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'.

Disneyland

We spent three days in Disneyland last week. Joseph was a travel trooper and is cut out for marathon driving. I think he liked watching movies in the back with his daddy. No one in my car volunteered to drive so I drove all 1800 miles of the trip.

Disneyland is a fun place for people of all ages. I even got my grandma to ride Space Mountain. Getting her on that roller coaster with me and my mom was the highlight of my day. Rachel told Grandma to close her eyes if she got scared, but when she got off she said that closing her eyes did not help. The funny part of the ride was that when the automatic cameras flashed my mom and I had big goofy grins and my grandma had her eyes scrunched up and her lips pursed. I'll have to post the picture.

Joseph liked all the water in the park and got annoyed that we couldn't get in the fountains. He didn't care about any of the characters except Sully from Monster's Inc. who he insisted was a kitty.

Kevin and Shane were not interested in having their picture taken with any characters. After much prodding, they finally relented and said they would have their picture taken with someone. I can't see why they were embarrased to have their picure taken with Chip and Dale.

Toward the end of the visit we rode several little kid rides. Joseph thought they were fabulous. The adults did their best to act like they were having a great time on the kid rides.

My dad flying in an applesauce box.

Grandma and Grandma Great buckling in Joseph for his flight.

Kevin and Rachel on the little lady bugs.

Joseph and Grandma in the ladybugs.

My Grandma is Born Today

David Copperfield begins with the simple sentence, "I am born."  This is an obvious start to anyones existence because its the only way to make our way into this life.  In modern times we have come to registering our births so that not only do our mother's remember the day we were born but also every government, civil, and health agency in the land.  This mainly proves that the registered person is in fact a citizen of the United States and not a citizen of Gondowanland trying to pose as a citizen of the United States.  

The importance of this entry is that my grandma is officially born today.  She began trying to register her birth in 1964.  She was not born in 1964, but began the process of registering her birth at that time.  When she was born mother's were not required to register the births of their children.  The family moved shortly after her birth from Arizona to New Mexico, so registering her birth in Arizona never happened.  Despite extensive documentation she was told that she did not have the right kind of proof of where and when she was born.  One would think that a testimonial of someone present at her birth would be enough proof.  Alas, it was not for the birth offices of 1964.  She periodically tried to register her birth after that time and was continuously denied.  Two years ago, prior to going on a cruise, she began the process again thinking that she would need a birth certificate to get a passport.  Come to find out that a birth certificate is not requisite to getting a passport. Apparently other countries don't care so much where the tourists were born as where they call home.   

After 45 years of trying and several denial letters she received her birth certificate in the mail.  On paper she is officially born today.