He's going to live where?

Miles when he first saw us and Grant.

Miles after he learned Grant was coming home to stay.

Many thanks to my talented sister-in-law for these pics. I was laughing so hard after seeing them I had to sit down. Miles is handling the adjustment ok. The hardest thing has been me not being able to pick him up. He doesn't quite understand it when the doctor says I can't lift anything over 10 lbs and that he is 26. This was a hurdle I didn't even take into consideration when making plans to come home.
Miles is learning what it means to be gentle and soft when touching the baby - instead of whacking him and poking his head. I can see progress in the few days we have been home, so that is encouraging.
He is sharing the attention ok now but I am a little concerned what is going to happen when it is just me and the two boys at home alone. We have had lots of help from our parents but when that extra attention is gone we may have some new issues.

More to come...

Grant is here!

We are excited to announce Grant Mitchell arrived Monday August 18th at 10:11 am.
9 lbs, 7 oz and 21 inches long

More to post later :)

Birthday Recap...

My last birthday in the 20s has been somewhat uneventful but I suppose that is a good thing considering my "condition." No baby has been born on my day and that is the way I wanted it. I believe it is a good start for Grant and my relationship. I was worried that he was going to try and steal my thunder from day 1 and we were going to be constantly butting heads. Hopefully that won't be the case.
We made no definite plans being this was so close to my due date and therefore we did diddly squat. Miles and I sat at home and carried on life as normal. But as a very nice birthday gift, Miles did take a 3 hour afternoon nap. I got a lot done. My sister and niece came over and ate lunch with us. We went to the bank. And even had dinner at Cracker Barrel - I had a craving for pancakes. I wasn't about to cook on my birthday. Like I said - it was uneventful but in a nice quiet way. That is good because nothing is about to be quiet at Hazelwood House for several years - maybe a couple decades, I hear.

Miles doing laundry on the couch. (I love the way the morning sun was coming in the window) I must look like an idiot when I fold the laundry because he takes the clothes out of the basket and whips them around in the air over and over. I am assuming that is his interpretation of "folding" the laundry. I hope he learns better. It is somewhat counterproductive.

My sister-in-law did take me (and Miles) out for lunch yesterday and we even were able to slip in a cupcake from a fancy-shmancy new little establishment in the Heights. It was tasty but so darn cute. I almost didn't want to eat it. Almost. I had the lemon cupcake. I brought Mason home a chocolate coffee cupcake. Aren't they just adorable!

Cupcakes from "Cupcakes" on Kavanaugh. Tasty and cute!

And many thanks to all the well-wishes I received via email, phone and mail!

World's Greatest Birthday!

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Due Date Update

I went to the doc yesterday for my weekly checkup and nothing is happening. I am still at 1 cm. So we went ahead and put an induction on the calendar for the 18th. And if something happens before - GREAT - if not at least I know I don't have to endure this much longer than the 17th.

Ch,ch,changes...

It finally happened. We have every nook and cranny of our little house stuffed to its maximum capacity. And now there is even space for another baby. Who would have thought? I surely didn't. I was convinced we were going to have to move - and then I was convinced later, we couldn't move.

So Miles now has his very own room. The walls have been painted. Furniture has been arranged. All his belongings are in his new place. He has even slept in there a night or two. We had a few problems the first day but now he knows it is his room. If you say "lets go to your room," he runs back to his new corner of the house. I plan on posting pictures but every time i get a chance to do it, Miles is asleep in there. I will have to do it later - so stay tuned.

We also, finally, cleaned up the office. I'm still not crazy about the way it looks but it is 100% better thank it was. We even hung a picture. I don't know what it is about wall hangings but it seems to take us a good 5 years to get around to it. I think it is the commitment involved. Once you nail those holes - it is going to stay there until we move because there is no way we are going to spakle and paint in order to move it. Which that also usually requires keeping the furniture in the same formation and that bothers me. I have moved our living room around several times - seasonally actually. Luckily there is no wall space in there for us to wrestle with. Anyway, now the grandmothers can have a little room of their own when Grant comes via the sleeper sofa. Atleast they won't have to feel like they are sleeping in a storage facility and I am sure they are glad about that.

In addition to the aforementioned projects, this weekend I finished a longtime work in progress figuring it will never see the light of day post-baby #2. I started a series of paintings for Allison for her room when she turned one. She will be three this upcoming birthday. She is now moving to her big girl room and I figured I should finish those before she turned 13. I think they might loose their appeal at that point. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of them before I turned them over to my sister - but Kim has assured me she will take pictures as soon as she hangs them on the wall. (Let's just hope she hangs pictures before I do.) Turns out Allison was very fond of them and even went and picked out a place on her walls for them. That makes me very happy. Oh - you want to know what they are paintings of ? Ballerina frogs. She has this frog lovey that she sleeps with so that is why i chose frogs. And her room was green and pink so that was the first thing that came to mind. Again, stay tuned for photos.

Lastly, I worked on some "art" for my boys' rooms. I use the term art very loosely. I bought some big letters and spelled out their names; covered them with pretty paper; distressed them and am now working on getting them hung. I have to glue some hangie-things (technical term) on them so they have some way to stay up on the wall. As soon as that is done we will put them up. HA! Lets hope Miles isn't starting kindergarten when that happens. Again - no picture yet.

How did I do all of this in a weekend? I have asked myself that question. I have two answers:
1. Mason's parents - Gran and Pop volunteered to keep Miles while we finished up the house. It would have been IMPOSSIBLE to do all that while tending to Miles. I can't say thank you enough. (And to be fair, my parents kept him during church. Thank you too.)
2. Nesting instinct - I usually would not have the ambition or motivation to get this much done other than I know another baby is just around the corner. I guess I am afraid that after Grant gets here that I will never leave the house or have another free moment to myself. I suppose that might be a slight exaggeration but if I expect the worse, I won't be disappointed if it turns out better. Quite the "half empty" outlook but it has gotten me through life without a major meltdown thus far. I don't handle disappointment well.