HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL!!! THE BIG 04!!

Paul's 4th birthday party (with a Wizard of Oz theme) was supposed to be at a super cool play place, but Mommy got her times confused, and there was double booking, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth until Super Daddy took the reins, notified friends, planned an activity, and bought tons of paint in neat little plastic tube-brushes. Mommy already had all the paper goods, the cake, and a tank and a half of helium, and a house party was born. . .

Cowboy Paul wrangles some doggies, er, balloons. . .

. . .and of course Joss has to do whatever big Brother does.

"Somewhere over the rainbow. . ."

Thanks to Mike, Reiko, James, and Mikeayla for coming early and helping with set-up!

Toys, and costumes, and friends - Oh My!

Couple of balloons. . .

Oh, and a frikkin huge Nemo came by to say hello.

Woah.

(Thanks to Safta Sheila for the remote-controlled behmoth.)

Joss takes a quick break in the kitchen. . .

. . .before heading outside for a little fresh air.

The activity Daddy planned? PUMPKIN PAINTING!!




Joss was outraged that the pumpkins were being abused with paint instead of pureed with bananas. Outraged!

Thanks to Jon, Stacey, Tesla, and Faraday for supplying the pumpkins!

Paul says that Asher is his cousin and his friend (emphasis his).

Paul and his 4 balloon.

After the pumpkin painting - Pizza! Paul managed to find the cheesiest, goopiest slice ever witnessed this side of the mighty Charles.

Pizza party!

Pizza party picnic!

Adorable family.

Cheerful chaos.

Amidst the craziness, Jacob manages to fall into a good book - he makes his aunt proud.

Sonia is the collector and redistributer of balloons. . .

Safta and Bubbie plot their next caper. (Maybe robbing a bank? Really, really slowly?)


Cake time! While the cake looked kind of like a giraffe wearing a party hat, with the proper decorations, once can clearly see that it's the Emerald City and the Yellow Brick Road. Right? (And yes, that is a mini bottle of vodka on the spice rack. Mommy keeps that there for emergencies.)


Happy birthday, darling Paul. May all your wishes come true.

Brotherly love - post noogie/headlock.

Oh, did we mention the cake was RAINBOW inside? Yeah, Mommy rocked the cake this year.

Aaaaaaaannnnd, the aftermath. Once our wonderful guests left, and the party was cleaned up, Mommy baked, frosted, decorated, and packed up two dozen cupcakes for Paul's school on Monday. . .

Whew. So, what should we plan for Joss in February?

Brotherly Love

Paul - give your brother a kiss!

Joss loves attention from his big brother!

Mutual adoration society.

No, really. Pull my finger!

I KISS YOUR HEAD! MWAH!!

SURPRISE!!!

This morning, as Daddy was sitting on an airplane waiting for take-off, Mommy decided the funny cramps she was having were contractions! Yes, it was 6 weeks, 1 day early for contractions, which is why Daddy was thinking this last trip to CA would be no problem.

Mommy called the doctor, and Mommy called our good friends Kara and Brendan (Georgia's parents) who came right over.

In the meantime, Mommy changed Paul's very dirty diaper - while in labor. Mommy is hard core.

After Georgia and Kara arrived to play with Paul, but before Brendan drove Mommy to the hospital, Daddy managed to sneak in one more phone call before actually taking off (wa-hoo for airplane delays!). Mommy told Daddy to get off the plane, and he did. Daddy actually made it to the hospital before Mommy did.

After establishing that this was indeed labor, and that Mommy was 4cm dialated, Mommy was moved to a delivery room where she was reunited with her best friend, Epidural. This is Mommy hanging out with Epi:
After some resting and phone calls, Mommy began to feel pain through the epidural. The anesthesiologist gave her a little more medicine, and said it would take about 10 minutes to really kick in. Well, that was 8 minutes too long, because Mommy felt the urge to push, and about 90 seconds later, at 1:29pm on Sunday, February 7, 2010, Joss Nathaniel joined us, apparently in quite the hurry.

Joss was 5lbs, 4.8oz and 18.5 inches long, and had Apgar scores of 8/9. He was very blue the moment he arrived, but pinked up quickly, and cried very nicely until the NICU nurses got him all wrapped up and warm.

Once Mommy could feel her feet again (that extra dose of medicine did kick in. . .too much too late, but there you go), she and Daddy got to go to the NICU to visit Joss. We couldn't pick him up yet, but he was breathing all on his own.

First (almost) Family Picture!!

Because he is a festering blizzard of germs and destructive capability, Paul will not be able to see his baby brother until Joss is out of the NICU, but he will be able to visit Mommy, who misses him already.

Is this the face of a big brother?

Hmm. . .not just yet, but it sure will be by the end of March 2010!

(Boy, is Paul in for the surprise of a lifetime, or what?)