Mommy at last....

Okay so WHOOOOO I AM A MOM! I can't believe that I am finally a mom. He is sooooo perfect. He looks like Steve except for all of that long dark hair of his. Which I adore. Caleb Andrew was born on November 24 at 1:22pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long. He is having a little trouble breastfeeding right now. He has a tongue thrust and he likes to suck on his tongue so we are trying to teach him to open his mouth and put his tongue down. Which is apparently WAY more difficult than I thought it was. Other than that he is absolutely perfect. We are so glad that he is finally here. I don't know if he shares these same feelings, but he is just going to have to deal right now. He will thank me later. Okay so labor is absolutely the WORST thing I have EVER done. I now have a new meaning of the number 10. You know when you go to the hospital and they have you rate you pain 1-10? Yea, what I thought was a 6 or 7 before is now a 3. But the labor only lasted 5 hours total and I was really only in pain for 3 of those hours. I went from a 2 to a 8 in 2 hours. Much pain. I did end up getting an epidural which was bliss for the last hour. YOU DON'T FEEL ANYTHING! I couldn't even get my legs to move hardly. They were basically logs that Steve and the nurse had to hold for me. So was it worth it? Definitely. No doubt about it. I think a perfect world would have the women be the ones who were pregnant and carried the baby for nine months and the dads/men did the labor and delivery part. But if that happened, we would have WAY less babis in this world. I hope you think he is as cute as I think he is. And if not, oh well you don't have to come see him. Love ya!

the new addition

This is Joe posting. So when Cannon was only a couple of months old, Leah told me that when we had two kids, she needed a dishwasher. Period. Thinking at the time that such a situation was far in the future, and a little bit scared of saying "no" to a brand-new sleep deprived mother, I said what every good husband says: "OK honey." However, when we found ourselves expecting again so soon (and unwilling to move before before I graduate in April), it appeared that I had agreed too hastily. Imagine my surprise (and better yet, imagine Leah's surprise) in being able to report that there are currently dishes being done in our apartment and not by me or Leah! We got a dishwasher!!!!!!!!! How could such a miracle occur? I will esplain. No, there is too much; I will sum up. One Tuesday, I had a huge crazy Biochemistry test and studied my pants off. I also had an optics assignment due at 7pm (the same time young men's starts), and had way more to do that day than I could possibly do. I was stressing thinking about what I should do, and maybe I should just skip young men's that night to get some of it done, but decided instead to skip the optics homework and just go to young men's. I felt really at peace about that thought, so that's what I did. Our activity that night was building a wheelchair ramp for a new family in the ward who I had helped move in the previous Saturday. It was fun, and I stayed loooong after young mens was over to help get it finished. It was quite a sight to behold, and it felt really good to be doing some real service again; it seems like it had been quite a while since I had such an opportunity. Then the woman came out and looked it over and thanked us profusely, then asked "Do any of you know someone that needs a dishwasher?" I sheepishly replied that I would love to have a dishwasher. A few days (and several tries at faucet adapters) later, we loaded our first washer-load up and let her fly. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Holy cow. Leah remarked to me that night that besides our wedding day and the day Cannon was born, this was probably the best day of her life. To sum up, I am very grateful that I listened to the guidance of the Holy Ghost as it helped me to make what seemed like a trivial decision regarding my day's schedule. We are so grateful to our heavenly father for this blessing; dishwashing that previously took two or three hours is now taking 20 minutes. The Lord is good to us when we're trying to do what's right.
In other news, Cannon is now walking all over the place! (Videos to be posted soon). 2-3 steps are now becoming full room-lengths (when an unobstructed path is available, or in other words, when we are not home...). It's loads of fun. He is also learning anger. When something isn't going his way, he looks up and shouts, then he's good. It's lots of fun, and different every day.
Anyway, I've got to go to get to family night. I love you guys and hope that you're all doing well. Have a great day :)
Joe

Hey from the Kofoed's

So In case you can't tell, I am pregnant! I am officially full term according to my OB-GYN, but still have another week to full term according to my Perinatologist. So we are close enough that we are counting down the days until Caleb is supposed to come into this world. When he comes is however a totally different matter. That will be up to him. His daddy thinks that he has a say in it and has the exact day and time that he wants him to come. We will see how that turns out. Life here is getting more and more hectic as we plan and prepare for the baby to come. You never really know so its like I have to be ready to go to the hospital tomorrow... and I don't like that. I wish they just came when they are supposed to so we can have a plan for everything. Steve is getting more and more excited. He talks to Caleb a lot more now and plays with him and tells him how excited he is to finally meet him. It is the most adorable thing, I have ever seen. Maybe. Midterms were last week and Steve did excellent! I am so proud of him. Now that those are out of the way he can just finish the semester and have a baby to celebrate with. That will be fun. We are excited to see family for Thanksgiving. As far as I know, we are having it at our house here and stuff. If there are contradictions to that, please let me know so I can plan for it. I love you all and will talk to you soon!

Sara and Steve

Job Number Two

Hi all! It's so good to see those adorable videos of baby Cannon, although he's starting to go into the toddler phase. But baby Cannon sounds so much cuter than toddler Cannon, at least to me. Oh well, what can you do? I'll probably keep calling him baby Cannon. :)
So, I got a second job of sorts. I will no longer have any free time whatsoever. yay! my second job is helping take care of this girl, Hannah, who is 10 and is both autistic and has DOWNS syndrome, and is extremely physically handicapped. She is being released from the hospital Friday after some intensive physical therapy to try and teach her how to swallow. I am going there tonight (at the hospital) to get to know the routine and get to know her and her mother. It's gonna be fun! I gotta go, job number one is calling me!
All my love,
Bekah
Smile Sunshine!

Backed by popular demand

Okay, here are some more sweet Cannon videos. This first one has probably the sweetest first frame picture ever, so it had to get posted. When you watch it, go back to the first frame and see if you can rebut its awesomeness. Diaper waving can be pretty entertaining.


Next we have a growling match between Cannon and Leah. And aunt June got involved somehow. It's hard to resist.


Finally, we have one of Cannon's most recently acquired talents; clapping! We've been trying to drill it into his head for a while now and he finally gets the concept! Yay! On a side note, immediately after this video ended, he took about 5 steps between Leah and I without support. It was bangarang.


So news from our end: I just got back from an American Physical Society (physics) conference in Golden, Colorado. I presented on my research and felt like it went pretty well, although I didn't get a single thing done that I had planned on doing while out of town. I guess that's how it goes when you're on a vacation of sorts. It was a great experience, though, and I chatted for a long time with one of my classmates who will be going to Thailand this summer. I'll be teaching his wife and him Thai every Saturday from now on, so I'm super excited. Leah and I have been talking about going to Thailand next summer for the month of May, so all donations are accepted. Seriously though, I keep having impressions that we should go, so we are starting to make preliminary plans. Well, it's late, so I hope you enjoyed the videos and we'll keep shooting more. Love you guys!
Joe and fam

John, have a question

This is kind of a funny thing to post, but I dont get to talk to john much in person, but I know he gets to read this every so often, so I thought I would post a question to him on this. John, what would you like in a care package? Other than letters of course. And dont just say anything!!! What is something you miss that we could send you. A funny comic book, favorite candy...although you might have to eat it melted :). Trail mix, chips, fruit we could send some mango's or something in these special bags that keep food good for a two weeks or so. Pictures, movies, new scriptures or pass along cards or small book of mormons to hand out to people. I have just been asked by many cousins and grandparents what to send, and I list a lot of what is up there, but, was not sure what are some specifics you would like. So, let me know as soon as you can so we can get it too you. I miss you a lot, i think of you often when I am playing with cannon. When I go to the temple, or read the news, I almost cry, or tears flow freely thinking of how grateful I am for the sacrifice you are making so I can raise my beautiful sweet son in this country. And that you are trying to allow that same opportunity to mothers over there who I know must their children as much as I do. Thanks for all you do, I`m sure its hard, I can't even imagine, but we pray for you often, your name is always in the temple, and you are greatly missed. I love you.

tooth number 7!

Cannon's smile is less symmetric than usual today, owing to a new addition on bottom :) He has had 4 teeth on top and 2 on bottom for a long time, it seems like. Now we have three on bottom, and probably soon to be four. He found his scream box this week, so now its trying to figure out if he is screaming cause he is happy, sad, talking or mad. Mad is funny, because he expresses himself know when he is angry or frustrated through voicing, or screaming is what it ends up really being, his opinion. He will scream for a minute and then look at you like "Did you just here what I said!" kind of expression. He lets go of furniture a lot more now, and will take a step or two to reach something a little ways away. He eats everything he shouldn't, and not such a big fan of what he should. And is about 21lb last time we went to the doctor. He gets milk next month...crazy...and a birthday party. Were having a get together with friends who have kids generally around cannon's age, some older too, but were going to have a rubber ducky party. Get a couple of helium balloons which he loves, lots of rubber duckies everywhere and have all there friends instead of a present bring their favorite toy for everyone to play with. Then little cupcakes so each kid can have there own little sugary treat :). And all the moms can chat, which is always nice :). Hope all is well with everyone, good sabbath to you.