Our Newest Nephew

  I have to admit that every time I looked at my little Christmas countdown I thought very little about Christmas and a lot about my sister-in-law Angie who was due on Christmas day.  We were all really excited for a new little guy to come, and on the Saturday before Christmas he joined us.  Daryl and I were able to meet our new nephew Logan the next day after he was born.  Even though Luke was born a mere six weeks earlier it was still amazing to marvel at the newness of Logan.  He was six pounds ten ounces and twenty inches long.  Logan's hands and feet are big, so we have hope that he will be tall like my brother.  We are so excited for Adam and Angie, and we are definitely in love!

My brother Adam and Logan.  

On Christmas day we went over to Adam and Angie's, so all the boy cousins could hangout for the first time.  Hudson is five months old, Luke is seven weeks old, and Logan is five days old.  I think this is the best picture with the least amount of crying.

This is the full body shot, and this is the best picture we could get.  You can really notice Logan's big feet.  My mom was the one who got them all matching baby formal wear.  

Our December

   It has been a busy month besides the usual holiday festivities and all the family we saw.  The first week of this month Daryl had to start his Master's program by having immersion classes as they called it.  That meant that starting Sunday and ending Saturday he was at class all day.  Nothing like taking a week's vacation from work to go to school!

   We were really lucky that we got to see both of Daryl's parents this month, and my sister Alex and her husband Chris came to visit with their baby boy Hudson.  Avery and Harper missed their cousin Addison, and their new cousins Mackenzie and Sam.  We are hoping that we will get to see all of Alex and Chris' family sometime this year.  Here are some pictures I took around the house this month, and there will be more posts to follow chronicling all the fun we had this December.

Perhaps one of the cutest Seahawks fan around.

Some artwork that Avery created and wanted to display for Luke by his bassinet.  The pen drawing is a portrait of the entire family, and the others are Christmas themed artworks obviously.

Luke meeting his cousin Hudson for the first time.

Avery and Harper using the empty wrapping paper rolls as swords as all children do.

Emery has decided that she now loves the swing.  Too bad this has come about eighteen months too late for Mom and Dad's sanity. 

One Month

  Last Saturday Luke turned a whole one month.  It's crazy to think he is been a part of our lives for that long already.  It feels like he's always been a part of our family.  He is almost eight pounds now and is getting some nice chubs now.  Emery still adores him and tries to hold him all the time. Avery asks me all the time what baby brother is saying, so I have to make up conversations between her and Luke.  Harper likes to call Luke "our baby."  Other than that Luke is just doing all the normal baby stuff of mostly eating and sleeping.  We love his sweet little face so much.

Luke and the monkey at one month.

Taking a nap.

Avery really wanted to hold him this day.  I love this picture.

Taking yet another nap.

A Visit from Nellie, Paul, and Reagan

  The day after Thanksgiving my sister Nellie flew in with her family to meet Luke.  Avery and Harper were very excited to see Reagan again.  The morning they flew in they kept asking if Reagan was there yet.  They still call Reagan, baby Reagan, even though she is two and a half.  All the girls had a great time making the grandest messes.  I took advantage of the extra hands at home and put up my Christmas tree.  I let the girls put some of the ornaments on, so if you look carefully all the ornaments are on the bottom half of the tree (Since then all the ornaments have been moved to the top half of the tree).  I was happy to find out that Emery did great having Reagan as her temporary roommate for their visit.  One morning when I went to get them up I found Emery standing in one small corner of her crib because Reagan had stuffed quite literally everything she could get her hands on into the crib.  Emery was standing a midst a giant pile of diapers, burpies, bedding, and toys.  Fortunately she hadn't cleaned out the dresser of all the clothes yet. When Luke gets kicked out of our bedroom he'll have to bunk with Emery, so this gives me hope that that will go well. 

Reagan, Avery, Emery, and Harper.  Yes this was the best picture I got of them all.

I was trying to get all the girls to stand in front of the Christmas tree, and once again this was the best I could get.  Reagan didn't make it in the shot, Emery has her back turned to the camera, and the big girls are making silly faces.

Reagan was pretty happy holding Luke.  Luke looks a little uncertain though.

Thanksgiving

   For Thanksgiving this year we went to my parents' house and spent it with my brother Adam and his wife Angie, and Daryl's brother Karl, his wife Aimee, and their son Tyler.  The kids had a great time and weren't too crazy.  We had a nice low key Thanksgiving since we had a three week old, and my sister-in-law Angie is due to have her baby on Christmas.  No one really mustered up the strength to do anything over the top.  Daryl did have fun perfecting the fine art of grilling ribs, but don't worry we had a turkey breast as well.  It was a great day.e

Harper really likes her Uncle Karl.

Tyler showing off his missing two front teeth.

Emery ready for feasting!

Tyler giving Luke some kisses.

Daryl's ribs in all their meaty glory.

Avery's Happy Birthday

  As it happens Avery and Luke's birthdays are only six days apart now.  Avery doesn't mind right now.  In fact she talks about her and Luke being birthday buddies all the time.  It's very cute, but I'm not convinced they will always be happy about the close proximity of their birthdays.  Oh well they'll live.

   We celebrated Avery's birthday with a party the Sunday after the fact.  On the day of Avery's birthday Daryl took her and Harper to see Big Hero Six followed by a fabulous dinner at McDonald's where Avery and Harper played for 45 minutes in the play area.  Daryl was feeling exceptional generous that day.  We asked Avery how she liked her birthday that night, and told us there was no cake, presents, or candles which obviously meant it wasn't really her birthday.

  For her party we were happy to have all the usual suspects in attendance such as Aimee, Karl, Tyler, my parents, Adam, and Angie, but we were lucky that Brad and DeAnna were in town to meet Luke.  Avery once again this year requested a cake with strawberry cream and frosting, but this year she wanted it decorated with butterflies.  I of course didn't make it, but purchased it from a bakery.  Avery had a great time opening her presents and playing with her cousin.  She loves Tyler so much.  We have to explain all the time why she can't marry her cousin when she is older.  Avery is a energetic, sweet girl who is a wonderful sister and daughter!

Avery's birthday cake complete with butterflies.

Avery with her Angry Birds Princess Leia.  We had to position Harper and Tyler on either side of Avery, so they both could have an up close view of the present opening.

Brad, DeAnna, and Luke.

Emery loved the birthday cake.

Emery also enjoyed getting in DeAnna's boots.

Here is Avery's super cool My Little Pony birthday card, and you can see her new ponies on the table too.

Here's Luke

   It's been two weeks since our newest family member, Luke Van Adam, joined us on November 6th.  He was born five minutes before his due date on the 7th.  My water broke about ten minutes to eight that evening, and we were off to the hospital since I have a history of fast births.  This one was no different.  Contractions didn't start in earnest until maybe nine-thirty or ten after Daryl and I walked around for about a half hour.  They were pretty mild too, so we thought we would try to sleep.  The nurse had just given me a shot of painkillers to help me sleep and left when things started to get a little more serious.  I had had her check to see how dilated I was before she left though and I was still hanging out at three maybe four centimeters, so no one was really worried about an imminent arrival. We should have been.  In the next twenty or so minutes I became fully dilated, and I shoved Daryl out of our room in search of help when I felt the baby crowning.  Daryl returned quickly with help, and indeed the baby had crowned.  He was out pretty quickly.  When they put him on me I noticed he had a ton of dark hair, and that the doctor had made it.  In fact those were my first words after Luke was born, "Dr. Graham you made it!"  I guess I was in "real labor" for maybe an hour and a halfish.
   Luke was 6 pounds 7 ounces and 18.5 inches long confirming my guesstimate that he was smaller than Emery who as a baby who was a giant 7 pounds 5 ounces. Like I said he had a ton of hair when he was born and he even got some more after he was born.  We ended up staying in the hospital two nights since he was born so late the first night.  The girls were very happy to meet him.  When we held Luke out for Emery to get a closer look at him she immediately held out her arms to try and hold him.  I thought that was pretty sweet.  Avery and Harper were very excited to share with their nursery and primary classes that they had a baby brother that Sunday.  So far Luke has survived being a little brother to three older sisters.  Emery has already accidentally stepped on his face a couple times trying to climb over him and me included.  Babies are lot sturdier than we give them credit for sometimes.  We love Luke and are so happy to have him as part of our family.

This about an hour or so after he was born.

I love how happy Emery looks right here.

Emery holding her baby brother.

Emery and baby Luke hanging out on Mom and Dad's bed.

Here's Luke with the monkey at eleven days old.