Caleb visits with Josie Staecker

Jonathan and his best friend from high school, Chris Staecker, have had a few uncanny parallel points in their lives over the past few years:

We found out in the summer of 2002 that we were going to Kazakhstan with the Peace Corps, and Jonathan called Chris to tell him the news. As it turned out, Chris had just heard he was accepted to a program that was sending him to Kazakhstan to teach English for a year.

Then, more recently, Jonathan called Chris to tell him that we were going to have a baby and Chris said, "My wife is pregnant, too!" The newborns are only 7 weeks apart. A few days ago, Caleb and Josselyn (Josie) Staecker got together for their first meet and greet. They didn't have a whole lot to say to each other, but you know how first-time introductions go. I'm sure they'll chat it up the next time they see each other.

First Christmas - 2007

Happy holidays everyone!

At just under 2 weeks old Caleb had his first Christmas by splitting time between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. First we spent Christmas Eve with the Shanks up in Lexington where Caleb met some of Jonathan's extended family, including his grandmother Caryl. Also, Jonathan's brother Colin and sister-in-law Jodie were down from Maine, and his sister Carolyn and her boyfriend Matt were up from the Philadelphia area. We don't have any pictures of that yet because we didn't have our camera with us - we'll get pictures up as soon as we can.

Then we went down to RI to have Christmas day at the McConaughey's. My grandmother, Sue, heard Caleb say his first words, which were (conveniently) "I love you Great Grandma." And at only 2 weeks old! Below are some pictures from Christmas and the day after...