Maui

Oakland Zoo

Halloween costumes

Holiday photos

Pumpkin patch pics

Random photos

A smattering of photos from this summer...

Matching train conductor hats.

At the Cal Acad.

It was a really hot day.

Camping in the backyard.

Pre-haircut.

Post-haircut.

Crawling.

At the A's game in Anaheim.

Conked out in the bike trailer.

Zach's 3rd birthday party!!

Meals made an amazing baseball cake.  Zach ate hot dogs and ran around a lot.  There was general mayhem with 7 kids running around the house.  Good times!!

DJT in the house!

My brother Dave came and visited last weekend with his wife Janie and beautiful son Teddy.  

I don't think I can post slideshows from Picasa anymore :-(  

The boys of summer

Look!! Up in the sky!!

It's our two flying boys!!!

Bonus shot of Niko showing off his mohawk...

Desert living

The climate here in Moraga is almost like a desert.  It's dry, sunny and clear - very beautiful weather.

Our beautiful Niko with his hair Au Naturel.

Grandpa (Pee Paw) is in seventh heaven with all of the gardens to work on.  Zach is very excited about his new vegetable garden. 

Pee Paw and Zach plant a veggie garden

Beautiful climbing vine near the garage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three fat lizards on the deck

Niko vs the fireman hat

Zach runs over and puts the hat on Niko and says, "Look, daddy, he's a fireman!!"

Niko vs the Bumbleride

And the Bumbleride has Niko down for the count!!

Santa Rosa potluck

And a visit to Train Town at the end!!

Zach vs the Sound of Music

Pulled out the old Rock Band toys to sell, and Zach proceeded to belt out his favorite tune...


 

Niko is 3 months old!

14 lbs 8 oz at the doctor's yesterday.  And to celebrate? We're rolling!!!

Pics from Seattle and the boonies

And more pics from our recent visit to the Stoever-Mins in Seattle and the Halstrom-Bucks in the Tricities... A million thanks to both for their incredible hospitality!! Made traveling as easy as we could have hoped for with two young kids :-)
 

Niko pics

Looking cute as ever...
 

Two of my three favorite boys

A little break from packing.  I'm sure Zach was playing inside a box when I took this photo.  We're moving to our new house in less than two weeks!!

Zach and Niko April, 2012

Zach was in seventh heaven recently when we went to a "Wheels" fair near our new home.

They had a fire engine, bomb squad, police car, mail truck, train to ride (it blew bubbles), antique tractor, etc.  He had a great time.  Here he is in the mail truck helping deliver the mail.

Here he is driving an old dump truck.

At the same time Niko bonded with his "pee paw".

Niko vs. elephant

Contemplating the elephant...

Head control

Niko vs. 2 months!!

Happy 2 month birthday, Niko!! He's really starting to fill up that car seat...

Zach vs. the whale

A beautiful spring day in the Berkeley hills. Zach and Andrew on the whale outside the Lawrence Hall of Science.

DJT invasion!

We were lucky enough to have my brother Dave visit this weekend with his wife Janie and son Teddy (age 16 months).
 

Tummy time!

A little tummy time while daddy was away at work...

Burping baby

Andrew and Niko getting some quality time together.

Niko, day 12

Lucky I caught him awake!! Worth the wait.

Being Mommy, round 2

After months of anticipation, Niko is finally here! Once again, our lives have changed irrevocably. I had become accustomed to a life of working all day in the operating room getting patients safely off to sleep then returning home to enjoy my family and get Zach safely off to sleep. Suddenly, I've been thrust into full-time mommy-dom: breastfeed, change diaper, soothe baby, try to put baby down and grab some sleep, resoothe baby, breastfeed, change diaper, put baby down and spend some time with Zach, breastfeed, etc, etc. Time passes strangely. The only difference between day and night is Zach's exuberant presence. I'm not going to lie and say that I love every minute of being a mom. It's exhausting both physically and emotionally. But I wouldn't give up this time I have at home with Andrew, Zach, and Niko for anything in the world. It reminds me that my priorities are here with this amazingly beautiful family Andrew and I have made. It has shown me that I have more love in my heart than I thought possible. Watching Zach welcome his brother into our home with a 2 year-old's curiosity but a much older child's sense of love and tenderness has only made me love him more. Niko has opened a new part of my heart to love I didn't know was there. And my love for Andrew continues to grow every day as he shows me what an incredible father, husband, and man he is. I am the luckiest mommy in the world.

Like two peas in a pod

Zach & Niko together on the playmat...

Zach vs Niko

Despite all our concerns about adjusting to life with a baby brother, Zach has been amazingly sweet with Niko. He has been (for the most part) gentle and doesn't seem threatened. In fact, he always seems to want to know where his brother is, and what he is doing. He loves patting him and giving him kisses. And he said the funniest thing when the Min grandparents were over the other day. Haddabeuji was holding Niko, and then Halmoni said it was time to go. Haddabeuji turned around to look for his coat and Zach yelled very firmly, "PUT HIM DOWN!!!" ROFLing...

It's the bouncing baby boys!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Andrew happily bouncing his two sons on the big green ball we use to soothe babies.

From Drop Box

Grandparent photos

Niko is now 5 days old, and he got to meet his Halmoni and Haddabeuji, as well as his Aunt Christine and Uncle Alex this weekend!!


Don't mistake the snoozing for a lack of excitement... :-)

A new addition!!!

Welcome to Niko Wheeler Min, born Tuesday 2/7/12 at 7:26pm! He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz, was 20 inches long, with a head circumference of 35 cm. The timing of the delivery was about as optimal as we could have hoped, as Meals started maternity leave on Friday and Andrew started paternity leave on Monday morning. We did our best to kickstart the labor process by eating an anchovy pizza from Gioia's on Monday night, but it seemed to have a delayed effect. It wasn't until the next morning that Meals crawled out of bed, claiming, "I think my water just broke. Or I wet myself." The whole labor process was eerily similar to Zach's. We actually had a suitcase packed this time, so we took Zach straight to daycare and then moseyed on over to the hospital. Spent most of the day walking around the hospital, staring at each other and asking if we were really ready for this (the consensus was not really). Got some pitocin on board to help with the labor process, got an epidural in place, got checked around 4pm and told we were at 4cm. Watched some mindless TV, got checked again, and whoa!! Meals was complete!! Pushed with four contractions (3 times each), baby was out in less than 10 minutes. That initial baby cry has to be the most beautiful sound to a pediatrician-father's ears :-).

Pictures are below. We are now day of life 3, made it home from the hospital earlier today. We are of course sleep-deprived and in survival mode again. Thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes!! We hope to be able to re-establish contact with the rest of the world in a few days (or weeks, or maybe months). We will do our best to keep posting.

Love, Meals, Zach, Andrew, and Niko!!

 

Zach vs Lake Temescal

The calm before the storm! Zach enjoyed a peaceful day with his grandparents at Lake Temescal.

Zach with his grandparents at Lake Temescal 1=31=2012

Zach vs the Lawrence Hall of Science

Playing with a beach ball on top of a jetstream of air...

Playing with the toy cars...

Beautifully clear day!!

Sitting on top of the giant whale!!