Chase sleeping (he's a great sleeper!) in Aunty Jessi's arms with Carter keeping a close eye on her baby brother. She has really been trying very hard to be a good big sister. She told me that we couldn't take him back and HAD to keep him. She's having a bit of trouble adjusting but is trying so hard...she's been way better than I ever hoped.
Carter playing with Keenan. She was really excited to go down to my mom's house to see him, although it had been March since she had seen him last. Naturally anything he wanted to play with suddenly was just the toy she had to have (normal) or if he already had it, try to take it away. We've been working on TRADE...if they already have it and you want it, you have to find a toy they are willing to trade with. Works sometimes!
Carter showing Keenan how to bang...er play...the piano.
Chase and Aunty Bugs
Robert helping out with the picture...
Jessi got home just in time for a vacation home from Kiev, Ukraine to meet Chase. Yay!
Aunty Linda checking out the newest Howell. She was so much help with Carter all summer and Carter had so much fun at her house. I'm sure Chase will enjoy visiting too when he gets a little bigger!
Chase hasn't been super cooperative of nice close-up pictures, but over the next couple days, I imagine I'll get a few better ones. All the nurses agreed he looks a lot like his dad!
Me about 10 minutes after he was born. I had no intention of trying out natural childbirth, but I didn't get much of a choice thanks to no labor pains until my water broke at 6 am at home. At that point, I remember thinking, Oops! I'm in trouble now! By the time I got Robert up packed, and Carter ready to go, my contractions were about 2 minutes apart. We called Dad and had him meet us at the exit, because I really didn't think we had time to get to his house. Good thing too...we didn't! I was already 8 cm dilated by the time we got to the labor room and it took about 5 more minutes to get to 10. I kept trying to convince the nurses to get me an epidural, but the doctor just looked at me and said, "Honey, it's a bit too late for drugs now." When I insisted that I did NOT want natural childbirth, he laughed and said I really didn't have much of a choice at this point and that I really just needed to start pushing because this baby was ready to come out. Three big pushes later and here he was. It was really a much more amazing experience than when I had the epidural, although I'm still not sure I'd recommend it unless you are really a rather easy calver like me!
Meeting big sister. Carter is so far fascinated with her little brother and really really would love to feed him baby food. If I can just get her to hold that thought for 6 months...
Carter and Chase
Carter really really loves this little dog, although I'm not sure the feeling is returned. Hadley mostly tolerates her fairly well. Good enough really. Trying to teach this little girl to be nice, be gentle, don't tie her up, no she really doesn't want to eat that, quit feeding her your food, pretty sure she doesn't want another bath with you, quit whacking her with that toy, don't poke her in the eye, etc, is rather exhausting though. Still only one way to learn...
Yep...that belly really is mine. Thank goodness I have Robert's wardrobe to scavenge right now. I'm not sure what I'm going to do though if this kid doesn't come out soon!
Hadley got lots of pictures, but mostly all you saw was small parts of her as she was trying to run away from the camera...or more accurately running from the camera operator.
She really wanted me to wear her sunglasses... I'm not sure how long it will take her to destroy the camera, but she's really been having fun taking lots of pictures and it's always interesting to see what she is capturing.
Carter gathered up all my spoons and utensils this afternoon that she could grab and went outside to play in the mud. This is the first big rainstorm in quite some time and with all the dirt dug up for the post holes there was lots to play in. You can see a bit of my great new fence that Robert spent all day working on. It looks really nice and was definitely worth the wait.
Carter spent most of the afternoon on Sunday "helping" Robert dig the holes and get stuff laid out for the fence. She really loved riding around in the tractor with her dad. She was really hoping he would let her drive! 
Robert's been really busy around here getting lots of my Honey Do List projects done. It's been really really sweet of him. He finished getting me shelves built in the garage and got it all cleaned up. It looks SOOOO much better and I can again park my car inside which so wonderful during the winter.
I really like the place to put all my extra canning jars and pans! Our house doesn't have a whole lot of storage space, especially since we don't have a basement, so I'm all about all the shelves I can get!
