Caleb David Lockridge

Caleb David Lockridge

October 18th, 2011

8:04am

8lbs. 7oz.

20in.

On Tuesday morning we checked in to the hospital bright and early for our scheduled c-section. It was all very calm and civilized and easy, totally unlike Levi's birth! We were checked in by 6am, walked into surgery at 7:30, prepped and ready to begin by 8:01, Caleb was born at 8:04, I was back in recovery by 8:25. Crazy how fast they have this process down. He's healthy and happy and a great eater. We came home Thursday afternoon and now we're just resting at home and getting into the swing of things as parents of two little boys. More to share later, but for now here are a few pictures from our week...

He has so much hair! It is long and blonde and already needs some maintenance. 

Daddy and his boys

Mommy and her boys

Brothers!

Lockridge family of 4!

New Store, New Sister, New Baby (Almost!)

We had a very busy, very fun weekend! Saturday morning we hosted our very first event at my Dad and brother's new running specialty store in Modesto: On The Run! We're not officially open yet but we used the store to hold a clinic for a local running club. The whole family came out to support in some way and it was so much fun! 

Setting up outside the store.
Coffee, fruit and muffins for the whole group and a great view of the new sign, pop-up tents and tablecloths.

Mom & Dad looking very official in their new roles!

Alison, Me & Sarah serving breakfast and loving our matching shirts!

Awesome logo courtesy of our great friends at "Red Door"!

After the event Saturday morning, we ran back to our house to set up for a very special party. We planned a surprise birthday party for my brother's 26th birthday. We planned dinner and dessert and had some of his closest friends and family there to celebrate. But Bryan had a secret plan...

He was going to surprise us too!

This preggo had a craving for carmel apples, so we turned them into party favors!
Thanks to Carrie, and then Jami, for showing me the amazingness of these yummy treats!!

Bryan took the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend! He really planned the whole thing all along, but neither Alison nor the other guests knew he would be turning the tables on us. We were able to get a sneak peek of this special moment because he arranged to have someone take some pictures!

On one knee in front of the covered bridge in Knights Ferry.

She said "YES!"

We all yelled "Surprise!" to Bryan when he walked in, and then they held up her hand and yelled "Surprise!" back at us.

It's official: We're getting a new sister!

What a fantastic night it was! We are so glad that Bryan found someone so right for him and, selfishly, we're so glad that she fits so well into our family! Now time to plan a wedding! :)

This was a monumental weekend in our family and it's only continuing this week... We held on till the last minute and have (almost) made it to our scheduled c-section date tomorrow morning at 7:30am. Dave and I are checking into the hospital bright and early and should have a baby before breakfast! We are so incredibly excited and have felt so loved by all the prayers and kindness and offers for meals and help before this little guy is even with us. We will update as soon as we can and show off pictures of us as a family of 4!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we took the short drive up to Del Osso Farms to pick out pumpkins. Levi loved the freedom of walking around the pumpkins, playing in the corn and dirt and riding on the tractor ride. Here are a few pictures from our excursion in the not-so-fall (HOT) weather...

Levi picking out his pumpkin.

We had an "Amazing" time!

Family picture attempt. Last one before Baby #2? :)

Loving on Daddy!

My big boy riding in the tractor.

Yee Haw!

Our pumpkin bounty.
One for each member of our family. Dave says the baby pumpkin can be moved to the right once he finally makes his appearance. :)

We had a great time playing outside, visiting the Bass Pro Shop and eating BBQ at Famous Dave's on the way home. What a fun family tradition! Levi is at such a fun age and is so much fun to be around these days. He's talking more and more and mimicking our sounds and questions and hand motions. He growls like a lion, knows the hand motions to "touchdown", "safe" and "out" (can you tell we watch some sporting events in our house?) and he is climbing on everything. He laughs and gives us great around-the-neck hugs and kisses on the lips and I love him more and more every single day. He's definitely getting some more teeth-- I think we're up to 8 officially, but he may be getting in some molars too. Poor guy! Lots of changes in his little life but he's up for the challenge. Can't wait to see how he does with his soon-to-be little brother!

And I'm still pregnant, just in case anyone was wondering. Ironic that we stopped labor twice because it was too early and now that it's time for him to come he's decided he'd rather just stay where he is. This Mama is READY for him to come but if a tractor ride didn't induce some labor then we'll probably just hang in there until our scheduled date. :)

Baby Waiting...

We're still waiting for Baby L #2. Went back in to L&D on Tuesday thinking this was for sure the time but ended up coming home empty handed...again. I'm definitely contracting but Doctor is trying to make sure it's really time before taking him out too early. I'm totally on board, just a little confused what else we're waiting for because I'm uncomfortable and so ready to go! :)

So we just took it easy this week. I tried to sit a lot and not chase after Levi as much...easier said then done! We had lots of helping hands and lots of food brought our way and Levi felt like a king with all his extra attention.

He's figured out how to open doors and especially loves to help himself to snacks from the pantry. Not quite sure why he decided raisins taste best off the floor but he was perfectly content to be independent!

My boys met up with the Seefeldt boys this week at the park. They played in the fountain, got soaking wet and then looked cool in the wagon on the ride back to the house.

Daddy and Levi took a break from football watching to try out our Toy Story dvd. Levi made it through the first 15/20 minutes or so but really liked the "Cars" insert he found in the dvd case. Maybe our next purchase? :)

Levi's other new love? Uncle Bryan's cool new truck!

 Then we hosted our first "cousins night" at our house last night! We are so excited to be back in town with family and figured it was a good idea to be intentional about seeing everyone at things other than birthdays and holidays. So the original plan was to get babysitters and go to Oktoberfest in town but then someone just had to be super pregnant and rain on that parade. So the boys attended Oktoberfest and the girls had their own fun at our house. The kids played and I realized we do not have stuff for bigger kids, but they still seemed entertained and Levi LOVED playing with his cousins. We had to have the obligatory bath time pictures so here are the two "older" boys in the bath. Crazy to think by this time next year we'll have 4 boys to put in the tub.... we might need a bigger tub!!! :)

Just trying to fill up time while we wait for little guy to make his appearance... we're so excited for him to come!

Lockridge Land Updates

Lots of things have been going on in Lockridge Land lately...

We had a little excitement last Thursday when I went into early labor. Throughout this pregnancy I've been having contractions. I noticed them earlier than I did with Levi, but who knows if they really came any sooner or if I was just more aware. They were never painful, just uncomfortable, so I haven't paid them much attention. Last Thursday I became more and more aware of them and decided to start timing them. It's so hard to lay down and pay attention when chasing Levi around the house so I wasn't completely sure how fast they were coming but I definitely felt off. I called in to my doctor and tried to convince them to let me sneak in the office for a quick check up instead of having to go to the hospital for them to send me home. Doctor said "no way, go to the hospital now" so I followed directions and went to L&D. I was laughing and joking with the nurse about how quickly they were going to send me home and that I was sure it was nothing and I was just that crazy pregnant lady that doesn't know what's going on. She hooked me up to the monitor and we realized that I was having contractions every 2 minutes. Well that definitely is something to be concerned with! Because I was still only in my 35th week, my doctor decided that we should try to stop my labor instead of delivery Baby L #2 that afternoon. (THANK GOODNESS!) So I spent about 5 hours taking pills, getting a shot and waiting waiting waiting for the contractions to stop. They slowed way down and I never progressed any further so they were confident in sending me back home, on modified bedrest and with more pills to take daily, to try to keep this baby in a little longer. I spent the whole time in a bit of a panic because I was NOT ready for this baby to make his appearance yet. I hadn't packed my hospital bag, I hadn't packed baby's bag, I hadn't washed all the newborn clothes, I hadn't gotten the swing out, I hadn't even pre-registered at the hospital yet! (Whoops!) Dave was very calm through it all and reminded me that we had plenty of friends and family and all those things could easily be done for us. He was completely right but this laboring pregnant lady was still crazily making to do lists! I was able to lay low through the weekend with the help of Dave's mom and my parents tag teaming my to do lists and wrangling Levi. We checked off every single item on my lists and I'm feeling so much better about the possibility of having a September baby. As of last night, I took my last labor-stopping pill and I'm now free to have this baby at any time. The crazy part is that I could still potentially make it all the way to my scheduled c-section date or I could have him tonight! I guess one thing I should have learned by now is that I have little control over these things. The great news is that baby is happy, healthy and kicking away and our house is officially ready for him to be welcomed into it.

Here is Baby's room.
Still need some things for the walls but at least it is ready for him!

Look who is excited about all the baby stuff!

My sweet boys watching the Fresno State game on Sunday.
Just because :)

We're still getting stuff done for the rest of our house too!
We got these great pots out in Escalon and I made the wreaths for the front doors. (I attempted to put cute burlap bows on them but they were pretty pitiful so I'm hoping my Mom can share her bow-making expertise.) 

We'll make sure to keep you posted when Baby L #2 decides to make his appearance!

Missing Socal

I got to chat with a couple of my favorite socal girls this week and it made me a little homesick. We are loving Modesto, loving our new house, loving being so close to family and we have definitely been BUSY, but Dave was in LA this week for business and we were here. He was working hard, I know, but he still got to see some people and eat at some fun restaurants and enjoy a peek of the South Bay while I was battling heat and sleepless nights and this slow pregnant body. (Obviously that would be the same whether I was in LA or here!) 

So instead of being sad, I thought I would send a special shout out to my good friends. You see, Becky and Sheri threw us a going away party on our last day in the South Bay. They had a pile of Southern California postcards for everyone to fill out. Since then we have received a slow trickle of mail from our favorite socal residents with pictures from some of our favorite places. Just when I thought we were all out of postcards, another one would come! It was a great reminder of the love and friendships we still have even though we may live a bit farther away. I have LOVED getting these in the mail, l have LOVED sharing them with Levi and Dave and I have LOVED hanging them up on our fridge to look at every day. Well it's official: we just got our last postcard. Instead of being sad I'm choosing to be excited about where we are now and thankful (so extremely thankful) for our great friends in the South Bay. We love you guys and miss you and hope to see you soon! 

Getting Out

Keeping up with our September goal to get out of the house we had two opportunities for fun this weekend. In true Dave fashion, he found a softball team to play on once a week. On Friday night we all went to watch him play in the first game of this new season and his team won! Levi enjoyed getting to run around and found his own ball to throw and then LOVED getting to see Dave through the fence in between innings. 

Catching up with our favorite player.

Then on Saturday we drove up to San Francisco with the Lockridges to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. We got there just in time to eat chowder in bread bowls at the Boudin factory and then headed over to the bridge. I had never walked across before and it was so neat that we could park for free, walk for free and enjoy some great views. Levi wasn't super excited about being stuck in his stroller and his very pregnant Mommy was pretty tired (and contracting) by the end but we all managed to walk to Sausalito on the the other side. (Dave and Charlie being the loving husbands and sons that they are ran back across the bridge, got the cars and picked us up on the Sausalito side. LOVE THEM!) Then we were able to wander around the Sausalito downtown a little and enjoy my first Starbucks pumpkin spice latte of the fall. Win-win! 

Another fun Northern California weekend. I'm definitely starting to slow down and not feel so great so this may have been one the last of our big out of town trips but we definitely have lots left to do on our "Baby To Do" list so we won't be bored! Only about 5 more weeks till baby #2 makes his appearance...can't wait!