's sleeping great with just one middle of the night feeding and even a few nights where he's slept through the whole night! He's getting bigger and bigger (too fast for my liking) and he loves playing with Stephen. It's so fun to see the way Caleb lights up when Stephen plays with him. I get the same reaction from him when it's feeding time. :-)

Stephen spent the month of January preaching at a wonderful church near our home whose pastor has been sick. It was a great opportunity for him to get pulpit experience and let out some of the years of seminary training and study in God's Word. He did a great job, but more importantly, he proclaimed the Gospel with all his might. I loved getting to sit under his teaching and hear his heart for God's Word, for salvation, and for missions. I'm so proud of him and honored to be his wife!

We also celebrated birthdays over the last 2 months - Stephen's in Jan and mine in Feb. The picture above with Caleb was on Stephen's birthday, and the next one at the restaurant was on mine. Stephen got to preach on his birthday, which he said was the best gift he could ever get.

Well that's about it for now. Hopefully it won't be 2 more months before I get another update on here!

More Pics

So I have a feeling the majority of the blog posts on here for the next few months are going to be pictures of our sweet baby. Hope that's ok with everyone who follows along! :-) There will be some commentary as well, of course.

These are from yesterday:

Caleb and Mommy

Nap time with Daddy!

I can't believe how quickly Caleb is changing. It's only been 2 weeks and he already looks so much older! He's been awake a lot more over the last few days. So far he just looks around very wide-eyed and makes cute baby noises. He loves to stare into your eyes and does a good job of fixing on objects/people.

2 Weeks Old

Here's a few pics of our little cutie over the last couple of days:

During one of his naps today...so peaceful and cute!

Helping mom fold clothes

And checking things out