Meeting Grayson

Welcoming a new baby with three older brothers can get a bit chaotic.  Luckily, Grayson enjoyed a quiet first night with just Mommy and Daddy since he was born late at night.  Then, big brothers attended their last day of school before Christmas break which was a short day for them.  Big brother Mattox got a one on one meeting with his new little brother, and he even got some very important alone time with Mommy while little brother was having his tests and procedures performed.  I do think this worked out well for him.  Once little brother was brought back, the hospital photographer arrived and so did the other big brothers.  The room got chaotic and crowded very fast.  After meeting little brother and visiting for a while, Daddy took the big boys, Grandma, and Papa to eat dinner before they went home to get ready for bed.  Daddy and Mommy spent one more night in the hospital with baby Grayson since he was not yet 24 hours old.  He had his 24 hour testing in the middle of the night, but besides that, it was a relatively quiet night.  Finally, around lunch time on Saturday, we were ready to leave the hospital and take our little bundle home for the first time.

Daddy kisses. 

Meeting Mommy.

Mommy kisses.

Talking with Mommy.

Meeting big brother Mattox.

This is love!

Checking out his little fingers. 

Just resting with Mommy and baby brother and watching some TV while Daddy went to get lunch. 

Big brothers brought balloons.

Sweet big brother Evan is an old pro.

Babies love him. 

Baby Grayson will be well protected by these two. 

We will try for a shot of all four boys soon. 

Getting some wisdom from big brother Evan. 

Big brother Brody is definitely more experienced now. 

He gives big smiles for babies. 

Sweet big brother Evan helps Mattox peek at his little brother. 

Meeting Grandma. 

And Papa. 

Lots more meetings to come as we get together with family during the holidays.

Introducing Grayson

Our hearts have definitely grown as we have welcomed another beautiful blessing into our family.  We have just been enjoying the past few days getting to know our newest addition and adjusting to this new life.  Big brothers are enjoying being home with him now that school is out for their Christmas break.  Big brother Mattox is probably the most interested and excited about his new baby brother and wants to give him loving pats and kisses all the time.  Yes, sometimes those pats are a little too rough, but he is learning.  He is also Mommy's biggest helper as he loves to hand me diapers during diaper changes and tries to comfort baby when he cries.  I am so proud of him.  We are all just so thankful that Grayson arrived safely and are looking forward to a very happy Christmas season with all four of our little men.

Of course, we cannot welcome another baby into our hearts and home without remembering the journey that led us here.  Our hearts will always miss our beautiful daughter, Mattie, as we continue to live each day without her with us.  Her brothers will continue to know that she exists and that she is a special part of our family.  Because of her, we more fully appreciate the unique blessings of each of our children.  We are thankful once again that we get to know and love another beautiful baby boy. Here he is!

Grayson Edwin

Born:  December 1, 2016 at 10:15 p.m.

Weight:  6 lbs. 12 oz. 

Height:  21 inches

Of course, the rainbow shirt had to make another appearance.  I love our special little rainbow babies. 

To my precious Grayson

Could anything be as sweet

As a precious rainbow surprise?

God granted us another pair of feet

And we felt such joy with your first cries.

A beautiful baby boy

To add to our handsome crew

Another page in our love story

A fairy tale come true.

As we awaited your arrival

And for your safety we prayed,

Again we learned to trust God for your survival

and upon Him our cares were laid.

You are such a sweet reward.

Oh how we love you so!

And we wish to thank our Lord

For you, our precious surprise rainbow!

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the Lord.  For his whole life, he will be given over to the Lord."  1 Samuel 1: 27-28

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him."  Psalm 127:3

Grayson ~ 32 - 38 Weeks

Wow, the last 8 weeks have really flown by!  I can't believe it is already December.  Where did October and November go?  Life is just busy and never stops when you are raising young children.  So we have made it to 38 weeks growing our sweet baby Grayson.  I can't believe we will be meeting him very soon.  Big brothers are finishing their last week of school this week, and then we will all be home together for the month enjoying Christmas and lots of together time.  The first of the year is going to see some big things for this little family so we are just going to try to soak up a normal and relaxing month together.  Most of my Christmas shopping is complete except some stocking stuff.  The inside of the house is decorated for Christmas.  I don't know if we will get to the outside decorations or not this year.  Eddie may feel ambitious this weekend, but we'll see.  Everything has been progressing normally with Mr. Grayson.  We've had regular weekly NST checks to monitor him, and he always passes with flying colors.  He is still relatively active even though he must be getting pretty cramped in there.  Besides the normal pregnancy symptoms of being tired, uncomfortable and having trouble sleeping, Mommy is also doing well.  Here is what we've been up to the last 8 weeks: 

We dressed up for Halloween, and Grayson joined in as a cute little blue Pacman ghost.

Cantaloupe or watermelon? 

With big sister Mattie's Christmas wreath.

Picking out our Christmas tree.

Yep, it's show time!  We hope to soon be meeting our sweet baby!

Stay tuned...