Nathaniel said No!

My son has finally said the dreaded "No!" to me :-( It wasn't an angry No, just him stating how he felt about getting a diaper change. Frankly I'd rather say no to diaper changes too, but I think we have a ways to go before we potty train. He has been shaking his head no (and yes) for months, but apparently the words are catching up as well. I wonder when I'll hear "Yes,Mom?" Something tells me that will be much harder for him to learn.

Logan is on his own now

He is four weeks old now and we have cut the first of many "apron strings" (as my mom would call it) which eventually will give him his independence from us. He is in his own room now at night. Not that he has developed a special skill qualifying him to be in his own room.... He is just too noisy and Ken and I can't get any sleep!

Playing in the water

We discovered a new water feature downtown to escape to on those hot days! Someone was nice enough to share their bucket with Nathaniel.

Walking in Daddy's shoes

Nathaniel discovering a familiar spot

Gotta make sure Logan isn't occupying the chair before Nathaniel gets in.

Oma and the boys

We had lots of fun with Oma this week.

Daddy Time

Ken and Nathaniel playing in the backyard

College Buds - Update

This is a follow up to my post in early June. Steph and I have both had our babies. They had a girl (Eliza) and we obviously had Logan. Here is a picture of us at a baby shower and a month later with the kids. I think Eliza and Logan would make a great match!

Out for a walk

I made it out of the house late last week with both boys in a duo stroller. That thing is heavy! I didn't make it as far as I wanted too and we did stop at one garage sale and a cul-de-sac for a snack break... but hey it was my first venture out on my own and we made it. I should have taken a picture when we made it home, both boys were fast asleep. I was more concerned about keeping them asleep than documenting our accomplishment :-)

Nate and Logan

Israel team visits

Ken's group that he worked with in Israel were in the USA for meetings last week. It was so fun to have dinner together with them and catch up. These guys were like family to us while we were on assignment there and were so helpful in navigating the culture and translating things for us. Ken even got to use the only Hebrew he learned there when we said goodbye (Lila Tov).

Logan doing what he does best....

Nathaniel's first trip to the beach

Daddy took Nathaniel to the beach last weekend. I was at a baby shower and got a phone call saying they were on the way. It was so thoughtful on Ken to try and give me a break from having both kids.... I couldn't help but cry though (what's with these crazy hormones!). This was Nate's first trip to the beach and I wasn't there. Thankfully my sis-in-law had her camera and took a few snapshots for me.

Brotherly Love

Nathaniel has been very curious about his new little brother. Overall he seems to be adjusting well. He loves Logan and will come over and put his head on Logan's head as if to hug him and say I love you. There are also moments when he will point to the pack and play we have set up downstairs and say baby... as if to say put that baby down and play with me now! We put a little step stool next to the pack n play so that he can look in on Logan. I wasn't sure if that was going to be safe (and maybe still not convinced since it's now really easy to send a toy over the walls) but now Nathaniel isn't climbing up the walls of the pack n play and he can check on Logan when he needs to. Nathaniel still seems to be clingy to mom and dad and gets very upset when either of us leaves the room. Hopefully that doesn't last too long.

My boys

Nathaniel


Logan

The Miles Family

Random pictures of Nathaniel

Did he just win a NIKE challenge?


My sleeping boy


A Bathtime shot


A new toy for these HOT summer days

Wrestling with Daddy

A little Father/Son bonding while waiting around for Logan to arrive. Just wait till you have two on your hands Daddy!

Nathaniel loves his Oma

She makes even ordinary things a whole lot of fun!




Thanks for spending so much time with Nathaniel while we are in this transition from 1 to 2 kiddos. Although, you and he are the ones that truly benefit with a stronger bond between you. We love you Mom.

Logan Andrew Miles

We are officially a family of 4 now! Logan arrived on Monday August 2nd in the evening around 8pm. The heavyweight was 9 pounds 2 ounces! It was all those yummy desserts I'm sure of it. Contractions started Sunday evening and went on through the night. I thought we would head to the hospital on Monday morning and called my mom to come watch Nathaniel. By the time she arrived the contractions slowed down dramatically, so while Oma watched Nathaniel Ken and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Contractions started up again but weren't super strong so we did some things around the house and went for another walk around 11am. We ended up at a cafe nearby and were contemplating going in for brunch... but the contractions seemed to be picking up and were about 5 min apart. All I could think of at that point was how I was going to walk all the way back home with these contractions, so we quickly got a sub sandwich and headed back home stopping every 4-6 minutes for a contraction. I'm sure it was quite amusing to the people driving down the street. After 20 minutes or so we made it home and I laid on the couch trying to determine if it was time to go to the hospital. I didn't want to get there too early and have them send me home for not being far enough along. (I still seemed to be able to carry on a conversation between the contractions and knew they needed to become much for intense before I was close to delivery. The real question was how fast does the second one truly come?) So after a call into my birth coach, the Midwife clinic and my older brother (actually hoped to talk to my sister in law, but never got past Micah) we decided it was time to head to the hospital. At about 2pm I was admitted into St.Vincent Hospital dilated to 5-6cm. The best part about waiting till Monday is my midwife was on-call that day :-) Mary suggested I try out the jacuzzi tub for a bit, so I left my stuff in the birthing room and jumped in the tub. I stayed there for the next 4 hours until I was fully dilated and needed to push Logan out. Back down the hall to the birthing room and 45 minutes later we had a baby boy... Logan Andrew Miles! Okay, so that made it sound a little too easy. The last hour or so in the tub and the pushing was definitely the hardest part and I couldn't have done it without the support of Ken, the midwife and nurse (and all of those who were praying for me!). And without further ado... a few pictures...