Week one with Ty

The kids are doing really well over all adjusting to a new baby.

Jonah coloring out on the deck

Tyrel at 8 days

Sleeping in the bassinet (he does this really well during the day - not at night)

Tyrel's syndactyly, which is webbed fingers. He has two separate bones and fingernails so the surgery to separate them is pretty simple, he will have it done around 6 months.

Tiny Toes

Holding up his head

cross eyed for the camera

first bath

late night with dad

Last day with Grandma Cheryl

Had a baby, it's a BOY!

I spent Saturday at Aurora Reservoir. I went to bed and at 2:30 a.m. I went into the kitchen to get a drink and my water broke. Becky came over and watched the kids while Matt and I headed to the hospital. At 11:03 a.m. on August 23rd, our little Tyrel Jace was born. He was a month early, but weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz., and 19.5 inches long. He is doing great! We came home from the hospital today and things are good. Thanks for all the help from friends and family!

Tyrel Jace Duff

He had trouble keeping warm so they had to wrap him up in a ton of blankets.

Mikelle and Jonah meet Tyrel

The hospital pic

Going home

Aurora Reservoir

Saturday, we spent the afternoon at Aurora Reservoir, it is like Colorado's beach; even had waves, which the kids thought was awesome! We then came back to our apartment and the Nobles and Palmers joined us for a BBQ. It was a fun day; and a good way to spend my last day of pregnancy (except I obviously didn't know that then). Here are pictures of the day:

Boston, Mikelle, Kenzie, Jonah, Hannah

Kenzie and Jonah

Throwing Boston in the air

Who's having more fun; Matt or the kids?

The Duffs

The Whites

The Knowles

Happy Birthday Matt!

Matt's birthday was yesterday, the BIG 27!

Jonah and Mikelle eating popcorn. Jonah says "cheese" now when you are going to take a picture and gives you a priceless smile, look how cute they are!

Here they are coloring:

Mikelle is trying to hold Jonah:

Things are good here. Jonah had to go to the doctor to get some blood drawn again. They said he is anemic and I have to give him iron drops everyday (that are disgusting and he hates). I went to the store and spend a ton of money on stalking our house with iron rich food. If this kid doesn't have an improvement in 6 weeks when they have to retest his blood again, I don't know what else to do. I also have to take him to a speech doctor in a couple weeks the doctor says. We will see how that goes.

Mikelle is well. Not much new with her. I think she is getting very excited for a baby to come to the family. She loves to get out some of the newborn clothes and lay them out all over the floor and if Jonah touches them, she screams at him "Jonah, the baby needs to wear clothes, we have to get them ready!"

I am 35 weeks pregnant now. I am doing pretty good, especially now that the AC is working again. It stopped yesterday and it was a hot night last night. We set up our air mattress in the living room with the one fan that we have so we could all sleep out there, and the air mattress has a hole in it because we were all laying on the floor after about 5 minutes. Then the kids thought that we were having some kind of sleepover party instead of trying to go to sleep, so they kept getting up and running around in circles laughing and throwing the balloons at Matt and I that I had blown up for his birthday. They finally fell asleep at midnightish, but they both slept in till 9 as a result.

Matt is liking his job at Northwestern Mutual a lot, even though he is pretty busy with it.

Photo booth Fun

We were a little bored tonight...

Finally Ready!

So I feel now that if the baby came at anytime, I would be ready. This is why:

Got my baby corner all set up. Found a bassinet and car seat on craigslist, and the two containers are filled with all my girl and boy 0-3 month clothes. I also spent what seems like 100 hours organizing all the kids' outgrown clothes into sizes and then into boxes labeled 'Boy 3-6 months', Girl 18-24 months' and you get the idea.

The doctor said I could get induced a week early, which would be Sept. 14th, and that is like a MONTH away. The only thing left is a name. Matt and I can't agree on anything and I am starting to get a little nervous. Matt's mom said to put all the names in a hat and draw one out, which I seriously think we will do.

Sorry not anything really exciting to post about. Matt is enjoying his job at Northwestern Mutual but is very busy, we don't see him much. He is still in training for a couple more weeks, which is good for me because Becky Knowles and I can trade off dropping Matt and Sam off to work (at 6:30 a.m. I might add) so that we have cars during the day. Too bad that will all end when he starts his job officially; then I will have three kids and no car and Matt gone about 70 hours a week or more. Good thing the Knowles are within walking distance!

As far as our new place, we love Castle Rock. Our apartment is pretty much all unpacked except for a few things; and as soon as those things are done; I will post some pictures.

Here is my cow. This is the view looking east off our deck. For some reason it is so awesome to me that I can see cows right across the street from my apartment window.

Jonah loves hiding. He has discovered that there are a surprising amount of little tiny places he can squeeze into and he stays there quietly despite my freaking out and calling his name. His favorites lately are the dryer and the fridge. He opens the fridge and tries to squeeze into the bottom shelf and close the door, and really, he is pretty close, only a couple more inches and he'd be in. Maybe one day I will find him in the fridge.

Mikelle loves playing with the new baby stuff. She is happy just sitting in the car seat and wanted to go to bed in the bassinet last night.