Meet Baby "Jofeph"

On April 16, Baby Joseph Andrew Wood was born at a whopping 9 pounds, 6 ounces! I think Rachel was in labor about 30 minutes and then she popped him out! Well, not really, but it was definitely quicker than with Jackson. We made it down to Louisville last Saturday and found Rachel looking like she'd just spent a weekend at the spa. She sure looked better than I did after having a baby. I could think of lots of mean names to call her for that, but really I was so happy to see how well they were all doing. She and Gammon were so proud of him. Baby Jofeph, as Sam calls him, is adorable with lots of black hair and chubby cheeks. He looks just like Jackson did, except maybe a different nose. He's been a very good baby and eats a lot! We had a really nice visit and it was nice that Sam got to see him, too. I'm not sure he's made the connection that we'll have one of these babies around our house soon, too....

Proud Aunt Julia Ann

The girls with Joseph, minus Emma! We missed her, but school is really busy right now, so she'll get to see him soon.

Yawn.

Uncle Ben. Now an uncle 15 times over!

Pemberton man hands

"You're going to have a baby brother like this soon!" Sam wasn't so sure about that.

Nearly poking Joseph's eye out

Ben, the swaddle-master, refreshing his skills

Mmm...hospital dreck

Sam doing his usual "lemme see the picture!" before I actually take the picture.

Mom taught Sam "Rock-a-bye Baby" and they sang it together to Joseph.

Kite Fest!

Today we went to Kite Fest in West Chester. We happened to see something about it in the paper Friday and decided to check it out. It was such a great event! Sam loved it and got to try out his new Spiderman kite the Easter Bunny brought him. It was a beautiful day and we saw some huge kites - I've never seen kites that big before. There were also a bunch of kite teams that were performing "kite ballets" to music. Sam got a kick out of it, although one of his favorite parts was the shuttle ride to and from the park on the school bus (his first). He also got to meet Snoopy and meet a police man and sit on his quad ATV, which made him a little nervous.

Sam loved this kite - Elmo!

Meeting Snoopy. He gave him a high five. Later, he told me he wanted to give Snoopy a kiss. When we walked back up to Snoopy, he changed his mind.

Giant stingray kite!

Spidey looking out for crime

Ben was the kite master!

Sam and I working the kite

Sam holding the string

Sam got a little tangled up in the string - check out that look!

That's Our Baby!!!

Ben and I went in to Good Sam for our fetal echocardiogram on Friday. I had a heart condition that was fixed when I was 21, and they've screened both of our babies to see if they have it, too. Both times it's been good news that neither Sam nor this little one has it. After we got situated and they squirted the gel all over my baby and got an image up, we were both completely surprised when we looked at the screen and saw OUR BABY! We've had ultrasounds before, but this was a 4D, so the pictures were so clear and it didn't just look like fuzzy images on the screen. My OB said that this was a big secret and that they'd have a mob at the door if everyone knew they had this - so, SHHHHH. We could actually tell that this baby looks like he has the same nose as Sam! It was really amazing to see the details of his little body. He was holding onto his umbilical cord - looked like he was swinging from it! And he is definitely flexible - legs straight up in front of him (he's head-up right now). The first picture here is an old-school picture - just confirming that yes, this is a boy!

In this one, you can see a portion of his head in the lower right corner with his hands up by his face. The left hand is holding his cord and the right hand is giving a thumbs-up! That's his left knee right by his hand and feet next to his right hand. The cord looks like it's connected to his face, but don't worry - it's not!

Here's a close-up of his left hand with his fingers curled and his left leg. That's his face in the background.

Here's one where you can see his legs crossed at his ankles. Look at his little toes! That's his umbilical cord in front of his face.

And here's his sweet little face! It's amazing how at 26 weeks he looks like a little baby already. The bumps on his head are parts of the cord that show up in the picture. Looks cozy in there, doesn't it? Now we just need to figure out a name for this little guy!

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! Sam and I dyed eggs together for the first time, and it turns out Sam is a very patient egg-dyer, making some beautiful eggs. I also found out that egg dyeing is NOT one of Ben's strengths. Anyway, Sam was really into the whole process, from the fizzing and bubbling when we poured vinegar onto the dye tablets (kind of like a science experiment!) to moving the egg around while we waited for the dye to color the eggs (I think I used the word "gently" about 50 times). Since Sam seems to be either color-blind or just color-dumb (naming colors is not his strong suit), I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about colors, too. Here he is in the dyeing "zone:"

"I be GENTLE, mommy. Get off my back already."

"Dis egg is pink!"

While we waited for some eggs to dye, Sam took a moment to do his "monster face."

Showing off his works of art. The front left egg (the one that resembles puke) is Ben's. You can't really get a grasp of how hideous this egg was in this picture. There was a big pink circle on one side. Ben said he was trying to get creative, but even he agreed it was really ugly. We got a good laugh out of it.

The red one was the first egg Sam dyed.

Today we went up to Centerville to go to church with Ben's brother and mom. Had a great time and they even made a special bear-shaped pancake for Sam at the pancake breakfast! Ben's mom got Sam his Easter outfit and it was adorable. He looked very handsome.

After a little nap, we hid a bunch of eggs for Sam. Once he caught onto what an Easter egg hunt was, he loved it. He kept saying, "I found ANOTHER one!" We re-hid the eggs a few times since he was so entertained by it. This was yet another situation in which Sam heard the word "gentle," since he would just pitch the eggs into his basket. By the end, every egg was cracked!

Sam and his egg-hunting entourage

"Wha??? There's no more eggs hidden?"

He ran toward this pinecone thinking it was an egg. Check out his face when he realized it wasn't. Total disappointment.

Hope everyone had a great Easter! Back to work for me - but just the start of break for Ben!

"Hiking is Fun! I Wanna go Fishin'."

That's what Sam said after our hike yesterday morning. :) He must have listened when we were talking about when Ben could take Sam fishing. Anyway, he had a great time on our hike. I think he made the observation "that tree fell down!" about 50 times throughout the hike. And he wore his new zoo hat Nana got him, which served him well because it was really sunny. After our hike we had a picnic and then headed over to Lunken to watch the planes fly in and out.

"I wanna touch the water." He thought the mud was pretty cool.

Guess what? This tree fell down.

"I jump!" He jumped off each one of these.

A sprinkler was on in one of the gardens, so we stood there and got sprayed.

"I'm running!" Sam doing his favorite pastime. He even persuaded me to run with him.

During lunch, a guy pulled up on a motorcycle and met his family who came separately to have a picnic. Sam was really interested and we asked if it was okay for Sam to go over and look at it. He was really nice and even offered to let Sam sit on it. When Ben picked him up to sit him on it, Sam burst into tears! We couldn't believe it - he was finally going to get the chance to sit on one and he freaked out! He said, "I scared of the mokeycycle." He's clearly distressed in this picture. Ben's laughing at him...