This is mommy and Hava reading our bedtime bible stories. Hava can actually see the bright colors now and seems to stay interested. Here you have it...PROOF that she CAN SLEEP BY HERSELF! It took us about 2 weeks to get naptime this quiet. Now we are working on nighttime sleeping. Pray for us! :o)
This is Hava and daddy on her first Holy Day, Passover.
This is mommy singing at our passover seder.
Daddy, mommy and Hava dancing to Brazilian worship music.

This was today in the car on the way to our congregation. It was snowing in APRIL. It just goes to prove you cannot trust Texas weather. My parents bought this outfit for our baby before we ever even knew we were expecting. It had to be done regardless of gender...this is the symbol of Al's soccer team in Brazil, Paysandu!
This is Hava laying on the floor playing on her exercise mat. Most of the time, she hates being down there alone, but we can catch her on a good day actually trying to hit the ball in the middle. :o)
Here is Hava's infamous Popeye smile! Seeing that everyday makes all other worries seem to disappear.
This is mommy's p.o.v....the most precious time of the day, watching her sleep.

Hava asleep on daddy's shoulder! Keep checking in, I am trying to get more uploaded.

So, I know you will all be relieved to see new pictures of senhorita Hava! Here are some of the newer ones of Hava's daily activities....more to come!

We are working with a new computer and have not yet figured out how to get pics up, but we are doing just fine. Hava will be 8 weeks old this week and we had her 2-month appointment at the doctor's last week. She was back at her birth weight on wednesday (6,11) and on friday was up to 6,14.5 and 21 inches....2 inches past birth! She is still tiny, but the doctor has agreed it seems to be genetic (obviously from Al's side of the family!) She had 4 shots on friday. Mommy was expecting the cries and screams, but not the horrible betrayed face with bugged-out eyes when they stuck her the first time. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Hava has been showing her star smile quite frequently and is now trying to master the art of winking. ;o) She has been caught actually laughing out loud now and again. She is a really good baby and only cries when something is desperately wrong...for example, "the pacifier has fallen out of my mouth again, why are you taking off my warm diaper?, what is the deal with putting me in the water?," and the infamous, "I do not want to sleep in this bed by myself, I believe you should pick me up again!" We can't help but love our little drama queen!

Hava is officially one month old. She loves to give kisses before eating!
She has about 1,000 different faces and those are just with her tongue!
She is starting to really focus in on our faces and Al experienced his first true smile recently.
She is starting to sit on her own for up to and hour. She weighed in this week at 6 lbs. 1.5 oz...still not back to birth weight, but doing better.
She smiles a lot while she is sleeping.

These are the three Caldwell women!

Our three hands together.
The four generations of women.
We are so proud of our baby girl. G-d is such a wonderful creator and sustainer. We praise Him for His unending love and care for us all.

We can't go out much since Hava doesn't have all her shots yet, but the Dr. said she is looking good!

We just love this little girl! It is hard not to get emotional when we look at this beautiful creature the L-rd has made. We are having so much fun, even though we are not sleeping much. :o) Keep us in your prayers.

Hava is here!!!
We praise the name of our wonderful Creator for being so faithful in bringing our healthy little girl into our world. Momma Rachel had a C-Section on Jan. 25 and Hava was officially born at 1:14 pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 11.2 oz. and measured 19 inches long.

She swallowed quite a bit of amniotic fluid and was not crying properly. She was sent to the NICU for a couple of hours to make sure she got it out of her system. Papa Al was able to be present in the C-section and also stay with Hava in the NICU. Momma Rachel got to see her for a minute and then hold her about 4 hours later after she was discharged to the regular nursery. Rachel recouperated over the next 2 days and all went home together on Saturday, Jan. 27. We had already decided that Hava has been a blessing to us even before she was born and we prayed that she would be a blessing to all who meet her. As we prepared to leave the hospital, we set up a meeting with a pediatrician for Hava who we had not yet met. He seems to be a very nice man....he is Portuguese and speaks Portuguese AND he is Jewish. Al first saw him in the nursery and he noticed Al's kippa. Al noticed he had a pin on his lapel with the American and Israeli flags joined together. We do not think he is a believer, but when he asked us her name, he immediately said "Wow, you guys really are biblical." Later he told us that when we bring her to the office, he really wants to find out our story. Also, as we were being discharged from the hospital, we went to the nursery for them to remove Hava's security tag. The nurse, Sarah, came in and asked Rachel's last name...when she heard it she quickly turned with a gasp towards Rachel (holding Hava), pointed and asked "Hava???" Rachel said yes. She came over and asked if she could please hold her and kiss her one last time. She was the nurse with Hava in the NICU and said that she became especially attached to her. She commented on Hava's loving Daddy and said that even though Hava was the noisiest baby in the NICU that day, she was the one that captured her heart. We are so blessed to know that her precious new life is bringing blessing to others besides us.

Rachel is still healing and feeling much better, Al has gone back to work after a week's vacation to spend with his new baby and Hava is spending each day looking more and more beautiful. Yes, she does have a tan and seems to be getting a little darker every day. She has a cute way of sucking on her index finger between the knuckles, sticking her tongue out in 1000 different ways and most nights have been pretty easy with her waking only to eat. Rachel's parents and grandmother were all present for the event. We are so blessed to have a truly loving and caring family as well as all of you, our precious friends who continue to hold us up in prayer. Our L-rd is wonderful and we testify to His presence, His love and His faithfulness. May His blessed name be glorified forever!!!

We were so blessed last week with a baby shower that our congregation gave us. We received so many useful gifts and are so grateful to the L-rd that He provides us with everything we need. We found out this week that our baby girl weighs 6.25 lbs, so we expect to see her within the next week to 2 weeks. My parents will be here this week, so we are even more blessed to have them present for the birth of their 6th grandchild.

The news today is that we are looking to deliver around the 25th of Jan. The Dr. wants to try to get Rachel that far before she goes into spontaneous labor. Baruch ha Shem, dad and mom should be here by the 18th, so it looks like everyone will be here in good time. Keep us all in your prayers.

We are getting closer and closer to the day when our baby girl will be here. This is Rachel at 35 weeks. Baby Leite should be here sometime this month!

Here we are at the mall this week. We just found out that we will be expecting our baby girl within the next 3-4 weeks. She will be a few weeks early, but that is to avoid Rachel going into spontaneous labor while still on the blood thinners. Keep us in your prayers as we anxiously await this blessing!

Here is a shot of part of the baby's room...the other side is our guest bed! :o) This room used to be a dark yellow/gold....Al painted it white and green all by himself! What a dedicated husband and father!!!

Here's the latest picture of Rachel and baby. This week she weighed in at 4 1/2 lbs. She is growing as she should and still facing down. "Good girl, baby leite!"

She's up-side down!!!
....which is a good thing. We were waiting since last week to find out if our baby girl was going to move out of her breech position, otherwise the doctor's would already be considering a c-section. We went in this morning and sure enough, she was head down again. Thank you for your prayers and concerns.

Baby girl is wrong-side up.
We went in yesterday to the specialist and although she is doing fine, they were surprised at her being in breech position since she has been in the right position for weeks now. They really wanted her to stay that way and hope that she will turn back around by next week...they said they only start to worry about it then.

Other than that, we are doing great. 2 more months!!!!!!!!!

THANKSGIVING

Al, me and our friends from Eitz Chaim on Thanksgiving.

SNEET
Grandma, me and fumaca (my brother's dog) in the front yard..you can hardl tell I am 7 mo pregnant with all the warm clothes on!!! It was so fun.

6 MONTHS - PREGNANCY UPDATE

Here I am (and she is too)! This was at about 6 months.

Attitude runs in the family!!!
It was so exciting to go to the doctor this week to check up on our baby girl via sonogram. As we were looking at her and how much she has grown (she weighed in at 3 lbs, 6 oz.) she showed us what she is made of a stuck her tongue out at us 3 times! Then she winked at us and put her hands over her face like a little drama queen. :o) We can't wait to meet this baby girl.
Grandma is back from her outings and doing good...Al is finally over the muscle tears and is woring hard. We had some actual winter weather this week with sleet and snow, or "sneet," and some very cold 20's. It was such a nice change for us.
Grace and peace to you all...stay in touch.