Visitors

Calvin has enjoyed several visitors since his birth:

Grammy and Papa


Poppy


Mrs. B and Benjamin and Julia

Mrs. L

The Family C

Savannah and Sabrina

We've enjoyed the fellowship and all the good food! Thank you to everyone!

posted by Sydnee

Happy Birthday, Selah!

Selah turned 4 today. We all had a great time watching her open presents and eating pie and ice cream. Grammy and Papa came up to help us celebrate.
Decorating was a bit of a challenge because Selah wanted a "squirrel" theme. We stayed up very late Saturday night to decorate after playing too long on the Wii Grammy and Papa bought us for Thanksgiving. Abby was very creative and did a wonderful job on the whipped cream squirrel on Selah's French Silk pie!



The birthday girl and the pretty flowers Daddy got her:


Opening presents:


After opening presents, Selah changed into the dress and tennis shoes that Grammy and Papa brought for her. Later, she asked Mommy if she could wear them everyday. She said she would never get them dirty and she would not wear them outside to play, but they were her "favorites" and she wanted to wear them all the time. Later that night when she put her pjs on, she left her new tennis shoes on until she had to take them off to get in the bed!

Birthday prayer and squirrel pie:

And our sweet Calvin slept through the whole thing!

posted by the blessed sister of 10 and aunt to 2 - Sarah

Comparatively Speaking

So many people have asked us who Calvin looks like, we'd thought we'd let everyone decide for themselves. Daddy says he looks like himself, Mommy says he looks like all of us in different ways.

posted by the blessed sister of 10 and aunt to 2 - Sarah

Calvin at the Hospital

I have seen Mommy have babies at home, but have never been able to attend a hospital birth, so I was very excited to be able to attend Calvin's birth because this time we had a hospital plan as well as a home plan since Mommy had the complications during her pregnancy. It turned out we needed the hospital plan. Mommy has been having a special test called a biophysical profile done every week since 34 weeks. Her score has always been 10/10 until Monday when the score was 4/10. At that time Daddy, Mommy, and Dr. Ross decided it was time for Calvin to join us. Aunt Sheli came to stay with the rest of the children while Daddy, Mommy, Mrs. Coffee (Mommy's midwife), and I headed to the hospital to induce. Mommy asked if they could only start low doses of pitocin to see if it would start her labor up slowly without breaking water or bringing anything on too fast because she really wanted to have Calvin with as little intervention as possible. They started pitocin at about 4pm. Everything was moving along and by about 1:30am we were thinking that it might be time to have a baby, when we realized that Calvin's hand was on top of his head. This made Mommy panic and her labor stopped altogether! After some moving around and an ultrasound and some reassurance by Dr. Ross that everything was fine, things still did not start back up. Daddy and Mommy decided to not return to the pitocin, but take a break, get some rest, and start back up the next morning. We all slept in strange positions for about 3 hours, then Mommy was a little antsy and she and I started walking the halls. The nurse came in about 8:30am and started the pitocin up again, slowly. Mommy had typed up some Scripture verses and prayers and I read them aloud to her as she labored. So I sat, read, and prayed that all would go well. It was kind of funny to watch because at about 10:20am the nurse came in and asked if she should call Dr. Ross. Mommy wasn't sure, but finally said no, she wasn't ready yet. Then at 10:30am, Mommy suddenly said she was feeling "pushy," so the nurse called Dr. Ross in. Calvin came at 10:45am. Mommy asked me if it looked hard, but I told her, "Oh, not really, but you know you, nothing hurts you and you make everything look easy." She said labor is not bad, just work.

We all guessed Calvin's weight before they weighed him. Mrs. Coffee was the winner - she guessed 8.13. I guessed 8.2, Daddy guessed 7.13, Mommy guessed 8.5.

Then things made a turn for the worse. Calvin's blood sugar started to drop drastically. It needed to be above 40. It started out at 36, dropped to 28, then 24, and by 2pm his blood sugar was 14 and he was being moved to the NICU for IV glucose. We were hopeful that it would only be about 6 hours, but around 7pm he started dropping again. Daddy and I headed home to stay with the other children and get some rest and Calvin and Mommy ended up with a long night in the NICU until he finally started doing better and was released back to Mommy's room at about 7am.

Later that morning Daddy, Abby, and I got everyone ready to go up to the hospital to visit Calvin! It was so exciting to go visit him and everybody got to hold him.

William loves Calvin and wants to hold him all the time. Wallace on the other hand didn't know what to think of it all at first, but now he has really warmed up to him and wants to sit beside him as much as possible.

Calvin had his first visitors at the hospital, too. I didn't get a picture of Aunt Sheli because I was at home with Daddy when she visited Mommy while Calvin was in the NICU. The "L" family also visited, but Mommy was back with Calvin in the NICU and did not get to visit them. When we were visiting Calvin, Grandpa Allen and Mrs. Snow came up to visit as well. We had a nice visit with them.


Then we had a great time just hanging out with Calvin until he and Mommy were released to go home.

Everyone keeps asking who he looks like. Hmm, he looks like Selah. No, Wallace. Oh, maybe Sydnee. Maybe Elly or Abby. Daddy says he looks like Calvin. I'll make another post later with all of our baby pictures and let you decide.

Going home! Yeah!

We are enjoying the little guy so much! He is almost always being held. We are all enjoying having a baby around the house again. He is so adorable! Thank you, LORD!

posted by the blessed sister of 10 and aunt to 2 "Sarah"

He's Here and Home!

Announcing Calvin Valor

Calvin – “favored”
Valor – “strength of mind in regard to danger; that quality which enables a man to encounter danger with firmness; personal bravery; courage; intrepidity; prowess” (Webster’s 1828 dictionary)

Born December 8, 2009

at 10:45am

8 pounds, 15 ounces

20 1/2 inches long

We found out we were expecting another dear blessing just as we began planning a trip to Boston this summer to celebrate the 500th birthday of John Calvin (July 10, 1509), the man most responsible for our American system of liberty based on Republican principles of representative government. Due to other circumstances, we did not take that trip, but watched, read, and rejoiced with others who were there celebrating the birth and influence of this great man.

John Calvin was an influential theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. Calvin was a tireless apologetic writer. He is famous for his teachings and writings, in particular for his Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin’s thought exerted considerable influence over major religious figures and entire religious movements, such as Puritanism, and his ideas have been cited as contributing to the rise of capitalism, individualism, and representative democracy in the West.

John Adams, Founding Father and the second President of the United States, described Calvin as "a vast genius," a man of "singular eloquence, vast erudition, and polished taste, [who] embraced the cause of Reformation," adding: "Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect."

Harvard historian George Bancroft wisely stated: "He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty."

It is because of this spectacular timing that we chose to name our newest son Calvin. Our prayer is that he also will be a tireless apologetic, influential in home, religion, and government.

“For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God.” – John Calvin

Stay tuned for more pictures and information on Calvin and his birth...