Christmas 2016

We have been spoiled by the incredibly mild winters we experience in Houston. This, coupled with the joy of waking up in our own home on Christmas morning and having a brand new baby kept us home this Christmas. Though we missed celebrating with family, our community makes sure that there are plenty of celebrations to attend. 

First things first, we need to assemble and decorate the tree. I adore our very fake, pre-lit, tall and full tree from Costco. It assembles in minutes and is incredibly easy to fluff up with ornaments.

We attended many Christmas events. And took lots of photo booth pictures. 

Graham's first visit to Daddy's office was a fun holiday excursion. He didn't get to eat at the cafeteria, or put his food tray on the fun conveyor belt into the dish room, but he was a hit with all of Jon's coworkers. We even got to see the cool specialty Christmas trees that ExxonMobil puts up each year. 

Gretchen and Alex both had the same favorite Christmas tree: LEGOS!!

The adventure of an office-visit lunch was exhausting

Our neighborhood is another source of holiday cheer, we made gingerbread houses!!!

And visited Santa! we didn't even have to wait in line at the mall - he comes to our local grocery store!

Three little monkeys ready for bed

And the littlest monkey doesn't want to sleep at all

We are thankful for friends who become family when we need each other most. Happy Christmas Eve!

And thankful for the restaurants who save us from cooking on Christmas Day. Merry Christmas!!

Family of 5 Acclimation

It did not take us long to realize that the biggest adjustment to being a family of five is how little down time we have. We had lots of visitors after Graham was born, however we have very little photographic evidence of any of these visits.

We did get to the pediatrician to make sure this little nugget was as healthy and perfect as we believed him to be. He was. This child is a healthy, solid, alert little guy with a strong set of pipes and a determination that I didn't think a one-month-old could possess.

Sometimes, he sleeps. Not often, but sometimes.

And sometimes you get that perfect moment of combined exhaustion

I thank goodness for cell phone cameras during these times. I'm not sure we would have any pictures of infant Graham without them!

His first little smile face, staring right at Gran

His smooshy little cheeks are irresistible, and there are teeny baby traits that I notice and appreciate so much more as our older kids grow out of them. The small, directionless hands of a baby, not quite sure where to go or how exactly to use them is fun to watch and remember from our no-longer babies.

Gretchen and Alex are adjusting to their new life too. They do their best at being helpful with an infant, bringing their guys to help make Graham comfortable and giving a little extra umph to the bouncy chair when he gets bored. 

There is a balance between letting the kids be "helpful" and asking them to just leave the baby alone that is different this time around. Perhaps it's just the beginnings of being unable to control the movements of three little ones at once. It has taken some adjustment time for this Type-A personality.

Watching a mini-person start to figure it out will always be an amazing thing. Watching his eyes focus increasingly far away and starting to move his little limbs with more purpose is a welcome respite from the exhausting nights and chaotic-feeling days. Make no mistake about it, 3 kids is a test of all of our time and patience. 

We adore him, even if he doesn't want to match jammies

Halloween 2016

Halloween is always an exciting time of year, especially with children, es-super-specially with a new baby in the house! 

Gretchen is giving baby Graham some pre-Halloween snuggles

And with that new baby in the house, we were not focused on costumes for the big kids - which is where Costco come to save the day (again!). We rolled into Halloween with an adorable Rainbow Dash (who is a My Little Pony character, which is back from the graveyard of 1980s cartoons) and small, super-buff Batman. They pull off these looks pretty perfectly! 

As with most holidays, there were many Halloween celebrations to be had. The first was the Halloween parade at Alex's preschool. A great event that is as cute as it is hysterical as you watch these tiny people get dressed up, parade around the common room at school, and (about 50% of the time) burst into tears and hysteria at the notion of NOT going home with their parents at the conclusion of the parade. 

Batman played it cool. 

These teacher are saints! So many screamers and she's sporting a 10-point-smile!

And then, there's the main course of Halloween, and our neighborhood makes it a really great night! Here is the (almost) full Trick-or-Treating crew of our little neighborhood. 

For the 3rd Halloween in a row, we were happy to have our friends, James, Lauren and their son join us for the festivities. This super-family fit right into the theme!

I adore these women and the neighborhood that brought us together

Our neighborhood mom-crew!! They make bus stop fun, we save each other in virtually any kind of pinch and some are cool enough to even get dressed up for Halloween! But not me. Having a newborn means that I wear my baby wrap as an accessory but don't have any kind of time to think of a costume. Someday....

So here we are - a family of 5, out enjoying the beautiful, warm weather Octobers that Texas promises us, and swatting mosquitos off of our brand new infant. Happy Halloween!!!

He Has Arrived

Graham Joseph Gill. Born October 18, 2016. Not early, not easily, not in a VBAC as I was hoping, but he's here and he's perfect. 

He wet through his diaper, clothes, swaddle, sheets and bed three times that first night. As experienced parents, we think we know what lies ahead. That's when Graham comes along and shows us that we know nothing. 

But that face. And those eyes, and the perfect button nose and the nursing-lip blister that he seems to have been born with are everything of my dreams. Well, my dreams before he arrived, because after his birth I barely dreamt of anything, because I barely slept, because he wet through everything we owned night after night after long, sleepless night.

He was born at the Texas Children's Pavilion for Women hospital in downtown Houston. Our first American born child, and he was born in the most comfortable place possible to give birth. They have great beds and great food and amazing post-cesarean showers in private rooms that make you forget you're in a hospital and feel like you booked a room at a fancy hotel.

This great head of hair coupled with the baby-belly deliciousness and the scrunchy hands of a "New to this world" child make me forget about the nighttime wake-ups in the daylight hours.

Graham made an entrance when he was born. Screaming, peeing, commanding the attention of the room. 

But then he settled. And he was the picture of contentment so long as he was receiving one-on-one attention.  

Even Grammy got in on the cuddles! 

And then reality set in. Graham is the youngest of three, which means he does not receive and abundance of one-on-one time. 

Luckily his brother and sister were VERY excited to meet this new baby

And VERY sweet about being gentle and quiet

Alex is so curious about his new baby

Gretchen was generously doling out her love

And Daddy was gentle and patient and became a master of changing wet clothes

Another new adventure begins

**We are forever grateful to jenniferbarynphoto (IG: @jenniferbarynphoto) for these incredible newborn photographs.