Paternity Leave!

There are lots of things that are great about Denmark, but two of the best are springtime and paternity leave. And when the two things happen at once, it's just awesome. We were all so thankful that Jared had two weeks of paid paternity leave when Maxwell was born. Before Max was born Jared and I had visions of lots of family outings and oodles of chores getting done around the house...with time to apply for jobs in the evenings. Well, needless to say, things didn't quite go as we had planned. First, it seemed that it took a good ten days before I was feeling up to any household chores, let alone significant outings. Then, there were quite a few doctors visits as well as trips to get Max registered, etc. so our days were busy. Couple that with the fact that we couldn't seem to get out of the house before 10am and Ruby's nap is at 2pm... there wasn't a whole lot of time to dilly dally!

We were able, however, to take a trip to the Copenhagen Zoo. Ruby and I go about once a month, but Jared hadn't been since last year, so it was fun for all of us to enjoy the spring flowers, beautiful weather, and of course the animals! I know it probably seems like we left Max at home or something since there are NO pictures of him, but he actually was with us--just sleeping peacefully in his stroller the entire time! Ruby really enjoyed not being tied to the stroller this trip though and was able to run ahead with Daddy, while Mommy and Max took a more "leisurely" tour around the park!

It's always fun to visit the zoo because it seems that they are always doing some improvement or we find a little pocket that we hadn't seen before. This little water mill was one of those pockets--I thought it was so cute and picturesque! I'm not sure how we managed to miss it before! There aren't as many babies this spring as last, but it is still fun to see how the animals born last year have grown. One of our favorites is the baby elephant born last spring. He is still so much smaller than the adult elephants and is really in his "toddler" phase. I got a big kick out of watching him try to eat carrots during our visit. He got it into his head that he wanted to carry around and eat TWO carrots at once--one just wouldn't do--sound like any toddlers you know? Of course the problem was that he couldn't really manage two with his trunk! He kept losing one or both every time he tried to get them up to his mouth. Rather than caving in and eating one at a time, he was painfully persistant in picking them BOTH up again and trying until he managed the "impossible"!

Apart from the animals, Jared's favorite part of the zoo is the ice cream, so we had to end our day with a few ice cream cones! Even Ruby, who was too excited to eat much lunch, managed to eat her fair share of Mommy and Daddy's cones. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!!

After several hours, we had only managed to see about half of the zoo, but with two sleepy kiddos on our hands, we decided that the rest would have to keep for another day. I did get quite a few more great shots, so I'll end with a few more photos. Hope you all are having a wonderful spring day in your corner of the world...

Best Buds

Our first big outing as a family since Max was born was about a week ago to Frilandsmuseet for the "Family Escape" hosted by our church. We had eight or so families that attended for a picnic lunch and then an afternoon spent exploring the old buildings. Since I've posted about Frilandsmuseet several times before, I decided not to add any pictures of the buildings--though we did visit a part of the park we'd never seen before with an old water mill and rubber duck run, both of which were big hits with the kids!

When we first got there, we made sure to grab a wagon. Jared was planning to pull Ruby and Carter in it, but then Carter decided that he'd rather just pull Ruby himself! What a muscle man!! In the end they both decided to walk, while Max spent the entire visit snoozing in the stroller.

If you notice in that first picture, Ruby's craning her neck over to look out into the field. There were three little lambs out there with their mamas. One of the lambs somehow "lost" its Mama and was just crying and crying trying to get a response from one of the moms. Ruby was so worried about that lamb (even after it found its Mama) that she spent the rest of the afternoon saying, "Uh-oh...LOST!". After a while I was starting to feel like that old man in the movie, "Hook", "Lost, lost, lost...I've lost my marbles!!". Really, it was pretty sweet. Ruby is very compassionate and worried about the wellfare of others--man or beast! Not a bad quality to have.

As you can see, Ruby and Carter pretty much stuck together like peanut butter and jelly all day long. When they did get separated, it wasn't long before you'd hear Carter yell, "Booo-by! Booo-by!" (he hasn't quite mastered his "R's" yet!). Then, they'd hold hands again and start off to another adventure. I'm so thankful that she has such a sweet friend in Carter. They both think about each other a lot every day and both nearly always pray for the other at meals and bedtime. That sweet, innocent, loving friendship is so precious to see. I pray that Ruby will always be blessed with good friends in her life.

I'll leave you with a picture of Ruby and Max. For those that are wondering, the transition from Only Child to Big Sister has been rough at times, but overall pretty good. Ruby really does love her little brother and he...well, he tolerates her! I can't wait until he starts smiling and interacting with her. I think it will make things a lot more fun for Ru. She is being a wonderful helper though and has really impressed us with how caring she is with her little brother. Now, if we can get both kids healthy again and sleeping at the same time, we'll really be peachy keen!

Sick-o kid-o's

Ruby and Max both came down with a fever yesterday/today . . . no fun!!! Pretty poor timing for Jared to have to return to work. Woe is us . . . =)

Anyway, I realized we never did get around to sharing some of the great pictures that Bethany got of Anne and Ruby. Anne was here to help out when Max arrived, and she did a terrific job of making Ruby feel loved, as well as easing our burden with chores around the house.

Certainly a less-than-luxurious vacation, which endeared us all the more to her for her generosity and love.

Thanks Anne!!!

We all shed a few tears as she pulled away in the taxi, heading for home. And then Ruby cried out--as though scripted from a Hollywood sob-story

Annie.

Annie!!

ANNIE!!!!!

Big Boy!!

In Denmark, the social healthcare system provides for a visit from a nurse/midwife periodically to check in on baby and parents, answer any questions the parents might have, and finally to weigh and measure the child. Today, our midwife dropped in for the first time, and measured our "little" boy at 5.2 kg (11lbs 7oz)! That's a half kilo (>1lb) heavier than a week ago! I thought those diapers were getting tighter!!

And, never one to deprive you all of more pictures of Ruby and Max, we got a couple of funny shots of Ruby posing as the family's new fitness trainer. Move over Jane Fonda! And thanks Nana for the new sneakers!!!

Thank you all for the visits, thoughts, cards, prayers, comments and responses to our email announcement last weekend. So far, all is going as expected in our household . . . Max is sleeping lots, though not at night; Ruby's pride for "her" new baby continues to grow, though she's working hard to let us know that she's still the center of the universe; Mommy and Daddy are quickly learning just how much more there is to consider with kids (plural), and have a growing sense of awe at parents of multiples!!

Anyways, there's been no shortage of pictures being taken lately, so here are a few of our recent gems . . .

The first one is the first storytime with Ruby, Max, and Mommy together. As you can see, Ruby's now more interested in the baby than in the books (and she loves here books!).
The other 2 are from a less-than-successful attempt at getting some nice shots outside this morning. If you look at closely at the last pic, you'll see that Max even fussed the color out of his face. We took that as a sign to come back inside!!

Welcome to the World!!

We are so pleased to announce the arrival of our latest addition, Maxwell Oliver Nelson! I do want to thank everyone for all of your prayers and good wishes. We certainly felt them and are so thankful to God for this beautiful boy that He has blessed us with. I won't go into all of the nitty gritty details of the birth today...as I'm still a bit sore and not keen on sitting at the computer for too long, but here are the high points!

Max was born on Thursday, April 12th at 8:21pm in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Yes, that's ELEVEN days past the due date!)

He weighed in at 4700g. (that's 10lb 5oz for those that aren't used to metric!)

He is 57cm long. (about 22.5in)

He has lots of dark, dark hair and looks an awful lot like his big sister when she was born.

Both Max and I did very well and we were thankful to have our number one fan and coach, Daddy, there to help every step of the way. It was a bit different giving birth here in Denmark than in the US, but we really have no complaints. We were taken care of very well and all of our midwives and doctors were wonderful.

We really had a hard time picking out a name for this little guy, but as soon as Jared held him he called him, Max, so Max it is! Some of you may know that Jared had been pushing for Maximus or even Cornelius Maximus as a name, but I figured I did have some veto power, so we altered it a bit to Maxwell! We had also wanted to pick out a Danish name, but found that there wasn't one that we were happy with the pronounciation in Danish AND English, so we picked Oliver which is Scandinavian in origin.

Well, that's about all for now. Ruby loves her little brother to bits and is always curious about what he's up to--mostly eating and sleeping for now! Hope you enjoy the pictures of our growing family!

Still waiting!

I wanted to put up a quick post to let everyone know that we are still waiting for Baby Boy Nelson to arrive! I have had contractions now and again, some painful, but nothing with staying power. We'll go back to the midwife tomorrow morning and we plan to bring my suitcase along and ask them to go ahead and induce--we'll see what they say, but I think 10 days past the due date should be enough for them to at least consider it. It's very likely that they may just give me something mild to get things going and send me home to wait, but we'll see.

One great thing about not having the baby yet is that I was able to go to church for Easter Sunday, which was wonderful! The choir (including Jared) performed a really wonderful cantata called "Lamb of Judah, Calvary's Lamb". It was something totally different--more of a worship service than a concert complete with the congregation singing for many songs and several responsive readings. It was such a wonderful celebration of Jesus' resurrection! After the service we were invited to a friends' home for Easter dinner. Ruby was the only little one at the party and she really enjoyed being the center of attention--big surprise there!

Ruby was dressed up in an adorable outfit from Nana, so I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of that--her dashing companion is Carter, of course! They were sneaking kisses and hugs, but the Daddys never caught it on film--these digital cameras are just TOO slow sometimes! Ruby also had a matching purse, but somehow we never managed to get the hat and the purse in any picture. Oh well, there's always next year!

Inquiring Minds...

I know that some of you are just about going nuts wondering if Baby Nelson has been born yet. So, I'll start with the baby update! No, this little guy still hasn't made his debut. I have had contractions on and off for about a week, but nothing with staying power. I did see my midwife today and she said that he is "deeply engaged" and doing well. She also estimated his weight at about 3900g (8.6lb) for those that are wondering and said that he looks like he's very long--something that I've been sure of for a very long time! Anyhow, we have another appointment for next Wednesday morning. If he hasn't decided that the time is right by then, we'll schedule an induction (hopefully on Wednesday or Thursday!!). I don't feel bad at all though, so I guess I won't complain. It would be perfect timing for me if he decides to come anytime between now and Saturday night, but I guess we'll have to wait for God's timing either way!

I actually only have one more day on my own with Ruby either way as Jared will have Thursday and Friday off for Easter holiday (Danish national holidays). I am grateful for that because Ruby would like to be outside all the time now and I just don't have the energy to be pushing her on her trike or chasing balls or climbing ladders and sliding down slides! For a while she was happy to be in our yard, but now she has decided that she's no longer "outside" unless she's off our property--ugh! Sooo, I hear lots and lots of "outside! outside! playground! playground! slide! bike! walk!, etc." Please seems to have temporarily fallen out of her vocabulary...

Saturday afternoon, Anne will arrive for a visit. Originally we were thinking of having her come last weekend, but I'm sure glad we didn't. If we had we would have had the same situation as with Kay last time around. The whole visit was spent waiting! We did enjoy the time together, but it would have been nice if her stay had coincided with Ruby being out a bit longer! Anyway, I know that Ruby will thoroughly enjoy having her here (as will we all!) and hopefully it will make the transition a bit smoother from only child to Big Sister!

Well, I guess I'll finally tell you what these pictures are from! The first three are from a trip Ruby, Claire, Carter, and I took to the zoo. For the first time I brought Ruby in to see the goats. At first she was really scared, but once I knelt down to pet one of the goats who was lying down, she eventually got brave enough to try it herself. Once she felt his coat she was hooked! Before I could pull myself to my feet (no easy feat at 9 months pregnant!) she was on to the next goat and soon had petted nearly every one in the pen. She and Carter also had fun climbing on the wooden stumps--they really are kids! (I know, too much, but I couldn't resist!)

These last two pictures may be a bit difficult to see without clicking on them, but this is Ruby playing "dress up". One of her new favorite activities is finding clothes, pajamas, shoes, socks, boots, hats, etc. and dressing up in them. Of course she usually just layers them over whatever she's already got on, so she can come up with some pretty amusing outfits. One of my favorites this last week was a red onesie, red zip up sweatshirt, diaper, lacy diaper cover (from one of her dresses), socks, pink footed pajama pants, and knee high leather boots. And then...we went out to play. Maybe someday she really will have a fashion sense and give her Mommy a make over. For now though, these outfits are staying inside the confines of our yard!

We'll keep you posted on any baby news... Hope you are enjoying spring (or autumn) wherever you are!