Born 9:08pm, 7lbs. 1oz., 20" long

Nathan is Here!

Here comes Nathan

Just an update... we are in the hospital getting ready for Nathan to make his big debut. I'm calling 3am as delivery time...Ryan says midnight...we'll keep you all posted and put up pictures as soon as possible. Say your prayers for a fast and easy delivery and a healthy baby boy!!

Getting Ready for #2

There is a strong possibility we will be heading to the hospital to have Nathan next week - looking like Tuesday right now but we'll keep you all updated.

Looking back at the pictures around the time Jack was born we felt the need to re-do the mustang picture which was the last picture I took 16 days before Jack was born.  Here is a side-by-side comparison...

 39 weeks with Nathan

37 weeks with Jack.

"Other Mommy"

Even though Jack is getting pretty old now, we still like to have a monitor for him at night because his room is on the other side of the house and you just can't hear anything behind the few closed doors. Plus he tends to be naughty when he thinks nobody is watching!

With Nathan to arrive any day now, Amy found a new monitor system that is incredible! It can handle multiple cameras so we can toggle back and forth between the boys' rooms and it automatically goes to the room with any noise happening in it. If that isn't cool enough for you, we can zoom in and out and also pan back and forth and up and down from the remote. And if that still isn't cool enough for you, we can hit a button and talk to the kids through it!!!

"Hey! Knock it off!"

Well, we tried it out Friday night and it didn't disappoint. When Jack went to bed, we told him to get back in bed (several times) and when he woke up we got to stay in bed and tell him to just play in his room for a while. We had a full conversation and it worked very well. That bought us a full half-hour of extra snooze time!

We were completely satisfied with this purchase until the unexpected happened...

Later that morning, Jack wanted desperately to play a garbage truck game on Amy's phone. She told him no, so he said, "Okay, I ask other Mommy" and -no joke- he went into his room, looked up at the camera, and said, "Hi Mommy! I need to play garbage trucks on the phone. Okay, Mommy? Okay?"

Amy tried to explain that she was actually Other Mommy, but Jack wouldn't hear of it. He just shook his head and insisted, "No. I ask Other Mommy."

Fortunately, Mommy and Other Mommy tend to think alike with their responses to Jack!

Go Real Fast!

At two-and-a-half, it was finally time to take Jack for a ride in the Mustang! Since it was built in 1968, it wasn't exactly designed for car seats. I had actually tried a while ago to get the seat in safely and decided there just wasn't enough room. After a lot of insisting from Jack to "go in the red race car" I finally figured out how to wedge it in.

Note: Even though it sounds like we are going about 150 mph, I can assure everyone that we were safely within the speed limit!

Chicken Chasin'



My parents bought some weird chickens with one of their friends... "off the internet". These are truly some strange looking chickens! I have heard them described as everything from "Show Chickens" to "Hollywood Chickens" and even "Paris Hilton Chickens: She should carry one in her purse"! Jack seems to care less about their oddities and way more about their ability to run away from him. He loves chasing the chickens!

Class Clown

Miss Irene, the woman who watches Jack a couple of days during the week, took this snapshot of all the kids she had the other day. They were all so serious (except for Jack who, apparently, didn't get the memo). She thought it was hysterical so she printed an extra copy for us. Too funny, Jack!

The Potty Page

Potty training is going pretty well, but I bet we're not the first set of parents who wished it would go just a little bit faster... Now we're resorting to the age-old tactic of bribery using jelly beans and a fancy sticker-board that Amy made for him. Each successful trip to "The Big Toilet" earns him a special sticker that he gets to put on his board. Extra-special trips (you figure it out) earn him stickers and jelly beans!

Trike Ride!

Here it is- the moment Jack first figured out how to ride his trike! Luckily I had my cell phone camera and whipped it out in time to capture the moment at Grammy and Grandaddy's house. We were all standing around talking and Jack just pulled his trike out of the closet and started riding it around!

After a minute or two of riding on the boring flat ground, he insisted on going for the nearest hill. Fortunately it wasn't too big as you will see from his Evel Knievel landing!

We thought he'd be ready for his Ferrari trike that he got for Christmas from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark, but he still prefers to just scoot around on it. That one is just a little bigger than this trike, so I think he's pretty close and it's only a matter of time!

Alphabet Genius

Jack surprises us every day with what he continues learn. A couple of days ago he came in from the backyard crying and told me that he'd hurt his left leg. He was right! Here he is playing in Nathan's crib before bedtime and showing off some letter skills.

More Practice with "Baby Brother"

Practicing for Baby Brother

Jack has not been all that excited so far about a baby brother invading "Jack's house."  A few weeks ago Jack saw me holding a baby and it became obvious we may have a problem in store for us.  Two days later he announced that, "Jack is so sad."  When I inquired why I was told, "Jack is so sad when Mommy holds the baby."  Later we were told that he was also sad when the baby came to live with us.

Well, the due date is exactly 4 weeks from today so I was relieved when this afternoon Jack had a change of heart.  He has been carrying around his baby doll for at least an hour now taking care of him.  This includes giving him milk from a bottle, hugging and kissing him, putting him to sleep in "Jack's Lightning McQueen bed" and I even caught him explaining to the baby that the street is dangerous.  Maybe this won't be as bad as we thought.....

Boys' Rooms Are Finished!

Nathan's nursery- all ready to go!

Here's the changing table that Gramps built with just a few minor modifications to go with the new color scheme.

Hopefully Nathan will like it!

Now enter Jack's room... if you dare!

We had a lot of fun with all the car stuff and Valvoline-themed things I have picked up over the years. Jack loves his new car room!

Swimming!

We've been working a lot on our swimming lately. Trying to convince Jack to let go of the side and go solo wasn't too tough, but still took a little work. "Yeah right, Dad. Do I look stupid or something?"

"Alright, I think I'm ready!"

Look at him go!

Nothing beats a day of swimming like a quick (naked) tractor ride around the yard!

The Phillips girls came over the next day and Jack was ready to show off his aquatic abilities.

He had already gone down the slide three times by himself before we got out the camera! But on this particular time, this was as far as he got before he chickened-out and wanted down. We were still impressed that he went down it at all!

Fueled by Mom's rootbeer that he kept sneaking!

Doug and I decided to play a really dumb game where we would throw pool noodles at eachother as hard as we could. The only rules were that you couldn't flinch or defend yourself in any way. This was after a direct hit to the forehead!