A great big "Thank You!"

This is a great big "Thank You" shout out to my parents who came all the way from Washington State to meet Gabriel and help out at home for two weeks.  

James and I are so grateful for the countless things that you did for us to make our transition from one 'baby' to two!  All the wonderful meals, grocery shopping, driving Hannah to school, babysitting, staying up (very) late with Gabriel so I could sleep, cleaning, barn chores, building projects, etc - it was wonderful to have you both here.  We can't say thank you enough.

Happy 3rd Birthday Hannah!

I can't believe my little girl is already 3!

We decided to do an Easter egg hunt during her party while both sets of grandparents were present plus her greatparents, and Aunt!  

She had a great time looking for the eggs and would have looked for 3 hours if we'd let her :-)

She asked for a "puppy dog cake" - so here is my homemade design

Posing with the presents

Easter Nests

Growing up, I used to make these nests with my Mom for Easter.  We would take an egg and wrap raisin bread dough around it to look like a nest - and bake it for Easter morning breakfast.  Hannah had such a good time baking with Grandma.

Our first eggs!

On Sunday Hannah found our first egg from our chickens!  Now each day she asks to go to the barn and look for eggs.  So far we have found 3 eggs.  We are going to get Hannah a basket just for her to gather the eggs in!  It's so special to see a simple thing bring her such joy.

Here are some more pictures of Gabriel and the family..... we haven't ventured out much except for the front yard during the warm days.  Each day has been flying by and I don't always know what day it is :-) but we are just enjoying our time with Gabriel and watching Hannah become more comfortable with him.  The last couple nights have been much better since Gabriel has only been awake to eat and then goes right back to sleep.  Naps for me are still coveted and of course Hannah our star sleeper has been taking almost 3 hour naps each day! She has always slept well and our hope is that Gabriel takes after her in that sense.

First family of four picture!

Enjoying a warm and sunny day on the porch with Gabriel

Grandma, Gabriel, and Hannah

Grandpa and Gabriel

Grandma and Gabriel

The Birth of our son

God has blessed us a second time with our new son, Gabriel Isaiah.  My due date was April 4th but we decided to induce on March 30th - so that he didn't get too big...he had been measuring on the large side the whole pregnancy.  So at 3 a.m. on Monday March 30th, James and I got up, showered and loaded the truck.  James' parents stayed the night with Hannah and would bring her up to the hospital later in the morning.

We arrived at St. John's Medical Center, 6th floor - Labor and Delivery at 5 a.m.  After the initial sign in - IV, bracelets, questions, etc. the IV pitocin was started at 5:45.  At this point I was dilated to about a 4 and 70% effaced.  Dr. Donnally came in at 8:30 to break my water and the contractions started almost immediately.  I then went from a 6 to a 9 in 45 minutes.  After 2 1/2 hours of labor - it was time for that baby to come!  10 minutes after the dr. arrived and a total of 2 hours 41 minutes of labor, at 11:11 a.m.- we welcomed Gabriel Isaiah Gattis into our family.  He was 8 pounds 6 ounces, 21 1/2 inches long, with a headful of beautiful black hair.  He is perfect in every way and we praise God for a quick delivery and a healthy baby.  We are so thankful for Christen, our nurse who helped us through this and for all the other techs and for Dr. Donnally.  This was our first time at St. John's and we were so impressed with all the staff during our entire stay.

Hannah came to meet her baby brother just after he was born - but wasn't too sure about Mama holding someone else!  Although when she discovered the buttons that make the bed move she was thrilled and that made her day. :-)

After 24 hours both Gabriel and I were cleared to go home (or allowed to stay an extra day if we wanted to).  But going home sounded like heaven so we headed back on Tuesday, early afternoon.  

We are now trying to settle into as much of a routine as we can for now.  My parents are here helping us out until the 17th and then James will take off a few more days after that until I can handle both kiddos alone.

Besides sleep deprivation - I feel great!  God has really blessed us through this time - my body is healing faster than with Hannah, and I even went out to do barn chores after a week.  It's been wonderful having help here though as I get used to have two blessings from God and dividing my time between the two.  My heart is so full of joy that I can hardly believe it.  

Thinking about this time of year with Easter right around the corner... representing new life of Christ's resurrection and the new life of our son - James and I could not be more happy and blessed.  We praise and thank God for everything He has done for us and given to us.  We give Him all the Glory.  Amen!!

Introducing Gabriel Isaiah Gattis

Born March 30, 11:11 am, weighing 8 pounds, 6 oz, 21.5 in long

Just minutes old
Proud Papa with his new son - 24 hours old, waiting to go home
4 days old - finally letting us get a look at his gorgeous blue-grey eyes