Celebrating Births

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of Joseph Jordan Lacey this morning!! Joey is our third nephew, second son of my (Megan's) brother Scott and Sarah. Today was Charlie's half birthday, so they are exactly 2.5 years apart.
Yes, my mom has four grandsons (no granddaughters), Sarah's mom has four grandsons (no granddaughters) and Anthony's mom has three grandsons (one step-granddaughter); boys, boys everywhere . . . I am really excited to get to know Joey; it turns out that I love being with little guys! Joey is healthy and weighed in at 8.5 pounds and 20.5 inches, but Sarah said it was a peaceful delivery in the middle of the night.
Paul, Micah and I talked about celebrating cousin Joey's arrival while we played in the leaves today.

Paul has been a feeling sick the past couple of days, so Micah decided that laughter would be the best medicine!We've had a lot of practice celebrating birthdays lately! Thanks again, Carly, for these great pictures of Nate's party.I figure that I've probably unknowingly included an unflattering photo of someone on our blog, so I'm displaying that I apparently took Nate's birthday party too seriously! Likewise, Micah focuses intently on making a candy necklace.I think Micah and Molly Aldrich look alike, including their little teeth that are in mouths that are ready for big teeth (I'd bet that our two families will be able to avoid orthodontics bills by having big mouths!) Paul's look-alike, Liam Chase, is in the background. The irony was that Paul got icing on his face in the effort to keep his hands clean! At Adam's birthday party, Paul got to spend time with Camille Martin, but his question was, "Do I have to let her pull my drooly shirt off?"If you are wondering what happens when you put a bunch of math professors' children together, here is some documentation. Paul (and the birthday boy not pictured) are breaking the mold.Micah is getting Paul and Camille to play together by reading to them.

Adam's dad, Len, drew the parallel between these JMU Math prof kids and the "Rat Pack!"

Micah's preschool class went on a beautiful fall hike -- can you find him?
Micah's preschool class had fun on the playground, too.
Since Micah and I love to hike and Paul seems to love being on my back, we went for a hike with Laura, Peyton, my mom, and SEVEN boys under four years old! Believe it or not, it was a great excursion!
This Saturday, we were able to go apple picking with SOOO many of our friends! We enjoyed spending time with my mom, (taking the photo) the Warnes, the Smethhursts, the Johnstons and some new friends.

Paul is ONE

Here is a big, birthday boy smile for you! Paul is doing a great job of learning to stand and walk; he loves to lean against things to stand and have his hands free (to make music like Micah, of course!)

As you can see from this video, Micah is one of Paul's walking targets! Grandma Jo and Grandpa Doug came to visit last weekend and Chloe took the opportunity to kiss Paul while everyone else was cheering JMU's football team to victory and Paul was "helping" me cook. Paul was more interested in cuddling and giggling with Grandma Jo than being a cute little frog. In the background, you can see our new "Ladybug line." My mom's dear friend, "Aunt" Lynne gave this gift to me before she passed away a few months ago. Micah and I have enjoyed displaying his artwork on the clothesline with decorative clothespins-- I highly recommend it! Paul is showing Grandpa Doug his new favorite pasttime: pointing (usually with an inquisitive look, resulting in me becoming the human labelling machine. I am thrilled that Paul is showing interest in learning words!) Joletta and Doug watched the boys while Anthony and I got to hang out with our friends, the Owens, Wargos, and Smethursts. The football game had a good result for Bryan (who played for UVA) but a pretty sad showing for Anthony (who daily questions his passion for PITT football.)
On Friday, we had a sailboat birthday dinner with my mom and Keith, complete with acorn squash boats, hot wax pepper boats, and Micah-made sailor hats. In his typical style, Paul devoured everything in sight, even the tipapia and squash!
We were all happy to have Grandma Bev and Granddaddy home from Alaska and even Micah loved seeing their pictures and hearing their stories. I won't be surprised if he has the "travel-bug!"

Here is the typically cute video of Paul trying to blow out the candle! Paul seemed to turn on the charm on Friday, including his new blinking and winking tricks.
Anthony and I had fun focusing on Paul for a change this beautiful weekend, so the four of us also had a playground picnic on Saturday. It was good for Micah to learn a little more about having fun for the sake of someone else!

Micah has been sweet about singing to Paul when he is going to sleep and this is a clip of Micah singing "Beautiful One" to his not-so-baby-now brother.

I almost forgot to share with you a sweet story about Paul: He has figured out some key aspects of logic! On many days, when the sun starts setting and shining through our west-facing windows in the foyer, Paul goes and sits in the sun on the floor while looking to the door, saying "Dad? Dad?" He has learned that when the sun comes in from the west, dad comes home! What a clever sundial.