Four weeks or one month?

Okay, so I have to admit that the whole "age" thing for babies doesn't always make sense to me. When people ask me how old Miller is, I tell them he is four weeks old tomorrow, but in most people's mind, isn't that the same as being one month old? From what I understand though, you can respond with either the "weeks" age or the "months" age...or even a combination. If I'm wrong, would someone (likely a woman because I doubt any man has even thought about this) please tell me by leaving a comment?

Regardless, Miller has hit a milestone--he is four weeks old tomorrow and will officially be one month old on April 3 (also my dad's birthday--happy birthday dad/grandad!). When we had Maxwell, a very dear friend told us that the only advice he had was to survive the first 6-8 weeks. Such wonderful advice and that means that we are either 2/3 or 1/2 of the way there! Yippee!



Maria took these pictures last week and I thought many of you (or at least the 3 of you who read this) would like to see the latest. Have a great week!

Happy Easter from the Uptons!

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, we leave you with this message from Maxwell about the King of Kings. Happy Easter from the four of us!

Maxwell-isms

Just a few things our oldest son has said lately...

To Maria and Rae Rae (our dear friend and babysitter Rachel) while playing outside:
"When Miller gets bigger I'm going to teach him how to drink out of a big boy cup...(long pause) and spit."

To us while talking about praying and about how Jesus prayed to God in the garden of Gethsemane:
"You can pray to Jesus or God, it doesn't matter which one."

(I'm taking the liberty to tell on myself as a father and a man). To me while giving him a bath one night:
Maxwell: "Daddy, what do you say when you have a stinky toot?"
Daddy: "Excuse me."
Maxwell: "Daddy, when you toot, it's like a nightmare."

To Maria after giving Miller a kiss right after he was done nursing:
"Mommy, when I give Miller a kiss on the lips, he thinks it's 'milky' time."

To both of us while we were driving home from dinner and Miller was crying:
"Look daddy! When I hold Miller's hand, he stops crying." (and Miller really did stop crying as long as Maxwell was holding his hand)

To Miller:
"I love you Miller" and then to us, "I wish he could say 'I love you' back to me".

To Papa (Maria's dad) while taking a nap on the couch:
"Papa, quit your honking!"

Although we know it will be full of challenges (it already is!), we also know that having 2 boys is going to be a lot of fun! Have a great day and be sure to check back for our Easter message.

Maxwell's Music Video Premieres

Today we are posting not one, but TWO Maxwell music video premieres. Here he is singing "Light of the World" and "Be Blessed" (his title, the real title is "Knees to the Earth"). Both songs are by his favorite singer, Mrs. Christy Nockels of Watermark (a duo made up of her and her husband, Nathan).

Many of you know that Christy (I say that as though we know her personally--we don't) is one of our favorite singers,too, so you might be interested to know that according to her myspace page, she is currently recording an album that will hopefully come out this spring. If you aren't familiar with her music, go here to hear a sample or simply ask us--we'll gladly let you borrow a CD or two (we have them all including their original work as Sons and Daughters with Charlie Hall).

Welcome Baby Miller!

On Monday, March 3 (his actual due date) at 3:48 PM we welcomed Miller Isaac Upton into the world. He was 9 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long...and Maria delivered him completely naturally (when your wife delivers a 9 lb. baby with no drugs, that is worth bragging about!). Mommy and baby did beautifully and we had no complications (praise the Lord).

We came home on Tuesday evening and then were back in the hospital with jaundice from Thursday until Saturday morning. Unfortunately that makes us 0 for 2 in having a single hospital stay when our children are born (Maria had a serious infection after Maxwell was born and was back in the hospital for a week followed by 10 days of outpatient IV antibiotics). That was the only downside...and hopefully on our third one (Lord willing we have a third child) we'll make it in and out of the hospital with no return visits!

Maxwell adores his little brother, showers him with kisses, and tells him, "Miller, I love you!" After telling Miller he loved him several times, Maxwell finally looked at us and said, "I wish he could say he loved me back." So sweet! We'll obviously have more about our two boys so stay tuned!

Reminiscing--how cute is this?!

As we continue to get ready for Miller's arrival (hopefully sooner rather than later for Maria's sake), Maria came across this video of Maxwell when he was 2.

Oh my goodness--Maxwell has changed so much and speaks so differently now, but he is so cute here. Two of my favorite parts are "Optober" and "wu-dee" for "Love you!" I know everyone says children grow up so quickly, but you never realize how true that is until you have one of your own!

Where to begin?

It has been so long since I've updated our blog, and I'm not sure what blog etiquette is. Do I try to go back and add posts about all of our December and January activities or do I just act as though those never happened (at least for the blog) and pick up with the here and now? If you have any thoughts about this, feel free to leave a comment and maybe I'll take your advice!

For now, I'll start with something we did tonight. I've been on what I'll call a "retro candy" kick. On Sunday we bought some Pop Rocks and let Maxwell try that. Then later this week I had a sudden craving for Fun Dip and my dear wife found some at the grocery store (they put everything in individual packets to give away as Valentine's cards these days). So tonight, we let Maxwell try some after dinner. Did he enjoy it? I think the pictures explain it all.