Introducing...

...Caleb James DuPuis! He was born at 1:29 this afternoon. He weighs 7 lbs, 15 oz and is 20.5 inches long. He has some very cute blonde peach fuzz.Caleb's Bada, Grandma, Papa, and big sister came to visit shortly after he was born.
We were able to get our first family picture.

Here we go!

Daddy says, "Karissa woke up with contractions at 2:00 this morning. They were regular (5 minutes apart) from the start, but she timed them (and let me sleep) until about 3:30. Finally, she decided this was the real thing! She called her doctor and he said to head on into the hospital! She and I got ready and waited for Karissa's parents to arrive to take care of Lillian."
"We made it to the hospital around 5:00 this morning, and Karissa was officially admitted! For those of you who like details, we found out that Karissa is dilated to about 4.5 centimeters. Interestingly, this is about the time of day that labor started 2 years ago with Lillian, who ended up being born at 11:07 A.M. We'll have to see if baby boy makes it before then! We'll keep you posted!"

Keeping busy (more...)

Mommy says, "This week Dan and I are just going to take things one day at a time. I officially wrote "have a baby" on my to-do list for today... but we'll have to see if that happens! Baby boy isn't due until next Friday, so we are trying not to get our hopes up too high that he'll be here soon. While we wait we will try to keep busy and plan some little outings each day to keep our mind off things. This morning we ran some errands and gave Lillian time to play at the mall. We'll see what tomorrow brings!"

Game night

Tonight Mommy and Daddy had some friends over to our house. None of the other kids were able to come, so I enjoyed having all of the adults' attention!My friend Anna wasn't there so her mommy let me watch some videos of her instead.

Big Sister Class

Tonight Mommy and Daddy brought me to a special Big Brother/Big Sister class at the hospital. I got to hold a baby doll, feed him, and practice changing his diaper. We also got to see the place where Mommy will have the baby (although I've seen this when we've visited friends this summer), put my hand prints on a certificate like my baby brother will do, and got a special "Big Sister" t-shirt. It was a lot of fun!

Children's Museum

This morning Mommy and Daddy brought me on a special trip to the Children's Museum. There is always so much for me to explore!My favorite thing to do at the museum is play with bubbles!

Keeping busy

Mommy and Daddy have been keeping busy getting lots of projects done at home. This morning I helped them clean out the basement. We were getting rid of boxes that have been in the basement for a long time and don't need to be there anymore.When we were all done we had a lot of trash and recycling to get rid of!
We celebrated a job well done by going out for lunch at Crazy Horse. We love the coconut shrimp they serve - even I like to eat it!

Bouquet

Mommy says, "One of the perks of having so many flowers in our yard is that we can have fresh bouquets all throughout the summer! Here is a shot of one that Dan recently assembled."

Random assortment

Mommy says, "My due date is now 18 days away and my bags are packed and ready to go!""Today Dan picked the first "fruits" from our garden - a zucchini!"
"Lillian has been taking very good care of her babies lately. Today she hauled the pillow and comforter from her room and set up beds for her dolls. She is cute."

Sixth Anniversary

Mommy says, "Last month Dan and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. In some ways it is hard to believe it has already been 6 years! Perhaps even more strange is the fact that this fall will mark 10 years that we've known each other! We had the privilege of getting away this weekend for a belated celebration of our anniversary while Lillian had a sleepover with her Grandma and Papa (my parents). We had a lovely, relaxing time at the Kalamazoo House B&B and took the opportunity to eat out, go to a couple of movies and sleep in! Hooray!"

Playland

Those of you who have been reading my blog know that I love McDonald's playlands. Well, Mommy and Daddy brought me to one today and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot I started cheering! I had a lot of fun, even though most of the other kids playing were older than me. Mommy and Daddy were impressed with how brave I was!

New park to discover

This morning Mommy and Daddy brought me to a park we've never been to before. We had fun playing on the toys together!
Look at my long hair!
This park is special because it is one of the few in Holland that allows dogs. So, Abbey got to join in on the fun too! P.S. Mommy really was at the park with us - she was just busy taking pictures!

Happy Fourth!

Today is the Fourth of July! That means we celebrate America's birthday and Abbey's too! We spent the day at Bada and Poppy's cottage on Houghton Lake. The best part of the day was when we all went on a boat ride together.Poppy took me in the water so I got to go swimming!!The water was pretty cold but I still didn't want to get out! Eventually Mommy and Daddy made me warm up on the boat. We had such a great time!

Random assortment

Mommy says, "Lillian has been very interested in taking care of her baby dolls lately. She often tucks them into bed in her baby brother's room. Afterward she turns the lights off, says "shh!" and closes the door. I caught this sweet picture of her cuddling one of her babies while snuggling with her daddy.""Later that day we went over to my parents' house to spend some more time with family while Peter and Megan are in town. Lillian (and Dan) had fun playing with stickers that evening."

The return of the swing

Mommy says, "Today Lillian saw her old swing in storage and wanted me to get it out. I had been planning to set it up before the baby comes, so I figured this was a good opportunity. At first Lillian tried to climb in the swing herself. When I explained that the swing was for little babies and not big 'Lillies', she kept saying "No! Lillies! Lillies!" But after a while she became content with pushing her baby in the swing and has enjoyed that quite a bit!"