Over the winter break, we spent a good amount of time teaching the kids how to ride their bikes w/o training wheels. Let me restate this: Joel taught them to ride while I got in some walking exercise with Nathan. Blake learned on the first day, pretty much. Julianna took a full 2 weeks. We are so excited that they can ride now!
 (Sorry about the poor video quality--for some reason blogger does this to all my videos! You can see it on facebook too.)

Julianna's 9th birthday--December 6th

I'm a little late on this, but didn't want to forget to post about Julianna's 9th birthday. A while back I posted about how Julianna kept asking for a baby for her birthday. We couldn't believe that my due date ended up being December 4th, 2 days before her birthday! And then Nathan came on December 5th, just one day before her birthday! Of course I was still in the hospital, and my mom was still here helping, but we were able to call Julianna before she went to school on her birthday, and she got lots of surprises at school from her teachers and aides! My mom sent some cookies to give to her class, too. Then later that night, my mom drove to the hospital with the kids and we were able to have a little birthday celebration with some cake, and she opened some presents. The best gift was being able to see Nathan for the first time, and even hold him! It was a special birthday for her. She really loves Nathan and keeps saying, "I wish he could be MY baby." I can't believe Julianna is 9 years old now! She is getting really big and smart, and doing so well in school, and she LOVES playing with Blake now--they are little buddies (most of the time!) Happy birthday to Julianna!

Nathan's first month

4 weeks old

3 weeks old

2 weeks old

1 week old

One month old--January 5th! He is starting to smile at us now! Things to remember from Nathan's first month: He weighed in at 9 lbs even at his last appt. with the specialists, and they are happy with that! His weight gain should continue, and feeding him is becoming much easier. He is a good night sleeper--he's already gone up to 6 hours! He usually is asleep by 12 and up again at 4 or 5, and then not until 7 or 8. He loves staring at our faces very intently. He gets the hiccups a LOT still. The kids are now asking to hold him a lot--they love him! Joel is very good at feeding him with the special bottle. When he is hungry, he's HUNGRY and screams until his food is ready, which is a little slower since I have to warm the bottle and put a little formula powder in it. Pumping is not easy, but I'm going to go as long as I can! He is starting to show his personality, and can hold his head up for a few seconds on his tummy. We love having Nathan around!