Being a Mommy and Daddy is awesome!

The incredible thing to Michelle and I is how much Gillian seems to change day over day. From pulling herself up to furniture one day and being frustrated with not being able to figure out how to move her legs to the very next day standing underneath the dining room table and 'cruising' from one chair to the other. Just last week, we still enjoyed the great big toothless grins, and now this week, we can no longer describe the grins as toothless....yup, you read that right, Gillian has a tooth! Michelle noticed it last Friday night as we hung out at the house. Now we're noticing that the tooth right next to it is not far behind.


Gillian loves playing in the laundry basket!!

Still a fan of bathtime!!!

Finally, an update!

The last time anyone heard from us about our little Gillian, not much was new to report. Well, suffice it to say, things have changed just a bit. In the past month, a few things have happened. A little over 3 weeks ago, Michelle and I noticed that Gillian had definitely been pulling herself up to certain pieces of furniture. We noticed this over a weekend, and we thought it would only be a matter of time before she stood up in her crib. Little did we know it would happen the very next day (not once but twice). On a Sunday morning, I went in to wake her and she was standing in her crib, just hangin' out waiting on someone to come and get her. She has grown so, so much. She is also crawling (very quickly, I might add), and can make it everywhere in our upstairs in a matter of a few seconds. In the month that I have not posted, the blog also turned 1 year old. Hard to believe what we were doing a year ago at this time...some of the old posts were definitely fun to read.

In other news, we would like to extend our condolences to the Danz family. Don lost his mother, Mrs. Danz late in January. Please know that even though we didn't post anything, we have definitely been thinking and praying for you Danz Family!

I don't know if I posted anything at the time of Gillian's birth, but Michelle's first labor and delivery nurse, was none other than Jenn Miller, with whom I went to high school (then Jenn Troxel), and so periodically we have kept in touch and we were elated to hear that her and her husband Kenny are expecting their first child in March. In October, Baby Miller was diagnosed with CDH. Jenn has started her own blog to keep up with their experiences and for support and encouragement. Please keep the Miller family in your prayers as they approach their due date. You can read their blog here.

Our new favorite thing

As I told you last week, Gillian went to visit with Dr. Fischer for another round of shots and a wellness check. She is changing every day, so it's not hard to believe that she weighs 18 lbs. 3 oz. (88th percentile) She is 26 3/4" long (70th percentile) and her head (while it did grow 1/2" in circumference) remains in the 25th percentile.

On more of a dour note, Saturday marked 8 years since Mom passed away. That day is always a stark reminder that we must hang on to everything with which we have been blessed. Not a day passes without subtle reminders of my mom. These last 6 months have given me a new perception of what really matters and how quickly things of this world can evaporate. As unbelievable as it is to those who lose a loved one rather unexpectedly, clarity and healing does come with time. We are simply given more hurdles to jump and greater mountains to scale.

Since Saturday marked an important date, Amy, Josh and Abby came over for dinner and games. The night was capped by a congenial Gillian showing off her new-found laughing chops...enjoy, I know we did.

Headed to the doctor....

Well, I've officially managed to miss posting anything about Gillian's half-birthday (which happened last Saturday.....this will only be meaningful to a few of you........Happy half-birthday what?!?!?!). We are going to the doctor today so we'll get to see just how big she has gotten over the past few weeks. We'll also be starting baby foods after today's visit, so that will be a blast!

I also managed to get sawdust in my eye last week and scratch my cornea. I was out of commission for a couple days, but things are back to normal. No questions on this one, let's just say it was an act of my own stupidity.

Here's a couple pictures from our Christmas break.

Gillian is crawling!

Okay, so maybe it's more of a scoot, than a crawl, but she is moving forward!

We spent Friday evening and Saturday in Gas with my maternal Grandparents as they were moving to Ft. Smith, AR. As I was helping to load the moving truck, Michelle came and got me and told me that Gillian was moving forward! Sure enough, Angie and Grandma had put a cell phone on the floor in front of her and off she went.....just like her dad, she already likes the phone :)

We are trying to get it recorded, so hopefully that video will be forthcoming.

In other news....for the first time in a YEAR (since we moved into the house), there is a car parked in the garage!! We got home from Gas on Saturday night and yesterday was spent making room and organizing our things in the garage.

Belated Happy Holidays

A very belated Happy Holidays to everyone. Our holiday break was jam-packed trying to visit with everyone in a timely fashion.

After Gillian awoke to her first toys received from Santa Claus, the Madison family came to our house so we could share the day with them. We cooked a 20 lb. bird and then everyone else brought the side dishes. After that we unwrapped gifts and played games. It was sad because the time was so short, but with Christmas falling on a Tuesday, some of us had to work the next day, so we made the best of our time together.

The day after Christmas, we drove to Tulsa. If not for a snowstorm that was passing through the midwest, that trip would have been uneventful. As it was, we ended up getting to Tulsa fairly late. The next morning, we were able to visit with all of Michelle's siblings (Mary, David, and Catherine) who live in Tulsa. Gillian was also able to visit with her cousins Drew and Will. After Don finished working on the night of the 27th, we had a family dinner and then shared Christmas gifts with one another. Again, it seemed as though our visit was all too short....

The next day, we woke up and piled into the car again for a trip to Houston to see Michelle's other sister, Angela and her family. We made it down to their house just in time for dinner. The weather was a welcome change from the snowstorms and cold that we had seen for the month prior. The temperature hovered near 70 degrees during our stay in Texas. We took advantage of the weather and Josh, Emma and Gillian were able to go to the park and play. We also visited the Children's Health Museum and a special exhibit that was temporarily on display. It had a Sesame Street theme, so as you can imagine, the kids loved it! As it always does on vacation, time flew and before we knew it, the time had come to go home. On New Year's Eve, we got up early and began the 12 hour trip home.

I have many, many pictures that I'm working on getting posted, so please as always, bear with me :)

I have other Gillian news.....read the post above....

Santa's Tiniest Elf

Last year during the pregnancy, we found a Santa hat that reads Baby's 1st Christmas. Well, we dug it out of the closet tonight and were able to get a few good pictures....our faves...

First trip to see Santa

2 nights ago, Gillian was accompanied by an entourage of people to see her sit on Santa's lap for the first time. Aunt Amy rode along with us to Crown Center and we were met by Shaun and Lisa and Sara and Jason. We had a great time, and Gillian didn't cry one time. Since we had to wait around an hour to visit with Santa, I'd say that's a pretty big accomplishment for her (especially since I forgot to pack toys in the diaper bag!).

While patiently awaiting her turn to sit on the big guy's lap, she decided (well, we sat her down, but who's keeping track) to take a seat in the Crayola playhouse.
Here she is with Santa Claus...

Here is a great picture of her with Sara and Jason...

2 posts in 2 days???

I know, I know...you looked outside this morning and there were no pigs flying, so you thought there was no way that I could POSSIBLY post today.....well, I've somehow defied logic and decided to post again. I put together a little montage and wanted to share it. I had planned on emailing it to the Smith family, but it was around 30 MB when I was done, which far exceeds any attachment size limits that I've seen. So, I was relegated to sharing it this way. Thank you to Abby for taking the pictures at Grandma and Grandpa's...they lent themselves well to a montage :)



Also, I know this may be cheesy to some of you, but it humbled me a little bit. I heard about this site on the way to work this morning. After they talked about it for a bit, they played the song that you can find on the website. Just a reminder about all of our troops serving our country who will not be able to be with their families this Christmas. The site.

Life at a breakneck pace

I am so sorry it's been so long since I've written. I last posted on Thanksgiving; which seems like just yesterday, but somehow we're only 8 days away from Christmas. In the past few weeks, Gillian has grown so much. She can sit on her own for a little bit and is doing her level best to crawl. We still think she's a few weeks away from being mobile, but it won't be long...

We have been dealing with quite a bit of weather over the past 2 weeks, and luckily everyone that we know here in Kansas city has avoided the worst of it. Unfortunately, 2 of Michelle's siblings and their families were hit pretty hard with the ice storm and were without power for a time. You can see more pictures and read a narrative of the storm on Don's website. Mother Nature is truly amazing sometimes; I just wish we could have the picturesque scenes without the hardships that are endured as a result of the storms.

This past weekend, we spent our time in Iola at the Smith family Christmas. This is my mother's side, and all of her sisters were present with most of all of their children present. Gillian was able to visit extensively with all kinds of people. She was especially excited to see her second cousing Caitlin. They had not seen each other since cousin Eric's wedding.

I keep thinking of things to write about, so I apologize if this doesn't flow very well....last week, Gillian was at the babysitter and her friend Campbell decided that Gillian was being a pest, so Campbell bit Gillian on the face, directly below her eye. We took some pictures, but the pictures really didn't do it justice in hindsight. Other than the initial shock of being bitten, Gillian is showing no ill effects from the incident...however, that being said, you should see the other kid :). Just kidding, no retaliation was taken in this incident.

On a much more serious note, the family of the girl who bit Gillian experienced a great loss this morning around 3 am. Their house burned in Kansas City, KS. At this time, I do not have any more information, but please keep their family in your thoughts and prayers, especially during this special time of year. I will post any more information that I may receive.

In addition to all of this, I saw something today that deemed worthy of posting. George Martin, former NFL defensive end for the New York Giants is walking across the country. Unlike so many other efforts, this is not to gain notoriety for performing such a feat. He is doing it to help raise money and awareness for the heroes of 9/11. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of individuals who are suffering from the toxic combination of dust and airborne particles that accompanied the Twin Towers' collapse in lower Manhattan 7 years ago. You can read more about George Martin in Peter King's column for SI.com; or you can visit George's website. An extremely interesting read....