Uncle Matt & Aunt Heather

Last week we had to say goodbye to my brother Matt and his wife Heather, as they are moving to Denver for three years for Matt's podiatry residency.  We are going to miss them so much!!  Heather is one of my closest friends (and not just because she has such an awesome name!) and really is like a sister to me.  It will be hard to be apart, especially with their baby boy on the way in August, but I am so thankful that we were able to live fairly close to each other for a few years.

 

I'm so thankful to have such a great brother and sister-in-law, and we are sure hoping that they still want to move back to Phoenix once residency is over!!  Calvin can't wait to have his cousin close by, and Todd and I are so excited to have a nephew!  :)

A Carefree Day

Calvin went on his first road trip two weeks ago when we were invited on a day trip to the town of Carefree with Calvin's cousin Bailey, Bailey's mom Erin and Aunt Rebecca.  Bailey and Calvin slept the whole way there.  (Don't you just love those cheeks!!  We think Calvin's weigh about a pound each.)  :)

We ate lunch at a restaurant called The Horny Toad, which was a favorite of my Great Aunt Jo's (Bailey's Great-Grandma).  She used to always get the Reuben sandwich, so Rebecca ordered that and Erin and I each had a bite.  I never thought I liked Reubens, but I changed my mind after sampling it.  The French dip and fried zucchini are also delicious, if you ever find yourself at The Horny Toad in Carefree!

There are lots of cute shops in Carefree, so we walked around a few of them but spent most of the rest of our time taking pictures of the kids.  Calvin tried out his sunglasses from Aunt Beth for the first time, but they are still a little big for him.  Bailey loved them though!

Calvin Robert

Well this time I have a decent excuse for taking so long to update our blog!  As most of you probably know by now, our baby was born right on his due date, February 12, 2009!  It seems incredible to think that was five weeks ago!  He weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 21 inches long, and is the spitting image of his daddy (with his mommy's chin, poor thing).  We named him Calvin Robert Owens.  We chose the name Calvin somewhat because of John Calvin, somewhat because of Calvin Coolidge, and somewhat because we just liked the name!  Robert is Todd's middle name and Todd's dad's first name, and I think we like the idea of sticking with family names for all our children's middle names.

Calvin is such a blessing from God and has brought us so much joy!  The first few weeks already seem like a blur, but the one thing that will always stand out in my mind was how immediately and intensely I loved this little baby.  I just knew the instant I held him that I would always love him and would do anything to protect him from harm and from all the evil in the world.  I will never be able to love him perfectly, but now that I'm a mom I feel like I have a better understanding of God's love for His children.  It is overwhelming sometimes thinking about what an important task it will be for Todd and me to raise Calvin, but at the same time it's reassuring to know that God entrusted him to us for a reason.  And we will pray every day for the grace and wisdom we so desperately need!

Calvin started smiling back at us a few days ago and is quite the little showboat!

He likes to stick out his tongue too.  :)

We have so many pictures of Calvin, it's hard to decide which ones to post!  If you'd like to see more, please click the link to our photo albums on the right and you'll see a new album with some pictures of Calvin's first few days.

How many people does it take to assemble a Graco Pack 'n Play?

2 engineers

1 business owner

2 stay-at-home moms

1 three month old cousin