Day 3: Then and Now

THEN On our honeymoon, way back when (5 years!)

and NOW Christmas morning 2010 :)

Day 2: How They Look

Tyler frequently looks like this when he's feeling sleepy...

And Alex frequently looks like this when he's feeling awake ...

Day 1: What they do

I saw this through a friend on facebook, and decided to give it a try, even though I am behind (technically it started the 1st day of February). It's a photography website {here} that emails a topic each day, and tips on taking better photographs. You're supposed to post photos for each topic related to the people you love. So here it goes!

Day 1: What They Do

Tyler explores the house daily, and enjoys wearing mommy & daddy's winter hats


Alex sleeps... and eats... and poops/pees ... then sleeps some more ...

Welcome Alex!

Alexander Richard Buehler has arrived! We will be calling him Alex for short. :)

Vital statistics:

*Born 1/28/2011 at 5:18am

*8lb 13oz (big boy!)

*20.5in

The birth story:

Alex was actually born on his due date, believe it or not. According to Wikipedia (who is a highly reputable source, of course), less than 5% of babies are born on their due date! Labor this time was actually very different from last time. Last time I was induced with pitocin after being 9 days late, after 9 hours of labor I was only 2cm dilated, and then it took a total of 14+hours for him to be born (full story here). Anyway, this time I went to a check up appointment at 10am Thursday and I asked the doctor to check and see if I was dilated at all. I'd been having contractions on and off for what seemed like the last few weeks, but I hadn't had the doctor check me because it's just not a fun thing. He checked and I was 3cm! I also then had him strip my membranes (sounds gross, but this sometimes triggers full labor) before I left. I don't know if that's what did it, or if labor would have started anyway, but the rest of the day I really didn't feel well. That night I started having stronger contractions, probably around 7pm, but they weren't evenly spaced at all. Eventually I showered and we went to bed. I fell asleep around midnight, then woke up at 1:30am with more painful contractions, though they still weren't evenly spaced. Still they were much more painful than what I had experienced previously, so we called the Dr and he told us to head to the hospital. By the time we got Tyler up and dropped off at my parents, it took us an hour to reach the hospital. At that point the contractions were much stronger and only 2minutes apart. I checked in and we went upstairs. Everything went pretty fast after that. I got a bag of IV fluids, got an epidural, then after like 10 more minutes was ready to push. I tried pushing a few times, then they realized the baby was posterior, meaning he was face up rather than face down (as he's supposed to be). The doctor couldn't manually turn him, so they had me lay on my stomach for 1/2 an hour. Apparently this makes the baby uncomfortable and often they turn on their own. Luckily, it worked! I wasn't looking forward to the implications of the posterior position (much harder to push, more likely to need forceps or vacuum, more likely to tear, etc). After that I just pushed for 20 minutes or so and Alex was born!

He looks a lot like Tyler did, except he has much more and much darker hair, as you can see pretty well in the picture below. He also has very short legs, which has lead Ed to give him his first nickname, "munchkin".

Tyler came to meet him Saturday. He wasn't very interested at first, though he quickly warmed up to him after we brought him home. He loves saying hi to the baby, "helping" change his diaper, and hugging him.

(this picture shows Tyler's "say cheese" face:) )

Tyler's New Room

As we prepare for baby #2, we decided to move Tyler to a new room and keep the nursery the same (especially since it is another boy!). To move Tyler, we first had to re-finish our upstairs. It is a cape cod and the upstairs was finished in 1950's-70's ish finish (not sure exactly what era it was from). The floor was this ugly brown tile,the celing a pegboard like version of a drop celining, and the walls were pine paneling. The walls were actually nice, we just weren't crazy about the wood finish. Ed got to work and put in a new celing, carpet, and painted the walls. It was hard to choose colors but finall we ended up with what you see below! I'd say it's 75% done - we still need some trim, blinds, decorations,etc. Tyler loves his room (as he should, considering it's bigger than ours!)

Christmas 2010

This year we had a lot of fun at Christmas time! We did lots of fun things before Christmas,on Christmas,and then the week after. It's hard to believe how quickly it went, and that we already had to pack up all the decorations until the end of this year.

In the days before Christmas, Tyler and I made ornaments and pictures for the family. He had lots of fun, though the green "washable" paint was not very washable... Tyler had green hands for a little while after this!

On Christmas Eve-eve we went to the Festival of Lights! Tyler has recently consented to finally smile for pictures, and stay still, so we are finally able to get some family pictures!

On Christmas day we got to wake up at a decent hour, since Tyler still hasn't learned to get up at the crack of dawn on Christmas. I'm thankful for that. :) We opened the presents we had for each other and then started getting ready for the day with family. Tyler got a few books and then his big present from us was a train table for the basement! He enjoyed opening everyone's presents, not just his own. Quite a change from a year ago when he couldn't care less what was going on!

After enjoying Christmas morning at our house we headed to Ed's sisters for a family brunch. It was full of fun and yummy food! Here is Tyler with his Nona.

Eventually we came back to our house so Tyler (and mommy) could take a nap. Afterwards, we headed to my parents for dinner. Unfortunately I forgot to take many pictures! Here is one where Tyler and Aunt Amy decided to put the stockings on their feet (they are called stockings for a reason, right??)

On New Years Eve we went to the Museum center to see the holiday train display. Tyler loved it (he's been really into trains lately). It was a lot of fun, though crazy busy!

Christmas Time is Here!

It's hard to believe it is almost Christmas! Time is just flying by. Tyler is in the 2yr old class at a local pre-school (they only meet 1 day/week) and this week they put on a little Christmas show for the parents. Tyler must take after his dad because he was a little ham - he was the only kid that did all the dancing and stuff the teacher was having them do.