Settling in

We're getting settled in as a family of four. Nicholas is an easy baby and we have been having to wake him up in the middle of the night to eat. At his two week appointment, he had gained well past his birth weight so our doctor says now we can let him wake us up at night.

Nicholas' first bath at home.

We went over to my grandparents' house for the day. This is Robert, Nicholas, and G randpa.

Robert has started calling himself Robert Edward and when asked, "Who calls you that?" he says, "Grandpa." My grandfather calls us all by our first and middle names.

The big guy is really growing up fast. He is adapting well to being a big brother. He loves to hold and kiss Nicholas. He has his jealous moments of course, but for the most part, he is doing great. Turning two really brought a lot of changes for him. He became potty trained at two and started sleeping in his big boy bed soon after that.

We are really seeing his imagination develop. He loves to pretend that his food is a spaceship as he flies it around and says "Take off!" The other day he put an ice cream cone on top of a milk carton and said, "Tower, downtown, Daddy works." His favorite toys right now are hot wheels cars and trucks. Every person he knows is assigned a vehicle. Any sports car is "Daddy rides," his helicopter is "Grandaddy rides," and for some unknown reason, the futuristic ambulance is "Grandma and Grandpa ride" to name a few.

Before little brother arrived...

Since I was on bedrest, I thought that Robert got cheated out of his last bit of time as our only child. So I crammed the two weeks between getting off bedrest and Nicholas being born with special times with my number one boy.

Robert helped with painting vehicles for his new room.

















The three of us went to a farmer's market nearby and picked blackberries. At first Robert was just picking them, but once he tasted one, he was just going down the rows picking and eating as fast as he could. He was a blackberry mess by the time we left.























Robert and I went to Build a Bear to make a new friend to take to the hospital.

Robert made his first jello and cut out fun shapes.

Nicholas Beck Welling

Nicholas Beck Welling was born on Friday July 10, at 1:57 pm. He weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 20 and 1/2 inches long. God blessed us and allowed us to make it to 38 weeks and for him to be born before my blood pressure became a major issue. After spending the morning counting contractions we headed to the hospital after they were 5 minutes apart for an hour. After that Nicholas didn't mess around. We arrived at the hospital around 12:30 and he was born an hour and a half later. Luckily my mom had arrived just in time to watch Robert for us. She took him out of the room to go potty and when they came back they couldn't come back in because things had gotten pretty intense for me as I waited for the doctor to arrive so Nicholas could be born. Dr. Turner arrived just in time because I was beginning to think I couldn't resist the need to push for many more contractions. After a few hours in the NICU because he was having trouble regulating his temperature and blood sugar, Nicholas is doing great. Although I don't think Nicholas is exactly what Robert was expecting all these months, he loves his little brother. He is very gentle around him and loves giving him kisses and imitating his baby sounds and movements.
























Robert meets Nicholas for the first time.


















Nicholas ready to go home for the first time.