Newborn Photos

My friend Heidi took these amazing photos last week. I think Beckett did a great job posting for all the pictures. He was three weeks old when the photos were taken and it is amazing to see how much he has filled out in just three short weeks.

Meadow loves her little brother. It is so cute to get these moments documented on film.

B-Pom's Birthday

Todd's dad, Steve's birthday was this past weekend. We had a nice birthday celebration over at Steve and Rita's house. All the grandkids were in attendance. Our big present to Steve was his first boy Van Hee. Quick photo opp of all the kids. Parker did an amazing job holding Beckett for us.

Life is busy!

It has been hard to post an update these days with life being so busy. We have been enjoying our new little family of four. Meadow has been adjusting fairly well and really enjoys helping out her mom and dad and giggles when Beckett makes his funny baby noises. Beckett is growing really well. He had his two week appointment this past Friday and had gained 14 and a half ounces in nine days. He weighed 6 lbs 6 and a half ounces. I have to admit I am pretty exhausted from nursing every one to three hours round the clock, but I know this stage is only temporary so I am enjoying all the snuggling and holding I get to do with Beckett. Todd goes back to work on a part time schedule this week and next so I will still be getting a lot of help around the house. I posted several pics from the last week and a half.

Heidi came to visit with Esther last weekend. We took a light stroll by the river to see Meadow and Jonah playing.
Mary Jo and Gene stopped by in his first week.

Meadow loves to pat his head.

Meadow's big present for getting a baby brother. She loves this new toy!

One of the posed shots. I am still trying to get a nice picture for his announcement. Hope we can find one soon. He is wearing the knit hat my mom made for him.

Beckett next to Esther. She weighed 11 pounds in this picture and Beckett about 6.

His first bath. Look at those feet!

Meadow loves her new baby doll, called "other baby Beckett"

This picture shows her new haircut too.

Holding Beckett in the sling at our trip to OMSI last week. A little shout out to OMSI's discovery playground. What a great place for families and toddlers. They have so many great places to sit and a nursing room!! I wish all public places were so family friendly.

He loves to sleep in this little cacoon.

Todd has both kids asleep in his arms and one of his first jubelale's of the season. What a life!

On a hike by the Salmon River

We are slowly getting into our routine as parents of two. It has been nice receiving food from friends and family so that we have been able to spend more time with Beckett and Meadow. I am trying to be patient with my body recovering from the birth, but as most of you know it is hard for me to sit still for too long. But, hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to start doing some of the fun activities I missed while being pregnant.

Beckett River Comes Home

I am so excited to be able to finally post some pictures of our son Beckett River Van Hee. Our internet has been down for a few days, which was very untimely for such an exciting time in our lives. Beckett was born on 9/17/09 at 12:01am. He was 5 lbs 12 ounces and 18 inches long. He arrived a few weeks early because I developed signs of pre-eclampsia again so the doctors thought it would be safer to have him arrive a little bit early. We started the induction process about 2 and started pitocin at 8pm and he arrived just a few hours later. Todd and I were so excited to meet him. I unfortunately, had a few complications after he was born, which I won't go into on here, but I am doing good now and on the mend. It was a little bit scary for our family that evening, but the medical staff at Kaiser Sunnyside did an excellent job and the next morning I was able to really start to bond with Beckett. He is a very easy going little guy and only cries when he is hungry or needs a diaper change. He is so precious and we all are excited to watch him grow and develop. Meadow is doing great as a big sister and is learning how to be gentle around her little brother. Can't wait to share more pictures in the coming weeks.

Meadow and Daddy with Beckett in the hospital
Going Home Outfit

He is so tiny in his carseat

Getting wheeled out of the hospital. Yheaaaaaaaa we get to go home. We were there from Wednesday to Saturday.

Sleeping on the way home.

Beckett seems to be quite the mix from our families. His eyes are definitely from Todd's mom's side of the family and his nose looks like from the Dubach side and he has dimples. I think these come from my dad. He has really long toes too, which definitely look like Todd's and his brother's.

Sleeping after a good meal.

He likes to sleep on my belly. He probably misses that warm and cozy environment.

Sunday Fun!

Today, Meadow and I got together with our good friends Jen and Maddie. Todd had to work and Tony, Jen's husband, was on a hunting trip so it was a good excuse for us all to hang out. We started out our day with yummy breakfast at the ZigZag cafe and then headed to Little Zig Zag falls to burn some of our energy off after breakfast. It is a nice short half mile hike, which is perfect for toddlers and pregnant people. Jen is 19 weeks pregnant and due in February and I am officially 38 weeks. Here is a picture of all of us.

After the hike, we discovered the playzone at SkiBowl in Government Camp. What an awesome find and it is open during the winter months as well. Meadow and Maddie had such a blast crawling through all the tunnels and going down the slides. Jen was able to help the girls get over some of the challenging obstacles. But after awhile they were able to do everything on their own. We all worked up an appetite so we had a nice lunch enjoying the views at Skibowl. It was a beautiful day on the mountain.

Meadow also officially slept through the night sleeping in her big girl bed last night.

She also had such a busy day that she fell asleep on the way home and finished her nap in the toddler bed. What a great day!!!!!! Good food, great exercise, fun conversation, and some rest and relaxation. You just can't beat that.

Enjoying the last bit of Summer

We had a nice weekend in Brightwood. Temperatures were in the low 90's so we decided to enjoy one of our last dips in the pool. Rita let us have this nice blow up pool, which was great because Meadow and I could both fit in it.

We also got the stethescope out to see if we could hear the baby so Meadow was testing it out. She was so cute listening to her own heart beat.

We also had a great time at the Festival of the Forest at Wildwood park. We listened to fun music and Meadow got to meet Smokey the Bear and Woodsey the Owl. We accidentally left the camera at home, so we apologize for the lack of documentation. It was a very nice relaxing weekend where we mainly stayed around the house and the local area. I got a prenatal massage on Saturday morning, which really helped my achey shoulders and back and I also got to splurge on a yummy cinnamon roll and decaf coffee drink. yummy. We definitely took time to enjoy one of our last weekends as just a family of three.

Oregon State Fair

This past Labor Day, Todd actually had the day off. This is one of the first labor day's he has had off in seven years. The weather was a bit drizzly in the morning, but the forecast said that the sunshine would be out by the afternoon. So, we decided to make the trip to the Oregon State Fair in Salem. It is about an hour and a half from us. We knew that Meadow would love to see all the farm animals.

Due to the weather being a bit cold I put Meadow in her new fall jacket and hat. She also got new rain boots this past weekend because she had grown out of her old one's.
Checking out the cows. I was actually pretty impressed with how big some of these gals were.

Meadow was probably most excited about seeing the pigs. They were funny how they snorted at us.

Slumbering away........

Checking out the bulls with their huge horns. I wonder if this one was checking out my big belly.

Riding a john deere tractor. Unfortunately, this was the only ride Meadow could do because you had to be 36 inches tall to do the kid rides. It kind of worked out in our favor though because even the kid rides were still pretty fast and too old for Meadow. We were also all pretty tired by the time we walked to the ride area.

Having fun digging

It was a great first trip to the fair. It was definitely really busy on the last day, so if we go again we may try to go earlier in the week. We also didn't time things perfectly so we could see some of the different events going on. We caught glimpses of girls roller derby, an acrobat show, and a kid sheep riding contest. Oh the things you can see at the fair.