Caleb's First Bath

Jonathan and I gave Caleb a sponge bath for the first time this week. He loved getting his hair washed and his body cleaned. Here are a few pictures from the hour-long event:

December 12, 2007 - Call me Caleb.

Herman Melville said it originally, but I'm sure his Ishmael wasn't nearly as precious as our little boy! Caleb Pasquale McConaughey-Shank (say THAT 5 times fast!) was born at 3:47 am on Wednesday, 12/12/07. He weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21 inches long. He is a very healthy boy with a very healthy appetite, and we just adore being with him.

Here's how the name came about: we had a list of 4 first names that we liked, and when he was born we decided he just looked like a "Caleb." His middle name, Pasquale, was the first name of my maternal grandfather, and "McConaughey-Shank" is a combination of our last names. It's long, but the only other option for the last name was "McShank," and that was quickly vetoed by Jonathan and I for reasons I'm sure I don't have to explain.

We came home from the hospital on Thursday, tired and ready to spend some time together as a family. So far Caleb is a pretty mellow baby (just like his papa, Jonathan's mom said) so I'm not up very much in the middle of the night. Jonathan goes back to work tomorrow for one last week of teaching before Christmas vacation, so my mom is here to help me out for the week. Then we'll have more time together over Christmas vacation when we visit family in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Thank you so much for sending us wishes and congratulations over the past few days. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to respond to you individually, but please know that we truly appreciate your support! I will be in touch more as the weeks go on and my energy is back completely.

Here are some of the approximately 3 billion pictures that have been taken of Caleb over the past 4 days of his life: enjoy!