Baby Nate

Nate was released from the hospital on March 1. He weighed exactly 7 lbs. at his last doctor's appointment on March 6. The boys and I finally got to meet the little guy when we arrived in Missouri on March 12. He is so adorable and so tiny!

Nate definitely likes to be held. He gets a little upset when he is put down. Lucky for him, he has a mom, grandma, and aunt who want to hold him all the time!

Seth giving Nate a kiss. Seth really loves his baby cousin. He likes to pat him, kiss him, bring him toys, and hold him. Ethan, on the other hand, seems somewhat afraid of Nate, but he is slowly warming up to him.

Nana with her four great grandsons. I was so happy to see Nana and so glad the boys all got to spend some time with her. Thanks, Tyler! By the way, Tyler, can you believe how much Graham and Seth look alike in this picture?

Dad, Nate, and Seth. Notice Seth is giving Nate another kiss. He really is so sweet with him.

Seth was watching Emily change Nate's diaper and then started talking to him. So cute!

This was the first time I got to feed my little nephew. I so miss that baby smell and all those cute little baby noises.

I love this picture of Nana and Seth.

Ethan and Seth loved playing with Graham. He plays really well with them and keeps them entertained!

Emily's Baby Shower

Emily's baby shower was on March 14 and I was able to make it to the special event! I was originally scheduled to go home to Missouri on March 27 to meet my new nephew, but I decided I couldn't miss my baby sister's shower. So, the boys and I hopped in the car and drove from North Carolina to Missouri in about 17 hours (about 12 hours the first day and 5 the next). I would like to point out that I made way better time than Tim ever has and that was by myself with two boys!!! By the way, I have the greatest boys on the face of the earth. They didn't once cry or whine to get out of the car the entire trip. DVD's in cars are life-savers!

Me, mom, Nana, Tyler, Emily, and Aunt Jeannie at the baby shower.

Jane is a close friend of my mom's and a very special person to me and Emily too. She is such a sweetheart. She helped my mom plan Emily's shower and hosted the shower at her beautiful home. She also helped plan and host my baby shower for Ethan and Emily's bridal shower. Thank you, Jane! We all love you!

This cake is from the Sugar Loft in Osage Beach. I love their cakes. They are all so cute, not to mention incredibly delicious.

Emily and Tyler sharing a laugh and hug. Tyler is one of the only people I know who can make Emily laugh so hard.

Emily had lots of help opening her gifts. In fact, I don't think she even got to open half of them herself. Graham and Ethan pretty much took over for her.

Mom and Aunt Jeannie serving cake and punch.

Jane's husband, Dennis, made this rocking horse for baby Nate. He also entertained Graham, Ethan, and Seth during the shower by letting them collect eggs from the chickens. I later heard that one of Ethan's eggs had cracked and he had sampled some raw egg off the front porch. Nice!

Some of the guests at the shower.

The shower was during Seth's nap time. He lasted a really long time until finally crashing on Mimi's lap.

At one point during the shower, I went outside to check on the boys (who played outside with Jane's dogs most of the time) and this is what I found. I don't know if you can see what's going on in the picture very well, but basically Ethan is relieving himself in Jane's front yard!

Seth Turns Two

I can't believe my baby is two. The big day was last Friday, February 20th. Look at that smile! That's his "camera grin". I have seen many pictures of myself as a little girl that look exactly like this one.

Seth's Mickey Mouse cake. Everything was Mickey Mouse!

Seth proudly showing off his balloons. He looks so tiny. It looks like he's going to float away holding all those balloons.

Surprisingly, he did a really good job of keeping his hands off all those presents until it was time to open them. I guess he was busy enough playing with friends and eating pizza, cake, and ice cream.

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Seth opening the Corduroy book and bear that Emily, Jon, and baby Nate him. Thanks, guys!

Seth opening his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He sat there and opened each present until every shred of wrapping paper was removed. Then, he seemed pleased all the paper was off and tossed the present aside!

The boys desperately needed some new bath toys (the other ones were becoming slimy and moldy!), so I found this rocket bath toy. Anything related to "Little Einsteins" is always a hit.

Ethan was having a difficult time with the fact that it was not his birthday again and he couldn't open all the presents. Well, when we saw how carefully and SLOWLY Seth was opening each of his gifts, we decided to let Ethan help out. Otherwise, we would have been sitting there all night. Let's just say Ethan opens gifts a little more aggressively and speedily.

Tim and Seth checking out the microphone on the keyboard. Once again, Tim loves playing with new toys as much as the boys. He seems to get bored with them a little sooner than the boys do though!!!

Seth's Birthday Presents

Seth loves rocket from "Little Einsteins", so I knew he would love this Radio Flyer rocket ride-on toy.

Another one of Seth's favorite shows is "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", so he got his very own clubhouse complete with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and the rest of the gang.

Seth saw this keyboard at Target one day and played with it the entire time we were shopping in the store. He was slightly ticked off when I made him return it to the shelf when it was time to leave the store, so I had to go back and get it for him for his birthday. His favorite part is singing and talking into the microphone, as you can tell. Do we have the next American Idol on our hands? I think so!

Thanks to our neighbor, Broedy, the boys have become obsessed with hockey, especially Seth. So, he finally got his very own hockey set.

Ethan likes playing with Legos, but they are a little too small for Seth to build with, so I got him some Mega Blocks. Much better.

Some people (you know who you are, Bruce!) gave us a hard time for getting our boys a kitchen, but they absolutley love it. My master plan is to get them to love cooking at a young age, so they can cook for me when they're teenagers and then cook for their wives one day. Can I get an amen?!

The Belgarde's got Seth Mr. Potato Head (they got him all the little spuds too-so cute!). The boys have made some interesting creations with all the different pieces.

We got Seth this fire truck because at Christmas the boys loved playing with their cousin Josiah's fire truck so much. Seth has actually barely touched it, but Ethan loves it. Go figure.

I was able to get Seth lots of books with the gift card that Granny sent to Barnes & Noble. I was so happy to get some new books, so I could stop reading all Ethan's birthday books 20 times a day. Finally, some new choices. Yeah!

Yipee! Ethan is Three!

Ethan turned three on Tuesday, February 3rd. He had a Curious George birthday this year.

Ethan's Curious George cake. It was chocolate with Bavarian cream in the center and buttercream frosting. Yum!

Ethan's birthday balloons.

Look at all those presents! He isn't spoiled a bit!

Ethan showing off all his birthday decorations.

Seth loved the sunglasses and the little blow things. Does anyone know the technical name for those things?

Ethan ate a very large piece of cake and several scoops of ice cream. At 11:45 pm that night, I woke up and heard noises coming from downstairs. I went downstairs to find most of the lights on, all the new birthday toys covering the living room floor, and Ethan (naked, I'm not sure why!!!) playing with his toys. We blamed it on a sugar high from all the cake and ice cream he had eaten earlier.

Seth also had an interesting experience from his sugar high that night. He loved the little travel Doodle Pro so much that I snuck in his room and put it in his crib after he fell asleep, so he could play with it when he woke up in the morning. I woke up to the sound of him laughing and talking on the baby monitor. It was still dark outside, so I figured it was about 6:00 am (he sometimes wakes up that early). Nope, it was 4:02 am! He was wide awake drawing on the Doodle Pro having a grand old time. They always keep me on my toes. Imagine the stunts they are going to pull when they're teenagers!

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

These pictures are all of Ethan opening presents. He seems pretty excited about the Black & Decker tools he got.

Broedy, Ethan, and Seth opening presents. Broedy did a good job of passing out the gifts and helping Ethan get some of the tricky ones open. Seth also helped open a few. Ethan had so many presents, we figured he wouldn't miss opening just a couple. This is the awesome CAT dump truck that the Belgarde's got him.

Ethan digging into one of the bags.

Seth writing on the Doodle Pro.

Tim looking at the Handy Manny viewfinder.

Bruce and the boys playing with some Diego toys.