Newborn Photo Shoot

We got some pictures taken a couple weeks ago and you are welcome to take a peek! Go to:

www.studiowest.smugmug.com 

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Portrait Sessions

Schwartz 9-19-15

Password is "michael" in lower case letters

Enjoy!

2:18am

Things have been going remarkably well, particularly in the night. The kids have had great timing in their wake-ups (twice Thea has woken up as I'm coming up the stairs from being with Nathaniel). It has made things manageable and less tiring (I imagined nights of waking up every 30 minutes for one kid or another).

Alas, last night ALL of the kids woke up at the same exact minute. Nathaniel needed to eat, Thea wanted to snuggle/watch tv/have a snack and Matthew wanted to know if it was morning time. Passing one another in the very dark hallway, Mike and I just laugh because what else can you do?

Maybe you could cry, because both Thea and Nathaniel were then awake for 2 hours. 

Good thing we went to bed at 8:30 last night. 

Read Nathaniel a Story

Thea asked if she could tell Nathaniel a story.

Thea: God loves you. 

Mommy: That's a wonderful story to tell Nathaniel. Do you want to tell him another one?

Thea: Yeah. God is soooo good. 

Mommy: I hope you always remind him of these great stories, Thea. And one day, I hope he will remind you of these stories. 

Nathaniel Benjamin

Nathaniel Benjamin Schwartz came two weeks early and like lightening, THANKFULLY, three weeks ago. I had seen my OB just two days before and she said "I think we've got some time..."  Nope.  Not so much.

I had been having contractions but they were in my lower abdomen which was different than what I had experienced during my prior pregnancies. Thus, I didn't see them as warning signs of his imminent arrival.  In fact, I was concerned that maybe something was wrong.  

I woke up at 5:40 on Saturday, August 22nd, and was having these same contractions only they hurt. A lot.  Thirty minutes later after no more than 5 contractions, I came down to Mike and the kids (who had just woken up) and said, "I think I'm in labor."  We live 45 minutes from the hospital and Thea had come within 3 1/2 hours of the onset of labor so I knew we had to leave pretty quickly but I still wasn't totally sure I was in labor or if they would stop after I walked around and/or woke up a little.  I called the doctor and told her we were on our way.

It was a good thing we did.  The first time I was checked by a doctor I was 9cm and Nathaniel was born 55 minutes after we arrived at the hospital and not by my doctor or the on call doctor but a resident who was extraordinary.   

I am so relieved and grateful this little guy came two weeks early as my pregnancy was very difficult. It was the pregnancy to end all of our pregnancy.  We are savoring these first weeks so much despite the challenges with disrupted sleep.  We are in love with our little baby boy and our BIG kids are dreamlike with Nathaniel.  They sing to him, kiss him and look for him when they wake up in the morning.  

Nathaniel Benjamin born 8-22-15 weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces with a length of 19.5 inches.

Mike ran back into the house right before we left for the hospital.
He came back out wearing these pants. 3 for 3 on the births of our children.

 

Thea was apprehensive but excited as she is with all new people
 and Matthew was gentle, curious and excited.

Heading home in the infamous outfit (my brothers and I came
home in this as well as Paul's kids and our kids).

Gender Reveal

We're 32 weeks pregnant.  Probably should have announced our pregnancy two seasons ago.

Three months ago, we found out the gender.  We wanted to do something different than the first two times, which were both pretty standard fare--the ultrasound tech told us Matthew was a boy, and we found out Thea Bean was a girl upon her delivery.  So, this time, we went with a gender reveal party.  We bought one cake pop for everyone in E's family, including the kids, and told everyone to dig in at the same time.  Whoever was the lucky one to get the blue or pink cake would make the announcement.

So we tricked them and got them all a cake pop with blue inside.  And then we had the kids play...

We had initially planned to be surprised ourselves at this party but then chose to find out yet a different way.  We took a sealed envelope with the gender written on a piece of paper to an ice cream parlor and asked them to give us a scoop of blue or pink ice cream.  The man sealed it in a paper bag and we took it to the car.  Blue it was.  My surprising response, "YES! YES! YES!"

Thea's Art Class

This spring, Thea and I did a music class together that she loved. I searched for a summer dance class per her request but was unable to find one for her age. Art class was the perfect next choice. Here are some pictures from her adventures:

Matthew came the last two weeks because his camp had ended so he got to participate too and had fun with hair coloring!

While some kids spent seven seconds on their sticker projects or paintings, Thea never wanted to stop. She simply loved it and was daily asking if she had "Thea's class" to look forward to going to. I loved our 1:1 time together and seeing her so happy.

Minions Movie

While Mike's parents were in town, we went to our first movie.

The kids have watched the movies Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 hundreds of times. Totally enthralled every time we watch either of them. So when we found out the movie Minions was coming out, we knew it couldn't get better than this for a first movie theater experience. 

They were both beyond excited to go and were so different in how they showed it. When we got situated in our huge, leather, reclining chairs, Thea dug right into her popcorn and soda. Just. Like. Daddy. 

Matthew, on the other hand, excitedly refused to touch his snack during the previews. He had to wait until Minions began. 

And he did not recline for most of the movie. He was focused. And so happy. 

Mike and I thought the movie was terrible but the kids loved it and it was such a special experience.