More baby Nate photos

Here are some more photos from Nathan's first moments!

30 minutes old... now that is one proud daddy!
He looks huge in the bed compared to the other babies I saw in the hospital. But when we hold him in our arms, he feels so tiny
first bath
not exactly comfortable accomodations for Chris
such a long baby
Chris is an expert swaddler
Nothing like Pitocin and IV fluids to make your face nice and puffy. Add some bruising from pushing out a 9 pound baby and it makes for some pretty pictures :)
Xander can't keep his hands off of his baby brother

The hugs and kisses went on for a long time. The rest of the time was spent trying to push every button in the hospital room

Its a boy! Welcome to the Pichner family... Nathan

Usually the wife does this kind of thing but she is a tad busy at the moment,

so you will all just have to deal with it (the spelling errors and all). On March 29th at 7:04 pm our second baby boy was born. He was only 9 pounds 4 ounces, and 22 and a 1/4 inches long...Nathan Michael Pichner

I could have pushed him out too (but I probably would have killed myself long before it got the chance) It's nice that Unity has a wireless network that we could use to post these pictures.

Just got to the hospital, they have to come in and check everything about

ever 15 minutes to if you figure we have been here for 50 ours they

have only done this about 200 times.

Proof that a work laptop is just a useful for playing music and looking
at pictures of your 1st children as it is actually doing work.

Cant take the PAIN!

Drugs are a great thing!

Just after Nathan Michael was born

I assure you this is actually my son and not a funny looking doll.

Hello little one, I'm your mommy...
That goofy looking guy in the adidas shirt is your daddy.

Very Chubby Little Bugger!

You would look like me if they rubbed that jelly looking stuff in
your eyes and wrapped up like a burrito!

Big baby!

So, last Friday I went in for my 36 week OB appointment. From the reaction of others and the look on my doctor's face, I had the feeling that I was getting fairly big. When he measured me, he was like "WOW" and then told me that he wanted me to go in for an ultrasound this week to get a better idea of just what we are dealing with. Well, we went in this afternoon for my ultrasound...and the verdict? He is one big baby! It is hard to tell exactly because he is so cramped in there, but I am measuring at 40 weeks! The technician (or the computer, I should say) is guessing his weight at 8 lbs. 12 oz, give or take up to 20 oz. No matter how you cut it, at 36 1/2 weeks, he is big. And only getting bigger by the day. They can gain 1/2 - 1 pound a week! If I go to my due date, we will be registering him for preschool! Of course I understand that he is going to be as big as he is going to be and there is nothing I can do to control it... I definitely am getting more ready to have him out than to try to keep him in.

That is one big baby belly!

Big brother class

Today we took Xander to his Big Brother class at the hospital. The kids got to watch a video about how babies come into the world and what it means to be a big brother/sister - the good and the bad stuff. After that, they sat on the floor and spent a few minutes helping put diapers on their dolls and learning how to swaddle and hold them, with mommy or daddy's help. We then went to the post delivery floor to see what the rooms look like and got to look at the nursery. Unfortunatley, the only open room was a very small one and there were no babies in the nursery, so it wasn't much of a tour for him. But it gave him a chance to see where he would be coming to visit while we are at the hospital. All in all, I think it was good for him to be exposed to the hospital some before the baby comes. Hard to know how much sunk in because he is only 2, but he usually amazes us with how much he takes in without us even knowing. He has been asking to go to school ever since. I thought he was talking about his ECFE class, but he said he wanted to go back to the school to see if some of the babies were sleeping in the nursery so he could look at them. We just hope that the experience is as painless as possible for him.

Putting a diaper on Baby Doll

Daddy showing Xander how to hold the baby; discussing how to put his arm under Baby Dolls head

More rec center playtime

Some more photos of his new favorite rec center in St. Louis Park

So, last week I dressed Xander in his orange shirt, thinking he would be easier to distinguish from the rest of the kids. No luck. There were at least a half dozen kids and dads with the same color shirts on. This week I went with red. Here is a photo of Xander in a sea of red shirted little boys! Better luck next week, I guess. After a while, they really do all start to look alike! :)

Xander finally gets a haircut

Xander was definitely looking more than little shaggy these days. So, when I went in to get my hair colored and trimmed, he came with to see Jamie and maybe squeeze in a haircut for himself. I can cut it myself just fine, but he much prefers for her to do it (can you blame him?) He was acting so cute around her (flirt!) and sat as nicely as a 2 3/4 year old can while she cleaned him up. He felt lighter and looked like a new boy. Thank you, Jamie!

Chewing her ear off while she starts taking off the inches.
Look at that smile! I don't get that when I cut his hair...the boy loves pretty girls, that is for sure!

All cleaned up and hamming for the camera

Froggy boots

We went to grandma Linda's house to wait for her to get off of work. The two of us had appointments to get pedicures and then we were going to meet the boys for dinner. Xander loves to wear his new froggy boots, and with all the warm weather, it is definitely sloppy enough for them. I wasn't thinking when I put a cream colored shirt on him and didn't bring anything extra for him wear, but it was the perfect day for splashing in the puddles. Chris is usually pretty uptight about these things, but we have come a long way! He even made the perfect scooper so that he could dig in the snow and drop it in the water. He ended up tripping and sitting in the very deepest part of the puddle. When he was all done, Chris stripped him down and let him run around naked while he put his clothes in the dryer. It was a good evening - scrubbed and polished feet, a nice dinner and some great pictures of our kid having fun being a kid!

Liking his new scooper
slushy snow into puddles means even bigger puddles

Mud fun!

It was just beautiful today! I can't express how badly I needed the warm temps and bright sun. So when Ann, Ava and Lily invited us over to play in their backyard, we jumped at the chance. Now, 2+ feet of snow and 50 degree temps = a mud pit! Xander has never really gotten in there and rolled around in the mud, so I wasn't sure how he would take to it. But I knew that he was itching to try out his new froggy boots, and with a little coaxing and watching the girls, he would eventually warm up to it. It did not take long before he rolling around in it like a natural. Meanwhile, Ann and I sat and chatted while soaking up the warm sun. It was just what we needed!

In the beginning - not sure what to think about all the mud and allowing himself to get dirty
Starting to get into the action by following Ava and Lily's lead. The are old pros at this!
Showing off his muddy hand (and looking for somewhere to wipe it)
Getting even more comfortable in the slop
Diving in! There is no going back now...Go Xander go!

Lily. Looking adorable with her bottle full of muddy water!

So cute!

Xander is really into tracing his hands these days. Chris took it one step further by tracing both of their hands and then adding their names. I found it the next morning and had to take a photo before it got erased. So Cute!

Grandpa Jimmy's "cabin"

We all needed a break - between Chris' work load and all that is going on at home, things are getting a bit hectic. So Chris decided to take Xander up to grandpa Jimmy's cabin to play and spend the night. They weren't even gone for 24 hours, but managed to pack a lot of outdoor fun. Of course, it seemed to me like they were barely gone at all! I had hoped to get a lot of stuff done around the house, but mostly ended up enjoying the peace and quiet. It is something I never get these days and expect to get even less of in the near future. :)

All ready for the 3+ hour road trip

Who needs a sled when you have wet, nicely packed down snow?

Treking through the snow

Xander and Patti building the cutest snowman! Taking a minute to rest
playing checkers by himself
Patti and Xander making snow. I had never heard of such a thing!
Grandpa and Xander reading a book (although Xander seems more interested in grandpa's chin)
There was just no way to keep him awake for the car ride home. Great-grandpa Ernie started making noise around 5 a.m., and eventually woke Xander up. After playing outside after breakfast, he was already pretty tired. Chris decided it was time to head for home. He must have been very tired because it takes a lot for Xander to fall asleep in the car!

Sloppy playtime!

All that snow and spring-like temps made for a very fun day. When Ann asked us over to play in the slush, Xander could hardly contain himself. It was so nice to sit outside and feel the sun on us. Xander was soaked when he was done! We are looking forward to even more outside fun. Snow is nice, but I cannot WAIT for Spring!!

Sliding down the slope
Playing with the girls' fun toys

Sand, melting snow and colored water! Messy and extremely fun to play with. No wonder Xander loves playing at their house!