December 6

I'm on a roll here - 4 days in a row!

I know that being out in the cold doesn't give babies colds, but apparently Caleb doesn't know that. Last night, he kept waking up coughing. He's been battling a cold for over a week now, but I think the 27-degree setting for our Christmas tree hunt pushed him over the edge. This morning he woke up with a nose that ran like a faucet, plus sneezes and coughs. Poor baby. Luckily, he wasn't whiny-sick, he was just snuggly-sick. Normally Caleb's sick clinginess would try my patience, but with Baby #2 halfway here, I realize that my chances to give Caleb my undivided snuggles are limited. I spent the whole day in my pajamas, snuggling and reading to and rocking my sick boy. And I loved every moment of it.

I finally got a chance to take a few photos of Caleb with his Little People nativity set. He loves that thing!

One of the wise men was off on another journey at the time of our photo shoot, so Caleb's schoolbus rider stood in for him.

It didn't take Caleb long to learn the most important characters. Here, he's reaching for (and saying) "Ma-wee". He also knows "Do-fah" (Joseph) and "Baby" or "De-suh" (Jesus). Plus, he's a big fan of the sheep (he says both "seep" and "Baa-aa-aa" and the camel ("To-mah"). The donkey confuses him, though. He keeps calling it "Daddy". Hmm....

Removing the angel from her perch (it looks like a barnyard catastrophe here!)

and trying valiantly (but unsuccessfully) to replace her.

This was a good purchase.

(Note - I had to retouch every photo of Caleb's nose to spare you his glistening snot trickles. I'm going to assume you're thanking me now.)