Grammie Kathie and Gage...

Here are some pictures of my mom (aka Grammie Kathie) holding her second grandson, Gage Nicholas. She's quite fond of him, just in case you can't tell :) She's taken all of next week off to come help me with the boys, which I'm so thankful for. Brent had two weeks off, and then last week he tried to work part-time, so next week is his first official week back. I'm so glad that I don't have to do it all on my own...yet.

We're so thankful to have parents in the area who are excited to spend time with their grandbabies. They take turns babysitting every Tuesday now so that Brent and I can sing in a choir at Fairview (my old high school) directed by my former choir director. There are 90 people singing in it (largely alumni), and we're of all ages, hence the name "Generations" choir. It's been so fun to sing with Brent, and we even got to sit next to each other during the second rehearsal. What a fun thing for us to do together!

Gage Nicholas Koel - #3 of 3

We loved the hospital where I gave birth--Avista--again. No chocolate chip cookies this time, but everything else was just as wonderful as I remembered it with Gavin. Our doctor was great (not the same one who delivered Gavin), and the nurses were too. We like the food there :) and I especially enjoyed it if/when I could eat it when it was hot. (Ask us for recommendations if you're going to Avista anytime soon. The jalapeno poppers are a good choice.)

Is this little guy precious or what? He has deep, blue eyes that I could stare into for hours.

Here's Day #2 with Gavin. We were hoping that he'd want to hold his little brother in the hospital, but after he washed his hands and got ready he wasn't interested anymore. This transition has been really tough for Gavin. His behavior has been pretty off since Gage's birth, and he does really off-the-wall stuff for attention, besides the regressive types of behavior (hold me, carry me, I can't do it, etc.) I'm so thankful that Brent has had these two weeks at home because we've been able to give Gavin a lot of individual attention with nearly daily "Mommy/Daddy dates," which have been fun and very necessary.
Here's my dad holding Gage for the first time. Thankfully, he approved of our name choice, though he was really pushing for Chase, Cash or Chance.

Here are Brent's parents: proud grandparents again. Their visits to the hospital were brief since they were taking care of Gavin at our house. What a blessing that was, by the way! We couldn't have done it without their help. We even came home to a clean pantry and refrigerator! It doesn't get much better than that.

Gage Nicholas Koel - #2 of 3

This little dude sleeps ALL the time!!! We're not gonna complain about it, nor are we gonna assume that it will last forever. But, it's almost effortless to get Gage to sleep, which was not our recollection of the early days with Gavin.
Speaking of Big Brother, here's his first encounter with Gage. He marched into the hospital and said, "Where's Baby Brother?" I can't imagine how his mind must have processed the whole "one-day-Mama-has-a-big-tummy-the-next-day-the-baby-is-in-a-blanket" thing. He was sweet and gentle with the baby at first, and then he did his own thing for awhile before he "pet" Gage on his way out.
Nothing beats being a mommy for the first--or second!--time, though you can't exactly see that in my face right here. I was exhausted!
What a precious little thing! I've loved Gavin's recent comments about Gage: "Look at those tiny ears! See his tiny toe?"
Things I had forgotten:

-the unspeakable joy of meeting your baby for the first time
-how exhausting the first weeks are
-how fast and far the baby's first poops can squirt and, hence, how many newborn diapers you can go through...in a day :)
-just how tiny the baby's ears, fingers and toes are
-that I could stare at the baby and his features for hours on end
-how special nursing is

Gage Nicholas Koel - #1 of 3

He's arrived! Gage Nicholas Koel was born last Saturday, January 9, at 12:05 p.m., only twelve hours after his due date. His first name has no particularly special meaning to us, but "Nicholas" was my Grandma Borger's maiden name, and I really wanted to honor her in naming him. He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. (A mother never forgets these stats, does she?) His birth story was so different from Gavin's. This time we checked into the hospital at around midnight on Friday (or was that already Saturday?) to find that I was already 7 cm dilated. The nurses scurried around to get me to a room to make sure that I could still get the epidural, though I will say that I had a brave/insane moment of thinking that I could do it without one since I was already so far along. (That's when I thought that the baby might be coming the same night and not the next day at noon.) My contractions slowed down significantly during the night, so the doctor decided to break my water early Saturday morning. When that didn't speed things up either, they started me on a low dose of Pitocin. Then, just before noon, I pushed for about fifteen minutes, and this is what appeared:

Look at those tiny feet! There's nothing like a newborn baby, huh?

Look at that proud daddy. It seemed like just yesterday that I was taking this same picture when Gavin was born. And Gage, by the way, looked SO much to us like his big brother within about fifteen minutes of being out of my womb.

Daddy got to see Gage's first bath. I'm bummed that I missed that...again.

What a precious piece of God's handiwork! I was so thrilled to see him, not only because I was anxious to meet him after nine months but also because I was starving (hadn't eaten anything since 10 o'clock the night before) and ready for a nap in a major way.

Trouble at home??

This is what happens when you leave Gavin unattended for a bit. Apparently he thought this was a good idea. (And here I was thinking that it was so nice and quiet while I was getting dinner ready.) That's about every single toy he owns all in one pile, and this was taken after I removed all of the couch cushions and various other weird stuff. Thankfully, he hasn't repeated this stunt since.

Aquarium

We decided to take Gavin to the Denver Aquarium while Brent was at home over the Christmas break, and it sure was a neat experience. Crazy fish tanks with huge fish all over the place! It was quite well done. Toward the end they had a big tank where all of these rays were swimming around. Gavin got a huge kick out of petting them. Can you tell?

Here he is reaching in to touch the ray. Some people were feeding them, and the rays were almost jumping out of the water to eat it. Quite wild!

Is his excitement apparent here? And, yes, I do see the father-son resemblance here.

Cooking with Mom

Gavin has taken quite an interest in cooking over the last year. He almost always wants to help us pour stuff into pots or stir stuff while we are cooking. Perhaps he will become a great chef one day like his dad. (Can you tell who wrote this, by the way, and who's editing it right now?)

Wrestling with Uncle Zachie

One of Gavin's favorite games these days is "Tackle". He lines up across the room and gets a running start and just lays into you. I guess that Mommy's back in the game now that I'm not 35 lbs up, but that was sure a good excuse for awhile.


Here is a picture of Zach getting the worst of it. They sure had fun playing together. I wish that Gavin got to see his aunt and uncle more often. We miss 'em!

If you got it, flaunt it!

You want some of this?!?

Christmas with the Geibs

Brent's sister, Jackie, and her husband, Karl, were able to come celebrate Christmas the day after Christmas with us at our house. It was great to see them and Gavin especially liked seeing his cousin, Madison.
Here he even shared his "Ugly" doll which we refer to as his "Silly" doll. What a generous gift to offer his cousin, huh?
Madison didn't seem to mind the meager gift and was happy that Gavin shared anything at all these days. He has his "good sharing boy" moments mixed in with his tough times, and I have to remind myself that he has to learn to share and it will be a process.

Christmas at the Wills'

Gavin was in his element helping everyone open their gifts with much expedience. (I'm sure that he was especially thrilled with Mama's gift card to Starbucks.) It was a treat to see Tara's family, including out-of-town guests Uncle Zachie and Auntie Lorna.
It's hard tell if this is actually Gavin's gift or someone else's.
He did receive a great thick book of illustrated story tales for him to read. We try to read him at least 3 or 4 books every night...which sometimes turns into 6 or 7 depending on how much he works us or who's doing the reading.


Does it get much more ornery than this? (I can't even remember why his shirt's off in this picture.)

Christmas Eve at the Toppings

We had quite the experience at Brent's mom and Bob's place for Christmas this year. Gavin definitely understood what it meant to open things. I think he approached burn-out after about 2 or 3 gifts, though, and just wanted to fully open the packages that had already been unwrapped, being totally mystified by the custom of further opening more presents.

He got some new Dora books--and even one about babies--which he enjoyed reading with Grandpa Topping.


We were very blessed this Christmas. We had a great time, though it never quite seems like enough time now that we have a child...and soon children. Perhaps Gavin's favorite gift from his grandparents were his 3 snails, which he named Uncle Zachie, Podo, and Aiden. Silly boy!

Decorating the Christmas tree...

It was fun to watch Gavin putting Christmas ornaments on the tree this year. For the most part they all made it through the season without too much damage. He usually has fairly good ideas of where to hang the ornaments...as long as you like them all within about 20 inches of each other. He did truly enjoy coming downstairs every morning to turn on the Christmas tree lights.

Snow storm

Gavin loves the snow! And here he is featured in Daddy's winter hat. How, exactly, does that fit both of them?