Richard Dawkins' Worst Nightmare

From the mouth of the eminent atheist Richard Dawkins:

"Innocent children are being saddled with demonstrable falsehoods," he says. "It's time to question the abuse of childhood innocence with superstitious ideas of hellfire and damnation. Isn't it weird the way we automatically label a tiny child with its parents' religion?"

Now, them's fightin' words. As Bugs Bunny used to say, "This means war."

Behold, my response:



Maybe he'll see it himself. Maybe it'll keep him up at night...

"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17

(You can tell what Jeff writes and what I write. :) We pray with Caden before meals and at bedtime... He prays during those times, when he sings, and now when he is on the toilet. He loves to pray. Sometimes Mommy gets a little annoyed with the hundredth "AMEN!" of the day, but that's probably not a good thing. Children love repetition, that's for sure! You should watch this, Meredith: we have another Gerald in the family... ERIN :)

Another Video... :)

I hope you are sitting down as you read this because I have drastic news. Brace yourselves...Morty is no more.

About a week ago Caden was in his room and he was saying "Abbey" over and over. I had no idea what he was talking about. At first I thought he was saying "Ammie" for Grammie but after listening for a little while it was clear he was saying "Abbey". When he pointed at Morty, his elephant, I realized that he was calling Morty Abbey. So Morty has gone from male to female, and he is now Abbey. We thought that was kind of cute.

It's also cute when Caden answers questions. The other day Jeff asked him 3 questions. The first was if Caden wanted to go to church and he said no. The second was if he wanted Mommy to have a baby and he said no (he always says no to that question). The third was if he wanted to join the navy and he said yes. I told Jeff he's not allowed to ask that question anymore! ;)

Not much else is new around here. Soon we'll be packing up our stuff and moving out of here to our new place. We are getting really excited, and once the basement is finished in our new home we'll be even more excited.

After today Jeff has no more school and we are both happy about that. He is doing some courses by distance over the summer and one in the fall and then he'll be done this degree and be on to the next one I'm sure. :) Caden will go around the house saying "Daddy school" which means Daddy is at school. I know he'll like it when Daddy can be home more. :)

Potty Training? :)

Every day Jeff and I laugh and laugh over things Caden says or does. Tonight he tried to use the potty and it was the cutest thing. He did everything right except use it! :) Tomorrow we are hoping to go and get Caden his first big-boy potty seat. He really does seem eager to use the potty- he just doesn't know what it means to go in the potty. We think he's pretty smart to know what he does, though. Who knows- maybe before baby #2 Caden will be out of diapers. Do you suppose that's wishful thinking? :)

*There are 2 more new posts below, so be sure to have a peek*

He Loves Church...

There are two particular places Caden likes to go: church and "Ammie's" house. With regards to church, I think right now he gets excited because there are other kids there his age, either Daddy or Mommy goes downstairs to play with him, he gets special snacks, and he gets to listen to the singing. Every time we are in the car he either says "Urch?" or "Ammie?"... :)

Joys of Being a Parent

I was just looking back on some recent pictures of Caden and found one of him sleeping that I took a week or so ago. I love looking at him as he sleeps- he is so precious and I really think he is the cutest little guy in the world. Children are so innocent and sweet that you can't help but be filled with love for them. Jeff and I thank God every day for Caden- he is such a blessing. Children really are a gift from the Lord.

Oh, if only I had Caden's energy...

The last few days have been a little discouraging. I thought I was in the good part of my pregnancy since the morning sickness has passed, but on Sunday night at work I almost fainted twice and have not felt well since. I slept 7 hours during the day yesterday and another 8 at night, and I feel like I could go to back to bed again. A busy 19 month old doesn't allow that, so I guess I should have kept that wish to myself. :)

Poor Caden has been cooped up inside for 2 days so I decided I would try and take him outside today while Jeff was at school. That wasn't a great idea because I had a dizzy spell outside in our parking lot and thought I was going to faint. Caden HATES coming inside, so I had to carry a kicking/screaming baby in a snowsuit inside and pray that I wouldn't pass out on the way upstairs. I put him out on the deck to keep him quiet and momentarily satisfied and made a doctor's apointment. Come to find out, my blood pressure is too low and that is why I am having all this trouble. The doctor doesn't think I should be working nights (which is all I work, although only 8 shifts a month) because she says I'm not getting enough rest for me or the baby. And she doesn't think I should be up and about that much at night. I am not prepared to go off work yet and told her as such, and she gave me a note to be off for a month. I am going to take 3 days off (this Friday-Sunday) and then I have my 2 week stretch off and we'll go from there. We'll be sure and do what's best for the baby, but I don't want to make decisions too fast. I'm not sure at this point how well I can take care of Caden while Jeff is at school or work, but it'll get done. The poor little guy was in front of the TV a lot this morning and that is not a habit I want to get into.

So that is the news here. Pray that I will feel better soon. I'm sure I'll come around. I hate it when you're sick and you can't do the things you want. And it's no fun lying around...

Hope all is well with everyone. :) I have another video that I'll probably post later tonight.

I think this might say it was written by Jeff, but it wasn't. He isn't pregnant. ;)

Caden's Learning To Pray!

A few days ago at supper I noticed Caden fold his little hands, bow his head, speak baby talk and say, "Amen!". I was so proud. :) He did it all on his own, and now he almost always prays when his meals arrive.

Our Little Musician

Isn't he cute?



He's starting to try to sing along in church now, as well.

Caden's Long Phone Conversation...;)

I know I am going a bit crazy with these videos, but I like to put them up for my family because they live too far away and aren't able to see Caden. I'll probably put a few more videos up over the next little while, and then just do pictures for a bit.

Words, Words, and More Words... :)

Be sure to watch the new video posted below as well...

New Words!

Our Sweet Boy

I love these pictures of Caden. The first one was taken a few days ago when Jeff and Caden were playing together. Caden loves playing with a blanket we have in the living room, and he especially loves it when we put it over his head. Jeff enjoyed seeing the static in Caden's hair. It was pretty cute! :)

I took the other two pictures today. Caden decided he wanted to put all his plastic balls into his crib. He carried them, two by two, to his crib, and after a few minutes Mommy helped because it was taking forever. :) Caden played in his crib for the longest time, and he didn't want to come out. That was fine by me. :)

Silly Boy

So if you haven't guessed, we just learned how to upload videos so here is another one. :) This one is pretty dark because I dim the lights when it's getting close to Caden's bedtime. I wasn't thinking that I should have kept the lights on for the video.

Caden knows how to name certain body parts, and it is so cute. We don't know who taught him the new word he says on the video- Jeff says it wasn't him and I know it wasn't me! :) The camera set him back a bit, so he was a little rusty. Caden is a smart little boy- he is 19 months and he tries to count and say his ABC's... Yesterday he lined rocks up while we were outside and tried to count them. He knows how to say "9", and the other day he brought an upside down letter "G" over to me and said "9". It does look like a 9- I was proud of my little guy. :)

We do have quite a bit of news. Baby Jones #2 is doing well. We had a Dr's appointment yesterday and the baby's heartbeat is good and strong. I have a belly now and no londer fit in regular clothes. All my pants have that big maternity strap. I am just about 4 months along and am growing like a weed. Hopefully this baby isn't 15 pounds! We can find out what the sex is in as early as 3 weeks, so we'll keep you posted. We didn't know Caden was going to be a boy, but this time we thought we'd find out. This will be the only time that we'll find out I think. The baby gave me a kick yesterday and that was exciting. Once you can feel the baby the reality of the pregnancy sets in. Jeff and I are really excited, and I know in time Caden and his little brother or sister will be great friends.

Other good news is that we accepted an offer on our condo. We thank God that we got an offer as fast as we did. As of May 31st we'll be out of this place. I am going to miss it. This is the only home Caden has ever known. But I know he'll love our new place. After all, he'll just be a few minutes away from his beloved "Ammie" (Grammie)!

Well, that is all I'll write for now. I hope you enjoyed the videos! And by the way- we are getting Caden's pictures done again on Monday so I'll be sure to send them out. Bye for now!

Bathtime Fun!

Here's a little video of Caden! I hope this works!



He loves his baths!