Joseph and Becky stomping around in Grand Great's yard.

What should one do with Oreos that one does not want to eat?  Smearing them all over the face and shirt for safe keeping is an excellent plan.  After this feat, Joseph said,"Face! Shirt!" and desperately wanted his face washed.

What does a two year old do with flour?  Scoop it into a bag for soda cans.  Normally just the cans are recycled though, but Joseph figured that he'd try recycling the flour right along with the cans.  Grandma Great said,"Hey!"  Joseph replied,"Oh no! What happened!"  Then he ran to the other side of the kitchen.

 How do you get closer look at fish in an aquarium?  Try pushing on the glass really hard and saying,"Oh no!" I'm not sure why he said "Oh no!"  when the fish swam by him.  My best guess is that he was a little nervous over how large the fish were compared to him.

Why should a garden hose only be used to water flowers?  In this little guys case, running water does wonders to deepen the color of khaki shorts, add weight to shoes, and lower body temperature.  He found the hose running and decided to spread the joy of water all around the yard.  He had lots of fun until he got cold and started to shiver.  Aunt Rachel had to coax him inside with cookies.  Once inside, he switched to wearing one of Grandpa Greats old T-shirts.  I thinking wearing one of those shirts if a rite of passage for all the grandkids.

I think he pulls off the oversized shirt look pretty well.  He was too mesmerized by his 'show' to pose in his fabulous shirt.

Nathan was blessed on May 2, 2010 by his Daddy.  I was thrilled that he was chipper for the occasion and that Joseph was not bothered by his Daddy not sitting with us all through church.

Nathan at 2 Months

Nathan turned two months old on April 26.  To celebrate this accomplishment he received three vaccinations.  I think he would have preferred presents to three pokes.  As for his body specifications he weighed in at 11 lbs 4 oz, 23 inches, and has a big head or so says the nurse.

Easter 2010

We had all the traditional Easter festivities this year.  We started with coloring eggs at Grandma Great's house.  Joseph thinks egg dying is here to stay.  He also thought if one egg per cup was good then three must be excellent.

The excitement was too much for Grandma Great, so she hid behind her Diet Coke and Peeps.

Nathan slept through the whole event.  I'm sure he'll be more into Easter next year.

We had a picnic at the river.  Joseph enjoyed hunting for eggs and the bigger kids enjoyed hitting the eggs into the river with golf clubs.

Nathan slept through these events too.

The Easter Bunny visited the next morning and brought more treasures for Joseph to find.

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Stock.  Joseph found more eggs and Nathan slept.

The Bushes

We finally got brave and took out the bushes that covered our house and most of the sidewalk.  Kevin and Shane conversed for a while about how to get a truck into our yard.  The solution was to take out another tree that was mostly dead anyway.  I think they thought that pulling out trees was man work and that trimming other bushes in the yard was woman work.

Shane is directing Kevin how to attach a chain around the bush.  Kevin is behind the bush.  Meanwhile, my Mom is pondering what the boys are doing and working hard.  I stole a line from Ben Hur, "Row well and live."  I told her told her to trim well and live.  She worked really hard, so maybe she believed me.  

This is the bush graveyard that grew to twice this size by the end of the evening.  When all the bushes were gone we enjoyed a lovely dinner together.  

Nathan and Joseph

Nathan was born at 9:19 am on February 26, 2010.

7 pounds 3 oz

20 inches

Shane and I got up early that morning and headed to the hospital to have labor induced. We were off to a fine start around 6 am. We did the usual turn up the pitocin and wait. About 8:45 my water broke and what seemed like one minute later I felt the urge to push. My doctor hadn't arrived, so the nurse instructed me to not push. I was really distraught at this point because the urge to push was overwhelming. After what seemed like an eternity, my doctor arrived and we began the push process. Push #1 was only successful with me letting out a crazy person scream, but no baby. My doctor looked me in the eye and said, "You're going to have a baby on this push, so when I tell you grab the handles, push, and don't make noise this time." I listened and Nathan arrived on push #2.

Joseph is warming up to the idea of having a baby brother. When he decides that he wants the baby he runs up to him and says, "Mine!" Luckily he has not tried to carry him around the house. He was tender with a baby doll at nursery on Sunday and carried it around the whole time. He seems to think that he can carry Nathan around the same way and is rather annoyed that Mommy and Daddy won't let him.

This is Joseph pointing out his little brother's features. Who would have thought that everyone has a nose, ears, and eyes?

This is Nathan about three hours after he was born and what he looks like for most of the day. If only I could convince him that he should take up this sleep routine when its dark outside and open his eyes when its light.

After some coaxing he decided that he likes the heat lamps.

Nathan was not the biggest fan of the heat lamp. The little wire attached to his tummy was a heat sensor that told the lamp when to turn off, indicating that he was 'done'.