The Growing Caldwell Family

Anticipating Charlie's surgery and unsure of what the recovery might be like, we wanted to have a fun weekend!  Unfortunately, Charlie wasn't feeling his best - we guess teething and I was still having a lot of discomfort from the pleurisy.   Here they are sporting their Frozen shirts with Elsa and Olaf that Lovie made them.  Even Charlie gets excited about Frozen!  Sissy is infatuated with it! Sissy gave us the biggest scare in the penguin exhibit.  Aaron let her climb in the tunnel by herself and it was so crowded that we couldn't stand right at the exit.  He kept looking for her and finally I told him he should go in for her because it had been a long time.  When he didn't immediately come out with her, my mind started racing and wondering how long we could wait before alerting security that we needed to lock the place down until we found her.  While I was standing there, two security guards came up and asked me if I lost my little girl.  

In the midst of our snow days Lucy turned 7!  What better way for her to celebrate than having her people at home with her! Sarah Graves treated her to a spoonful of peanut butter as a special treat!

The next morning we woke up to snow falling and all the ice had a nice covering. We enjoyed our snow that morning and by that afternoon it had warmed up and mostly all melted off!      What a fabulous time we had as a family!

Aaron and I got up early Wednesday morning to get ready for Charlie's surgery.  The surgery was scheduled for 8:30 and we were to be there at 6:30.  I didn't know what to expect really and felt my four years of experience as a mom were not very useful.  I packed toys and lots of pacis as well as a blanket, clothes, soppy cup and light snack for af ter. It felt so early, but the surgery center waiting room was buzzing when we arrived.  Charlie was excited by the new toys!  He enjoyed playing while we waited a short while to go back to the preop area.   Once back there he was given a gown and a bracelet was put on his ankle.  We hung out for a bit in our little room and met nurses, anesthesia, and finally our surgeon came by to briefly go over it all with us.  Charlie grew hungry and restless as we waited.  Eventually, he grabbed his diaper bag and figured out how to open the door and told us bye bye! When they were ready, I carried Charlie as our nurse led the way to the OR.  I

To get two snows in one winter is so unusual and we made the most of it!  This one was much better coordinated and we were all together making it a lot more fun! At first we were just getting ice and there wasn't anything to go out and play in.  We had a nice morning painting some Valentine pictures. Charlie very much enjoyed his time painting! Sissy asked to make some cookies in her easy bake oven.  We found a recipe online that turned out very tasty! Finally, we decided there was enough ice built up to try sledding on it!  Turns out it was very fun, but a little wet!

We need many prayers for Charlie tomorrow as he goes for his hand surgery.  I pray that he does well with the procedure, his surgeon is able to make good choices to give him the best outcome, and that we are able to keep him comfortable afterward.  The post surgery part is what makes me the most worried.  He will have a full arm cast and I know that will make him quite unhappy.  I also worry about his pain and us being sure that he isn't in a lot of pain in the days that follow. We feel quite certain this is the best thing we could decide to do for him, but are just a little nervous about it.  I feel certain though that God is looking after my sweet boy and will take good care of him. I woke last night with the stomach flu and felt awful all day long today.  I have worried that I won't be recovered in order to go with Charlie in the morning, but his evening my fever broke and I ate some cereal for dinner.  Thanks be to God for that!  Not that I can do anything more for him tha

Dear Sarah Graves, My goodness, four years have passed already.   It feels like just yesterday I was writing your first letter to you and I have to say that I am still so in awe and so in love with you that I can’t believe it.   You have a very loving heart.   That is never more evident than when you are with your brother.   You squeal with delight to see him get up in the morning and you want to hug him as soon as you come in from school.   You speak kind words to him and encourage him so sweetly.   You are a kind big sister,   You find it frustrating, but never act out in anger to him.   I feel like that is very mature for a little girl.    even now that he has gotten older and sometimes does unkind things to you like pull your hair and mess up your toys. Your thoughts revolve a lot around yourself and your needs as I would expect them to at this age, but you are starting to see the world from others’ perspectives.   You are beginning to understand that sometimes I am tired o

Dear Charlie, The months are passing so quickly and you are growing so fast.  You are a full on toddler now and you sure are keeping us hopping!  You are interested in everything and constantly getting into things that are not meant for you.  You can reach the top of the table and even climb into chairs now and have full access to all sorts of things.  Drinks and plates get pulled to the floor along with papers, books, and all sorts of other items not meant to be left out.  You don't seem to be as fascinated with the item as you are with the act of pulling it down! You are talking so much now.  You attempt to repeat the names of objects we show you and you are able to tell us most of your needs.  You put two words together some and have occasionally made a phrase.  Mostly, you say one word to tell us you what you want.  We know you listen and understand a lot because you know to say, "bye bye" when you hear a phone conversation coming to a close!  You still call you

Sarah Graves loves to wash dishes.  It reminds me of being a little girl and washing dishes at my Aunt Beck's with Maw Maw Graves.

We really enjoyed our adventures with the snow!  The kids and I had a great morning at home playing outside in the snow, then coming in to warm up and play around before taking naps. We were so excited for Aaron to get home after his overnight stay with Jeanne'  We hd a great time that afternoon playing in the snow and showing him our "sled"! They wanted to come down our snow covered slide together! Just hanging around the house. Doing a little reading together. Charlie couldn't decide what he thought of the snow. Sissy was busy baking up some snow cake! She also learned how to make a snow angel.   The afternoon gave us a nice time to play outside with daddy.  We used a metal cake pan as our sled and our steep driveway made a fun hill! We also used our trash can a little more for Charlie to try sledding. We really enjoyed ourselves and the bit of snow we had.  It made me miss all those winter vacations we took

Three years ago we had a significant snow and ice storm that interrupted our daily life.  Unlike that storm where the snow started at night, this one started during the day.  We hadn't given the weather a lot of thought.  To be honest, I was just trying to keep my head up after the previous day's ER visit and bronchitis diagnosis, so I didn't really know much about the weather.  I elected to stay home that day still not feeling well and kept SG with me.  Aaron went into the office and dropped Charlie off as usual.   Around lunch time Sarah Graves and I noted that it was snowing and went out to catch snowflakes.  I didn't expect the snow to stick since it had been fairly warm in the days prior.  I even put out a couple of pans to try to catch some snow on the patio fearing that it would have stopped during her nap and there wouldn't be any for her to get her hands into.  Turns out, that wasn't necessary at all!  When she woke up, the snow was still coming

Sarah Graves seemed to truly enjoy her party.  We had a group of kids there and they all got along really well. The kids made crowns as one of their first activities and this was a big hit for them. Sissy made Charlie his crown and I think he was quite proud of it! Charlie's buddy, Cooper, was sporting his too. The grandmothers and Ms. Janan enjoyed the party as a time to visit. She was so excited to play pin the crown on Aurora.  She loves pin the tail on the donkey and really looked forward to this game in her party. Her friends thought it was fun too! Thanks to Pops we had the bounce house set up for them to jump in for a while.  Fortunately, we did this before the cake! Bouncing is definitely fun when you are under four feet tall! The cake was a big hit! Here's the whole gang in front of the princess scene.  She was so excited to be with her friends! When she wasn't coordinating the craft table, Aunt