New Pictures

He is very friendly and waves at everybody!  What a ham...

Caleb LOVES to swing at the park!

This one was taken at the beginning of January while we were at the Newport Aquarium.  It's one of our favorites!

Here are some new/recent pictures of Caleb.  He now weighs a whopping 22 lbs 6 oz...and our backs and arms can tell that he's gained weight!!  He is so much fun now and wants SO badly to walk on his own.  He'll walk behind his push toy and hold on to our fingers, but isn't quite brave enough to do it on his own yet.  We know that day is right around the corner and we have "baby-proofed" the house as much as possible!  He definitely keeps us on our toes!  He is so much fun to be around and he makes us laugh everyday!  It's so hard to believe he's 13 months old already.

Blessings!

Caleb's First Snow

"I'm just so excited, daddy!"

"I love the snow.  It's hard to wave with this on my hand though!"

Okay, so technically this isn't Caleb's FIRST snow...we had a big snow storm last winter, but poor Caleb was still in the hospital and didn't get to enjoy it!  We took him out today and he actually liked it.  The cold didn't seem to bother him and he would laugh every time a snowflake hit him in the face.  We're glad he found it so amusing.

We have been out of school since Tuesday due to snow and ice (obviously) and classes have been canceled the rest of the week.  We haven't measured how much fell at our house, but we're guessing it's somewhere between 5 and 6 inches.  So far, we have been fortunate enough not to lose power.   We did lose a few big branches off some trees, but that's about it.  

On a more serious note (sorta), we have been reading our "original" blog that we created when Caleb was born.  On this day last year, we were granted custody of Caleb by the Family Court.  We also got to hold our son for the first time...he was attached to so many tubes and on a ventilator.  He only weighed 2 lbs 11 oz and was 15 1/4" long.

 Today, Caleb is a wild man!!  He is all over the place and hates to be still.  Today, Caleb weighs 20 lbs 11oz and is 28 1/4" long.  He continues to bring us so much joy and holding him today, and everyday, is an awesome reminder of how far he has come.  God is good!

Blessings, 

 the Hamilton's

A Weekend of Firsts

And this is how Caleb would sum up turning a year older!

I was happy for a few minutes...

My first hair cut meltdown!

I did great for the first few minutes!

We have definitely had a busy weekend and a busy start to 2009!  I (Kasey) started student teaching on January 5th and things have pretty much been hectic since then.  It's definitely been a change and we're juggling how to work everything out, but we're slowly getting into a routine.  Thank God for my mom (Bama).  She has been a HUGE help and has been here almost 2 weeks now.  She is leaving next weekend and we're already dreading it!

Caleb has had a VERY busy and exciting weekend!  He got his first haircut yesterday.  As you can see from the pictures, he did great at first (thanks to an Elmo video), but he soon had a come apart.  Ms. Valencia did a great job cutting his hair and she'll definitely see Caleb again in the near future.  We kept a lock of his curly hair for his baby book and didn't realize how much hair he had.  Caleb now looks like a little man instead of a baby.  

Speaking of being a little man, we celebrated Caleb's FIRST birthday today.  We had some friends and family over and had a great day.  It's so hard to believe that a year has already passed since our little miracle was born.  We cannot believe how far he has come this past year and he truly is a blessing from God!  Caleb loved all of the attention at the party and wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake.  He loved playing with his food, but he didn't like it when the icing and cake actually got into his mouth.  He only cried for a few minutes and he quickly recovered. He got a new wagon, another Elmo, LOTS of clothes, books, videos, and more toys.  It was Christmas all over again!  

We love you Caleb Thomas and you make us so happy.  We thank God for you everyday!

Blessings! 

A Weekend of Firsts

2008 in Pictures

December 

Gulf Shores - July

April

February

January 19, 2008

Welcome to the world Caleb Thomas

These pictures don't even begin to describe 2008.  What a difference a year makes!

Do we really need to say just how incredibly awesome and wonderful 2008 was for our family?  It has definitely been a roller coaster year, but we can happily say we had more ups than downs.  Caleb Thomas has been the biggest blessing to us and it's so amazing to see how God answers prayers.  We cannot believe this year is already coming to an end and that Caleb will soon be a year old.  The time has literally flown by.  We feel so incredibly grateful and blessed that we have been able to share this year's journey with each of you.  We are constantly reminded and thankful for every prayer that has been prayed for our family and for our sweet son.  There is NO way we would have been able to survive without each of your friendships and without God's love for us and for Caleb.  HE is so good!  We know God has awesome things planned for us in 2009 and we wait with anticipation to see what His plans are.  

We wish you all a blessed New Year and pray that God will do mighty things in each of your lives in 2009.  

Blessings,

 Patrick, Kasey, and Caleb

First Family Zoo Trip

Caleb and daddy looking at the gorilla

Caleb trying to tell mommy about the big creature staring at us!

"I love the zoo!"  

We decided to take advantage of the sunny day and the warm(er) weather here in Louisville and make a family trip to the zoo.  This was  not Caleb's first trip to the zoo, but it was our first trip as a family.  We had a great day and Caleb enjoyed looking at all of the animals.  He seemed to enjoy the gorilla house the most, as they were the only animals to acknowledge his presence.  They were very interested in Caleb (so was the Siberian Tiger, but that's a whole other story...).  Last time we visited, Caleb really enjoyed the penguins.  However, on today's visit it was time for the penguins to eat and the zookeeper was apparently running late, as the penguins were putting on quite a noisy show in protest and Caleb was not fond of their obnoxious behavior!  We don't blame him...they were kinda loud!  Overall, we had a great time and have already gotten our money's worth out of our zoo membership. We will definitely be making another trip soon and love that we have such a fun place to visit so close to our house!  

Blessings!

Caleb's First Christmas

Caleb loving on Elmo

Not too fond of the hat...

Obviously, this was one of the most memorable Christmases ever!  Caleb is absolutely the best gift we could have ever received this year and we are so incredibly blessed that God chose us to be his parents.  How amazing!  We had the best day and Caleb was ready to start the festivities EARLY this morning.  He woke up at 4:50 am (after going to bed at 10:30) and he was ready to rip from the beginning.  I thought I'd be able to get away with not letting him open gifts until everyone got up and Patrick got home from work at 7 am, but that was wishful thinking on my part.  Caleb spotted Elmo and went crazy!  He immediately went towards it and started "talking" to it.  I had to let him open it!  He loves Elmo and it was super cute to see his little reaction to it.  Santa was very good to Caleb this year, but we're definitely going to have to talk to him about assembling the gifts BEFORE he drops them off next year.  It's not fun having to put them together while little hands are trying to play with him.  Obviously Santa didn't know what he was doing this year:)  

Today is also an important date for Patrick and I.  Eight years ago today, Patrick proposed to me.  It's so hard to believe that 8 years has already passed.  It seems like yesterday.  Time flies when you're having fun and when you enjoy the one you're with!  

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families and spent some time reflecting on the true meaning of this holy day!  We are so proud and happy that we serve an awesome God and that we can freely honor this day and the birth of Jesus!

Shalom!