Many of you have reached out wondering how we helped Melanie successfully induce labor. I thought that it might be useful to lay out last Saturday's activities so that those of you planning on having more kids will know how to get the ball rolling. The good news is that the formula is pretty simple--the bad news is that you will only be able to use this method if your baby is due in the end of November or early December.
The first piece of nature's birthing puzzle lies in the delicate wings of a butterfly--more precisely the Monarch butterfly. The butterflies spend the winter near Santa Cruz California and if you want to be successful inducing labor, that means that you will have to pay us a visit here in the bay area...consider it an open invitation.
Tyler and his friends Emma and Tyler Wirthlin walking down the trail to see the butterflies.
We're not sure exactly how the butterflies fit into inducing labor, but we figure that it has something to do with communing with nature. Living here in California has made us extra sensitive to mother nature and all of her granola goodness....
We had seen a few butterflies flying around and thought it was pretty cool, then another observer pointed out that the majority of the butterflies were still grouped together high in the trees.
Lots of butterflies.
The noble labor-inducing Monarch.
The next ingredient required to successfully induce labor is to be near the unending rhythm of the sea. We chose Natural Bridges Monument because of its proximity to the butterflies, but I'd guess anywhere with regular wave sets will do. It seems that the approaching and receding waves encourage contractions.
Big contraction-causing waves.
Grandma and Grandpa Lewis hoping that the waves get things moving with their very pregnant daughter.
Tyler looking longingly toward the sea for his soon to arrive little brother.
I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but Melanie is actually mid-contraction. Note the smile on her face indicating that we are still missing a key ingredient to full-blown labor.
The final step is to locate and fell your family Christmas tree deep in the wilderness. You will have to go full on Griswold on this one. To make sure that we were in the right spirit everyone but me got into the cheesy elf-face insert for the above photo, while I filled the mountain air with echoes of O Tannenbaum. Magical...
After hiking around the side of a mountain for the better part of an hour, my proginy laid claim to the tree behind them in the picture. We had heard that the scent of evergreen sap helps to lure out the baby, so we kept Mel's nose close to the saw as I took down one of mother nature's best.
The sacrificial tree strewn with ornaments.
Butterflies + Ocean Rhythm + Felled Evergreen=Austin
We've proven this can work--now we are offering the recipe to all of our friends and family before we go to market with this to turn a buck or two. Let us know when you want to come out!!!--Mike
We decided to drive down to Bakersfield on Christmas Eve to spend a few days with my parents. It was fun to open all of our presents there. We always act out the nativity story on Christmas Eve. This year Mike and Makenzie were Mary and Joseph, Austin was baby Jesus, and Tyler and I were sheperds. 
I love this picture of Makenzie. It's a true miracle because she is actually smiling nicely AND looking at the camera at the same time. AMAZING!! 
Here she is holding Austin. I literally have to keep Tyler and makenzie from fighting over who gets to hold Austin first. They ADORE him!!
Just a few weeks old. Look at those hands!
Bath time in the kitchen sink. Austin LOVES the bath. He always makes the silliest faces while he's in there. 
So-- as you can tell, I chopped my hair off. I'm still undecided as to whether or not I like it as much as my long hair. I think the short hair makes me look a lot older. But it's nice because it's so easy and fast to do. Now I can work at growing it out again. Here is a picture of April and I together. April surprised my parents this year and just showed up on their doorstep a few days before Christmas! It was so good to see her and so nice to have her around to help out with Austin. She loves babies and I swear that Austin LOVED her. She could always get him to calm down when he was fussy. Too bad she can't come home with me too.
Another silly face!!
This Christmas was a Lego christmas for Tyler. He got four different Starwars Lego ships to build- this was one of the smallest. Unfortunately it only took him a few days to do them all and now I have nothing left to entertain him with :) ha ha.
My mom, April and Austin.
I know it doesn't really look like it, but Austin is finally putting on more weight. He almost has a double chin now and his thighs actually have some fat on him. I'm glad that all those feedings are doing something. 
