Welcome William Joseph Howe!

We are very excited to welcome William Joseph Howe to our family! He was born Sunday February 7th, 2010 in Wichita (successful VBAC...yea!). William weighed 8 lb 13 1/2 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. When he was born, I thought he only weighed as much as Isak (7 lb 14 oz) but was a little surprised when he was bigger. We are so blessed to have two wonderful boys and are looking forward to them meeting one another this week. Mom, Dad and baby are all doing well. Labor lasted quite a while...approximately 29 hours so we are all a little worn out.

William a couple of minutes after delivery

Mom, Dad and William.

Who can resist little toes?

Dad and William

30 hours later and tired.

Isak loves his letters!

Isak loves the Leapfrog videos and has picked up the phonics from the video. I thought it was pretty cute and wanted to share. Unfortunately, the seated video doesn't have the actions he normally does with the letters, but you get the idea.

Bathroom Renovation Time!

Bathroom when we bought the house...yikes...pink and blue and gross carpet.

Steve's mid-gutting process in December.

Gutting complete...now repair on electrical and plumbing.

Yea! New tub and flooring going in.

Almost done! We now have all the fixtures in, just waiting on the top for the half wall and for me to finish picking out a mirror, shower curtain and accessories. We'll have to put up a final picture in a couple weeks.

It still feels a little weird having this new space. The tub is wonderful and a huge soaker tub...no whirpool jets but it is wonderful none the less. Isak loves his new "swimming pool". Another check off of our renovation checklist!

Almost 37 Weeks

So this is actually the 1st belly picture I've actually had a chance to take this pregnancy, which I'm a little sad about but still got one done. Thought I would post that along with some more Christmas pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Howe's house. Enjoy!

Steve at 37 weeks gestation :) LOL

37 Weeks Pregnant

Isak excited for Grandpa Howe to open his present

The Howe Boys all watching a video

Christmas Time at the Howe's

Isak's new big boy bed!

Graduated from the toddler bed.

Fun Playdough Time

Working at the office with dad :)

Isak's Magic "Gwasses"

MMMM....snow is good.

Putting cookies and milk out for Santa Claus.

Steve, Isak and I on Christmas Eve

Isak opening presents on Christmas Eve

Isak in front of the Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve

(Note: Sorry for the influx of pictures at the beginning, it wouldn't let me move the pictures or turn them around)

This year seems to have flown by very quickly for our family. Isak continues to grow and baby #2 is due in just a short couple of weeks!

I am currently almost 37 weeks pregnant. Steve and I have decided to try a VBAC this round and in order to do that we've been seeing a doctor in Wichita every other week as I don't "qualify" for that delivery here in Salina. To help prepare us a little further we've taken Bradley Birth classes this go round and have really enjoyed what we've learned. True to Howe child history, this little one wanted to let me know that he was calling the shots and last week decided to turn breech. I think I tried everything under the sun to get him to turn including hip lifts, hot and cold packs, acupunture and moxibustion (a chinese medicinal herb that has shown great success in turning babies). Luckily at my ultrasound today, baby has finally turned and we are a go ahead once again for the VBAC. It was quite an exciting day!

Isak is continuing to grow and change everyday. He is fascinated with his new Mr. Potato head that he got for Christmas and his toy airplane. It was really fun to see him get into Christmas this year and understand more of what it was. Steve and I spent Christmas Eve here in Salina by relaxing, going to church, and opening presents at home. On Christmas Day we drove to Manhattan to spend Christmas at with Steve's family and his brother's family. It was nice to relax and enjoy some great food...thanks Roxana! Isak has also graduated to his new "big boy bed". The new baby needed the crib so Isak was moved from his toddler bed to the guest bed. He was pretty excited to get his new bed and sleeps a little better through the night...which Steve and I both love.

Steve and I have been busy this break crossing off our to do list :) We are in the process of remodeling our main bathroom and so we are hoping to get it all finished before the new little man arrives .....hopefully. It has been nice to have some down time to accomplish all the little things we never have a chance to do.

The new year is sure to bring fun and excitement to our house. We've lived in our house for a year now and time has just flown by! Steve has demolished and gutted almost our entire basement (except for the storage shelves I insisted he keep until we purchase new ones we can put up). He's gutted the bathroom and cleared the mini forest in the front and back yard. While at the time it doesn't seem like we got as much done as we wanted, looking back, I think it's a pretty impressive list.

Most rewarding this Christmas break has been the time with family. I've enjoyed a couple afternoon naps with Isak, some evening dinners with family (at normal times I may add), and time to spend with Steve. I hope this finds everyone having a wonderful Christmas holiday. I'm savoring the 4 more days until work starts back up again but am looking forward to all the new adventures it will bring.

Weekend Family Fun

I haven't had a chance to upload any new pictures so I will try to do that in a week or so here.

Isak is getting his four two year molars.....so that has been quite a fun week. Needless to say, we've been working on switching him to the toddler bed and while he may start out in there asleep, he usually wakes up at 2 or 3 to join us which turns into me sleeping on about 6 inches of mattress. Hopefully the teeth poke through soon as I can tell they are just painful.

We made a trip to Wichita to get some new maternity clothes todaywhich was great! Spent a little too much but needed some clothes that fit. I should be set through January. Since when did maternity clothes become trendy and cute. I had fun shopping and enjoyed spending time with Isak and Steve today. Steve taught Isak how to squeeze the peanut shells to open them and eat the peanuts at dinner tonight. They both had a fun time and I got some cute pictures....still on the camera of course.

Steve is headed down for another day at the State Fair. We won't be joining him tomorrow as there is a lot to do around here to get readyfor our trip to Montana next week! We are going to wedding in Missoula and will be seeing my mom in Billings. It should be a great trip.

It's hard to believe I'm already5 1/2 months along. I keep looking around thinking, man I need to get a move on with getting things ready. We still need to get a changing table and some other fun items and moveIsak into a different bed and put the nursery together. The list will always be there of things to do, it's just amazing how fast time is going this time around :)

Long Time Overdue

I feel like I haven't posted in ages. So much has happened and we've done so much in the past few months that it's hard to know where to begin.

Isak is growing so much everyday. He loves to dance and sing his songs and talk up a storm. He is running galloping, counting, coloring and doing all of the things that rambunctious toddlers love to do. He has become quite independent.....unless we are walking up stairs then I am supposed to "hold you".

We took a trip to Disney World this summer with 35 of my dancers and their families and had an absolutely wonderful time. It was hotter than hot down there, but the dancers didan amazing job and we will definetely make a trip back again. Isak had a blast seeing and taking part in everything. I think we came home with a new son as his vocabulary increased and he just seemed older.

I've attached some pictures of our trip.

Isak enjoying Lego Land in Downtown Disney

Isak and Steve with Donald at Chef Mickey's Breakfast. Isak liked the characters from faraway....just not close up. He was too excited to even eat.

Chasing after the bubbles in Magic Kingdom.

Enjoying a 2nd birthday treat at the Coral Reef Cafe in Epcot. Right across from us was huge wall long fish tank....Isak loved the fish.

Of course we had to visit Mater and McQueen in Disney Hollywood Studios. Isak just wanted to stay and look at them for about 15 minutes.

Playing in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground at Hollywood Studios. Isak loved the slide and all the tunnels you could get lost in. One note if you ever go...the tunnels were definetely not made for adults to travel through...ouch.

Isak and Steve on the plane ride home. Despite Isak's ear infection prior to our trip, he did a great job on the plane. He was a little upset when we got off the last time...he wanted to stay on the "airpwane".

On an exciting note, Steve and I found out earlier this summer that we are expecting #2. An ultrasound last week confirmed it was another little boy. We are pretty excited to have another little one around. Isak is excited to have a "brodder". I'm due sometime mid-late January so it should be a great time of year. Steve has been busy painting the guest room while I've been busy deciding how to decorate :)

Well, a busy day calls. I will try to update more often.....hopefully. I hope this finds everyone doing well!