Should We Post These?

Cure for a toddler tantrum:

Jacob had a HUGE meltdown yesterday, so this was Spencer's way of getting him over it:)

The Boys

Before:

After:

This is Jacob's "cheese" face...with the comb-over Dad gave him.


This is all Carter does, sleep and look cute...unless it's the middle of the night, then he's wide awake and full of things to "say."  

We love our boys!

Bringing Carter Home

Leaving the hospital...we're excited to go and meet big brother!


Their first encounter...
...was a success until Carter started to cry and then Jacob wasn't too sure about him.

This doesn't look very comfortable, but every time I tried to move him, he'd wiggle back to this position.  What is it about having your face squished up against something that is so great; Jacob sleeps like this too.
Still figuring him out.
Giving kisses--so cute!  Jacob is a great big brother, he's very soft and gentle for the most part and loves to be a helper.  So far so good:)

A Few More

Here are a few more pictures of Carter. He doesn't do much, sorry no action shots. Oh, and we will probably have to change the name of our blog... any ideas?

Welcome Carter Taylor Hirt

He decided to show up on his birthday (that was supposed to sound like a Mike Hirt joke). He weighed 8 lbs 13 ounces and measured 20 inches in length. We think he looks a lot like his brother. We'll post some more later, we just wanted to get some picture out for everyone to see. Enjoy!

Still Waiting...

Here's a quick and probably boring update:

I am still pregnant...and miserable to say the least.  Due date isn't until Tuesday, but I feel like I'm at least two weeks overdue now for two reasons (don't judge me, these reasons were perfectly logical in my head, haha.)  1. Jacob came 10 days early, so naturally baby number 2 would also come early.  2. Two weeks ago I was up all night with very painful contractions that were 5-6 minutes apart.  We were ready to walk out the door, thinking 'this is it.'  But, alas, after 14 hours of torture, the contractions stopped and we didn't have a baby so now that two more weeks have passed and we still don't have a little bundle of joy...well, lets just say I'm out of patience:)  Next appointment is tomorrow afternoon so we're really hoping for some progress.

On a happier note, my mom made it here this week and it's so good to get to spend time with her and have all the extra help.  Jacob was a little unsure of Grama for the first few days, but has now rediscovered how great it is to have Grama around.  

Jacob got his stitches out on Thursday and was very brave.  He has a little scar, but other than that is as good as new.  He's started a new phase that involves a lot of squealing/screaming--any advice on how to move past this stage as quickly as possible would be greatly appreciated. He wore a tie for the first time to church today, so adorable, but it only lasted the first 30 minutes, maybe:)

Spencer is very busy with school and the handful of other things he's involved in, which now includes studying for the MCAT exam, to be taken in May.  He got a great prep program in the mail the other day which includes practice tests, DVDs, CDs, flashcards, and hundreds of pages of reading.  That was a day that reminded me how glad I am to be done with big tests and studying; so happy I'm not the one who wants to be a doctor:)  As busy as he is, though, he always puts his family first.  For example, the other day after returning from classes he quickly dropped his backpack and a game of chase/wrestling immediately began with Jacob (this is extremely entertaining to watch), the playing continued for over an hour and then he put Jacob down for a nap, took the time to make me one of his delicious smoothies and make sure I didn't need anything else, and then started his long list of things to get done before the morning.  He's amazing and I love him.

Hopefully our next post will be to introduce baby Carter to everyone!

Jacob's First Stitches

Jacob had an "exciting" Halloween.  He got a hold of a pencil Saturday night while we were having game night with some friends and ended up with a pretty bad split lip.  After sending pictures to Nurse Jenna, we decided to take him into the ER just to be safe.  The poor little guy had to get two stitches!  It was awful; once they finally got around to doing the actual stitches, he had to get strapped down on the papoose board and then have both Spencer and a nurse hold his head while the doctor tried to get the stitches in.  Since he was screaming and wiggling so much it took 3 times as long as it should have and by the time he was done he was drenched with sweat and fairly traumatized.  Needless to say he wasn't the only one crying.  He was pretty tough though, after it originally happened he only cried for a couple minutes and then he didn't cry again until he was strapped down.  Thankfully, once that part was over, he hasn't seemed bothered at all.  Sunday he woke up his usual happy, wiggly, scampish self:)

I know these aren't very good pictures, especially the bottom two with his chocolate covered face and chips coming out of his mouth, but those are the best ones I could get.  We have to go back in on Thursday to have the stitches removed, hopefully that won't be half as bad as getting them in.  I'd like to think this won't happen again, but with two boys (almost) I'm sure this was our first trip of many:)

Our Little Monkey

Jacob was a pretty cute monkey for Halloween.  He figured out the whole trick-or-treat idea pretty quickly so it was a lot of fun taking him around to get candy from the businesses downtown and at our ward trunk-or-treat party.  He knows the sign for candy and will frequently ask for it while standing in front of the candy bowl, sitting in his carseat, at the dinner table, reading a book, taking a bath...you get the idea; he's developed quite the sweet tooth:)

Belly Pictures

3 more weeks to go!  Hopefully, Carter will follow in Jacob's footsteps and come early, I would really appreciate that.  We had another appointment yesterday and the Doctor did another ultrasound to check Carter's weight and size since I haven't gained any weight from when I first found out I was pregnant--I'm almost back to where I started.  Thankfully, Carter looked great and is weighing in at 7lbs right now.  He's also sitting extremely low which is causing a huge amount of pain; I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that means he's ready to come and is finished with this whole baking nonsense.  We'll see, I want him to come and would be fine if he chose tomorrow as the big day, but I also want him to wait until my Mom gets here so I know that Jacob is being taken care of by Grama and won't have to worry about what's going on at home.  Times like these make it especially hard to live so far away from home and family:(

Jenna's been asking for belly pictures for weeks now and I kept telling her the next time I felt cute I'd post some, well that day has yet to arrive, seriously, who feels cute when their 9 months pregnant?  So I decided to just post one anyway and Spencer being the sweetheart that he is took one too and said I could post it for moral support.  When I commented on his sad attempt at having a belly, he responded by saying he was working on an empty stomach:)  
I thought it was pretty obvious that I was pregnant, but apparently not so much.  Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner and after an hour or so Spencer made a comment about the second baby coming and one elder said, "Oh, so you are pregnant.  I wasn't sure so I didn't want to say anything."  Yeah, that made me feel pretty great, haha:)  After some laughing and teasing, he then went on to say something about over-active thyroids and how you never know so he didn't ask; bless his heart:)

Fall Break

Jacob got some new church clothes so he had something to wear besides jeans and a t-shirt.  I just love him in sweaters!  (The rag-a-muffin hair comes from his nap)

He looks like such a little boy...doesn't he just melt your heart?  
On an unrelated note, we got to go up to the temple this week!  A few couples and us got together to split gas and the hotel and switch off with the kids.  We had a great time and it was wonderful getting an opportunity to go to the temple.  
The whole group...thanks to everyone for making fall break a huge success!

A Fun Day With Jacob

Trying on some of Dad's cool Navy gear
Today we went to a street fair here in Buena Vista and Jacob had a blast.  The weather was perfect to be out and about and they had some great treats, including funnel cakes:)  Jacob's favorite part was the animals, he got to ride a horse with Dad and pet lots of puppies and kittens.  

Jacob kept trying to lean in for kisses, so, so cute!
We entered a raffle to win a small tractor for Jacob that he fell in love with and kept going back to ride on.  He threw a little bit of a fit when we took him away, but luckily we quickly found this big one for him to play on.  

Jacob and his best bud, Connor.  We love this little guy, he's 9 months and the most content and mellow kid I have ever seen; which is really good because Jacob can be a bit of a bully but Connor never seems to care much so they get along great.  (Don't you love Jacob's face, haha)

Yummy Chocolate

Thank goodness for fudgsicles on hot fall days:)

Jacob soon discovered that fudgsicles can also double as sidewalk paint and after making a lovely picture, Dad took the leftovers away so he wouldn't try to eat it...screaming shortly followed.  

Train 'Em Young

Just a few pictures of Jacob trying on my headgear. Gotta start 'em young ya know.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Yesterday was Jacob's first birthday! We thought we'd planned a pretty fun day for him, but he wasn't too impressed.  We went up to an indoor water park thinking he would have a blast because he loves the water so much, but he pretty much hated it.  Well, anything that had to do with the water at least.  He had a blast playing on the stairs, making faces at himself in the windows and dumping fries all over the floor.

Apparently, birthdays are rough...but he's enjoying his new bean bag chair.  



While opening presents, he was very calm and seemed to be more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual present. Once we got the paper out of the way, he was pretty happy with all his new loot. 
Getting ready for the main event...
...Which turned out to be a yawner:)  True to Jacob's nature, he stayed very calm and relaxed during the entire process, hardly even making a mess.  

Happy Birthday Jacob, we love you so much and are so blessed to have your sweet spirit in our family!

He Finally Made It!

Spencer made it home, YAY! It's absolutely wonderful to be back together as a family.  His plane was early so he was coming down the stairs the same time we were walking in the door, so we didn't get to many pictures at the airport, but here are a few.  It took Jacob about 30 seconds to warm up to Spencer and he's been in heaven ever since.  Apparently, he was pretty bored playing with me, he would much rather wrestle around with dad:)  

We also had to say goodbye to Grama on Sunday, sadly she had to return home.  Thanks so much for all or your help Mom, we can't wait to have you back in November!