True American Patriot

This is a video for those of you who don't know. Just press the small triangle to play it.

Campaign 2008

Even though I'm interested in politics, I've been trying to stay away from posting something about the Presidential race. But I just read a good article from World Magazine. Check it out if you have the time. I can't understand why anyone would ever vote for a man who actually voted AGAINST the ban on partial birth abortions.

Valentines Day

We had a nice Valentines Day. Jacob had school and took his valentines that he worked hard on this week. He cut hearts out of construction paper (pink and red for the girls & blue and green for the boys), taped on a candy and put stickers on them. I wrote who they were to and he wrote his name on each one. He enjoyed making them and when he got home he told us that his friends loved them.
We then decided to try to go out to dinner with the five of us. Our first attempt at a dinner out as a family of 5. We went to Red Robin and it was pretty successful. We were mostly worried about Micah being in his "fussy time", but he did good and was pretty distracted by all that was going on there. They had someone in a costume dressed up as a Robin. You'd think that would've been fun for the kids, but Abbey is terrified of anyone in costume, so she buried her head into Jim the whole dinner and wouldn't take a bite of food. She would occasionally peek out and if she saw the robin she would pull Jim's face down so she could be completely protected. We felt bad for her (we wouldn't have gone there if we knew they' d have that). Anyways, it was nice to get out of the house and be waited on and overall a pretty relaxing night for us :)

Hockeytown!

When I was in elementary school I loved recess. I loved going outside and playing, but I also loved it when it was raining and we couldn't go outside. I used to play hockey in the hallway with one of my friends, Jim Rebsamen. We each had a mini-stick and we would play one on one. It was a lot of fun. I've kept those sticks to this day and I've passed them on to Jacob. He recently saw me watching Philly Flyer highlights on the computer and he had a great idea that he and I should play hockey. So, we broke out the sticks, cleared out the kitchen, and faced-off! It was a lot of fun, but we didn't have any goals. So, I found some on the internet and they arrived today. I think I enjoy them more than Jacob does!

Micah - One Month Old

Micah has already been here a month. That time went really fast, but then again we can't imagine him not being here and we can hardly remember what life was like without him. He is doing well, but is having a very fussy period (understatement) starting at about 9:30 pm and lasting for about two hours. There is nothing that we can do to calm him down so we pretty much just walk around with him praying that he will settle down. We take turns and then eventually he poops himself out and falls asleep. At his last doctors appointment the doctor said it is really normal for babies to go through this and the rest of the day he is fairly content so we aren't too concerned about it. He is growing fast. He is already up to 9lbs. 15oz. Cooing some and even a few smiles the last couple of days. He's a joy to have around :)

New Pictures

A friend of ours from church is starting up a photography business and came over last week to take pictures for us. We thought she did a great job (thanks Keri) and wanted to share a few with you.
We are doing well. Micah will be 4 weeks on Friday and he is growing and changing already. We have had a couple rough nights, but other than that we can't complain. Jacob and Abbey have adjusted well and I don't think any of us can imagine life without him.

Bed Head

These are pictures of Abbey first thing this morning. We always get a kick out of her hair when she gets out of bed. Every night after bath we brush her hair and it looks nice and neat. Somehow by morning this is how it gets (today was one of the funniest it's been), but it always looks pretty hilarious. We're not sure what she is doing in her bed while she sleeps, but it looks like she sleeps in a head stand position. We love our little bed head :)

Cabin Fever

So far our adjustment from 2 to 3 kids has been fairly easy. Jake and Abbey are really enjoying Micah. Jake asks where Micah is every time he comes home from preschool, and Abbey loves to gently touch him on the head.
I've been off work for the past week and a half and it's been great. I've loved the time off. And I've loved spending the time with my family. I've taken Jake and Abbey outside in the snow over the last two days. It's been a lot of fun. Jake loves riding on the sled and throwing snowballs. Abbey loved the sled rides, but she only lasts for about 20 minutes and then she wants to go inside.
Shelley hasn't been out of the house for almost a week and a half, and she says that she doesn't mind. I don't know how she does it.

Thank You

It's been a busy, but great week at the Colberts! We have all enjoyed getting to know our new little guy. He is a very sweet, content baby and a wonderful addition to our family. We were so thankful to have Grandmom and Grandpop here for the week. They arrived on Tuesday and headed back home today and they were a huge help with things. Jacob and Abbey enjoyed every minute they spent with them. Grandmom read countless books to Abbey and they spent a lot of time playing with Abbey's little animals. Grandpop and Jacob enjoyed wrestling and rough housing. Jim and his dad also got some jobs done around our house like replacing our hot water tank and fixing some plumbing under the sink. Grandmom did cleaning, cooking and lots of laundry and helped maintain normalcy in our home. We were blessed by having them here and helping with things. We have also been blessed by several great meals from women in our Church. Thank you Grandmom and Grandpop for all your hard work and to all our friends and family who have prepared meals for us and just been wonderful to us as we've welcomed Micah into our lives :)

Home Sweet Home

We left the hospital yesterday and are finally home. Although we had a good hospital experience, there's just no place like home. It is such a great feeling to have Micah here and to all be together again. Jacob kept asking us at the hospital if we were going to be able to bring Micah home with us. So far Jacob and Abbey are doing really good with him and seem to be adjusting well. It's amazing how kids adjust so easy to new things. Sometimes I wish we handled change as easy as them. Here's a few new pics of him.
Tomorrow we anticipate the arrival of grandmom and grandpop (Jim's parents). They will be here for the week and we are all looking forward to our time together. We are going to try to talk them into moving here while they're here :) The kids (and us) would love to have them closer...

Micah Daniel

Micah Daniel Colbert was born today (Jan. 4th) at 3:45am, weighing in at 8lbs. 4oz., and stretching out to 20 inches long. He's already such a blessing to our family and we praise God for His powerful touch in creating such a wonderful little boy! God's faithfulness continues once again and we praise Him for that! Check out our family photo album for more photos.

A Quick Update

Well, we are already at the hospital! Shelley's water "broke" around 5pm and she's doing great! Micah will be here soon! We'll let you know!

Almost There

Shelley just had her doctor's appointment today and she is 3-4 cm, which is great. The doctor wants her to come back in on Saturday for another check-up, and he will then admit her into the hospital... even if she's still 3-4 cm. He feels that Shelley could deliver at any time. So, we are very excited to welcome Micah into the world. I think Shelley is on cloud 9 now that she knows she's going to deliver very soon. She's got a glow about her this morning that I've only seen before when she found out she was pregnant! It's pretty neat!
So, we'll let you all know when Micah is born. Most likely it's going to be Saturday January 5th... a day before his cousin Will's birthday.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008! We celebrated our new year with our family tradition of dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We stuffed our faces with pork, sauerkraut, dumplings, pierogis, and various other yummy food. It was a lot of fun. Still no baby yet for us. Shelley is 38 weeks pregnant and she is getting more uncomfortable with each new day. But she is a trooper though! I thank the Lord that I'm not a woman! Hopefully Thursday's doctor's appointment will bring some news that we are closer to the arrival of Micah! We'll keep you all posted!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! We had lots of fun opening presents, creating memories, and celebrating Jesus. Jake and Abbey were very excited with the gifts they got. Jake's favorite started out being his GI Joe's and then ended up being a gun that Uncle Joey and Aunt Stacey got him. Abbey's favorite was hard to say. She loves her Diego backpack and all the animals that go with it. But she also liked the "bobble head puppies" as she calls them.
Also, a quick update on Shelley, she is doing well. She is 37, almost 38, weeks pregnant and is 2 cm dilated already. We're taking bets on if this will be a 2007 or 2008 "tax deduction". My bet is 2008, but we'll see.

Clark Griswold Jr.

We put lights up on our house for the second year in a row. Last year was much easier than this year. I picked a great day weatherwise to put them up this year, but everything didn't go as planned. Last year I made sure the lights were all working and put away properly and neatly for this year. Well, I got them out last week and tested all of the lights to make sure they were working. They worked when I tested them, but just like Chevy Chase on Christmas Vacation, I got all of the lights up and half of them didn't work. So, all my hard work was wasted. I took the broken lights down and retested them... they still didn't work. So, I went to Lowe's and bought some more lights. Fortunately these lights worked when I put them up the second time. Anyway, here's a picture of our house at night with the lights on. It's not the best picture, but it will have to do. And yes, our house is still up for sale!

Abigail's New Bedroom

We recently moved Abigail out of her crib and downstairs into a new bedroom and bed. When we were in Philly we went to Ikea and bought her a new bed and dresser. We took my old nightstand and vanity (from when I was younger) changed the hardware to match her new dresser and put it all together to make a bedroom set. We are really happy with how it turned out. Abbey is sleeping really good in her new bed and seemed to adjust well. The first night she slept from 7:30pm - 10:00am. It was the longest she's ever slept straight in her life and we were laughing because she was probably thinking "finally guys, a comfortable bed!" Thanks grandmom & grandpop for the mattress... it saved us a lot of money and here's the pictures that you wanted to see grandmom :)

Christmas Traditions

A few nights ago we decorated our Christmas tree. Every year gets more fun with the kids as they are able to do and understand so much more about Christmas and get into these traditions that we are starting as a family. The next day we went to the Leachs (good friends of ours) and Jacob, Abbey, Danielle & Connor made cookies (along with mine & Lisa's help). This is the second year we have done this together and plan on making it an annual thing. Another tradition we started this year was doing a nativity advent calendar. The kids have really been enjoying it and we feel like it is helping us keep our focus on the real meaning of this season as we prepare our hearts and count down the days to Christmas.

Beware of Stairs!

Yesterday we had quite a day. We went to a birthday party at the Cherry's house (friend's of ours from church). There were lots of people there and lots of kids. It was a chore just trying to keep an eye on where our kids were. Shelley decided to take a trip down into the basement to check on Abbey. Well, she somehow slipped as she was walking down the stairs and fell backwards and hit her head and back... and dropped the plate of food she was carrying all over the stairs. I didn't see her fall, but I sure heard it! The stairs were wood with no carpet, so the fall hurt quite a bit. For those of you who don't know, Shelley is 8 months pregnant. We were a little concerned, so we called the doctor and he sent us to the ER to have her checked out.
We went to the local ER... minus Jake, he wanted to stay at the party and continue playing... and Shelley was treated for her golf-ball-sized bump on her head and Micah was checked on as well. Everything appeared normal, but we were still sent to Hillcrest Hospital so that Shelley could be monitored for the next 4 hours or so... their standard protocol. I guess it was a good thing we went, because Shelley began having contractions every 3 to 10 minutes and was slightly dilated! The contractions subsided after a quick shot of medicine and at about 1am the doctor discharged us, with medication to stop the contractions if they start again.
While this was all going on, Grandma and Grandpa Richings took care of Jake and Abbey and got them to bed. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!! Anyway, it's take-it-easy time for Shelley and watch out for those stairs!!!

Glenside, PA

We were at my parents house in Glenside, PA for the last week. We had lots of fun. Grandmom and Grandpop really enjoyed their time with Jake and Abbey (and me and Shelley too!). My dad and I went to the Flyers game on Monday. They lost to the Bruins, but it was still a great time. We also went to a place called Roadside America. It is a miniature railroad display that covers an enormous room. The kids really loved it. It was really amazing. We also stopped by Cabela's. It's a really cool store even if you're not into hunting, fishing, camping, etc. There was a huge display of stuffed animals that the kids loved. Jacob really got a kick out of the shooting gallery. On our last day we went to one of our favorite stores, IKEA. We bought a new bed and dresser for Abbey. Anyway, we had a great time and it was nice to see my parents again!