Brothers

Will is so cute with Wes. When Will is getting a little fussy, we ask him to help us take care of Wes, and immediately he grabs what we need to help the baby. We know this won't last forever, but we feel so lucky that Will is such a great big brother. (Man - that kid needs a haircut. Oh well. We are juggling a lot. Something's gotta give.)

New Addition

The new baby boy is here! Wesley Michael Roberts was born on October 5th and weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces. As much as we loved hearing “wow, that’s a big baby” from the hospital staff, we’re just glad that he’s here and that everyone is healthy. The hospital stay went well for everyone, and even got to go home a day early.

Wes has been a real joy. He has been sleeping and eating well since before he came home from the hospital, and that has made recovery much easier for his mother. We have enjoyed getting to know his personality, and so has William. He is already very happy to be around his little brother and has been very affectionate. He asks to hold the baby often, and comments whenever Wesley makes a noise or cries. I don't know how many times he's taken us by the hand over to his little brother and said "look--cute!" We're glad they're getting along, and we enjoy hearing William remind us that "it's a baby."

As for the delivery, it could probably be summed up in one word: wonderful. We checked into the hospital in the morning and went to maternity triage where Mikail waited calmly to be checked out while women nearby where struggling through contractions. Mikail was 3cm dilated when we arrived, and her doctor told her that she would probably have gone into labor that same day. The surgery went very well and before noon, Wesley was here. Everything went so smoothly. We felt calm and happy and when Jim and Marlaine brought Will to see us at the hospital, we felt a special kind of happiness seeing our family together for the first time. We are so lucky.

Back to the Grind

After sharing a full summer of hot humid days here in San Antonio, the inevitable end of summer came to the Roberts family. We had so much fun, but we are also grateful to see it coming to an end. Enduring a pregnancy in the middle of a record-breaking hot summer, and a toddler that can’t be outside for too long without overheating has been quite an experience.

Jared has started working in the clinic at school. I guess it was a little nerve-wracking at first because of all the things he had to remember, but now he has hit his stride and loves each new challenge. I try to be a supportive wife and listen to each story and each new experience, but something about my pregnant stomach makes me a little queasy when he gets to talkin’ clinical. I’ll leave it at that.

I start school again on Monday and I have mixed feelings. I’m excited to start my new classes, but I have been enjoying evenings home with Jared and Will. I’m also nervous about having a baby smack in the middle of the semester, but no matter how much I worry, it’s going to happen. It’s like being strapped in a roller coaster: knowing as you’re being pulled up that first hill that there is no turning back, and it’s scary, but its going to be awesome.

Update on the pregnancy for those who have asked: (everyone else can skip this)

I am 32 weeks along and doing fine. I’m the size of a house, but luckily, not as big this time as I was at this stage with Will. My due date is October 12, but there is a good chance I’ll be delivering before that (although with my school schedule, I’d be glad if the little guy wanted to chill for a little while.) Several people have asked about my expected delivery and here is the situation: I am going to see if nature takes it’s course. If labor is going well, then we will choose a VBAC. Last time I went into labor on my own, but I felt like my epidural (which was awesome, I was a big fan) slowed my labor and created complications. So as long as I’m making it ok without any pain meds, then we’ll go that route. If not, then we will opt for a c-section. I’m not sold on “VBAC or BUST” because there really is a medical risk that I will bust. So VBAC if possible just because I’m not going to opt for major abdominal surgery. But if things get even a little dicey, or if labor is not progressing as it should, I’m hoping to avoid the “17 hour labor + 3 hours pushing = c-section anyway” situation I had last time, by just opting for the c-section. I thought I might feel cheated because I might never have the “real” labor experience, but I’ve realized, as I’ve thought and prayed about it this pregnancy, that this is my real labor experience. And for me, that’s enough.

Will is the cutest most hilarious kid these days. When he talks (which is becoming more intelligible) he sounds like he is reading madlibs. His inflection is hilarious. He’s getting better about repeating what we say, so we know he’s learning, but we have to make a concerted effort not to laugh. He’s started to pretend (a lot) when he’s playing with his toys. For instance, last Sunday I could not do anything with Will that I did not also do with his Pooh Bear. So I made a bowl of cereal for Will and had to get some food for Pooh. Pooh also needed to get dressed for church and be strapped into the car. It’s so fun to watch him develop his personality and the things he likes and dislikes. He can successfully drink from a cup and manage utensils, loves cheerios, broccoli and pizza (but nothing else with cheese on it or that’s easy to cook…) He is healthy as always, and is looking like such a big boy these days. At his last doctor’s appt, his pediatrician said that he was “built like Schwarzenegger” and we can see why. At this point I’m pretty sure he has no real idea about the baby, although we try to tell him all the time. He just looks at us like we’re crazy or fooling him. Like “a baby? in your belly? whatever.”

Here are some pictures we had taken of William shortly after his second birthday by Brian Kuntz, a family friend and our wedding photographer. Enjoy!

Vacationing

It finally feels like summer. Mikail finished her summer finals and I passed my national board exam, so we were finally able to start a real summer vacation.

We spent most of last week in Austin relaxing by the pool. Will had a great time floating around and it was really nice to feel like we could let loose and relax without any deadlines to worry about. It felt like we basically lived in Mikail's parents' pool for three days.

Mikail was able to go see the play Wicked with her mom here in San Antonio last Saturday, and they had a wonderful time. They now join the massive sorority of Wicked lovers. Will and I joined the massive fraternity of guys who stayed home while the women they love went to Wicked.

And finally, as of Sunday we are out west visiting family for the last week of freedom before school starts up again at the dental school. William had fun on the plane and feeding/chasing geese at the park, and in the next few days we'll be hanging out with his new cousins and the rest of the Roberts clan. Here are some pictures from our vacation so far.

Finally, here's the baby update. For those who haven't heard the news, we're having another boy! Mikail and the baby are healthy and feeling well. We're now officially 26 weeks into this pregnancy and we are all very excited. Thank you all for your love and support. We'll have more updates posted soon.

Summer?

We're sure that life is just as crazy for all of you as it is for us, but we're still glad to have survived this last month. I didn't even bother counting the absolutely ridiculous number of tests we had as school was winding down. Mikail finished up her semester shortly before I did, and we actually had a full weekend off together before her summer semester started again. We'll have some pics of our time at the pool shortly. Now it's back to the grind (summer semester of law school and national board exam for those of us aspiring to continue with dental school). Mikail is working hard and is feeling less sick every day. More news to come soon. Here's William getting ready for some fun in the sun.

What's been going on lately...

Here's what's been going on in the Roberts family. We hope you enjoy all the grainy cell phone pics.

For Mikail's birthday we gave William a vacation from his parents so he could hang out with his grandparents in Austin (we were happy to make the sacrifice). We had to give him pizza before we broke the news as his was visibly pained to let us go. We hear he had a good time.

We also met up with the Francisco's for dinner last week and the kids had a great time. Will and Clark both really liked the cars (no surprise).





Oh, and this too.

Happy Birthday William

Wonderful William! It was his birthday end of last month and we kept it low-key this year. Here is a list of his favorites and new tricks:

Favorite Food: Fries, pizza

Afternoon nap langth: 3.5 hours

Shoe size: 7

Hand Width: roughly 2 times the size of a normal child

Favorite Toy: anything with wheels, or without wheels. They all end up being cars.

Favorite Movie: Pooh and Big Fat Greek Wedding (what? it's true.)

Coolest word he says currently: Knuckle, and OK (he says that after everything)

Here is the little guy eating his birthday cupcake. There was no lit candle again this year. I'm a little too nervous - he's a bit of a loose cannon. But isn't he adorable? We are loving him more and more everyday.

Other things he's learning to do lately are holding a crayon and pen correctly, cleaning up after himself, and making mud-pies in his new sandbox. What a great kid!

At the Rodeo

As many of you know, while the Spurs were playing 8 straight away games across the country, the AT&T center has been home to the San Antonio Rodeo. Last weekend we decided to take William (and his Grandpa) to the carnival there and we all loved it. Here are a few pictures from our outing.



It was fun to see how much William enjoyed watching the horses and going on the airplane and train rides. It was also a learning experience to see what he didn't like as much. Perhaps the best part though was the opportunity to make some family memories together.

P.S. Isn't it amazing how we trust our lives to these ancient pieces of carnival equipment so willingly? There's some food for thought.

Best wishes, M/J/W

New Decor

I made this craft over the last couple of weeks. It was a group effort with several of my friends and I promised to post a picture when it was finished. It is pictured here above our mantle. I will probably be redoing several of the blocks. I had an unfortunate experience with some expensive special glue that was supposed to work and was horrible. Oh well. Lesson learned: Elmer's next time. Other than that, I really like how it turned out.

Our Salsa Lover

Ever since William discovered ketchup he has loved dipping his food in anything we put on the table. A few days ago when he reached for some salsa I was reminded of a video I shot of him back in September when he was going to town on some salsa, and not the mild variety. Here it is in all of it's cell-phone-video-quality glory, along with a pic from that night.

By the time we were able to capture this moment he was already double dipping like a pro. It's crazy how much he's changed since just a few months ago. We just love this kid more and more every day.