First Bath

You know, they say baths are supposed to be soothing...

post-bath-trauma stupor

faux hawk

comb-over

Two Week Check-In

For one of my first "mega-mom-moments" I took Michaela and Josiah all by myself to Josiah's two-week doctor's appointment. My analysis: parenting two young ones is totally doable, it just takes about 3 time the time it takes to have one child. The math doesn't somehow pan out, but that's how it is. It's a good thing we started preparing to leave for the appointment a good 40 minutes ahead of schedule, because even so, we were about 2 minutes late to the appointment. (The doctor was significantly later than that, but apparently there's nothing we as parents and/or patients can do about that particular issue.)

Michaela had been going to my OB appointments with me toward the end of my pregnancy, and she does very well at the doctor's office. Give her a snack and a sticker, and she's a happy girl. Josiah, on the other hand, was not a big fan of having to be the one getting naked, weighed, and measured. But it was worth it. We knew Josiah has been eating like a champ, but at his two week appointment he was a full pound over birth weight, weighing in at 9 pounds, 3 ounces, and measuring 21 inches long (growth of 1/2"). This puts him in the 66th percentile for height and the 67th for weight. The doctor said that - should this actually happen! - if Josiah sleeps for 6 hours at night, I should let him without worrying about waking him up and feeding him, because he is obviously growing well.

Here are some cutie-patootie pics from week 2...

All our baby dolls

Michaela's first time 'holding' Josiah

Hanging out

Never a big fan of getting strapped into the car seat

but a fairly big fan of sleeping in it.

Our Baby is Born!

A week ago this morning our son Josiah Adam entered the world. Happy One Week Birthday Josiah!!! (Having two children seems to keep us significantly more busy than one, as this is the first we've had time to blog about our new son.)

 Josiah came blasting into the world at a much faster pace than his older sister did. I spent 20 hours in labor with Michaela. With Josiah, I labored at home for about 4 hours, and then checked into the hospital at 1:15 am on Saturday. Josiah was born at 3:54 a.m. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. It was really an amazing experience and I still can't believe that 9-10 months of pregnancy resulted in such an adorable little guy. It feels surreal to be the parents to two children, but Adam and I are so thankful to the Lord for a healthy delivery and for bringing us all together.

Yes, folks, we have a Timbers fan!

A tired Daddy and a cozy baby. On a not-so-comfy hospital couch.

Michaela holding her new baby doll, and Grammy holding her new baby doll.

Loving the hair, anyone?

All dressed in new duds to go home.

Enter - the carseat. May it be a long and pleasant relationship.

39 weeks (and then some)

As I've been putting it off, I realize it's a little more difficult posting a picture of one's pregnant self online than I would have thought. But we had to take one to document for posterity - specifically, the posterity that continues to grow inside, in spite of all encouragement to the contrary. We're all ready to meet our little guy, and are having a hard time being patient. However, we know that he will join us in God's good timing, so there's no need to rush! And I haven't resorted to doing jumping jacks yet...

Baby Shower

Two weekends ago my wonderful sister-in-law hosted a baby shower and luncheon for me and little baby-guy-to-be. Some were worried that the baby might have arrived by then (I was 37 1/2 weeks) but I was confident in my procrastination ability and it went off without a hitch. It was great fun to have the women of the family over and use china teacups and eat a delicious lunch. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the pretty table, or the baby-blue gift bags, or the gifts themselves, but we do have pictures of the little munchkins who tagged along to this event. They took a while to warm up to each other, but then as the novelty and hysteria of no-naptime kicked in, they became more interested in playing with each other.

I tried to sneak up on them and catch them playing unawares. My  nephew Greyson and Michaela may be negotiating over whose turn it is to touch the singing caterpillar, while Michaela's second cousin Jenevieve (Adam's cousin Sally's daughter) explores toys the others had left behind.

Then they figured out I was holding the camera. I asked Jenevieve what she was doing under the table, and this is how the other two responded:

And thus ends all chances of getting a posed picture...

Thanks to all who came to party!

Our Garden Bounty

After last summer's disappointment and overabundance of green tomatoes (which I never managed to fry), this summer's gardening experience has really been a delight. I've been harvesting carrots off and on, and have a few small red potatoes (when I sampled one plant last week... more to come this week), but the kingpins of the garden this year have been the tomatoes.

Yummy!!!!