Smiles

One of the best rewards of being a dad is experiencing smiles from our children. Miles seems to have known just what we needed this week as he gave us his first big cheese. Granted, his smiles are potential coincidences, but we will take what we can get. It's amazing to think that Miles is now six weeks old and growing like crazy. I believe he has gained nearly one pound every week and seems to have grown several inches as well. I'm not sure this is the case, but he is really getting big. When I returned from New Jersey earlier this week, it was like coming home to two new boys.

With the extended holiday weekend, our family is staying in town and keeping a pretty low-key weekend. So far we've spent been in the garden, played ping-pong, baked brownies and have spent several hours in Coopers new swing in the backyard. SBU hosts the city fireworks every year and we have a great view from our front yard. While we will probably end up at home to watch the show, we do plan to walk over and eat dinner, (or homeade icecream!) socialize and enjoy our friends who will join us.

Happy 4th of July!

The Daily Grind

If you're checking regularly, you've noticed we haven't blogged for several days. I think if we had to label the past few days, it would read...survival. We are so blessed to have two little boys who have been so healthy. But, poor little Miles is just not a healthy sleeper! With my going back to work full time and Carey adjusting to being home, it's been a bit of a circus. But, the good news is, Carey is able to get some rest in the afternoon and we have a wonderful friend who is taking Cooper in the afternoons a few times a week to assist in the adjustment.

My travel will begin picking up again in the next few weeks and the schedule is already getting pretty full. In the next six or so weeks, I will likely be in Texas, Connecticut, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. This will be another adjustment for our family so please keep our family in your prayers.

Last weekend, Dave and Beth came down for a quick, weekend visit. It was great to spend more time with family and we had a nice weekend to spend plenty of time outside. With Grandpa H and Bugs came some new bubbles - a favorite of Cooper's outdoor activities.

The end of vacation is near

It's now been nearly two weeks since the arrival of baby Miles.

On Saturday, the Colby Bethells (mom, dad and Lauren) arrived in Bolivar and have spent the last couple days with us. We've had a great time and have enjoyed the company. Cooper has especially enjoyed playing with Aunt Lauren. She has the teenage energy to keep up with him, but I think even Lauren is getting a bit tired. Mom and Dad decided to bring a tent to sleep in to keep the living room a little less busy. Cooper, in turn, loves the tent and bouncing around on the air mattresses has been a highlight. Grandpa has threatened to have Cooper stay the night in the tent, but we decided we'd wait for a day when Grandpa and Grandma can have him for the entire day after...

It has rained much of the night and I believe it's scheduled to continue for the next few days. So, we've decided to have a ping-pong tourney in the garage to compensate for the rainy weather outside. To ensure the bracket is fair and I have good shot at winning, I think I will match up against Cooper in round 1.

The girls, plus Miles, are headed to The Tea Garden for lunch and the boys are headed to El Rodeo for a more manly lunch. For those who don't know the Tea Garden, if you don't have pink or flowers in your 'outfit', it's not the place for you. I personally enjoy eating there, but the few times I have, I'm generally the only guy in the place.

Tomorrow brings another change for the Bethell family - I go back to the office. I've been working off and on, but I need to get back full-time. Carey and I have been experimenting with different ways to manage the babies while alone, but tomorrow will be the real test. Please continue to pray for an easy transition for both of us, as it's been great to be together during the days and nights.

Saddle Up

With most pregnant mums, I believe the 'nesting' phase usually happens prior to delivery of the new baby. Maybe it's the fact that our house is usually pretty clean, or that Miles came a bit early, but Carey has officially began to 'nest'. For Carey, it's really about cleaning. It's purging. While I wouldn't call Carey a collector, throwing things away just hasn't been her style. For me, I usually throw first, ask questions later. However, with Carey's latest phase of organizing and purging, I have even found myself saying 'are you sure you want to throw that away?'. Needless to say, the house and insides of every cabinet are sparkling. But that leads to a funny story.

While cleaning some of the lower cabinets in the kitchen, Carey was, hands and knees on the floor, calculating what was next. However, Cooper was one step ahead. Lately, Cooper recognizes anyone on the floor as a potential riding object and climbs on. So in this case, he runs over to the unsuspecting Carey (and does so with tractors in each hand), jumps on her back and proudly yells "COWBOY!". While we have given many pony rides around the house, this was a first. After his announcement, he quickly jumped off and turned to playing tractors in the living room. This will be a fun memory we share in the near term...but I'm sure many more will soon replace it!

Dancing to the Alphabet

It seems the video camera is never in the right place at the right time. However, we did catch a brief moment, no pun intended, with Cooper dancing to his 'Fridge Phonics' alphabet set. It's a short clip, but this is a glimpse of life with our little dancing bean.

It's been a few days since our last post so here is an update on the family.

Maggie - our 4-year-old Bulldog baby has an ear infection. Unlike the controversy on treating ear infections in our human babies, Maggie gets drugs for hers (for anyone who cares, her's is bacterial). It's truly amazing what we spend to keep all 50 pounds of her snore-like-a-freight-train-while-I'm-sleeping healthy. Other than the ear infection, she spends most of her time sleeping on the cold tile, air conditioning vent or taking in the sun on the back deck.

Cooper - Our surfer-hair 20 month old seems to be taking the new baby addition in strides. I think he finally has the concept that baby Miles is here to stay. So far, he has been pretty tender-hearted with Miles and is ready to show Miles how his toys, especially his trains (Thomas the Train trains in particular), work. To help ease the transition of Carey spending a lot of time with Miles during his regular feedings, Carey has several special bags of toys / activities just for feeding times (thanks Becky and Jenn for the contents of the bags). When we are not all together as a family, Cooper an I are either playing trains, playing tractors, going for walks on his tricycle, or playing golf. Cooper woke up this morning begging to go to the golf course, ride in the cart and see Charlie, one of the local homeowner’s dogs who walks the course looking for golfers to give a bit of affection. Charlie, the lawn mowers, and the many airplanes the take off and land near by are the highlight of the golf course trips.

Miles – Life seems to be pretty good for this little man. He’s coming on seven days old and is on a pretty good eating and sleeping schedule. Right now, we are generally getting up two times a night as he is sleeping an average of about four hours between feedings. During the day, he seems to have a bit of trouble staying awake. We are amazed that he sleeps at night considering the sleep he gets during the day. Every day we see more of his eyes; I think odds are pretty high for really dark eyes.

Carey and Nate – we both seem to be doing pretty well. With all of our guests gone, we are finding our own schedules with the boys, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. For once in the past several years, we can sleep in past 5am! We’ve been waking up just before Cooper and Miles get up at 7am to ensure we get plenty of rest. Speaking of rest, Carey has been pretty rest-less during the day. She has been feeling so great she’s ready to tackle all kinds of projects in and out of the house. For those who know Carey, this probably doesn’t surprise you. It may not also surprise you to know that she is only a few pounds away from her pre-pregnancy weight. I guess all that walking has paid off – I’ve calculated that Carey walked nearly 1000 miles during this pregnancy. She’s amazing.

Coming Home

Greetings from our home!

Yesterday, Carey and I spent the day at the hospital with Miles resting and doing all the final health checks, etc. Everyone is doing very well, so well in fact that I am writing from my living room with Carey and Miles on the couch! It's such a great blessing to be home with the entire family. When we carried Miles in from the car in his car-seat, I set him down on the floor and Cooper immediately came over to 'rock baby miles'. I think he's still trying to figure out what Miles is and how long he's going to be at the house, but he has been so gentle and caring. One of our biggest prayers right now is that our family can make the right adjustments to having two children; please continue to pray for us as Cooper and his parents manage the changes!

Becky, Carey's mother, will spend the next several days with us and we are very grateful. We also have a number of planned guests who will come and visit over the next couple weeks and we are excited to introduce the new member of the family. While in the hospital and now at the house, we have been overwhelmed with friends and family. It's wonderful to be surrounded by people who love us and care about us.

Thanks to all who support and continue to pray for us.

Wednesday Morning Surprise!

As it happens, the old stork visited the Bethell family early this morning. While not unexpected, it was a rather exciting, event-filled five-hour labor to bring Miles Henry Bethell into the world. Carey was such a champ.

Here are the stats on Miles:
Weight - 7lb 11oz
Length - 20in
Time of Birth - 5:46 AM

Cooper's Car-Washing Service

Over the holiday weekend, Cooper and I spent some time washing the cars. Carey was exercising with Sarita so Cooper was given some extra liberties with the water. Shirts, shoes and socks were optional! Even though washing cars is very exciting, Cooper was most thrilled with the big bucket of bubbles and water that he could splash, dunk his head in, etc. Needless to say, Carey came home to Cooper wearing a new set of clothes!

Cooper and his Zoo Interview

In April we went to the Topeka Zoo and Cooper experienced the animals for the first time. We have been learning all about the typical zoo animals for some time, but Cooper really loved seeing them 'live'.

I interviewed Cooper over lunch and this is what he remembers...