Ethan's Birth Announcement

Ethan's Second Week

Well, this week has seen a lot of progress toward getting our heads above water, thanks in very large part to my mom who has stayed with us most of the time since Ethan's birth and helped out in every way, and thanks in another large part to our church family which has generously provided us with a number of meals. At the same time, our photos have largely been the same as last week, cataloging Ethan and his siblings as we try to spend as much time relaxing and playing as possible, while building a routine that we can manage once I go back to work on Monday.

Rather than include all the photos here, I've put them in a Picasa Web Album. Hope you enjoy!

(Ok, one teaser, just to show you what you're missing if you don't click the link...)

Ethan's First Week

So, for those dying to know, here's our week in pictures:

Ethan has been doing lots and lots of this:


, though he seems to be the only one. Meanwhile, we have taken the opportunity to do lots of this:



and this:



and this:



and of course trying to capture it all by doing this:



The high point for Sydney and Peter was today, though, when, in an effort to get out of the house, we visited the newly completed fire station down the street and did this:

Frii as in Biir

I woke up this morning and went to check on the kids so Amy could keep sleeping. I found them in the playroom (a small-ish second family room between their rooms) playing together. At first I didn't think anything of the fact that Peter and Sydney were sitting on the stairs next to each other while Kate watched. Or the fact that each was holding a Lincoln Log in one hand and a plastic hoop (from some other game) in the other. It was not until a few minutes later, after I had dispersed them to their rooms to start gathering clothes, etc, that I picked up on what they were saying and realized what game they had been playing.

They were playing Wii.

And no, we don't have one. But friends of ours do, and that's enough to set their imaginations in motion now, isn't it?

Introducing Ethan James Bredenberg

Everyone is home from the hospital safe, sound, and glad to be home!

Born at 9:41pm on Friday, March 5, 2010, and weighing in at 8 lbs. 0 oz, 21 1/2 inches long, here, ladies and gentlemen, is Ethan James:

Ethan James Bredenberg

WELCOME TO THE WORLD!!!!

Mom and baby are great. 8lbs even!

Ready, set, go!

We're at the hospital, Amy's doing great. Real soon now!

Feeding kids...

(Yes, today is Amy's due date. For whatever that's supposed to mean. No little one yet.)

I don't think anyone likes feeding kids. Am I right? Peter has been a struggle, but he'll feed himself now. Kate, on the other hand, would actually prefer to feed herself, which is a mixed blessing. Why?

Just another day...

March 3rd, and all's well!

Just got back from working out (5th time in two weeks... *gasp*... trying to get rid of some of these "sympathy" pounds...) to find Amy asleep on the sofa. They may have debunked the "eating for two" thing, but she definitely needs to sleep for two!

Here's a photo from Monday, when Amy and the kids went with family to a fun kids' place to play:



The rest of Monday didn't go quite as smoothly as we'd hoped, but I did manage to get one photo when no one was pestering anyone else and everyone was sitting somewhat still (in front of the TV watching the video from five years ago). Enjoy...

No baby, no time

As some folks are really taking me at my word to post every day until the baby arrives, I'll post and say...

"No baby yet"

Today was busy, so that's about all I can say. Trust that you'll see it here when the little bambino arrives, and thanks for checking!

Celebrating Sydney's Gotcha day

Believe it or not, it was five years ago today that we adopted Sydney! It has been a blast, so far, and God has blessed us more richly than I would have thought possible.

We've celebrated the anniversary every year since then (more regularly than we've written about it here), with various friends and family joining us here and there. Sydney was well aware of it this time around, and came out of her room this morning carrying her photo albums and ready to share them with everyone!

Our traditions include watching the video of our trip to China and giving her a gift that we brought back with us from China on that trip (yes, Amy has that much forethought...). Tonight we'll be having dinner with family and sharing memories of the last five years. I'll post photos tomorrow, hopefully.