Washington, D.C. Trip

It has been a great time so far in Washington, D.C. Both kids are enjoying everything, but Alex claims his favorite so far has been the ducks on the reflecting pool and riding the trains. He LOVED the aquarium and so did Nathaniel. He kept trying to grab the fish through the glass. Alex has basically walked the entire trip and loves going up and down the escalators and running as much as he can. He has also tried to sleep with maw-maw and papa every night. I have included just a few pictures, but we have many more!

Summer is here!

Finally! The beautiful Michigan summer is finally here. We have planted flowers, worked to make our lawn green and beautiful and enjoyed the great outdoors with the kids! Nathaniel is 7 months old tomorrow and is growing like a weed. He is cutting his first 2 teeth and is still a happy and active baby. He cannot wait to start walking. He chases Alex around in his little walker toy. Alex is learning so much and enjoying being outside with his friends. We had a great trip to visit our family in the Port Huron area and Alex loved playing with his cousins and all of the great toys they have! He even had a 3 am playdate with Keith! Next, we are looking forward to coming home for Tom and Miranda's wedding and seeing our family and friends and heading to Washington D.C for a few days of fun! We cannot wait to see everyone.

Alex and Nathaniel hamming it up...

Six months old!

Wow! It has already been more than six months since Nathaniel was born. He is now a happy, active baby who loves to smile at everyone, but especially his big brother, Alex. While we are still pretty tired from lack of sleep at times, I cannot believe God blessed me with such wonderful boys. We have been very busy visiting with friends and doing work around the house. Alex especially enjoys helping me clear out the flower beds. He is actually pretty good at it, although we will see how the task of planting flowers with a three year old goes. Alex says that his favorite thing to do is play trains, but I would say a close second is watching the movie Cars nearly a thousand times a week. I am pretty sure he can quote the movie from memory now. In fact, he will randomly quote movie lines throughout the day. Nathaniel, who Alex says we should call Nate, is rolling over like a champ, and sitting up pretty well on his own. He hasn't really tried crawling, although I think he believes he is going to go straight to walking. He smiles all the time, and babbles and talks to us all day. The boys really love each other and I catch them playing with each other and laughing throughout the day and it just brings a smile to my face.

Kevin is finally finished with his year of overload classes and we could not be happier! It has been a busy and tiring year, but it has all worked out in the end. He is starting to teach his May class on Monday, but it is only a three week course. Kevin will be returning to Washington, D.C. this summer for Congressional Academy, and we are going to go before they start to do some sight seeing with the boys and my Mom and Dad. We will also hopefully be returning to Ashland this summer with Kevin to visit some friends and enjoy our old stomping grounds.

We look forward to getting to see many of you in our travels this summer and catching up on everything big and small!

Alex and Nathaniel sleeping after a long walk...

The Holidays are Approaching!

Well, Nathaniel has been here for over 2 weeks and he is such a sweet baby! We are all starting to adjust to having a baby in the house again and will soon busily be preparing for the holidays. Alex is very excited about Christmas decorations and candy canes. After a slightly rough start, Nathaniel is growing like crazy and is one of the calmest babies I have seen (besides Alex). He is a cuddler too. We hope to see many of you when we are home over Christmas time, but in the meantime, here are some pictures of the boys.

Alex helping feed Nathaniel...

First "real" bath (Alex is adding toys)...

Mom, leave me alone...

What a big brother...

Our handsome little man...

Nathaniel is Here!!!

We welcomed Nathaniel Edward Fowler Portteus into our family on November 3, 2009, weighing in at 8 lbs. 5 ozs and a whopping 22 inches long. It has been a busy transition, but Alex loves his baby brother and is very protective of his mom. We have had lots of help keeping the house moving, which has been great, but tomorrow we are on our own again. As I get more settled into my routine, I promise I will get back to those of you who wanted more detail on Nathaniel's birth. As many of you know, it takes time to settle into having 2 kids around. Here are a few pictures of Nathaniel and Alexander for all of you to enjoy! I promise to write more at a later time.

Our big boy Alex...

Alex wanted to read a story with baby brother...

Alex and his cheesy smile...

Proud daddy...

Relieved mommy...

Almost there...

Well, no October baby here! He will be here soon though. We have had a fairly warm week here in Michigan, so Alex got to play outside a lot this week and "help" Daddy rake the leaves. He was in heaven being outside so much. He was very excited to go Trick-or-treating tonight and looked very cute as a tiger. We just went around our neighborhood, but they treated him like a star! He didn't even tell anyone "trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat", like he has been telling me all week. HeHe! Besides that, we are pretty much just preparing for baby boy to get here. I am uncomfortable and ready to evict him soon. :) Enjoy the pictures.

Our cute little tiger...

With Daddy after TOT...

Isn't he cute?

Loves his cars and trucks...

Loved the piles of leaves...

Preparing for baby...

Not much going on here besides patiently waiting (well, waiting anyways), for the newest member of our family to arrive. Just over 4 weeks until my due date and we cannot wait to meet him! Alex continues to learn new things and grow like a weed. We have been enjoying visiting with family and playing with friends over the past few weeks. Alex is getting excited to teach his baby brother how to "play ball". We are slowly but surely finishing all of the little projects we want to finish before baby arrives, but we are at least ready if he comes soon! We have most of the living room put together, including hanging my beautiful print Kevin got me in D.C. this summer. It looks great! Our new dining room table will arrive soon and we cannot wait to begin entertaining with a table where we don't have to all squeeze in. Fall is here and Halloween is right around the corner, which means Alex has a pumpkin that he just loves! He had to pick out a huge one of course. But, he picked a nice one for baby brother too. He is also ready to get candy trick-or-treating. He is going to be a tiger as long as he doesn't grow too much over the next couple of weeks. We will also be celebrating Kevin's 30th birthday in just under two weeks. Hopefully we will have a new baby around that time to celebrate! This may be the last time I post before the new baby arrives, so enjoy a few random pictures from the last week or so.

Alex with Aunts Kathy and Tomi Ann and Great Grandma

My new print...

Yeehaw!!! (Of course he was supposed to be going to bed...)

Alex's tiger costume...

Kevin's new "man toy"...

It has been a while...

Well, it has been more than a month since I have posted here, so I figured an update was in order. It has been a busy month with school starting and preparing for baby #2 to come. Alex is getting bigger by the day and his vocabulary is growing too! He talks nearly non-stop and has the energy to match. Baby's room is pretty much ready for his arrival (as am I) and Alex's room is finally put together too. He has a great new (to us) dresser and bed and new curtains too. The living room is finally painted and almost all of our pictures are up on the wall. I love the yellow! I know it will be a welcome color come winter. The pregnancy is going well, although the discomfort has been getting to the point where I am really ready for baby boy to get here! Kevin is busily working away with many extra jobs this semester including some speaking engagements. We have been working on buying all of the things we have been putting off for a while, including a new dining room table (which should come around the same time as the baby) and a trimmer for Kevin (he is very excited about his new "man toy"). I have included just a couple of pictures below from the last month. I hope to be able to stay on top of posting pictures as the due date approaches and after baby Portteus makes his appearance! Enjoy!

Washing his car...

No detail is left out...

Nothing like a hand wash...

Helping Daddy fill the bucket...

Drinking with Daddy out of crazy straws...

Alex and Hobbes taking a nap...

Alex insisted on a picture of Hobbes...

And one with Mommy...

Playing in the sprinkler...

Our Last Trip of the Summer...

We just got home from what we think will be our last trip to Ohio for quite a while. We had a great time visiting with family and friends! While we were in Ashland, Alex got to play with his friend, Braden, and they had a great time. They got to play at the park together and had a great time watching some Mickey Mouse together at the apartment. It was a great week to visit with old friends and meet some new ones too! Alex and I got to meet Emily at her family's alpaca farm. What a great time! Alex got to see cows (which he loves), alpacas (you should see him when he shows us that alpacas sniff your hand), and got to get on tractors, trucks and all types of fun "boy toys". We got to spend some time with family while being in Akron, visited the Akron Zoo, and we even got family pictures taken while we were there. The pictures turned out great! I have included just a few pictures of our trip. There are many more pictures available, but I will spare you here. We are all getting settled back in at home and anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby boy Portteus!!!!

Building "castles" in the sandbox...

Watching baseball with papa...

My "bump" at 25 weeks...

Alex's new flip-flops...

This backpack rarely leaves his side when we are out...

Alex's "Inside" Choo-choo

As many of you know, Alex is a big fan of cars, trucks and especially trains! On our most recent visit to Maw-maw and Papa's, Alex came back talking about the choo-choo outside (my parents live next to train tracks for those of you who may not know). After a visit to a friend's house for lunch, Alex discovered he wanted an "inside choo-choo" like his friend. So Kevin and I took the trip to the store to buy a little model train for Alex to play with. He LOVES his train! It is just the basic Thomas set, but he plays with it for hours everyday! I have posted some pictures below for all of you to enjoy!

Our little ham!

Our Trip to Ohio

Alexander and I headed to Ohio to stay with Mom and Dad while Kevin was in Washington D.C. for nearly two weeks. We got to celebrate Independence Day and have many little adventures while we were there. Alex has really started talking and repeats pretty much everything we say. (Probably should watch what I say now.) He had such a great time visiting Papa and Maw-maw (the name he came up with for my mom) and with Grandma and Papi. Alex loved our bike rides and was very excited to play outside with Uncle Carl and Uncle Tom. It was very nice to get to spend some time with Kevin and not have to be alone while Kevin was away. Happily, Kevin is home now and Alex was VERY excited to see his Daddy. He jumped up and down with a huge smile on his face and the first thing he wanted Daddy to do was to swing him around. Only one more trip left to go this summer, then we get to relax at home and wait for our newest baby boy to come. :) Enjoy the pictures.

All toys are pool toys to Alex...

Alex got his hands on our camera...

Maw-maw and Papa

On his chair at Grandma and Papi's

The boys on our bike ride...