Photoshoot

Here are some cute pics of Nathaniel at 6 days old. 
He was truly VERY grumpy and these are the only two decent pics I could get... oh well ;)

*smitten*

Nathaniel is one lucky man! he already has women fawning all over him!
Isn't this picture adorable? I laid him on the ground so that I could grab something from the kitchen. When I came back I found Maddy and Laila staring (adoringly) at him. I ran for my camera and was lucky enough to snap this picture. He's quite possibly the cutest baby ever. He loves snuggling with his momma and I'm definitely enabling him ;)

Laila calls him our "darling boy" and she is constantly saying, "You're ok, baby brother. You're ok" when he is crying. She loves to hold him and kiss him on the head. It is so great seeing how much she loves him. 

Maddy is turning out to be quite the little mother. She wants to be involved in every aspect of his care. Last week I walked up the stairs to find her at the top of the stairs with him in her hands (AHHHH!!!! he was only 9 days old!). She had apparently decided he was finished with his nap and went to fetch him ;) 

Nathaniel, here's hopin' I can keep you safe ;)

We are also 7 days from moving to California! I can't believe that our time here is almost over! I am soooo happy to report that it is 75 degrees in Newport Beach! (as opposed to the 99 degrees we have in Boston right now!) Hooray for good weather!

Baby Boy Vetter

Baby Vetter arrived at 3:15am via c-section, weighing a whopping 8 lbs 14 ounces and measuring 21.5 inches long. He has dark black hair like Laila did, though not as long as Laila's was. He is beloved by his sisters and in true "Heidi/Dan fashion" he is un-named and likely to remain that way for a few days :)

More updates to come...

Graduation, Maine, & Laila's real birthday

(sorry the first part of this is a little re-post if you read my other blog) 

The last two months have been a little, no, very overwhelming for me (as evidenced by my complete lack of  posts). We've had birthdays to plan, trips to take, family in town, and a graduation to attend. That's right, Dan is officially a Harvard graduate. 

The past three years have been a complete whirlwind. Laila came to our family and baby boy is on the way. We've met so many wonderful people (many of whom became amazing friends). There were fun school trips, charity events, dances, forums, amazing speakers, parties, etc. I'm not going to lie, the past three years have been some of the best of my life. 

But, 

there was a lot of sacrifice. We gave up income for three years (and with it any sense of financial security). We said goodbye to good friends graduating before us. We had to figure out how to balance student life with two kids in tow. We had to figure out how best to work together as a couple to make our family/marriage a success (not without a few hiccups), and we really stretched ourselves as individuals. 

It was an amazing time for us. My little family grew up here. My one year old became a 4 year-old. I became a mother of three (well, almost) and our family of three became a family of five. This place will always hold a special place in my heart. I'm sad we're saying goodbye, but we are definitely moving on to another exciting stage in life.  Here's to our move! and here's to the future!

The week leading up to graduation was FILLED with events. There were dinners, get-togethers, brunches, speakers, etc. Dan and I were literally busy every single day (all day long!). We were meeting classmates' parents, introducing Dan's parents, trying to keep my pregnancy  feet from swelling (didn't work, plus I have about 20 blisters!), and running all over Boston/Cambridge. 

This was Dan's last section dinner. We had it near the pier in downtown Boston.

Right before the dinner, we had a meet-and-greet with Dan's Professor and there was a Kennedy School BBQ (Here's a cute video of Laila that we took right after the Professor event).

We sent Dan's mom to get some food from the BBQ for the girls and she came back with these amazing balloons (not normal balloon material, they were gigantic and super durable). Dan was running to get the car when he ran into her, he just had to come back and see the girl's reactions (complete SHOCK! Laila sat their with her mouth open, just staring... so funny!) They kept the balloons for several days and they were their favorite toys!

Then there was graduation. What a stressful/amazing day. Harvard issues 30,000 tickets to the main graduation and only puts up 19,000 seats. Even though the ceremony started at 10am, we needed to get there early. We woke up at 5:45am and got there by 6:30am. We were shocked to see thousands of people lining the streets to get a seat.  Thanks to Dave's (Dan's brother) military prowess we were able to get pretty good seats ;)

Here I am showing off the baby bump.  

and Dan, sitting with his classmates.

After the graduation, Dan walked over to me and I must say he looked amazing. Brimming with joy and a sense of accomplishment. I felt so inspired. As we walked through the crowds I thought about the example he was setting for his young children and I felt so proud to be married to him :)

The main graduation ended at 11:45am and Dan's Harvard Kennedy School graduation started at 12:15pm, so we made our way through the crowds of people, walked down JFK Street (stopped for a diet coke and a subway sandwich - a pregnant girl's got to eat!!), and settled in for the next phase of Dan's graduation.

Luckily Dave was taking pictures of this graduation b/c I was in charge of recording it... and let's just say, it didn't work out ;) I was standing in the back, filming Dan walk up the platform and at the VERY MOMENT that they handed Dan's diploma to him a man stood up right in from of me!!!! UGH!!!!! I am pretty sure that this exact sentence came out of my mouth, 

"What the? WHAT are you doing?!!!!" 

By the time I was able to maneuver around him, Dan was already walking down the other side. Lame :(

After Dan walked off the stage, we immediately made our way across the river (where we met up with the girlies, did I forget to mention that we left them home with a sitter? I was not waking a 3 and 1 year old  up at 5:45am!) and settled in for the home stretch - Dan's Harvard Business School graduation. This was a really fun ceremony! They let the girls walk across the stage with their daddy. It was SO memorable and amazing! At the other side, they gave the girl's little "HBS KID" baseball caps. 

 The next week was filled with trips to Walden Pond, Concord, drives up the coast of Maine, family dinners, etc.  

(wish I had known this pic was being taken)

 

Laila showing us who's the boss. She grabbed us by the ears as we were leaning down to take a picture with her. Silly kid.

A family pic taken at a light house in Maine.

This was taken at an old fort on the coast of Maine.  Laila had just scraped her left knee. If you look closely, you can see her looking at the blood. Poor girl.

Yes, I look absolutely haggard and ridiculous, but I love the pic anyway. 

Cousin Seth was a HUGE hit around these parts. Maddy and Laila loved having him here. The rest of the pictures were taken on our last day in Maine with Dan's brother's family.

After Dan's family headed home we continued up the coast of Maine to Acadia National Park. It was absolutely beautiful and serene (despite the fact that pregnancy hormones were making me hyper-aware that cliffs were surrounding my babies at each turn! ahh!) 

Then there was Laila's actual birthday. We bought her a little cake and Maddy got her three new presents. Funny story: Maddy & I were at Toys R Us picking out Laila's gifts when this conversation took place:

Me: "Maddy what does Laila want for her birthday?"

Maddy: "oh, I know what we should get her! a purple iPad! That's a great idea. She'll love that!"

I'm sure she would Maddy... ;)

So we settled on a new Lighting Mcqueen car, Toy Story mini books (which she reads to herself every single night as she falls asleep), and a new baby doll (Maddy was doing a surgery and removed all of the stuffing from Laila's old baby doll).

On June 11th we had Maddy's long awaited gymnastics Olympics! (Seriously, she has been so excited about this).  Dan and I LOVED watching her performance! It was really cute.

That's all folks!