Welcome Our Sweet Boy

Well, my due date of June 8th came and went and Cole decided that he wanted to stay a little while longer in his cozy home. My doctor scheduled an induction for Friday the 12th if I went that long, but I didn't think he would wait an extra four days. With my mother in law here and my family calling every few hours to see if "anything is happening" I definitely felt like a watched pot. Days came and went and before I knew it it was Friday. I was OK with not having to guess when I should head to the hospital and if they were going to send me back home or not. I was induced about 6pm on Friday and had my baby boy at 12:13 on Saturday morning. He came quickly once he was forced to. I was able to push him out in three contractions once I was fully dilated. He was a big boy, 9lb 13 oz and 22 1/2'' long. He looks so much like his big brother when he was born. We are so thankful to have had a healthy, adorable little man!

Colton Thomas Houben

A Mommy's first touch

A Daddy's first thoughts

A Big Brother's long awaited wish!

Cute tootsies and my first owie

I'm a big boy!

Cole and I had a wonderful doctor, Dr. Brodsky. She was great throughout my pregnancy and turned out to be a great catcher as well. I'm glad that she was able to make the delivery at all considering he was born so quickly.

Tyler got the movie Bolt from Grandma to watch while we were waiting for Colton. I think that was all he did the entire time.

Steve and I had my Mom, Sister and Grandma in the delivery room when Cole was born.

Shell was behind the camera the entire time.

My Grandma had never seen a birth in all her 88 years and I was happy to have her experience her first with Cole. They will always have that special bond between them now.

Grammy Jackie was supposed to be in the room for the delivery, but because Colton decided to come so quickly my Dad was not able to get to the hospital in time to watch Tyler. Grammy volunteered to take him out and I felt so bad that she did not get to see Cole's delivery.

Thank you Grammy!

I know that this is a silly picture of me and I usually wouldn't put it in but this was a priceless moment. Everyone was at the hospital until 3pm and the Big Brother just couldn't take the excitement anymore. And for me, yes I got a hogendaz ice cream bar to eat and it was delicious.

Getting Ready for Our Baby

With only 2 weeks to go Ty and I took the pile of new clothes that everyone had already gotten Colton and took off all of the tags so we could wash them. Ty took his little scissors and snipped each tag very carefully. It took us FOREVER. But it was a lot of fun. Here is Ty and I with one of the little hats on.

Shell came by and caught me using Colton as a mouse pad. It will be a great picture to show him when he gets older. I think you can even see my belly button poking out! :0)

Easter Celebrations

Twas the night before Easter and all through the house, eggs were being colored by a cute little mouse! We had a lot of fun making Easter Eggs with our egg spinner. They turned out really cool.

Ty's Easter Morning Gifts from the Easter Bunny. He asked me who they were from and when I told him the Easter Bunny he said that " The Easter Bunny isn't real Mom!" We focused so much on the real reason for celebrating Easter this last few weeks that the silly bunny doesn't even hold a candle any more. He knows now that Mom and Dad are the Easter Bunny and it is OK for him. I let Dad pick out the toy this year and he of course had to get him a bad guy.

A little man very happy about his Easter treats

Thanks Dad for the cool bad guy

Ty and Molly after finding Easter eggs at church

Becca, Ty and Molly

It is very hard to get them to cooperate for pictures anymore!!!!

Giving Colton a little love

My Grandma loves me!

I'm pretty sure my Mommy loves me too!

Ty, Mommy and Colton at 32 weeks

I'm sure glad I got to wear this dress again but I'm pretty sure that with Colton growing as fast as he is this is the last time I'll get to wear it!

Crazy Cousins

Doug, Meg, Aimee, Josh and Ty

We added Aunt Shell and Uncle Jeff

Stuck at the kids table!

Ty with his second cousins Makella, Dylan and Kayden

Our new Home

Yay, I finally found the perfect place for us. After searching for a few weeks, with very bad prospects in our price range, I found this cute little place not far from a grade school and a park. I took Tyler with me to pick up some paperwork and remembered that I had my camera in the car so Ty had a blast snapping pictures all around the house to show his Daddy. I will spare you the interior pictures. I don't really think that you would care to see the dinning room chandelier or the closet in his bedroom. Ty and Colton will share a room upstairs and we will even have a playroom downstairs to corral most of the toys. My kitchen is about twice as big as the one I have now and I love the front porch. It will look great this summer with some hanging flower baskets. But most off all I am excited to be back home with family and my church. School will be much easier to deal with being only minutes away and Ty will be able to be in his Grandma's preschool class next year. Steve will now be the one commuting to work and is a little apprehensive about that but knows that this move will be best for his family. We get our keys on April 23rd and will be moving that weekend. (Anyone want to help?) I will have a month or so before Colton comes to get everything ready and in the right place. Much prayer is needed so keep us in your thoughts.

I'm The Big Brother

Ty got this outfit from Grandma and had to wear it to church the next day! He had to show it off to everyone. He is very proud of being a Big Brother.

So Handsome

How Silly

Baby Colton at 31 weeks

Snowmobiling '09

An impromptu trip down to Grammy and Papa Ron's landed my boys a weekend full of fun. We had to listen to Tyler talk about doing double back flips on the snowmobiles the entire 6 hours to California. OK maybe he took a little nap but the kid seriously thought that he was going to get to ride the snowmobiles by himself and do tricks on them. (Thanks to him and Dad watching the X Games on TV!) All I got to do this extremely fun weekend was sit in the truck and read my book. Doctor said that a wild ride in the snow at 27 weeks wasn't a wise idea. I enjoyed watching my boys though. They sure were cool dudes!

We had two beautiful sunny days at the mountain



Papa Ron's snowmobile trailer. This baby holds four snowmobiles. It's huge!

On their first trip out they were gone for over four hours. When they finally got back Ty was asleep and they were all almost out of gas. Steve said that Ty was ready to come back about two hours out but with a couple of tumbles off the machines into the deep snow and a wrong turn their trip back took quite a while. It was good to know that he wanted to come back and see his Mommy after his exciting day.

A snack after his long trip

Tyler had a blast on day 2 on the mountain. It was just him, Daddy, and Papa Ron on the fast machines and they were only gone two hours but probably averaged 90 mph the entire time. They were all smiles when they returned.

This is Pixie, Grammy's new puppy. They found out after adopting her that she is blind. Tyler fell in love and wouldn't leave the poor little thing alone the entire time we were there. He even convinced Grammy to let her come up to the mountain.

A Future Artist?

My little man has taken quite a joy in drawing pictures lately and I had to take a few of my own pics to show how cute they and he were!

Ty wanted to draw a monster truck so with a few prompts from Mom this was his creation. It is all his except for the lightning bolt, which he says is the coolest.

This is a drawing on the chalk board at preschool. If you can't tell Mom is on the left, Ty in the middle and Dad is on the right. Quite a resemblance don't you think?