Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...a day late!  We enjoyed family time yesterday so we didn't get a chance to write a Thanksgiving Day blog.  We hope that you all were able to enjoy some amazing quality family time yesterday.  We did and enjoyed every minute of it.  We had an amazing realization yesterday.  Caleb decided yesterday that he wanted to cry more than normal and as this can sometimes be stressful we just realized that we feel blessed every single day that we get to spend with him, even if he is being a little cranky...or like my mother-in-law likes to say he's just singing. :)

There are so many things to be thankful for like Jesus, my hero Dave, our little bundle of joy Caleb, our families and friends, our health, our warm place to live, food on the table, our church, our business, our jobs, our safe cars, our country and so many other things!  I am so grateful for everything God has given us and I hope all year round we are reminded of how blessed we really are and not just thankful one day a year.

We absolutely love this time of year.  It's the time of year where things seem to slow down a bit and you really reflect on family.  I'm so very thankful for family all year round but there's just something about this time of year that brings it out!  I feel like it brings out the gratefulness in everyone obviously with Thanksgiving as well as every one's giving spirit around Christmas.  It's the time of year where maybe you haven't seen some of your relatives since the past holiday season but you can just pick right up where you left off and enjoy a lot of laughter and love!  It's the time of year where your heart wants to give abundantly to so many others and every one's selfless side shines.  It's the time of year where you enjoy warm fall scented candles in every store or those traditional holiday decorations that your mom always puts out or that feeling you get during the first snow fall and seeing Christmas lights sparkle everywhere and of course baking your favorite cookies all day with your mom until you are exhausted!  Whatever it may be, this time of year our hearts are always just a little bit warmer and I love it!

We hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving and we pray blessings and quality family time over you and your family this time of year!

Love,
Dave, Carissa and Caleb

Love

Dear Caleb,

I wanted to write a personal letter to you, hoping that this will benefit you in the future. I had a great opportunity on November 6th to vote for men and women who will lead this great country we live in. Because your mommy and I follow Jesus and what the bible teaches, we have a responsibility to do what we can by voting. God makes this clear in Exodus 18:21. He says that we shall choose people from the people, God fearing people of truth. So your mommy and I went and voted. Although many of the people we voted for did not win, we still have a responsibility to respect people in authority. We will continue to respect and pray for our president, his family, and all the leaders of our country.

You see Caleb, we live in a great country and we serve a great God. And regardless of whether or not we get our way all the time, we still have a great life. As you grow up, you won’t always agree with every person you come in contact with and that is okay. But God does call us to love one another. When you are playing sports against an opponent, when you disagree with a classmate in school, or when you get frustrated with a friend, we still are called to love these people.

So, regardless of anything you do in your life. Whether you go on to be a great athlete, a successful business owner, an engineer or an artist. Regardless of when you make good or bad decisions, mommy and daddy will always love you. There isn’t anything you can do to make us love you less.

Love,
Daddy

Time to Vote

I have always felt blessed to be born in the United States of America!  Every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner I am overwhelmed with pride and it never fails that I get tears in my eyes.  Freedom is so important and has been an ever growing passion of mine over the past 10 years.  It's election day and I am excited to get out there and vote!  It's always important to vote but I feel this year it's more important than ever.  I believe our country needs Godly leaders that bring this country back to what it was founded on so many years ago which developed us into the leading nation.  I've always voted based on standards and principles that line up with the word of God and because of that my voting choice is always clear.  I pray this morning that the right leaders are elected into office this year.  Prayer is powerful so please pray for the leaders of our country and be sure to vote!  May God bless the USA today!!

My song of choice today!  God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E

One Month Under the Belt

Wow!  Where did that month go??  It's been more than we could have ever imagined and we've been enjoying just about every minute of it.  Outside of the one day where both Caleb and I cried all day long it's been great!  Even though his days are filled mostly with eating, sleeping, peeing and pooping my favorite is when we are snuggling together!!  I posted on Facebook that I feel like I could hold him all day long and stare at him and it would be considered a productive day.  That is so true because I know it won't be long before he's running all over the place and I won't be able to just hold him and snuggle with him whenever I want. :)

The two most memorable moments of the first month have to do with peeing. Dave was in the nursery changing Caleb when I heard him yell "Get in here, he's peeing on his face".  We both could not stop laughing although I'm sure Caleb wasn't enjoying it.  The other time was when we were giving him a bath and a stream of pee shot into the air and Dave jumped in front of it so it wouldn't go all over the floor. You know you really love someone when you're willing to let them pee on you!

Over the past month Caleb has done great with tummy time and strengthening his neck...gotta get those muscles working for all the sports he will be playing.  Dad is hoping for either basketball or tennis.  He has also rolled over quite a few times which has been fun to watch.  When he's sleeping he smiles a lot, I imagine he's dreaming about milk or a clean diaper?!?  Just this week for the first time he smiled at me when I came into his room to get him from his crib.  That absolutely melted my heart!!  He is so precious and I'm excited for so many more memories!

We love you buddy and happy one month, you've been absolutely amazing!

Motherly Love

So I remember when I went off to college and realized how much I took my mom for granted because I now had to do all of my cooking, cleaning and laundry. :)  It's sad really that it took me that long to realize how much my mom provided for me.  Now that I'm a mom, I appreciate my mother even more!!

I think back on everything my mom has ever given me or done for me and it brings tears to my eyes.  She seriously is the most amazing mom ever!!  Like I said above, she not only did all of the cooking, cleaning and laundry, she also drove me all over the place so I could play volleyball and I'm pretty sure she NEVER missed a single game of mine.  I've never questioned whether she'd be there for me and she proved that yet again.  She came to stay with us this past week to help take care of us since Dave had to go back to work.  She cleaned, cooked, grocery shopped, stocked up the fridge and freezer with all sorts of great meals and she snuggled Caleb a ton!!  He's one blessed little boy to have such an amazing grandma and I am one blessed daughter to have such a loving mother.  Thank you mom for being so incredible...I love you!

My Hero

God has blessed me with the most amazing husband!!  I will admit that this morning was a little tough for me because Dave had to go back to work.  I know this sounds cheesy but I seriously just love being around him ALL the time.  Nobody makes me smile or laugh more than he does. 

He deserves a blog shout out because he was supportive in every way during my pregnancy making the 9 months special and his encouragement during delivery was exactly what I needed.  An all natural delivery was not easy but I knew I could do it knowing I had him by my side through it all.

I've always known how giving and loving Dave is, but this last week since Caleb was born, those qualities were very apparent.  He let me sleep with ear plugs in and when Caleb woke up in the middle of the night, Dave would go get him and even change his diaper....even though before delivery he assigned all diaper changing to me!  He'd then bring the little guy into me so I could feed him and when we were done Dave would take Caleb back and rock him to sleep.  I'm pretty sure I got more sleep than he did and I'm so very grateful!!  I've fallen even more in love with my hubby and I didn't think that was possible!  Thanks babe for taking such great care of Caleb and I over the past week.  You're an amazing husband and father and I'm excited to create so many more memories with you!  You're my hero...I love you!

Introducing Caleb Michael Kapaun

God blessed us with a beautiful baby boy on Saturday, September 29th, 2012 at 3:50pm.  Caleb was born at 8 lbs 3 oz, 20 1/2 inches, and a full head of hair!  Carissa delivered Caleb at Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia, MN.  The entire hospital staff, especially the nurses, were outstanding and extremely caring.  Both Caleb and Carissa are healthy and doing great.  Carissa was amazing during her entire pregnancy and especially in labor.  She gave birth to Caleb without an epidural or any medicine.  I have always loved my wife, but I have new found respect for her and I humbly admit my wife is tougher than I am.

 

The first week of being a parent has been a learning process, very fun, emotional, and it's still a little surreal to us.  It's amazing to think that we have a 3rd person in our home and we are fully responsible for taking care of him.  Life has changed dramatically for us very quickly, and we are loving every minute of it.  The best part of this first week is the amount of laughter Carissa and I have enjoyed on Caleb's behalf.  Caleb has provided us with some unique facial expressions and movements.  Our favorite one so far, is sometimes when Caleb is stretching out after a nap he tends to punch in the air rapidly as if he is the next Rocky Balboa.  On top of that, he has done it while wearing little mittens emphasizing his early love for the sport of Boxing.  Being that Carissa's least favorite sport is boxing, she may have to have a mother-son conversation on the matter soon.  Caleb isn't quite speaking in full sentences yet, but hopefully in the next week or two.

Thank you Lord for blessing us and our family! - 3 John 1:2
-Dave & Carissa