Ellen Rosenberger

Here's a picture of David and our good friend Dave, randomly matching! Although we did not name our David after Dave, we liked his name. Read below to find out why. Our journey to pick our first baby's name began at least a year before we were even expecting. Thankfully, Luke and I have very similar tastes in names. What we found was the most difficult to arrive on was a girl name that we both loved. But we had a boy instead! Why the name David? Well, several reasons. One of the most obvious ones is the Biblical person of David. He was characterized as a passionate worshiper and a man after God's own heart. We also really like that the name David means "Beloved". It is also a family name on Luke's side. David is the middle name of Luke's grandpa, brother (Paul), and nephew (Elijah). Another perk of the name is that it has the same spelling in Spanish and is easily pronounced. My mom's reaction to the name David was this: "Oh good, I will be...

David is 3 months old today! He has changed so much since those first hours of life. When he was first born, David had us mesmerized by the look in his eyes (so serious!), his dependency on us and the miracle of life wrapped up in his little tiny bundle of a body. David didn't do much in those first few days and weeks -- mostly eat and sleep. He didn't move around a lot and we could take him anywhere and he would be fast asleep (even in the loudest of thunderstorms). And when he cried it was this tiny little baby cat sounding cry! Now, 3 months later, David moves his arms and legs around a lot. He can hold his head up quite well. He has started to grab things like blankets, burp cloths and his momma's hair. David loves to make fists (his dad thinks he might be a boxer someday). He likes to push off with his legs and is very strong. He can do a U-turn in his crib. And yesterday we found him in his crib and he had rolled over! In the last few weeks we have been loving ...

A few weeks ago we took David to meet the Gomez family. I lived with them for one year while teaching at NCA, before Luke and I were married. In many senses they became like a family to me. I loved living with them and experiencing many aspects of Nica life with them. Gabrielito was in my first preschool class! Not pictured above are Guadalupe and eldest daughter, Wendy, who attends Dordt College in Iowa. "La Nana" holding baby David. Ivania is one proud Nica abuela. Even Ruben held David!

It has been 8 weeks since David was born and I am still adjusting to being a new mom. While I am glad to be home and caring for my baby boy, it has not come without lots of change and emotions. Sometimes the change seems overwhelming but I am thankful for the ways my God encourages me and helps me through people, my husband, prayer, His Word, journaling, etc. I know that in every change He remains faithful. One of the biggest changes has been going from a preschool teacher to a full-time stay at home mom. Here are some similarities and differences I've found between the two: Similarities - Both require: patience, prayer, and lots of energy - Smiles melt my heart - The job seems never ending - It's fun to see them grow and change - The benefits are priceless - You learn something new each day - Tears are to be expected - I love my student(s) Differences - I don't have a dress code to follow anymore - My attention is not divided among 14+ little bodies...yet it seems that...

One morning a few weeks ago, Luke walked into our bathroom and this is what he saw! Yes, a boa constrictor just camping out on the bars outside the window. Thankfully Carlos, the guard/gardener on our property, took care of it. Luke tried to minimize the commotion so I wouldn't find out about it, being that I am terrified of snakes. However, the dogs were way too interested in the thing and so I peaked out the window to see what all the noise was about. Oh man. Carlos said he has never seen a boa constrictor on our property before. Snakes, yes, but not a boa constrictor. I guess that is comforting...

Day 1 Day 40 David loves his Daddy...enough said. :)

Grandpa and Grandma Rosenberger came to meet their 7th grandson! (There are no granddaughters yet on the Rosenberger side...) David loved seeing his other set of grandparents. It was fun to spend time with them in Nicaragua, where they know many people from the time they used to live here. Together we enjoyed doing things like: going to Granada, helping Luke and other teachers at NCA, going to the beach for a special church service, swimming at Lago Xiloa, and eating quesillos out of a bag. David got to go to his one month check-up with Grandma. He also went to his first movie with her. Grandma got to ride on the motorcycle with Daddy to school.

David is 6 weeks old today! We are enjoying every moment with this little one and learning more about him every day. He is constantly changing but here are some things we've learned about David over these last 6 weeks. He LIKES.... ... car rides on bumpy roads ... swinging in the hammock (and being held by Daddy) - sleeping with his hands up by his face ("touchdown") Other Likes: sleeping, eating, Bella, his swing and bouncy seat, music, going on walks in his stroller (again on bumpy roads), baths, and more sleeping and more eating. He does not like: when the car is turned off, waiting to eat, not being in constant motion.

These newborn pictures were taken by our friend, Bethany Bracht. She had already blessed us by taking pregnancy pictures two weeks before these. In these pictures David is only 3 days old! Bethany had so much fun taking pictures of little David...she said that babies are the best to take pictures of when they are only days old because they are so easy to manouver into positions for great shots. Thanks again, Bethany, for these beautiful pictures!

We needed to take passport size pictures of David in order to get his birth certificate. The hospital had named him "Bebe 1 (Uno) Rosenberger". Now he is officially David Luke Rosenberger. The regulations for the passport pictures are: eyes open, looking at camera, white background. We gave David a bath so he would be really alert and then did a photo shoot. Here are some of the "outtakes".