Grandparents Visit!!!

Kris (Mimi) was in town for 10 days to help out with things once Gwen was born. She loved getting to hold Gwen and play with Cole. She also cooked and froze tons of food for us so that we'll have stuff to eat in the weeks ahead. Thanks Kris!Grandpa Al joined in on the fun for a few days and brought presents with him. Here he is trying to coerce Cole to open a gift.

Here is Gwen with the bear that Grandpa Al brought for her.

Grandpa, Cole, Mimi, & Gwen

Papa and Gramee got into town last night, traveling through slick and snowy roads to get here. We woke up this morning, had some breakfast, and headed outside to partake in some snow-filled activities.
Here is some video of Cole & Gramee doing some sledding.


Papa and Cole take to the slopes!


The Gators are 1-0 in Cole's lifetime against Georgia, so Cole is very excited and confident about the FL/GA game tomorrow. Gooooo Gators!!!!

Blizzard '09

Well, maybe "blizzard" is blowing it a little out of proportion, but we have had about a foot and a half of snow in the past 24 hours and it is still snowing as we are about to head off to bed. I didn't go in to work and Emily's classes got cancelled today, and the same may happen tomorrow. My parents are supposed to be flying into town tomorrow evening, so hopefully the snow will let up by then and that the runways and roads will be clear.

Cole and I took full advantage of the white out by heading outside to play in the snow. Here are some pictures of us before heading out into the cold.

Cole is intrigued by, and loves to say, "gloves".

Here he is showing off the awesome snowsuit that Uncle Chris & Aunt Colleen got him for his birthday. Thanks guys!!!

We threw some snowballs, ate some snowballs, fell over in the snow, and did some sledding. Here is a video of me pulling Cole and some of the other kids in a sled.

As you may remember from last winter, we have a hill right outside our apartment that is ideal for little kids to sled on. So Cole and I made 6 or 7 trips down the hill until Cole's face was frozen, which was our cue to head inside. Here is some video of one of our runs.


And no blog post is complete without a new picture of Gwen. She's a keeper!

Gwen's First Week

Gwen has done excellent so far in her first week of life. She is eating like a champ and is only 4 ounces off her birth weight, which is great news. Emily has been diligent in making sure Gwen eats every 2.5 - 3 hours. Emily's mom and dad are now both in town and have been a huge help.

People have been stopping by to meet Gwen, including our friends Steve & Laura.

As well as Lauren & Brad. Lauren in our new operator at Chick-fil-A.
Awake and alert!

Sleeping and serene.

A very proud big brother.

We're Home!!!

We're home!

The nurses at the hospital were super awesome about getting us processed today so that we could bring Gwen home to meet her big brother. We got a clean bill of health from Gwen's pediatrician and Emily's doctor, so we got to head home exactly 24 hours after Gwen was born.

Gwen had a great night of sleeping, only waking up to eat every 3 hours or so. And she is going a good job of eating, so that is such a blessing. We spent most of today just hanging around the recovery room and bonding with Gwen. Here I am getting some quality skin-to-skin contact with Gwen.

Our friend Luke is a chaplain volunteer at the hospital, so he stopped by to meet Gwen and congratulate us.
We got some very fun gifts send to the hospital.

We're on our way home! Same car seat and Gator blanket that Cole went home in 16 months prior.

Michael, my Chick-fil-A partner in crime, stopped by on his way home from work to meet Gwen and to drop off an awesome gift basket from all the people at Chick-fil-A.

Our first family picture!

Gwendolyn Joanne Roberts

October 19, 2009 will forever be a day that our family will remember as God chose this day to bless us with another beautiful baby. Her name is Gwendolyn Joanne. "Gwendolyn" was my mom's mom who passed away before I was born. My grandfather remarried a wonderful woman named Joanne who has been an incredible blessing in our lives. Joanne also means "God is gracious." Gwen was born at 4:07 PM, weighing in at 6 lbs. 4 oz. and measuring 19 inches long. Gwen's first day of life has been great, and her and mommy are now fast asleep....for now, at least.

Here is Gwen just a few minutes old.

Here is a happy mommy holding Gwen for the first time.

I'm pretty excited to be holding my beautiful daughter!

Our first family photo :)

Dr. Furr did a great job delivering Gwen. Thanks, doc!!!

Gwen decided to open her eyes.

All bundled up!

Mimi came by to meet her granddaughter.
Natalie and Lauren came by the hospital with Mimi. Here they are watching Emily feed Gwen.
Gwen's first music box! Such a great gift :)

You may have noticed that Cole is not in any of our pictures. Due to the spread of the H1N1 virus many hospitals now have a policy that no one under the age of 18 can visit the hospital unless they are a patient. Therefore, Cole will not get to meet his baby sister until we bring her home. Our hope is that tomorrow all will be well with mommy and baby so that they will discharge us tomorrow evening. We will post more pictures and some videos when we get a chance. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!!!

Another Baby Update - At The Hospital!!!

We woke up early this morning and headed off to Sky Ridge Hospital in Lone Tree (not Highlands Ranch --- oops on the last post). We got to see a beautiful sunrise on our way. Here is Emily outside the hospital and ready to have a baby girl!!!

Talking to her mom who is at home with Cole. It was very sad that neither of us were there to be with Cole when he woke up this morning. Probably the first time that has ever happened :(


Pretty nice room. Not too bad :)

Baby Update & Denver Half Marathon

Just a quick update to let you all know that Emily will be induced tomorrow morning (10/19) if she does not go into labor in the next 19 hours. We will head to Sky Ridge Hospital in Highlands Ranch for a 7:15 AM appointment, so expect some good news later in the day tomorrow!!! Now, we just have to figure out a name......

Also, I woke up at 5 AM this morning to get to downtown to run the Denver 1/2 Marathon this morning. Although I had initially intended on running the full marathon, some unfortunate injuries during my training kept me from being ready to run the full. But I am still pleased with my accomplishment of finishing the 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 10 minutes, and 39 seconds, which is just under 10-minute miles. I'm not sure if my knees will ever hold up for a full marathon, but I am sure that I will give it a try at some point.

Here is the look of the exhausted runner:

Emily did a post-race interview with me:

2 Months Overdue

I know that once baby girl enters the world I will hardly have time to do any blogging, so it was now or never to get these pics and videos up as Emily is due in 11 days! Emily's family came for a visit back in July and it was a very busy week full of lots of activities.

We started the festivities on a Sunday by celebrating Cole's 2nd First Birthday (which was already blogged about back in July). We took some time to celebrate Alycia and Al's birthdays as well. I had to work on Monday, but they had a great time exploring a local park and living through one of the most intense hail/wind storms to ever blow through Littleton. I came home from work and the power was still out!

On Tuesday we headed north to explore Fort Collins. We first stopped at the Swetsville Zoo, which is really a sculpture park and isn't a zoo at all. Here is a picture of the sculpture that greeted us in our parking space.

Here are the Bentley ladies and Cole in front of a sculpture of a two-headed dragon.

Most of the sculptures were made mostly out of steel and other metals. Emily kind of looks like this crazy metal bug.

Next we hit up downtown Ft. Collins where the ladies did some shopping and Al and I ran back and forth to our parking meter to feed it more quarters. We also had a great lunch at CooperSmith's Pub & Brewery.

Finally, we went to the Anheuser Busch Brewery and took one of their guided walking tours. Cole did a lot of the walking himself as this was his newest skill at the time. The tour began with a look at their famous clydesdale horses and beer carriage.

Then we got to see the entire process on how they make their beer. Here is a shot from the lager cellar. That's a lot of beer!

The next day was a big day for Cole as he got to experience a real pool for the first time. Here are Em, Mimi, and Grandpa getting Cole situated.
He was a little shell-shocked at first, but by the end of the day he was loving the pool.

The rest of their time here was spent just hanging out and getting quality time with Cole. Here is a video of Mimi teaching Cole how to rock out on his drum.


Mimi is schduled to fly in on the due date (October 15), with Grandpa scheduled to follow soon after. And Alycia will be visiting for a week over Thanksgiving, so we'll get to see them all again very soon!