More Preston!!

Yes, yes, I'm a mother to a newborn, and since I am I get the right to brag about him and share endless photos of him. 

Cute boy sleeping.

The tag in his shirt was bothering him, and when I took off his shirt his pants were hiked up like this. I had to take a picture because he looked like an old man....so cute.

I love that little foot peeking out at the bottom. 

I was about to take a picture to show how Preston will fall asleep with his eyes OPEN! No joke, he has done it where they are fully open, and it kinda freaks me out. So when I went to take this picture he smiled in his sleep and I caught it just in time! 

I can't help but think he is the cutest crier I have ever laid eyes on! He is so cute when he cries!!!! You might see more of these later.

Just chatting with mom.

 And then arching his eyebrow!? Where did he learn that from?? To which Tyler and I both tried to do this, but could not. 

Aw, baby is about to go to sleep all cuddled up with Mom.

Love how chubby he is getting....he really isn't, but his face has totally filled out.

Happy boy! Love it when we have our chat sessions two or three times a day and I get to hear him babble and see that smile so much!! 

New York lately

New York always has something going on, and here are two things that we got to see from our windows in the apartment.

September 11th is a day that no one will ever forget, but here in New York there is definitely a different feel to the day. Seeing the new One World Trade Center being built is a great way to know that we are getting past the destruction, and building hope back up. For September 11th the building also lights up in red, white and blue. It's really pretty. 

 Also we were able to see the beams of light from where the Twin Towers were before. I only got a picture of one beam, because the other one is behind it. 

A few weeks after that there was a 5K for the towers! Which meant that there was a lot of military running in the 5K. We didn't know it was happening until we heard cheering and then chanting. We looked out and saw this sight!

 It was really cool to see hundreds of military members running in this 5K. They were chanting and then we looked again and saw cheerleaders down there cheering them on and yelling "USA! USA!" 

Here they are finishing up. 

 More military members with their gear!

 And here are the other people running, there were also LOTS of firefighters and police members running too. I think some of their families were there also.

 We even got to see the FDNY boat spraying water out on the Hudson! 

Spencerisms

Lots of things have started for Spencer.

First day of THIRD grade!!! How do we have a third grader already??

He started his after school activities which are swimming and a club called Engineering and Architecture, which he loves both!

He also started soccer with the community league!!! He loves that too, even though he likes to socialize a little while running down the field, but he is getting better every week.

Spencer says some of the funniest things still. It's fun to have a conversation with him, because he questions everything and wants to know in specifics of how things work. Since the election is soon and we have been watching debates and talking about things, Spencer has picked up on it. Here is a conversation we had the other day.

Spencer: I want to vote for Obama.

Mom: Why?

Spencer: Because I like how things are going right now, and I don't want it to change.

Dad: What do you think will change?

Spencer: Well, I don't want a new president to take away the shows I like to watch on Nick. 

(at this point Tyler and I just look at each other and smile)

Mom: The president really doesn't have control over what TV shows to cancel.

Spencer: Oh, okay. (thinks for a little bit) I think I would still vote for Obama. 

The next conversation happened when we were talking about going to vote. Spencer has the day off of school and we vote at his school.

Spencer: Will I get to vote?

Mom: Not yet, you have to be 18 to vote.

Spencer: Well then could you change your vote and put my vote in your place??

Mom: You want me to vote the way you want to, so you have a vote and I don't?

Spencer: Yeah. 

Mom: Um, yeah, probably not going to happen.

I love that he is getting involved in wanting to know why we are voting the way we are and who the candidates are for the election. We'll definitely be taking him with us to the polls so he can see the rest of the process. It's fun to see how much he wants to learn about it all!! 

Brothers

Being an only child for eight years, we were a little worried about how Spencer would like having a new baby brother in the family. Well, it's been two months and he has been so loving and caring, it's amazing to watch! Not once when we have asked him to grab a diaper, or throw away a diaper has he complained or said no. Now we don't have him do it every time, only once in a while but still I think it's great. So here is their brother bonding in pictures. 

Spencer trying to get Preston to play with him or look at him. 

 Finally Spencer just moved to the other side. 

 Laying in bed together while watching a movie. Preston laid there with him for a while and just looked  at Spencer or the movie, it was really sweet. 

Do they look alike??

Maybe this is a better one to compare them with, look alike brothers? 

Preston watching what Spencer does. Preston loves to see Spencer and watches him all the time!! In fact, if Preston is crying and having a tough time, Spencer will stand in front of him and start dancing and singing and Preston will stop crying and just watch him with awe. It's so cute. 

I'm so happy these boys love each other so much already, and I hope they will have a close relationship as the years go on. 

Ape toes?

One of the things that I love about Preston are his toes! Why you may ask? Because they kinda look like ape toes. It's so cute! 

See for yourself.

Umm...yes, look at that big toe and how curled up it is!! LOVE IT!

And these are just cute pictures of Preston I've taken, because I know everyone wants to see them. 

 Big yawn.

 Stretching out...he is one long baby.

 Both Spencer and Preston love to snuggle things into their face when they sleep. I wondered where they got this from, and realized I do this sometimes too. Preston doesn't get to do it too often because at night he doesn't have extra blankets in bed, so when he can snuggle on into something...he will. 

Two Blessings

In our church the kids get baptized when they are eight, and the baby's get a blessing from their dad. They are both very important things that we celebrate, and it was wonderful that we were able to celebrate both things on the same day!! Spencer turned eight at the end of August, and since Preston was born already and we had family coming into town, we decided to do Preston's blessing the same day. It was a great day, and made my heart fill with love for these two boys we have been blessed with, they are incredible!

Spencer excited to be eight and choosing to be baptized!!

Spencer and Tyler all ready.

This is Preston's blessing outfit. Yes, this was not taken when he was just 3 weeks old...I completely forgot to take lots of pictures that day, and so I took these today to at least show off the cute outfit. 

Such a handsome boy!

Our family of four on a very special day. And yes, this is what Preston looked like at 3 weeks...and the only picture that turned out great for three of us, he was hungry...what can I say? 

Spencer's 8th Birthday

Spencer's birthday came quickly this year, and he was turning 8!! He is growing up WAY to fast for my liking. I'm already trying to hold him a little more now because I know that too soon he'll be not wanting me to and out with his friends. *tear*

But we were very excited to have a day to celebrate Spencer. He is awesome, and has really been so great during this hectic time of bringing home a baby. Although he might not have minded too much, because that meant that LOTS of family came out to see the baby and Spencer for his birthday, so he was really excited to have them all here. 

We gave Spencer his presents in two parts, mostly because he couldn't wait to see what he got! The first gift was a book called "The Secret of the Fortune Wookie", it's part of a series that puts origami and the Star Wars characters in a book. He has LOVED this series and this third book had just come out, so I knew he would be thrilled to get it. 

What is making him smile so much?? That would be a gift card to GameStop....oh, my little video gamer. 

 Later that evening when we had some of our family with us, we gave him the other half of his presents. Funny story, we told him to sit down on the floor and close his eyes. When I brought out the hula hoop I placed it around him, so he was sitting in the middle, and then put the other present that was in a bag by his leg. When he opened his eyes, he thought he only had that one present in the bag. We then asked him "What is that around  you?" and he replies, "It's a circle, I'm sitting in a circle?" Then it finally dawned on him...."A hula hoop!!!!!" He didn't think he was going to get one because we live in an apartment, but he has enough room in his bedroom that he can do it, he was so excited. 

The cakes! Spencer's aunt's birthday is also on the same day as Spencer, and she had come into town that day. We picked up her cake and I made Spencer's and we all sang Happy Birthday to them. They are so cute together, and Spencer loves sharing this day with her. 

 Here's his cake this year! I like to make whatever cake he wants every year, just as a little tradition we have in our family. Well this year he was into "Wipeout" the TV show, and wanted a cake with the four big red balls on it. I wasn't going to make this cake too complex, because I was just two weeks out of having a c-section, but we figured out a fun way to make the cake, and Spencer helped. We used cake pops as the big red balls, and used blue frosting for the water. He was happy with what turned out. 

Happy Birthday Spencer!!!!