Our Thanksgiving in a Nutshell

Conrad's Auntie June and cousin Ava drove all the way down from Michigan to see us!  They did a lot of this:

Baby snugglin'

 and this:

Story readin'

I was a big fan.  Meanwhile, I tried to figure out how to include pecans in as many Thanksgiving dishes as possible.

The day after Thanksgiving Coen could not sit still until we had put up our Christmas tree.

Trying to get this child to smile a normal smile whilst looking at the camera makes me feel sympathetic for my poor mother, who ever tried and failed to get us kids to do the same.

Notice how all the kidproof ornaments are on the very bottom of the tree.  He was so impatient to get the ornaments up that he started before I had the lights finished, even though I explained to him that he would just have to put them back up after they fell off as I put the lights on.  Later, when they did fall off, he explained to ME that next year we should put the ornaments on after finishing up the lights.

Conrad has been working the in ED, which may not be his favorite, but does give him an average of TWO days off a week instead of just one.  To celebrate, we have been doing lots of hiking.  Here are a couple pictures of our day trip to Machine Falls:

 We also did a day hike around Radnor Lake, of which I have no proof.  Sorry.

Here are a few of us hiking up to the cleverly named Hike Inn in Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia.  Five miles up you can stay in this little lodge where they have bunk beds, hot showers, and best of all, bacon.

Conrad manned up and hauled the 40 lb. child + our stuff up the mountain...

...while I struggled to carry our little chubber.

 

All the hikers we passed had walking sticks, so Coen decided he needed one too, so he would "match."

Coen definitely progressed as a hiker during our three hikes.  He went from picking up every acorn along the way and dragging his feet on our first outing to insisting on hiking all by himself during the last 3.5 miles down the mountain in Georgia.

In other news, my boys are very cute.

Silas Smiler Myler

Silas' first Sunday in his suit.

Coen Quotes

Here are a few of the Coenisms that I keep meaning to write down:

"I must have grown during quiet time!"  (When I had a hard time helping him pull his shirt over his large head.)

"My costume is FABULOUS!"  (see picture below...)

Coen wanted a picture with him and his scary pumpkin and T-rex.

 (While I was playing "bop the ball" with him in the backyard)  "Mom, don't win.  You can't win, Mom.  See, this sign (pointing to his stick) says, 'Moms can't win," and this one (pointing to another stick) says, 'Boys can.'"

Earlier this week Coen told me his friends Brooke and Cecily were ladies.  I asked him how he defined lady and he replied, "A lady is someone who loves you."

I've been helping him work on his ABCs, and he is starting to notice letters in the world around him.  The other day he came running into the living room yelling, "C is for toothpaste, Mom!"  Yes, we buy Colgate.

Whenever we use the GPS to get somewhere Coen becomes the self-appointed navigator by repeating everything it says.  The other day I was driving through a park to get somewhere and he said this:  "Bear left, Mom.  Beeeeeeeeeaaaaaaar left!  Bear left again...huh, there must be a lot of bears around here because it keeps saying, 'Bear left.'"

At library storytime our sweet librarian asked the children what their families ate at Thanksgiving.  Coen raised his hand and proclaimed, "Chocolate!"

We read scriptures together every night, and always give Coen words to listen for.  We often ask if he knows what the word means.  Last night Conrad gave him the word "land," and Coen said, "Land is where a person lives, or what an airplane or helicopter does."  We were very surprised he understood that word had two meanings.

In other news, we went to no fewer than FIVE Halloween activities before Halloween.  Next year I will have to learn to just say no.  At the first one, a costume party at some friends' house, Coen ate so much junk he was sick.  It was unfortunate at the time, but afterwards it was much easier to convince him to give most of his candy away by reminding him that candy really just makes you sick.  Besides the pre-Halloween celebrations, we also got to go trick-or-treating all together because Conrad got home unexpectedly early that night.

A pumpkin, a duck, and a doctor on Halloween.

My handsome boys.

 Coen, Silas, and I try to keep busy while Conrad is at work.  Here is an example of our weekly schedule:

I made this chart to teach Coen about routines and days of the week, but instead I really use it to help me plan our weeks.

 We also spend a LOT of time doing this:

And Then There Were Four

5 days overdue and ready to pop

Our sweet new baby, Silas Carvell Myler, was born on Sunday, September 2, at 6:07 p.m. in the front seat of our Toyota Camry.

Here is the story in Conrad's words:

By 5pm Sunday Bekah's water hasn't broken yet but her contractions are consistently 8-10 minutes apart, and she's diligently recording each one because she's hurting and the OB had said to wait until they were 4 minutes apart to come in. Finally she says, "Just take me, I want an epidural."

I know better than to argue with a pregnant woman, so I start putting shoes on Coen, and she announces that she needs to use the bathroom. Uh oh. Luckily we only live 4 miles from the hospital. No luck with the bathroom, but Coen asks, "Why is mom making those noises?" Double uh oh. As she is walking to the car she announces, "I don't think I'll make it, I think I have to push". I say, "don't push, just breathe." We repeated this exchange as we bounce over the railroad tracks with a thumpthump, and again as I turn the corner to the state fairgrounds. In the middle of the fairgrounds she relaxes... "I feel a little better now." That's a triple Uh oh. Three strikes, you're out.

I look down at her lap and notice that she seems to have a small cantaloupe tucked into her pajama pants. "Bekah, is that a head?" "I don't know." "Well, look." Sure enough. I pull off the road while being admonished to call 911. I'm thinking, "by the time I finish telling them where I am we could have this baby delivered." So I jump over the mud puddle I parked beside, lay the front seat all the way back, and realize that there is nowhere to put her knees. But his head and shoulders are already out, so 10, maybe 20 seconds later he is in mom's lap, and wrapped in a bathrobe. The first thing I remember Bekah saying is, "That wasn't so bad."

I call ahead to the emergency room, and we get quite a reception with our Camry in the ambulance bay, surrounded by fully 1/2 of the staff. I cut the cord in the front seat, and they move Bekah and the baby to a stretcher. While we are riding the elevator up to labor and delivery, Coen looks up and says proudly, "I'm a big brother now."

 Conrad took a couple weeks off of work, and we enjoyed being home together with our boys.  Coen is a little disappointed that Silas can't talk, but still has plans to get a two-person bike someday so they can "zoom off" together.  Besides eating and sleeping, Silas is also very good at getting the hiccups, and has extremely long feet. 

Wrapped in their ducky towels after Silas' first bath.

Thus far, the baby's nicknames include Mr. Bean, Peanut, and Chicken Legs.  Coen was so much chubbier at birth that in comparison Silas seems super skinny.

Check out the long fingers and feet.

Silas' first family hike at Radnor Lake.

Having a second child makes us realize how gargantuan Coen is.

Tummy time together

Two weeks old

 Conrad is back at work now, but my mom came out Monday and immediately got to work making Coen's birthday cake.  Coen is very into baking (and eating), so he was excited to "help."

This One's for Grandma Candy

...and Hadley and Levi, since Coen was very concerned we not leave anyone out.

Fancy new PJs compliments of our Goodwill shopping spree yesterday morning.  :)

Did I mention that D-day is coming up?  August 28th is the big day.  Here is a picture of my pregnant self, along with the beautiful purple potatoes that I grew this year...

and ate!

Big kudos to Conrad for digging the potato patch!

One more purply thing for you to see:

You know you're nesting when you finally finish projects you bought materials for a year ago.

Next time I'll try to sneak in some pictures of Conrad.  I promise we've seen him in the past 24 hours.