Our First Christmas With Miles & Monty-Rex

This was Miles' first Christmas with us, and although he is the newest Nelson and enjoyed the morning with everyone, Charley still manages to attract the most attention, especially when he's playing with his gift from Uncle Matthew and Aunt Jennifer, Monty-Rex. Here's a little video showing Charley trying to ride his new dinosaur, which by the way, is not supposed to be ridden...Merry Christmas!!

Lets go ride a bike

John-Paul got an early Christmas gift from me and the boys...a bike! It's kind of a gift for Charley too, because now he gets lots of fun bike rides with dad in his cool little bike seat thing. They both are loving going on rides all around Seal Beach, and Charley likes to say "whoaaa!" every time they make a turn. He loved it so much, that he kept his helmet on practically all day after his first ride.

Ever since Thanksgiving I've been trying to get a picture of the boys together for our Christmas card, and it's been pretty much impossible. First of all, Charley seems to be incapable of staying still for longer than 2 seconds and also, when the camera comes out he becomes Mister Serious. Miles isn't much of a camera fan either, but even more than that, he really isn't a fan of being too close to Charley and being poked, hit, having his pacifier stolen, etc. So I finally just broke down and found a Christmas card with spaces for three pictures: a pic of Charley, a pic of Miles, and a pic of John-Paul and I. Problem solved! But here is some evidence of our valiant attempts at a family photo (and thank you to Jennie for being the patient photographer):

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving we have an extra-special blessing to be thankful for...new baby Miles! Today is his one-month birthday :)

You can blame my mom for this Thanksgiving scene complete with wooden pilgrims...

Workin it at Dad's Work

I took the boys to visit John-Paul at work yesterday, because some of his co-workers had been wanting to meet Miles, and also because we really needed to get out of the house :) Charley made himself at home right away, running into people's offices and taking things, and Miles hung out in his carseat most of the time until he decided to cry really loudly while John-Paul was on a business call.

Mr. Miles Daniel Nelson, the youngest Versatables employee ever.

Charley working so hard at Dad's computer that he needed a snack.

Stormer was a good sport and let C. run around his office and touch everything.

Charley decided he was a little chilly, so he put on John-Paul's co-worker Vy's leopard print Snuggie :)

Charley speaking to some important clients for John-Paul's co-worker Sam.

C. hard at work "measuring" his little brother.

The Nelson Household

Here's a little glimpse of whats been going on with the Nelson family lately...

Charley got a handsome haircut from Dad. Here he is in the mohawk phase of the haircut process.

And Miles has been snoozing....well and crying and eating a lot too, but he looks the cutest when he's snoozing :)

Visitors for Mister Miles

Here are a few pics from some of the first visitors Miles got when we were home from the hospital.
Miles' cousin Braden, Aunt Angela, Aunt Maria, and his Grandad came to meet him for the first time, and they all thought he was pretty darn cute :) There are also pics from this day on Braden's blog.


Then, later on in the day Miles got even more visitors when his Grammie and Pops, G.G.(great grammie) and John, Jennie and Jonathan and Matt came over. It was a big day for him!

Happy Halloween!

Luckily, we got home from the hospital with Miles just in time to celebrate Halloween! With a five-day-old, a sixteen-month-old, and an exhausted mom and dad, we didn't do anything too wild and crazy, but Charley did dress up and go trick-or-treating for the first time. He didn't really care about the candy, but he did love running around the neighborhood and inspecting everyone's decorations. And Miles slept through the whole thing :)

A cute but naughty zebra, playing with his Dad's computer which he knows is a "no-no."


Trying to get a pic of Charley and Miles together wasn't the easiest thing to do...


John-Paul is thinking, "What did I just get myself into?!?" :)


Checking out some spooky skulls


Looking at more scary decorations with Dad.


Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

The Newest Nelson Has Arrived!!

Miles Daniel Nelson was born last night, October 26th, 2009 at 9:46pm at Glendale Adventist Hospital. He weighed in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and is 20 inches long and turned out just right!

He was not supposed to be born until next Monday at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, but he decided that he wanted to meet his big brother Charley so bad that he decided to give us all a major scare and throw Kristen into labor while she was up in La Crescenta visiting her parents.

Kristen's dad Dan, was going to drive Krissy down to Hoag but Miles could not wait any longer and Glendale Adventist was the closest hospital so that's where he was born.

Kristen & Miles are doing great (and so am I), and here is a picture to enjoy...many, many more will follow!

Watch out animals....

When Charley enters the petting zoo, you can almost see the animals thinking, "oh great. Not him!" Charley does a lot more chasing than petting, and to the animals' dismay, he doesn't seem to really get tired of it. He loves it! We'll probably have to make a few more trips here before the fair leaves :)

C. chatting with a baby goat.

Luckily the llamas are pretty nice, because Charley has no fear and puts his hands right in their faces.

Doing a little goat chasing...

A young sheep herder in training.

Taking a little break from all the running around to check out the cute bunnies.

Pa's Pumpkin Patch

We've made a few trips to the pumpkin patch by our house this month, and Charley loves it. He could just run around picking up pumpkins for hours, and he is also a big fan of chasing the animals around the petting zoo.

Dad and C.

C.'s first pony ride

C. and Dad on the train ride

C. and Pops on the train ride, Charley takes the rides very seriously :)

Happy Autumn!!

Time for a Haircut

Last week I took Charley to get his hair cut at the barber shop on Main St. John-Paul has cut his hair before, but this was his first "professional" haircut. I don't know if the barbers had much experience with cutting the hair of very active one-year-olds, but it was an adventure.

C. sat in my lap so I could try to hold him still and bribe him with snacks.

C. showing the barber how he can comb his own hair :)



C. with his official "haircut certificate."

Shaving already?!

Since Matt practically lives at our house as our other child, it's not out of the ordinary for him to be over here before he goes to work doing laundry, shaving, getting ready, etc. And Charley, who has taken to carrying around Matt's senior portrait when he's not here, wants to do everything his uncle is doing. So today when I noticed that the house was a little too quiet, I went and discovered that Charley was practicing "shaving" with Matt. Charley took the whole shaving thing very seriously and I couldn't even get him to crack a smile for pictures. What a little grown-up!

C.'s new favorite toy... not annoying at all

A big thank you to Aunt Lisa for this nice and quiet new toy :)

Family Reunion in San Antonio Part 1

This past week Charley took his first airplane ride and his first trip out of California to attend a family reunion for my Nonna's side of the family in San Antonio, Texas. Charley kept us on our toes, and made sure my mom, dad, and I didn't try to do anything crazy like read or relax on the plane. Overall, he did pretty well, and we didn't get too many dirty looks from the other passengers :)

Charley traveled through airport in style, riding on my dad's carry-on bag.

Charley has his Grampie wrapped around his finger!

Really happy to be on his first airplane ride ever :) Luckily, a nice little boy sat in front of us on the way there who didn't mind Charley's amusing game of slamming his tray table up and down over 500 times...

We were off to the family reunion dinner shortly after arriving in San Antonio. Charley was a big hit with the Porterfield side of the family. This is the four generation picture: My Nonna, my Dad, me, and Charley.

Immediately after arriving at our hotel, Charley made a beeline for the bathroom. I knew he was being too quiet!

Strolling with Grammie and Julie on the Riverwalk.

Check back for Family Reunion trip Part 2: the Alamo!