The Coombs Family

Today is New Years Eve, and we are ready for 2011 at the Coombs' house tonight. My kids are dressed and ready to party. They are finally over most of their colds, ear infections, and sore throat. Unfortunately, they gave some of it to Caleb and myself. Here are some highlights of our year: Caleb finished dental school in June, passed all of his test in August, got his dental license in September, had shoulder surgery in December, got to do a lot of duck hunting this year with his good friend Josh, went fishing and learned how to bow fish, did some off-roading in the Jeep, went snowboarding a lot earlier this year when the snow finally showed up, spent some time in Roseburg with his friend Johnny, did a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament and whooped up on everyone, moved us into our new beautiful home, and has played with his kids as much as possible. Renae spent the first part of the year pregnant, working full-time, teaching classes at the gym, and keeping up with the kids. I...

This was our first Christmas in our new home and it was a lot of fun decorating and making it feel like Christmas. Caleb always lets me get whatever size tree that I want to and play Christmas music the entire month of December. He's such a good sport. I was pretty sad when we got our tree because I was afraid it wouldn't be big enough. However, it just barely fit in our home and was just the perfect size. We decided that we would do a very small Christmas and try to keep the presents to a minimum. It's too easy to get caught up in buying and forget what the season is really about. We got each of our kids one present and it was perfect. They are the age where they don't need much, have more than they could ever need, and want to play with the boxes and wrapping paper anyway. We started the morning by trying to eat all the candy we had left over. Good way to start the day! Shelby was sad because Caleb ate one of the chocolates first.  Shelby Lu got a car picked out by ...

We took mister Calvin in for his 6 month check up. He's growing like crazy. He is such a good baby that he barely even cried when he got his shots. He is still not rolling over completely. He goes from his back up to his side, and then back down again. He absolutely hates being on his stomach. He loves to pull Shelby's hair, laugh at her bouncing around the house, and he smiles all the time. He loves his jumperoo and is getting a pretty quick hand at grabbing whatever is in front of him. He just pulled a glass of water on  my dad yesterday. Calvin's weight is 20 lbs, and 85th percentile His height is 27 inches, and 75th percentile And his head is 49 cm, off the charts Calvin's head has continued to grow very rapidly and the doctor staffed it with a neurosurgeon. He's behind developmentally, but that alone is not a big deal. Coupled with the size of his head the neurosurgeon felt like we shouldn't wait and get it tested. So off to OHSU we went for an MRI. ...

December has been a very busy month for us. I have been working on some extra projects at work and just got some new opportunities. I am hoping to get a promotion here soon so I've been putting in some extra time. Lots of fun stuff planned for my job in 2011. I just hope I have enough time to do it all. Caleb just had shoulder surgery today. He tore his shoulder up over the past year and since he's not working right now it's the perfect time to fix it. His labrum was about 60% unattached and his bicep tendon was torn in two. The doctor said he has dislocated it twice since his surgery in 2006. I'm taking off time from work to take care of him and then my parents, the Coombs and my sister will help out a bunch. He's been a pretty good trooper so far, but we know he will get sick and puke like usual. The surgery has a long recovery and expensive bill, so I sure hope it did the trick this time. The kids have been sick for awhile now and it seems to be getting worse,...

We made it after church, between rain showers, before the kids naps, between feedings, and managed to get a real family picture taken. My sister decided she could play photographer and we ran outside by her house and took as many pictures as we could before the meltdowns began. Getting both kids to smile was nearly impossible. We basically just hoped they weren't crying at the same time. I am thankful I have a willing and beautiful family!

Calvin & Shelby loved their costumes. They both had no problem putting them on and they were nice and warm. We went to a trunk or treat at church with my sister's family the night before Halloween.   Shelby didn't want to come inside for pictures. It was raining and she wanted to go stomp around in the rain. You can sure tell how she felt about it by the picture below:   My beautiful sister and Calvin Then on Halloween we stayed home and dressed up the kids to open the door for the neighborhood trick-or-treat kids. Shelby had so much fun handing out candy and she gave each kid as much as her little hands could hold. Thankfully we didn't have very many kids come so we didn't run out of candy.

The kids both had their check-up appointments this week.  Both of my kiddos are happy, healthy, growing well, and developing on time.  What else could a mother ask for?! Calvin is 4 months old Weight 17.4 pounds 85% Height 25.5" and 50% Head 18" and off the charts Shelby is 2 years old Weight 30 pounds 83% Height 34.5" and 50% Head 20" and off the charts Calvin smiles all the time and laughs now. He's starting to roll over. He's happy on his side, but when he falls all the way onto his face, he doesn't like it. He is a good sleeper and doesn't wake up very much to eat anymore. He puts himself to sleep at night and gets cranky if he's not in his crib by about 8 am. Recently, he has been waking up to eat around 3 am, and he just lays in bed and talks and coo's. It's very cute, even though it's 3 in the morning. I usually start talking to him and get him really excited. Then we are both wide awake and try to go back to bed. He has ...

Shelby Lu is now officially two-years-old. We had a fun party at our house with lots of friends and family. It started out being a very small and last minute idea, and it actually turned out great. Sometimes it works out better if you just throw it all together quickly. We borrowed a bounce house from my friend Linnea, and put it downstairs. It was a huge hit, and I am convinced every parent needs to own one. It's going to be hard to give it back to Linnea, because Shelby has jumped in it every day since the party. We had little flower cupcakes that were 90% frosting. I think the kids appreciated the extra sugar rush! When it was time to sing and blow out candles, I think little Wyatt was more excited then Shelby was. You can see him in the background blowing for her. So cute! Shelby calls him "It", she can't say the "Y" apparently. Which is funny, because she can say the letter Y very easily. Camden was born to party! That little guy wore his h...

One of our favorite places to go as a family is Sunriver Oregon. I had a conference at work the last week of September that was in the resort, so we lucked out. We got to stay at my awesome Aunt Debbie Gay and Uncle Carl's house.  The whole family went running together. We just got a double jogging stroller for the kids. Shelby decided that she needed to get out and run with Caleb and I. It was really cute. She thinks she's a big runner now. Luckily, she didn't want to run until the very end when we wanted a break anyway. We also got to go on family bike rides. Caleb took the kids while I was in class, but we did get to go on one bike ride with the whole family. Here are the kids in the bike trailer, after Shelby fell asleep on Calvin. I don't think he liked it very much. The hot tub was a favorite of Shelby and Caleb's. I went in a few times, but little Calvin cannot go, so I usually just hung out with him and watched.  Here is our first attempt at a family pic...