a few things

So here are a couple picks of us just before, and on our way to BC for Christmas.

Here is Isaiah having fun on his play mate:

We took the Amtrak from South Bend to Chicago. Myra loves trains, so here she is cheering with mommy to be on the train:

Isaiah seemed pretty happy as well:

Myra had a nice snack with Daddy on the train:

And this was the view from our hotel in Chicago! We had a free night with Holiday Inn. When we arrived they upgraded us to a nice room with a view, and I must say, we were quite pleased!

Anyway, we caught a flight out to BC, and we'll update with more pics from here sometime soon.

HAPPINESS

I am loving not being pregnant! The contrast this time around is even greater than it was with Myra. Pregnancy hormones are great in that they keep baby alive and healthy but they have a very negative effect on me in general. I feel like a whole new woman these days - depression and apathy replaced with joy and motivation, irritability replaced with patience, nausea gone, able to sleep, .... and the list goes on. :-D



Isaiah is adorable. I've been enjoying many post nursing cuddles where he lies with his head on my chest and just sleeps so contentedly. :D His hair is soooo soft and he makes such cute little squeaks and noises. He is still sleeping 90% of the time. I wake him up every 2.5 - 3 hours during the day to nurse and at night he wakes me up around 2 0r 3 am and then again around 6. His most alert times are in the evenings between 5:30ish till 8 pm. We had a well baby check-up today and he weighs 8 lbs 4 oz - way to go little man!





Myra is adjusting to life as a sibling. She loves "baby brother" and likes to hold him and kiss him and touch him, but, of course, he's not really a playmate yet. Our most frequent conversation regarding Isaiah is something like this...

"Where baby brother go?"
"Baby brother is sleeping in his bed?"
"Why?"
"Cause baby brother is so little and he needs lots of sleep."
"Why?"
"Cause that's how he grows."



Luckily for Myra, Grandma and Grandpa Froese are here for a few more weeks and they have been showering her with attention - which is great! A favorite activity is to role play and pretend. During any given day and multiple times a day, Myra will announce: "I ______" (sheep, kangaroo, "ocatupus", rhinoceros, baby brother, Minnie Mouse, person, cat, baby cat, puppy, baby, mommy, ....) Anything and everything can be made into a swimming pool: wash cloths, blankets, and puzzle pieces laid out in a circle. She has a very active imagination and is happy to invite us to join in with her, though it comes out more as a command: "Come with me" (as she pulls your hand) "I mommy, you baby".... or whatever the game is at the moment. It's a fun stage to be in.



Another favorite activity is playing "hide and seek". Myra will almost always hide behind a curtain either in the living room or in her room. She will start behind a curtain and count "One, two, three...ready or not here I come" and then run looking for whomever is hiding with her. Once found, that person has to stay where they were found to count, while Myra runs back to the original curtain and hides there. No matter how many times she's hidden in the same exact spot it's still a favorite game.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa Froese...





Isaiah's first walk outside....





Myra trying on "mommy's eyes"....



Hope you enjoyed the pictures!
TTFN!

Introducing Iain Isaiah Froese

Iain Isaiah Froese was born October 24, 2009 at 8:33pm EST at Goshen Hospital in Goshen Indiana. 7lbs 10oz, 20 1/2 inches long. (sorry everyone who I told 7.14 - that's what is written on his crib card, but apparently all his official documents say 7.10, oh well)

So here is Isaiah, lying in bed with Char, shortly after being born. I had to take this photo with my cell phone camera, because we had left the real camera at home - thought we were just going in for a check up. I guess Isaiah had other ideas :-)

And here they are again a little while later.

Myra got to come the next morning to meet her baby brother.

She sometimes likes to give him kisses - it's pretty cute.

And here he is today. I think he's a handsome little guy. We're super excited he's here!

New Orleans

So after a great time with our friends in Houston, we headed home by way of New Orleans in Louisiana. Here is the lovely state border sign:

We stayed 2 nights there as Tim's Birthday gift, and so had a whole day to wander around New Orleans, see some sights, and have some new experiences. Here are Myra and Tim sharing lunch on the River Walk.

We then took North America's oldest continuously running trolly car over to the French Market.

Myra had a great time riding the trolly.

Here is a shot of the French Market. Apparently it is the oldest existing market in North America, and had been built on the site of a Native trading site, so there has been a "market" at this site from well before they kept records.

We then found our way to a French cafe that has been serving coffee and beignets (french doughnuts) since the 1860's. I'm pretty sure its the oldest restaurant we've ever eaten at. It was a very tasty experience, and there was a trumpet player serenading the patrons with New Orleans styled gospel music the whole time as well, which only added to the cool experience.

Lots of great, historic architecture here. There is the iconic St. Louis Cathedral next to Jackson Square:

Great big, sweeping, trees in the square:

And cool buildings in the French Quarter that you really don't see in other parts of North America - or at least I haven't - perhaps Quebec has a few things like this?

A nice paddle wheeler, river boat cruise ship

Anyway, that was a lot of our day there. Lots of walking and seeing cool architecture, and historic places. We had a fantastic Creole dinner at "the Gumbo Shop". We then found a cookbook by them, so picked that up to learn to make some tasty food. We heard some great music as we were walking around, but since we had Myra with us we couldn't really go to any of the joints in the evening.

The next morning we left early and drove across North America's longest bridge: The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Talk about long!

A great place to watch the sun coming up, however:

On the way home we added Mississippi and...

...Arkansas to the list of states we've been through.

Anyway, we drove through some more crazy storms on our way home, and we were glad when we finally arrived home in Elkhart. It was a great trip. We're really glad for the chance we had to go visit our friends, to see where they live, work, and experience life. It was also great to have some family time again, just the three of us; our last road trip as a threesome, since next time there will be a fourth person in the car. :-)

Texas and Troyers

So we arrived at the Troyers to spend a few days with them at their home in Houston, TX. Myra noticed immediately that they had a dog, and even more exciting, that their dog had a doggy bed. Myra enjoyed climbing into it and pretending to be a puppy.

Charlotte & Myra, Hannah & Malakai headed out to the Houston Children's Museum while we were there. Myra and Kai enjoyed having tea together.

Myra also enjoyed watching herself in the mirror while she played the drums.

The tinker toys were pretty cool.

And later that day, the play place at the local mall served as a good distraction for the kids. Marty and Tim watched the kids while Char and Hannah wandered the mall.

The next day we drove out to Galveston to hang out on the beach.

So did many other. Though, perhaps this picture makes it look more crowded than it really was, cause it wasn't really that crowded - just a nice shot of the miles of umbrellas that colour the coastline.

We all enjoyed sitting in the water and getting washed by the waves.

This is what happens to a shot when Marty walks up and says: "Who wants to dig in the sand?" and then drops buckets and shovels in the sand :-)

Myra quite enjoyed digging in the sand with Marty.

Myra and Malakai enjoyed hanging out in the beach chairs:

What wasn't captured on "film" was the incredible sunburn Tim acquired at the beach. Apparently he didn't replenish his 50 spf often enough.

Back at the Troyers Myra moved from being entertained by the dog's bed, to being entertained by the dog - which was an important move because for a while she was quite scared of him. Here she is reading to him.

Myra also enjoyed building castles with the blocks and instructing daddy on just how it should be put together.

Tim and Marty took Malakai and Myra to a park while Hannah and Charlotte went to a movie. Myra found her way to the slide without a moment to spare.

She also tried out the teeter-totter.

She and Kai enjoyed racing across the grass so fast they were a blur...

...and then lying in the grass thinking dreamy thoughts.

Anyway, it was great to connect with the Troyers, we'll all miss them. After church on Sunday we had to mosey on our merry way. We headed off to New Orleans for our homeward route and to see the city as a birthday present for Tim. But I suppose that's for another post...