Introducing CALLUM CHRISTOPH

Introducing

CALLUM CHRISTOPH

MARCH 30, 2009 at 5:31pm

5 lbs. 8 oz.

19 inches

Callum after arriving home.

Emeline watching over her baby brother.


Tiny, tiny feet.



Emeline's first look at Callum after he came home.

Callum in the car on the way home from the hospital.

Emeline's first kiss as she holds Callum for the very first time...this is my favorite picture in the world at the moment.

Pure delight as Emeline holds Callum for the first time.

On Saturday, March 28th, we drove to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning after I started leaking amniotic fluid. Three days and many drugs later, Callum was born 6 weeks early and perfectly healthy. The doctors said that because I was leaking amniotic fluid, they would do nothing to keep him from coming. We were told the risk of infection for me and the baby was very high, and it was safer to let him come than to keep me from delivering him.

We continue to praise God for our miracle!!! I did not have a cesarean, and he came out crying loudly. He was born at 34 weeks and 3 days, and never taken even once to intensive care unit for babies. He stayed in the hospital and stayed with me in the room most of the time for 7 days. We would have been released from the hospital sooner, but he needed to stay under the light for a few days for mild jaundice towards the end of our stay.

Emeline is a little jealous, but loves her baby brother. The first thing she does in the morning is look in his bassinet to see if he is still there. She loves holding him, and is very gentle for a 2 year old. She loves to give him kisses. What a joy it is to see them together.

More details and pictures coming soon.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!

2 Years Old!!!!

Emeline turned 2 years old on Feb. 12th. We had a great Hello Kitty themed party on Saturday, Feb. 7th attended by friends and neighbors. We had--including us and the kiddos-- about 20 people in our little apartment. I had such a wonderful time planning the party. I might have gone a bit overboard, but we did not get to have a big party here last year for her first birthday, because we were picking her up in Guatemala. I just love her so much…I wanted her to have a great party. We actually took her foster family out to eat at a nice steak restaurant last year on her first birthday. This year, I really wanted to have a traditional birthday party. Emeline had a blast and some of my family watched us sing to her and open her presents via Skype…yay for technology. Her big present from us was a little white table and 2 little chairs (IKEA, of course). She loves her table and chairs and moves her chairs all over the living room to sit in them.

Also, I know the above pictures are really of the party stuff and not Emeline. One of our German friends has an amazing camera—much better than ours—so she took the pictures, which I have yet to get from her. I have tons of video on our camera. So, I will have post more pics of Emeline in her birthday dress later. Take my word for it—she was adorable. She even wore her little princess crown part of the time.

A couple of days after Emeline’s party I was pretty much put on house arrest by my doctor for the remaining time of my pregnancy. So, I have been on the couch now for the past month or so. I am thankful to have just crossed the 32 week mark this week, so I am out of the most dangerous time. If Baby boy comes now he has very good chances of doing well, but would likely be in the hospital until around his due date or at least several weeks. Please pray that he can stay on the inside until 37 weeks, when he would be considered full-term. I have an appointment on next Friday that should give us a pretty good idea of where we stand with my cervix. Baby boy is doing just great…he is growing just as he should. We even saw on the last sonogram that he has a little bit of hair!

I am very much looking forward to my mom coming. She is planning to come some time at the end of March or the first half of April depending on how things are going. She will be staying about 5-6 weeks. My dad will come at the end of April. Then after my parents leave, my sister and my brother-in-law will be coming. WOW! We are looking forward to having so much family around to love on Emeline and the baby.

Please also keep Chris in your prayers as he is trying to do his job here and take care of the majority of everything around the house. Thankfully, I am able to keep an eye on Emeline from the couch, but not much else. Chris is really looking forward to my mom getting here :).

HAPPY FOREVER FAMILY DAY TO US!!!

With Emeline's wonderful Foster Family--Feb. 11, 2008

Emeline is thinking who is this lady who acts like she knows me....maybe if I don't look at her she will go away.

Forever a Family!!! Oh, what a day!

The calm before the storm....She had yet to wake up and realize she is alone with us.

The calm after the storm :). She finally falls asleep in her daddy's arms.



One year ago today….Emeline was placed in our arms, and we never had to give her back!!!! She was ours. She had already been ours in our hearts, but we were finally together. We met with her precious foster family who loved her dearly in the Marriot hotel in Guatemala City on February 11, 2008. We had just arrived in Guatemala a few hours before. We were finally going to get our girl.

When we saw Emeline’s foster family, we all exchanged gifts. The most important gift they gave sweet Emeline stays with her still. It was so apparent that she was loved by her entire foster family. She will probably have no memories of her first year in Guatemala apart from pictures and the stories we tell her. However, she remembers still in her heart. She is a secure and incredibly loving child. She has no problem trusting others love for her…she expects that others will be there for her. We have helped develop this in her, but we cannot take all or most the credit. She came to us that way, loved and treasured. For that we are forever grateful.

On a funny note…there is one thing deep in her soul she has never forgotten from Guatemala. Somebody or somebodies must have ridden sweet girl on their leg (giving a horse ride) ALL the time in Guatemala. She still to this day wants us to give her a horse rides. Unfortunately, our legs are not so strong!!

When her foster family left after many tears, Emeline was sleeping in my arms. When she woke up she was not a happy camper. It was sad to see her so very upset, but even in those moments I was just so happy to have her in my arms. It did not take long for her to begin to accept us. Again, I believe this is because she was so loved by her foster family. I also think she really enjoyed the undivided attention we were so very happy to give her.

We have come so far as a family in one year. I cannot imagine my life without my daughter. What did we do anyway before Emeline was here with us ??? I am so very grateful to God for every day we have together. I still appreciate the little things like her yelling “Maaaaaaaaaa-maaaaaaaaaaaah” so many times a day—music to my ears. I love watching her dance and take care of her babies. She is such a good little mommy. I love seeing the pure excitement and joy she has when she hears her daddy come in the door.

I have recently been sentenced to the couch again, so that Emeline’s brother stays put for several more weeks, which is not exactly what I had in mind to celebrate this day. However, daddy is up to any challenge and is out playing with his beautiful daughter on this very special day. We could not be more blessed as we celebrate our one year Forever Family Day.

Lazy Days

Well, we have had an interesting few weeks. I have yet to download new pictures, but since I never posted any pictures of Emeline is Switzerland in October, I thought I would post a few now. I was unable to join Chris and his family (Mom, step dad, sister, brother-in-law and a family friend) on that trip, because I was towards the end of my first trimester, and my very protective doctor did not think it was a good idea. He has been so careful with us. He knows we want to take no chances with this miracle pregnancy.

That brings me to the title of this post—Lazy days. A few weeks ago we had a little scare. Thankfully it seems we are now out of danger. I had had a busy December coupled with starting a German class in January that I wanted to take before the baby came in May. When I went in at around 24 weeks, my doctor measured my cervix and said it was on the border of being too thin or short. This is one of the leading causes of premature birth. Usually no one knows this is happening until it is too late—the cervix basically thins out and you can begin dialating and go into labor. I am so thankful for God’s provision in our wonderful doctor and in being in Germany. In the US this is usually not monitored unless you have already lost a baby due to cervical incompetence or if you have had certain surgeries that would make that more likely to be an issue. Thankfully, my doctor caught this on an ultrasound as he has been monitoring my cervix thickness all along. He told me to drop my class, because sitting at a table several hours a day was putting to much pressure on my cervix. He also told me to keep my feet up as much as possible and under no circumstances was I to pick Emeline up. He gave me an appointment for one week later, so he could see if it would get better or improve with me taking it easy.

I was a very, very good girl that week and continue to have my lazy days. When we went back in a week later, things had improved significantly to the point where my doctor felt we were not in any immediate danger. He warned me to behave myself and said I could just come in on my next scheduled appointment. I was so thankful and thrilled that this baby was not looking like he was going to come any time in the near future. Also, since I do not want to be put on bed rest, which is what would happen if things were to get worse again, I am keeping my feet up when possible. Also, Chris has been doing most of the heavy grocery shopping, because I normally walk to the grocery store and pull my little grocery carrier on wheels home. This is a pain as I would rather just do things myself and also because Chris has to do it, but it’s a small price to pay to keep Baby Boy safe and sound until it is time for him to arrive. I am able to take care of Emeline and do meals. I also decided since I can’t do my German class, that I am going to spend time reading in German. I recently read and over 450 page John Grisham book which had been translated into German. That’s a record for me.

Emeline is doing great. She turns 2 years old on Feb. 12th. We also have our forever family day coming the day before her birthday. We look forward to celebrating our beautiful girl over the next couple of weeks. I will be posting pics of those special coming days.

It's a......

Ok, so I originally intended not to find out the sex of this baby. I figure this baby is one of the biggest and best surprises of our lives—why not just leave it that way and wait and find out if we were having a boy or a girl until the very end. Also, with sweet Emeline we, of course, knew she was a girl. We chose to adopt a baby girl. I figured this time around we should embrace the mystery.

I should explain that in Germany we don’t get just 2 or 3 sonograms. They take a look at the baby with a sonogram every time you go in to the doctor, which is at least once a month. In my case I had to go in a few times extra for some minor concerns, so they checked the baby those times as well. My doctor also proudly told me he is getting a new sonogram machine this month that can do 4-D ultrasounds, and that he will happily make us a CD every time. How cool is that! Well, I had turned down offers to take a look and see if Baby was a boy or girl on more than one occasion. However, I finally wore down and my curiosity got the best of me. Not to mention the fact that my mom and sisters and everyone else were dying to know and praying that I would have a moment of weakness. I can also now order more stuff from the US, where I can get some things that are not available here. I admit the urge to shop for sweet baby clothes—and not just gender neutral ones—was getting the best of me. I know—I am weak!

So, last week we had our big ultrasound where we were at a specialist who checks all the organs like the heart and looks at brain development, etc. I am so very thankful to say that our baby looks very healthy!

So without further ado, here are some new pictures of our Baby…

Isn't HE handsome?!!!

IT'S A BOY!!!!! Emeline says bring on the baby brother!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours....Frohliche Weihnachten! Chris preached at a Heiliger Abend Service/Christmas Eve Service, and we are enjoying a Christmas at home in Germany with friends. This is Emeline's first Christmas home celebrating with us the birth of our savior. What a joy is it to have her home this year!

Isaiah 9:6: For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given...

Thankful

Yep, we are thankful. Sweet girl with her daddy.

This is what Emeline's daddy did to her when she got the tape out of his desk.










18 1/2 weeks pregnant....taken after dinner for the best possible effect.

We had a busy few weeks. Chris and I celebrated our 9th anniversary, which this year fell on Thanksgiving. We were actually married the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so sometimes like this year the dates line up. We celebrated Emeline’s first Thanksgiving home with us. I remember this time last year everything was up in the air with Guatemalan adoptions. I remember it all too well. I remember thinking…please by this time next year let her be home! Oh, and I am so very thankful that she is indeed home. As I hoped and hoped that our girl would come home last year, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would be celebrating the next Thanksgiving with my sweet girl and be pregnant. It’s really too much to get my head around. So, I m still riding the wave of thankfulness. God has blessed us more than we could have asked or imagined.

Sorry I haven’t posted in so long. Our computer was in the shop for 10 days, and I just haven’t had a moment to post. Thank you for all who are praying for a healthy pregnancy. So far, Baby seems to be doing great, and I am feeling pretty good as well! I want to finish off with a little note I typed up the day I found out I was pregnant.

Today is a day I will never forget. Today is the day I found out I was pregnant. After 5 years I had really thought it might not ever happen. I was late…about 10 days late before I took a test, because I just wanted to daydream about the possibility of being pregnant. It was enough to allow myself what I considered somewhat delusional thinking. It just seemed too good to be true. Early this morning, which is Wednesday, September 03, 2008 I got up early while Chris and Emeline were still in bed, and I walked to our corner drug store (after picking up some cereal at the supermarket) and bought 2 pregnancy tests—and some paper towels and toilet paper.

My mouth was dry and I was really nervous as I took the test. I waited for the results praying that God would give me peace no matter what the results, and that I would indeed be pregnant. I was ecstatic and in disbelief when I saw 2 lines on that pregnancy test. I was schwanger!!!! I kept looking at the test…checking the results against the box. I was in shock…a very happy shock.

Then, I went back into the bedroom where Emeline and Chris were still asleep. I gave the positive pregnancy test to Emeline and told her to give it to her daddy. Chris, who was half in a daze could not believe his eyes. We were screaming as Emeline began to pretend the pregnancy stick test was a cell phone and tried to talk on it.

Then, I went to the doctor whose office is in apartment buildings one street over. The nurse was very nice and got me set up to see him in an hour. At 10:30am Chris, Emeline and I were all in his office. A few moments later we were looking at our baby for the first time. Praise the Lord!!!!