Merry Christmas!

We are a bit over half-way through a great Christmas vacation with family.

What a blessing!

We knew that rain was coming on Christmas, 

so we made sure to take advantage of the beautiful Christmas Eve day to update our family pic.

I'm only taking a moment now to show you our "best" one. Ha!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Us.

Em at Home

Once again... sorry for the long absence here.

Transitions are in the works, although the Army refuses to let us know where this transition is moving us. 

Hopefully we will know soon, though.

In the mean time, we are in the midst of trimming down and packing for the aforementioned unknown location.

I will try my best to carve out a moment regularly to get you some more pics of us, though. 

For today, here are a few of life with Em while we were still enjoying the help of Grandma and Oma here.

The first "Brothers-with-their-Little-Sister" pic.

Sporting our new little sister paraphernalia from Aunt T!

Me and my girls!

And you have probably seen these here and there, but I just picked out my favorites today.

Grandma had a dream come true with the combination of her camera, my girls, and these dresses.

I am a little scared by how grown up and pretty T looks! 

But... life can't be all glittery dresses and photo shoots. 

Em has made it very easy for us to get back into our regular routine.

Of course, that means chess tournaments with dad on a beautifully cool fall day!

Love, Us.

Time with Father Jordan

We were blessed with a wonderful weekend visit from a dear friend (and now "god-family"), Father Jordan.

It was full of fun, laughs, and great conversation.

The kids decided to display their knot tying skills to Father in a unique way. 

Yeah... we sometimes thing strange things are fun!

Hopefully we didn't scare him away from every coming to visit again, because we loved having him!

 We are honored that you have chosen to join our crazy family, Father!

Love, Us.

Evangeline's Baptism

As mentioned previously, Em made it home on the Eve of her Baptism.

And, for the first time since David, one of the Godparents was actually present for the Baptism! 

God is good!

Once again, a huge thanks goes out to Tina, who snagged some wonderful pictures for us afterwards. 

Welcome to the Church, Evangeline Mary!

 Love, Us.

Em in the NICU

Yes.. our little Em needed a few days in a more sophisticated facility to get her 

little lungs to saturate her body with sufficient oxygen.

Poor thing!

We had many blessings along the way, however. 

First off, my heal time with this C-section was amazing, to say the least.

I was discharged just over 24 hours after surgery, and I seriously felt good... (Percocet only had a BIT to do with it).

Secondly, we had both of our mothers filling-in where we most needed them.

Grandma jumped in the car as quickly as she could and was my roommate, driver, and support as I was with Em.

Oma's presence at our home allowed Joe to both visit me in the hospital and be my chauffeur to St. Louis.

Thirdly, our big girl, Thérèse, joined me in St. Louis and was an amazing little helper!
And lastly, Joe's office set up a meal train that totally amazed us with their generosity!
We could spend our time, both while we waited for Em to get home and after her arrival,
enjoying the "little things" as a new family of seven.

As I said, I truly felt great, considering the serious surgery I had just undergone.

However, my arch-enemies, Mr. and Mrs. Sausage, did show up in St. Louis. Yuck!

T finally got to do something she had only ever been able to do with her baby dolls before: feed a bottle!

Pretty girl!

And, after much advocating for our little girlie, and being a squeaky wheel about getting her 

O2 and flow lowered again and again... she was free!

Babies are so much easier to snuggle without all those cords!

On the eve of her Baptism, with just a car seat "challenge" between her and the door, her Godfather came to give her a blessing, just in case she wouldn't make it home for the big day.

And...she made it!

Straight home to the arms of her loving family!

Praise God!

Love, Us.

Em's First Hours

Well, I have been away from the blog for longer than expected, but for "good" reason.

Em, following in her big brother Romeo's footsteps, had some difficulties in her first few days.

So... she quickly became the second member of our family, after her father, to "get" to ride in a helicopter!

Today's pictures tell the story of her life up to that ride.

Well, it all seemed like a normal C-Section morning: at the hospital by 0530, ready to go.

We were greeted by a dear friend who had generously offered to photograph the event for us. 

Thank you so much, Tina, for these amazing mementos!
I will let them tell the story today... just adding a comment here and there.

Evangeline initially needed a couple extra minutes to "pink up". 

However, we thought she was doing great once she was cleaned up and presented to mom.

Her color quickly changed, however, and her trip to mom's room was diverted to the nursery.

She was unable to keep her saturations up on her own.

Being at a small hospital, it was quickly decided that she needed more specialized treatment - in St. Louis.

So... she got a helicopter ride with some wonderful EMTs.

Stay tuned for "Em in the NICU"!

Love, Us.