Brothers

Big brother and little brother are getting to know each other... Timo is already asking after his brother when he gets up in the morning, and whenever he hears Mattias making noise and waking up, he says "baby" and goes to find him in his crib and peer over the side. Of course, there have been plenty of eye-poking and tantrums for more attention by the older brother, so we are working on that - but still we are amazed and awed by the fact that we now have two boys in the house!!

This is Timo's thoughtful face. He was very gentle and careful holding his brother on this occasion.

First bath for Mattias, and for the boys together! Naturally Timo got lots of splashing in. Mattias was totally content and calm the entire time.

 

Also - Mattias is two weeks old today (Tuesday, Nov 11th)!! Yesterday he had his two week check-up at the pediatrician, and he has already grown an inch and gained 10 ounces since birth!

The exploits of Mattias - first days home

Home together! With Jaja here for two weeks to help. The weather outside has been lovely - typical cool fall weather, so Jaja has been cooking up all kinds of great food and we have been hanging out at home. Jim gets 10 days of paternity leave from work (which he will split between now and next month), so he is home until next Tuesday.

Down to business right away: reading books together.

Timo's new wagon that Jaja brought - in her suitcase - for his 2nd birthday!

And down to business with Jaja - making rolls!

Hey, there's a tiny bundle in that sling!

The Exploits of Mattias - The Beginning!

Tuesday, October 28th: the birthday of our 2nd son, Mattias Jack!

7 lb, 14 oz. Born at 7:58 PM.

Tuesday morning I had my 39 week appointment with the Doctor, and soon after that appointment my labor started to finally kick in and not let up (after two weeks with a lot of stops and starts), so we checked into the hospital around noon. Jim's cousin Thea took care of Timo, while another friend picked Mom H up from the airport. She had planned last month to arrive on this day, hoping it would be at a good time - and it turned out to be the perfect day for her to arrive! We checked into the hospital midway through the labor process so we would have plenty of time to get situated and be prepared once the baby came. (We - and the doctor - were a bit wary after Timo's birth, which happened only 25 minutes after arriving to hospital...)

Our good friend Fiona was with us for the entirety of the labor and delivery. She is a trained doula and was absolutely amazing at helping me to relax and stay focused when I got tired and later at the end when the contractions became intense. She also played a critical role in assisting when the pushing started and Mattias arrived so quickly! By the end of the labor, contractions progressed very fast and suddenly I was ready to push - Fiona ran out to get the staff, and the nurses and Doctor had to rush in with barely a minute before he was born! It was 7:58 pm.

A belly shot! Soon after we checked in (labor was still very manageable). Fiona is due with her 3rd daughter in a few weeks!

First bath. He cried of course but was calm afterwards.

Since Mattias was born in the evening, Mom and Timo waited until the following Wednesday morning to come to the hospital to meet him.

Hurray, Jaja is here!

We took a few minutes to intentionally introduce Timo to his baby brother and talk about what had happened. Timo was holding a car to show Mattias, and then he waved "Hi" to him and wanted to touch his head, his fingers and his eyes. Then Timo was off to jump on the couch and run around the hospital with Daddy.

That evening our friends Andrea and Parker visited us and got to meet Mattias.

And now we are ready to leave! After our second night in the hospital, we were discharged the following morning and were home in time for lunch on Thursday. Mattias cried when we put him in the car seat and of course had a wet diaper that leaked all over the place, but he was calm and quiet in the car until we got home. It felt great to be home and think back over the last weeks of waiting for his birth-day and wondering how it would go. In the end, it was so smooth and we are very, very thankful for a safe birth and a healthy son!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Timo!

 Happy Birthday, Timo!

Our happy little boy turns 2 years old today! This morning we had a birthday breakfast for him (baked oatmeal with 2 candles on top to blow out) and he got to open two presents. Then Mommy and Timo went to the Dollar Store to pick out 2 birthday balloons. As I write this, he and Daddy are outside raking leaves and Timo is having the time of his life rolling around in the piles. This afternoon we will have a small party with cousins here in town. In fact they are Timo's third cousins!

 Some fun facts about Timo...

He LOVES: balls! Trucks! Books! Wrestling with Daddy!  

Every day Timo asks to go outside and play basketball or soccer. He has gotten quite good at shooting into his little hoop, and he is also pretty good at dribbling the soccer ball and shooting through our legs, and then yelling, "goal!" Trucks are also his favorite thing, particularly books about trucks, like Cars and Trucks and Things that Go. He spends many happy hours - and I mean, hours! - every day reading on his own or with us. Recently he has taken a liking to a Sesame Street book that we own, and he 'reads' it in his jabber, making different voices high and low to match the characters. And wrestling with Daddy is of course a surefire way to get him laughing. While Gemma saw wrestling as an athletic venture, Timo sees wrestling as an opportunity to snuggle, and he will curl up and start sucking his thumb, very content to be rolled around by Jim.

He also enjoys: going to the library to find new books and examine the miniature sets on display; taking daily walks around the neighborhood, particularly to look for basketball hoops and dogs; standing at the kitchen counter and helping cook or wash dishes.

Favorite foods: hummus; homemade bread or muffin of any kind; edamame (likes to pop them out of the pods); rice and beans or lentils; scrambled eggs; pasta and sauce (either marinara or peanut sauce); smoothies; dried fruit

Getting thrown by Daddy, on the campus at Colorado College

He loves helping at the sink. Very focused.

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Baby Brother - any day now - and it will be interesting to see how Timo responds to a baby in the house. Lately he has really enjoyed reading books about babies, especially Baby Play, which suggests games to do with babies at various stages. Gemma loved reading this book at the same age, too, and then choosing games/activities to do with Timo. So we are hoping that talking about those kinds of games will help with the transition. Usually when we talk about baby brother, Timo says, "Ball?!" I think he is implying that he will be ready for his playmate! It may be hard to patiently wait until brother can play with balls, too!

Reading together, with the stethoscope of course.

Timo's favorite time of day is when Daddy gets home from work and they can play with balls outside for a few minutes together while Mommy finishes dinner prep.

Jim in Nepal

It's interesting to note our last entry of 2013: it covered my visit to Nepal last September, and now I was back there again this September, as well.  

I was in Kathmandu for several DAI events. I spent the first week teaching Research Methods to a cohort of 28 Nepali students. This is this group's third and final year in the program. We met at a little hotel in the beautiful foothills outside of the city and had a great time together. During the second week, we held a program orientation for local academics interested in teaching in our program. We are always eager to put the best teachers in our classrooms, so we organize orientations such as this one periodically. Then we spent the final two days meeting with our South Asia program staff (we offer the MA program in India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka). It was a wonderful time of fellowship, and a great opportunity for us to learn how we can provide better support to our staff in the field.