Jared Alonzo Merrell

Jared Alonzo Merrell born December 9th at 12:50PM
-19 1/2 inches (I had to take him to the ped. this morning
though and they measured him at 21 1/2 inches; someone
made a mistake. I don't think he could grow two inches in less
than a week. The nurse even measured him again and got closer
to 22 inches. I am thinking he is closer to 21 1/2 than the 19 1/2
that the hospital told me.
-8 lbs 11oz.

I had my midwife break my water at 9AM and he came about
4 hours later. I did not have to have any pitocin and
everything happened quickly. Jared had quite a bit of bruising
because he had the cord wrapped around his neck, so I had
to push quickly. We are all doing great, and so happy to have
him here. Nathan adored his brother the first 30 minutes
and then wanted to give him back. He is just starting to warm
up a little more and wants to hold him now. Thanks everyone for
the prayers.

Jared Alonzo Merrell

AND MORE!!!

Continuing Nathan's Party

Nathan's 2

He first enjoyed playing on the slide at McDonalds with
his cousins. Then we bought happy meals for all of the
kiddos. He enjoyed blowing out his candle and being
the clean boy that he is used to spoons to eat the frosting
off of his cupcake. Then he opened presents, but didn't
like when we had to take them away, so he could open
the rest of them. He had a blast.

Daddy's shoes

Nathan loves to put on shoes. He will go
into our closet and grab every pair and
try them on. Matt's basketball shoes
look like skis for Nathan. He walked
around the house for 30 minutes like this.

Mowing the Lawn with Daddy

Sharing his Halloween candy.

He actually has two suckers-one

for each hand.

Look at My Muscles

He loves to show off his big muscles.

Halloween Costume

Nathan was Handy Manny for Halloween, and he loved his costume. The boots were given to us even before he was born, but he loves to put them on. They are 2 sizes too big, but he loves to go around the house and "repair" everything. He even likes to have a pencil in his ear like Handy Manny. He keeps the pencil on his ear because Matt always has a pencil behind his ear.

painting pumpkins

I think that Nathan enjoyed painting himself more than the pumpking, but he had a blast. He was really excited when he saw what I painted on mine. He said Elmo in his own way and every time he sees it he gets soooooo excited. I think I may try and paint Barney on the other side as Barney is his favorite.