Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Many more Miles...

(You can click on any picture to download or save a copy if you'd like)
Thirteen is our #... Miles was born on the February 13th which dad predicted when we found out the due date months ago and we stayed in room 213 in the hospital.



First car ride home, again demonstrating his (or at least Nicole's) Colts loyalty.


Checking out his new bed


Little Miles, big bed.


The "Pose". We've discovered this is his favorite position which was even evident in the ultrasound before he was born.


New outfit complete with monkey shoes.


Holding Mama's hand.


P-E-R-F-E-C-T-I-O-N


He's very alert when he's awake but he's just easier to take pictures of when he's asleep.


Another new outfit (I think he may be pooping in this shot)


Finally back to sleeping...

...with sweet dreams! (best shot of the day)

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Nap Time...

Taking a nap with Mamaw.

Already a true, blue Colts fan.

Just a couple more really cute pictures with videos on the way shortly. We are being discharged from the hospital this afternoon and are SO excited to finally be headed back home to the island.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Baby Miles

Little Miles Tyler

He actually doesn't cry much, he just likes to take it easy so far.



The VanDyke "Family" (more pictures to come...)

He's finally here!

Miles Tyler entered the world at 11:04 pm on Friday, February the 13th, 2009 at 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21 inches long. We feel so blessed to have welcomed him into our life and thankful he truly makes us a family (debatable if you count Duermo and Squirt as Miles older brothers). Here's the story. Wednesday morning we woke up at 5:00am counting contractions as we'd done almost every night this week. Nicole had a feeling that something was different and that maybe Wednesday could be the day. We went in that afternoon at 4pm to the birthing center because Nicole had some bleeding which ended up being whats known as bloody show - this is a sign of labor. We were both very surprised to learn that she was dialated to a 4. (We almost didn't go in to the appointment because Nicole was feeling alright that afternoon.) We went out for chinese, of course:) and then went for a walk in the park for a few minutes and headed back to the birthing center. Her midwife checked her and we were admitted that evening. She continued to progress, or so we thought.. Many of you recieved a text message that night letting you know that she was in labor, which was true - it just ended up being a different kind of labor than we'd expected. She was up on her feet and smiling and laughing all throughout the night, and only got 15 minutes of sleep. Her midwife checked on her in the morning and her cervix seemed to be still dialating slowly, it was just really far back. So she was hardly progressing at all. They sent us home to Galveston Thursday afternoon to get some rest (which is an hour & a half drive!) Of course on the way home she started having stronger and more frequent contractions. We got home and slept for about an hour and then Nicole's parents arrived. The four of us packed our stuff and went back up to the birthing center, at this time her contractions were a steady 2 minutes apart. Her midwife checked her and nothing had changed, her cervix was still posterior. She was in what they call padromal labor, and actually had been since the day before. So we went and got a hotel room since she was dialated to a 6 and we did not want to be an hour and a half away from the center. Nicole grew increasingly miserable as her contractions had picked up again evening and we could tell something had changed. We went back to the birthing center and finally her cervix was where it should've been. We were admitted back into the birthing center and had more of a restful night than the one before. Friday morning her contractions were still steady and intesifying, but her water had not broken yet. They ended up breaking her water at 3:30pm and she started completely pushing shortly thereafter. She pushed for a little over 6 hours straight and his head was showing, she just couldn't get him to the crowning stage. no matter how hard she pushed. Finally the midwives decided that everything they could possibly do had been done and we were transferred to a local hospital. The doctor ended up attaching a vaccuum to his little head that was just peeking out and Nicole gave about 3 good pushes and FINALLY Miles made his debut! He is beautiful and perfect and I just can't describe how it really does change you in an instant. Our apologies for not keeping you better informed, it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride there for a while and we weren't really sure what was going on ourselves. Thanks to all of you who've been checking in on us and for all the prayers you've prayed over the last couple of days. We hope to post some pictures here soon so you can see the amazing little guy.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

New Paint & Progress...

It'll be four months since the storm this week but we're making progress...
It went from this,

to this...


to this in just a couple days!


This will be the office (just as it was before)


This will be the Colts nursery for Miles when he arrives (we're working diligently to ensure he can come home to his room)

Master bedroom (which now has it's own full bath off of it)


New shower in Master bath.

...and a late Merry Christmas from Duermo.


Doesn't he look like he's having fun.
We will have trim and new doors by the end of this week, flooring and the kitchen come shortly after that and if all goes as planned we should be close to finishing within two weeks. (Nicole says I'm too optimistic (unrealistic) but I say Miles is coming soon!) We continue to be thankful, grateful, and in awe of the support and encouragement we are receiving from our family and friends.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Miles has more clothes than us! (jk, but almost)

We already bought Miles his first pair of shoes, which match his Dad's (that still boggles my mind even as I type it)

Between what his Grandma's have already gotten him he should already have a full wardrobe for years to come.

We're excited to see them on him, which won't be too much longer!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Nicole and Miles!

Nicole is 31 weeks pregnant and Miles is nearly full length and now only has to just about double his weight. You can clearly feel him move and even see body parts move across her belly. He seems to really like fruit snacks, frozen confections, and his dad playing the bongos.
(you can click on each picture to view the full-size version)
-
I made Nicole do a photo shoot.

Miles is a getting to be a big boy and Nicole says he must like his picture taken as much as she does because he was kicking her really hard the whole time.

My dad provided a prop for us to use.

...and then Nicole found her own props.