Showing Off the New Skills--for the ladies

This is Reuben showing off his mad gardening skills for Miss Mila!

Welcome MILA

REUBEN and his parents are full of joy today and excited to welcome the LOVELY MISS MILA to the world and to our life! We cannot wait to meet you.

Gratitude

Today marks day 8 at the big house. We are happy to report that Reuben is doing better and we should be released later today (with oxygen) or tomorrow. We have hearts full of thanks. We are overwhelmed with appreciation. Thank you for caring deeply and sending every ounce of positivity, prayer, lit candles, joy, love and blessing our way.
Here is a photo of the amazing view of Salt Lake City from our hospital room

Reuben and Dad--who has become totally addicted to the monitor that demonstrates heart rate, oxygen level, respiration rate, and blood pressure...

Reuben and Mom

He's priceless

Many Thanks

Who watches/sits/tends a 7 month-old, so his mom and dad can go to a movie on Valentine's Day, gives him presents, enlists the assistance of fabulous helpers, and returns the baby giggling with glee to his parents? AUNTIE LEANNE... we are so so so lucky that she is a part of our and Reuben's life!

Soldiering Through

The past two weeks have been extremely busy for Colby, Hollie and Reuben. We have much going on professionally, personally, educationally and developmentally. We apologize for the lack of photos and updates. We have missed deadlines, birthdays, holidays, phone calls, opportunities and sleep over the past 6 months because we are still learning how to juggle it all. We are not fluent in the skills necessary to parent, work, and contribute to the greater good. We try, our intentions are good, and we still fall short.

We have learned so much over the past 6 months with Reuben. Perhaps the most important lesson we have learned is that time is the most valuable commodity we have and we want to invest it well.

Many thanks to you, our dear family and friends for being gentle with us while we learn and grow. As our friend Terri would say, "stretching can hurt!"

Year of the EAR

Reuben is blessed with some prominent EARS! His Poppy Bus and his Great Grandpa Gilbert must have provided the genes for them. Momma's friend Dan M. said that Reuben is in good company with news makers this year--Michael Phelps and Barack Obama both have prominent ears, could it be the YEAR OF THE EAR?

Second Outing for Reuben's Mom and Dad

It has been brought to momma's attention that she talks about Reuben a lot. Dad has kept data and the interval between comments about Reuben, for momma, is less than 3 minutes (on average). So, we needed an intervention!

Thankfully, Reuben's Auntie Leanne was willing to babysit (or as us Utahn's like to say tend him). While on the adult's only date, Momma was able to go 7 whole minutes on average between comments about Reuben... Progress is progress.

As you can see, Reuben was 100% spoiled by Leanne... never leaving her arms!

Reuben came home with cute presents--night out plus loot for the boy, double bonus!

Too bad Reuben inherited from his parents a HUGE CLOWNISH CRANIUM--this cute hat would have probably fit a normal baby's head perfectly! It will be modified by Christmas.

Thanks Leanne, we appreciate and adore you! We also think you have excellent taste!

Take Care ANGIE M.

Reuben heard that one of his favorite people had a nasty fall and even broke a rib. He is wishing her a speedy recovery!

Reuben's First Babysitters!

Competent, capable, caring, and more experienced with children than Reuben's mom and dad! Thanks for giving us 3 worry-free hours Angie and Mitch!

Best "unsolicited advice" to date...

Last week, we went to a bubba-que with Hollie's work friends. It was a lot of fun and led to a fabulous new find--Tom, who happens to be the most terrific tech guy out there, brought his wife Rachel, who asked us "would you like some unsolicited advice about taking care of Reuben?" and of course we said "YES!!!" because Rachel has 3 great kids and knows a thing or two about parenting.

She recommended the ERGO Baby Carrier (we have several other popular carriers and slings and none of them seem to be to Reuben's liking). We went home and bought a black and tan ERGO from: http://www.myfavoritebabycarrier.com/
Free shipping, no tax and it arrived in 2 days!

Reuben has gone from this:


To this:

Thanks Rachel, we welcome your advice anytime!

Growing Fast

Reuben's parents are many things, petite is not one of them however... Surprisingly, Reuben was a smaller baby. Consequently, we didn't have any itty bitty outfits for the little guy. His Nana Julie rectified the situation, very quickly and bought him some cute newborn sized clothes so he wouldn't drown in his 3 and 6 month sized duds. We loved dressing him in his tiny outfits. Sadly, his days of wearing newborn size are almost over, as shown by the following picture. Check out the belly fat!



Here's Reuben sitting up on the couch, watching the Olympic swimming events with the aide of his "boppy" pillow (thanks Terri and Amber)... doesn't he look SO BIG?

Bad to the Bone

Yep, that's Reuben on a Harley (thanks Max)

Thank Goodness for Talented Friends

Heather, who has been Hollie's dear friend since before Kindergarten, is very talented with electronic design. Thankfully, she graciously created Reuben's birth announcement... and we LOVE it! See for yourself, she's one talented chica!



We love love you, Miss Heather!

More Visitors Who LOVE Reuben

Reuben's Hospital Visitors

Reuben is so very lucky to have so many people who already LOVE him. Here are a few photos of some of the folks who saw him in the hospital. More to follow as we get our act together and coordinate with all the other cameras... We feel so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends to share in Reuben's life.. THANK YOU!