Hello Again

I've been away so long - I don't even know where to start. So, here are some random thoughts about life as a family of 7 before I go back to starting December birthdays/events in chronological order.

1. Our mom's group from church met at an indoor play land a couple of weeks ago. I made it (almost on time) with the youngest two. You would think that this being my fifth time around I would have remembered a diaper bag. Nope.

2. I heard Oliver saying "Ahhhh Ahhhh" and found him sticking his arm into Genevieve's crib with his toothbrush in hand trying to give her gums a good scrub. This is just one example of why we always have to put her in the back right corner of her crib.

3. I am amused when I get the "Wow, you have your hands full" comment when I'm out and about with only Camille and Genevieve.

4. Several months before Genevieve was born, I posted here about Kilian's preferences on the baby's first name, so that we could spell something cool with their initials. G.L.O.C.K. is not what either of us had in mind.

5. For at least 19 months, I've been meaning to update the profile picture on the right so that it includes Oliver, now what a waste that would have been. Efficiency is the key for me in 2011. I'll add two babies to it at the same time.

6. No nickname for Genevieve yet - except when emailing. Miss G or just G seems to work well. 9 letters make for a long name! I imagine that we will start calling her Genny or Genna or Evie at some point. Oliver very generically still refers to her as "baby".

7. I find myself asking Kilian to do lots of things to help with the others while Brad is not home, yet at the same time I hear myself telling him to stop parenting. I don't have a very good answer when he asks for clarification on what he should and shouldn't do!

8. I have regained the skill required of all new moms. I typed this entire post with one hand while holding Miss G.

Our Aggie Girls

It's going to be tough to raise 5 Aggies in Lubbock.

Camille has already defected to liking Texas Tech.

Kilian was leaning toward Tech, but decided to wait until he is able to tour the Texas A&M campus before making a "final decision". We hope to do so this spring.

Genevieve is 2-0 with Aggie football at the age of 1 week old. For now we feel good about her loyalty.

Lucy is the die-hard, though. She loves maroon and carefully avoids other school paraphernalia.

My mom found this cute shirt on her way through College Station last month.

This was taken during the game on Thanksgiving day.

Also, I learned how to spell the word paraphernalia today. Trying to keep the brain stimulated in between all these diaper changes!

Was it the tryptophan or nap time?

Or both?

Oliver's Thanksgiving meal got the best of him.

After the meal we were able to get pictures of Genevieve with two of her three great-grandmas.

Memaw Kathy

Great Grandmother Lucy

We look forward to taking her picture with Nanny this spring (when we're brave enough to travel the 625 miles to Beaumont!)

James - Party of 7

One week old already!

Last Saturday evening my parents made a deal with the older kids that if the baby arrived before 8:00 pm, they would come meet him/her that night. If it was later, they would wait until the next morning.

Brad had also made a deal with me. If the new baby arrived before 7:00 pm, he would pay attention and be present for the birth. If it was later, he would be watching "THE GAME" and see how I was during commercials :)

Genevieve arrived at 6:15 pm, so everyone was happy!

That night they just popped in for a couple of minutes. They came back the next day for a chance to hold her.

Kilian will be 9 in a couple of weeks and is definitely a pro at being the big brother.


Lucy is thrilled to have another "brown haired girl" that resembles herself as a newborn.


Camille loves having a little sister to kiss on the head.

Oliver was in no mood to attempt to hold a one day old. We settled for this that night, but he is learning to be very "foft" with her now that we are home.

Here we are - waiting for the wheelchair for the ride to the car.

and the going home outfit, specially picked out by her great-grandma (Memaw).

Miss Genevieve

She's doing great! I love her squeaky little cry, but she mostly does this:

We are ready for when the kids visit today! They briefly stopped by last night and my mom got a family of 7 picture on her camera - I'll try to get that from her soon.

The Announcement

We have a girl!

Genevieve Rose
7 lb 3 oz
18 1/2 inches

6:15 (45 minutes before A&M kick off)
11/20/2010

We have moved up to our room and are both doing very well. Genevieve has lots of dark hair like her sister Lucy did, which makes Lucy happy because "all the other kids are blond".

Pictures to follow!

November it is!

Ironically, I actually have time to blog now that I am sitting in my labor and delivery room at the hospital. Never mind that countdown on the right. There are not 14 days until baby arrives because it is happening today!

We've never had an early baby before (although yesterday was my original due date before it was bumped to December 4th). I had made out my "To do before baby list", but not really accomplished much on it since I was counting on a December arrival. That's ok though - we're obviously very excited to meet him or her in a few hours!!

Here are pictures of Oliver that I had started to post several days ago. He was sporting Aggie maroon and enjoying his days as "the baby". I know that the next time I see him he will seem so big and grown up next to his tiny new sibling!

We'll post again when there is official baby news!