Trimming the tree

One of our family traditions - getting the house ready for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is year Dylan enjoyed putting up decorations and trimming the tree. He was even more excited to help Daddy put up the reindeers and lights outside the house.

Christmas Tree Farm

It's that time of the year - cutting our own christmas tree. It was cold and windy, but not
bone-chilling cold. We bundled up the kids and headed out to Andover to pick the perfect tree.

excited to see all the trees

helping Daddy pick a tree

all bundled

Mommy with the boys

Happy Thanksgiving

We've got so much to be thankful for this year. We feel so blessed with the addition of our beautiful healthy baby boy. Everyday we are amazed at how much Dylan is growing to be such a wonderful son and big brother. We couldn't have asked for a better year.

The Boys

best buds

Our butterball's first thanksgiving

Grandma with the boys

kisses for the baby

Our delicious dinner courtesy of King (Serve.Me.Now)

Santa's sleigh

We love this time of the year.

Santa has arrived at the mall and Dylan rode his sleigh... twice.

loving the sleigh ride

with Ate Cece

round two: with Grandma and Ate Cece

1 week old - an update

We're adjusting well to having a newborn in the house.

At first we were worried about Dylan. When we were at the hospital, Dylan didn't want to talk to Mommy. When Lolo and Grandma would show him pictures of Logan from their phones, he refused to look at them. The day we came home, he was completely ignoring Logan (not wanting to talk to/about him, didn't want to acknowledge his presence, didn't want to touch him or go near him, etc). Then we gave him his gifts from Logan (two remote control cars) and they were a hit! First he didn't want to say anything to Logan, then eventually Dylan said, "thank you baby Logan".

After a day at home with baby Logan, we could already tell he LOVES being a big brother. When Logan cries, he'll say "it's OK baby Logan", he would give him his paci, or rub his leg/head/belly. It's actually pretty cute to see Dylan interact with his baby brother. There are still things we need to work on - being gentle with Logan, not accidentally hitting Logan with his toys, leaving Logan alone when he's sleeping, etc. But overall, we're so proud of how well Dylan has adjusted to being a big brother.

For the past week, we've also had an influx of people visiting to meet Logan. The best part - they brought food! We're so blessed to have a wonderful family.

Today, for his 1 week birthday, Daddy had to go back to work which means Mommy was left alone with the two boys. Mommy didn't think she could handle it, but we had a great first day. When Daddy got home, we had to take Logan for a sonogram of his kidneys due to concern of fullness of his right kidney. We're confident that everything will come back normal.

Here are some eye candy of our 1 week old sweet baby Logan.

Logan's birth story

On November 09, 2009 Mommy, Daddy and Dylan went to our appointment with the midwife. At this point, Baby Logan is already one day past his due date and we were desperately hoping that there’s been progress. After Mommy got checked, midwife Roxie told us that the baby is lower, cervix is softer and the baby should be arriving sometime this week – though not the next day as we were hoping. She also told us that due to the swine flu scare, the hospital has a new policy – anyone younger than 16 years old is not allowed in the hospital unless for medical reason. At this point, Mommy and Daddy had to scramble to figure out what we would do with Dylan when Mommy goes into labor. Thankfully, we knew that we could rely on Grandma, Uncle Tommy, Lolo and/or Lola to come to our rescue.

After our appointment, we went to Clay Oven for dinner. Mommy read that spicy Indian food induces labor so Mommy ordered an extra spicy Chicken Tikka Saag dish. About 8hrs later, Mommy was woken up at 4:06am by a contraction followed by another 13 minutes later. The next couple of contractions were closer together and the intensity was much greater. Then, at about 5am, during one of the contractions, Mommy hear a ‘popping’ sound and immediately knew her water had broken. Mommy went to the bathroom to confirm and sure enough, it was time to have a baby. Daddy called the midwife to inform her Mommy was in labor. Roxie told us to continue to monitor the contractions, pack up, and head over to the hospital. At the same, we were calling Grandma, Uncle Tommy, Lolo and Lola. It took several calls to finally get in touch with them since they were either at work or still sleeping. We made arrangements for Grandma to meet us at the house so she can watch Dylan.

While waiting for Grandma, Mommy and Daddy started to clean up the house a little bit. Daddy packed up the car and made sure we have everything we needed. After an hour, the contractions were getting a lot closer together. At 6:10AM Mommy decided we just couldn’t wait for Grandma; instead, she would just have to meet us at the hospital. Daddy woke up Dylan and got him ready. During our drive to Hackettstown, the contractions were coming at 2 minute intervals for about 1 minute long – a clear indication that baby is coming sooner than later. Daddy took the back roads hoping to avoid the morning rush hour traffic.

When we got to the hospital, we knew Dylan wasn’t allowed inside, so Mommy went into the ER by herself while Daddy stayed outside with Dylan. While getting registered, Mommy continued to get contractions that were so bad that Daddy had to rush inside the ER leaving Dylan in the car (though we could see him from where we were standing). When the wheelchair arrived, I was rushed to the LD floor while Daddy went back out to get Dylan and our luggage. Because it was an emergency, they thankfully allowed Dylan to go inside with Daddy…at least until Grandma got to the hospital.

As soon as we got into the LD room (which was the same room where we had Dylan), Mommy was in so much pain that she just wanted to start pushing the baby out. The nurse (Karen) immediately filled the tub with water, checked vitals, and started an IV for the antibiotics. Minutes later, Daddy and Dylan arrived in the LD room. At every contraction, Mommy was in so much pain that Dylan would walk over and say “Mommy are you OK?”. Dylan was very concerned with what was going on, and he behaved himself very well. When it was time for Mommy to get in the water, Dylan wanted to take off his clothes and he kept saying “I want to go in water with Mommy”.

While in the water, the contractions were a little bit more tolerable but they were still even more intense. All Mommy wanted to do was push. At about 7AM, Roxie walked in the room and told Mommy to push whenever she wanted. A few minutes later, Grandma arrived at the hospital and attended to Dylan who seemed terrified but very curious. At this point, Mommy started to push thinking it wasn’t this difficult the first time around. At one point, she looked at Daddy and said “I don’t think I can do this.” With every push, Mommy would let out a scream that not only terrified Daddy, Dylan and Grandma, but also the entire 4^th floor. After three pushes and horror sounding screams, our baby Logan was born at 7:33AM.

Logan weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long. Surprising, these were the same measurements as Dylan’s.

Baby Logan - first 24 hrs

Click here to view these pictures larger

We have been blessed!

Our sweet baby Logan arrived on November 10, 2009 at 7:33am weighing 7lbs 15oz and 20 inches long.

More Pictures

Birth Story coming soon

Officially L.A.T.E

That's right... apparently, Filipino time (AKA "Sorry, I'm late") starts in utero.

We've been receiving several calls, emails, texts, messages, etc asking if Baby S has made his appearance. At this point, we're just convinced that our kids are stubborn and do not like to listen to mommy and daddy. =)

Mommy is now on maternity leave until end of February. Daddy is on high-alert ready to head to the hospital.

Surprise Baby Shower

Mommy hardly gets surprised... but this time, she really was!!! Even after insisting on not having a shower, Grandma still wanted to throw a party. It was small and intimate - just perfect.

Thanks to Grandma and all of our family.

Halloween 2009

We spent the afternoon trick or treating with friends followed by a halloween party for the kids.

our little dragon

showing Mommy his candies

trick or treating with Daddy

with his buddy, Ryan

walking with Mommy