Home again, Home again, Jiggety-jig!

Well, after a two day stay at the hospital, Joshua and I are home, and loving not being disturbed at all hours! We got home yesterday at 11am, and things have gone well. Heather has reverted to screaming instead of using her words. Probably because that's what Josh does, and he gets attention for it. I hope it doesn't last long. She is excited about the new addition to the family, but I don't think she quite knows how to handle everything.

Here are some more pictures :)

 I realized today that we don't have a single picture of just me and the baby. We'll take care of that today.

Josh

Well, I had hoped to write a blog post today about how much fun we had yesterday with π day, but I guess that's going to have to wait! Joshua Christian Standage interrupted our peaceful slumber last night and after a quick labor, he joined us at 6:31 am this morning. I've posted a few pictures at http://standage.public.iastate.edu/josh/...stay tuned for more over the next few weeks (...err, months...or years...)!

Shoveling

We recently had unheard of good weather for this part of the country in the winter. All of the snow from the huge storms melted away, and the highs were in the 40-50's. It was a lot of fun to be able to go out and play in the warmer weather (although it was VERY muddy). Heather loved splashing in all of the puddles, but unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.

It snowed again yesterday (not much), and it is cold and windy again. Heather and I went out to help daddy shovel the snow...okay, I just stood there looking very pregnant, but that's beside the point. :)

An action shot of Heather "helping." This snow wasn't as heavy as normal, so it was a lot easier for her to push it around. The trick was getting her to push it in the right direction. :)

I love this one!

Making snow angels... actually, she fell in a hole in our neighbors lawn (where a tree used to be), and couldn't get up, so she just laid there.

Trying to get out of the hole. She sure got a kick out of slipping and falling back in.

The reason we went inside. Check out the size of her lip!

 We don't really have any amazing news. Life is life. Some days are good, some days are hard. Daniel is doing well at school. He is about to start his last research rotation, and we can't believe we are already more than half way through the first year in school. YAY!

I am doing well. I am experiencing all of the normal pregnancy symptoms for this stage...you know, backaches, fatigue, ravenous hunger, ornery for "no reason," nesting, swollen (not half as bad as I was with Heather), weird dreams about the baby, not to mention crying at the drop of a hat...or over spilled water (yes water, but it was for the millionth time!), over-exaggerations, jealous that Daniel can lay on his stomach...Yeah...all those things...and lets be honest, there's probably more. But sooner than we know, it will all be over, and we will have a beautiful new baby boy.

I know you all (ahem...Johannah...) keep bugging me about posting pictures of the pregnancy. Here we are at 37 weeks (and counting...).

I win! I didn't even have to puff my chest, hold by breath, and arch my back. ;)

We love you all, and hope you are staying warm!

Heather's Latest

I know this video is long overdue. Sorry about that. It is impossible to capture all the wonderful moments with Heather in our lives, but we hope we can give you a glimpse into her happy self here. A warning to those short on time: it's a long video...sorry. :)

Obeying

Heather has been going through a lot of emotional...development lately (we'll put it nicely). Up until a few weeks ago, there is nothing she could do to raise my blood pressure, even at her worst. Now it seems she's found my buttons and she is pushing them, although most of the time it's not intentional.

During times like this, I try to remember the many reasons I love her. She really is so cute and so smart, and yesterday I had a wonderful reminder. I was washing the dishes when Heather came up to me, dropped a pair of my shoes at my feet, and looked up with an expectant look. I said hi and continued doing the dishes. She waited for a bit, then started trying to pick up my feet and put them in the shoes. Finally, I gave in and started slipping my feet into the shoes. As I did so, her face lit up and she said "thank you for obeying, daddy!"