Xander Douglas McEntire joins our family!

Our son, Xander Douglas, was born on Thursday, December 29th at 12:48 pm. He weighed a whopping 9 lbs 6 ounces, was 21 inches long and has a head that is 15 inches in circumference.

We got to the hospital at 5:45 am and called to let our family know around 6:30.

His birth was the most difficult mental and physical thing that I have ever done. I have never been so blessed as to be so supported as I was by my sweet hubby. He is the best delivery-room dad and support person I could ask for! 

Daddy and Xander having some face time while the nurses were checking him out. 

Xander and Auntie Janis

Chillin in his first bath!

With Dr. Medley

Me and my little man a couple hours after delivery!

Ready to meet big sister! 

Gabriella had stayed the night with my parents and they were on their way to come see Xander and let Gabriella meet him!

She kept asking to hold him  the whole time she was at the hospital and kept giving him hugs and kisses. They are going to be great buddies!

Full tummied and clean bottomed at 20 hours old. He is so sweet and snuggley. He is nursing like a champ and will lie in your arms and just look around, licking at his hands or mouth. Matt likes to call him "Tongue Boy" because his tongue is always moving. 

Leaving the hospital when Xander was 25 hours old! We were all ready to leave!!!

Daddy snuggles at home!

Gabriella came home a few hours after we got there. She was so excited to see Mommy and Daddy and Baby Nanoo and Josie. Here is Daddy with his two kiddos. So precious!!

We are so excited and blessed that our family has expanded. Xander is healthy and perfect! Gabriella is wonderful (as always). We are so thankful for our families and friends that helped and supported and encouraged us during this pregnancy and birth. It is so amazing to watch how God uses and turns all things to His glory! Matt and I are looking forward to the future that God has planned for the four of us!!

Christmas 2011

All in all we had a great Christmas this year!

We started the morning at our house and woke Gabriella up to come see what was under the Christmas tree. She wasn't too sure about the giant Dora doll until daddy started hugging it.

Dora helped Gabriella open all her gifts. She was especially excited about getting Dora nail polish :)

Matt with his flip-flops I got him (I always find something hilariously outrageous to put in his stocking!)

He cheered up after he opened all his presents

Us girls got ready and then Matt's entire family came over to our house for breakfast and gift exchange. After that we were off to my parents house for the rest of the day (and some naps!)

Ariella got some full-bodied footie pajamas and immediately put them on over her clothes. 

Gabriella toting around the doggies that she got from Aunt Linda & Uncle Steve. When she opened the package she kissed each dog on the head. 

Opening her giant present from Gramma Sandy and Grampa Doug. It was bigger than her!

Baking a snack for Dora in her kitchen (her present from Gramma and Grampa)

Ariella was super excited for her Jonas Bros pin and bracelet set from Jonny & April. 

(She is planning on marrying Kevin Jonas)

Grampa and Gabriella playing in her pop-up tent! 

April and Ariella joining in for tent play time!

Jonathan's terrible blister from burning his foot on Friday. We kept joking about if my water would break before his blister did (sadly, neither one has yet). 

April ate a little too much sugar. She turned on Jonny with a 2lb peppermint stick

Our tree on Christmas morning. 

This Christmas was a lot different that any previous ones. We were a little apprehensive about it, but as usual, God had other plans. I was blessed to be able to spend Christmas with my sweet girlie (we were worried about baby brother arriving today), we got to see our whole families and we all had a wonderful time celebrating family and the birth of Jesus. I am SO thankful that He came to earth to love on us and to bless up with His gift of life!

Thanksgiving & Gingerbread House Fun!

Starting off the morning helping Daddy taste-test Gramma Shelley's mashed potatoes. Needless to say, Gabriella loved them!

Here we are at Gramma Jackie's backdoor. Gabriella and I were showing Daddy our pretty smiles and hair. She kept wanting to go outside to play but it was freezing!

After a quick nap it was time to play with more cousins and family at Gramma Sandy's house before dinner. Here Nicholas, William, Amelia, and April are piled on Ariella who was trying to nap in the chair.

James helped Gramma make the rolls. I think punching down the dough was his favorite part.

After we got home, we took Gabriella's ponytails out and she had some CRAZY hair!

Time for bed.

On Friday we went back to my mom's house for dinner leftovers and some more fun with cousins. Cousin Jessica had a gingerbread house kit and the kids were super excited for it.

Here Uncle Jonny is installing the roof while James and Nicholas are assisting.

Gabriella working very intently on her edible modeling clay.

Auntie April helping Gabriella put candy on the roof. This was one of the few pieces of candy that made it to the house. Gabriella ate just as many as she put on the house.

William was a good decorator as well. And Amelia is working on her gingerbread man.

The kids had tons of fun getting "glue" (frosting) on their candy and then deciding where to put it on the house.

James and Nicholas working on the path to the front door.

The finished house!

Here James and Gabriella are burning off some of the sugar from all the candy they ate while decorating.

We had a great Thanksgiving and its still on Friday night! I love that Matt gets Thanksgiving and the day after off work and paid! It is such a wonderful blessing to have him be home with us so much and get to spend so much time with us. Plus I love when my California family comes up! We only see them a couple times a year but the kids all get along great and it is fun having our kids play together the way that we did when we were their age!

Baby X Photo Shoot

My friend runs a non-medical ultrasound business in Grants Pass and did a photot shoot for me this weekend of Baby X at 33 1/2 weeks. We got some awesome shots!

So sweet!

Snuggled up with his hand on his cheek

Baby yawns!

Gabriella loved watching it and kept smiling and saying, "Baby Nanoo!"

The whole way home she kept asking, "More Baby Nanoo?"

She is very excited to be a big sister :)

Sign Language

We've been meaning to get a video of Gabriella doing sign language for awhile now but kept forgetting! We finally got it tonight. She can say a few more words that we caught on video, but all in all she does great learning signs. She usually will learn one the first or second time you show her and then use it repeatedly.

We started teaching her Sign Language when she was about 9 months old. It took her 3 days to learn "milk" and then 3 days later she learned "cheese" (mostly thanks to Uncle Jonny who wanted her to learn "cheese" first). It was really nice because at that point she stopped crying when she was hungry or thirsty. She could ask for specifically what she wanted. She used "milk" for a drink and "cheese" for food for a long time.

Around 10 months we started with a few other ones, "please", "thank you", and "water"

Now, at 20 months, she uses and remembers without prompting, how to sign: milk, cheese, water, please, thank you, more, all gone, chocolate, ice cream, strawberry, water, orange, apple, juice, watermelon, popcorn, and more.  

Birthday Walk with Uncle Nate

Last night we went for a walk with Matt's family for Nate's birthday. It was freezing so everyone was super bundled up!

Gabriella got to choose between hot chocolate or hot juice (cider). She chose hot juice and drank the entire cup in about 2 minutes, barely coming up for air.

Here we all are, bundled up because it was so cold! I was loving my peppermint decaf mocha! Mmmm!

Matt was having fun dancing with all the kids to the music that was playing. Here he is with Gabriella and cousin Haylie.

Brannon got whipped cream on his straw and painted his lips with it!

We had a great time walking. I love the crisp, cold fall nighttime air!

Nummy Goo-Gu!

Gabriella  needed a snack before bed so I opened up the refridgerator and asked her what she wanted. She squealed and grabbed out a container of yogurt yelling, "goo-gu!"

She used her spoon for about 30 seconds and then switched to fingers.

Fried Food Fest

We finally made it all together tonight for a fried food fest at my parent's house!

Dad & Jonny fired up the deep fryer and we waited for the temperature of the oil to get high enough!

We had an assortment of veggies (Zucchini, yams, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, and pickles). We made tempura batters (regular & gluten-free) and mom made a separate batter for the onion rings. After we had gotten several rounds of veggies done up, we started in on corn dogs (regular and gluten-free)! 

Here we all are! We had a great time and just ate stuff outside as soon as it came out of the fryer!

Gabriella enjoying a gluten-free corn dog (we cut them in thirds so they cooked better).

Gabriella and Auntie Jilly eating onions together. You will notice that Jill's is deep fried and Gabriella's is raw and unbattered. She ate two whole onion rings that were completely raw!

Dad and the girls were chilly so they were hovering around the heater most of the time.

Phil was pretty good at multi-tasking. Here he is eating a deep fried twinkie while tending to the oil.

Jonny already looks like he put on 50 pounds! He had a bite of food in his cheek when I took the picture!

Matt and Gabriella. She was enjoying her piece of fried twinkie. Everyone said they were good (we couldn't eat them). Mom said they tasted like Krispie Kreme donuts.

Mom with her funnel cake batter. She was a fry master, busting out her old A&W skills!

The funnel cake didn't really hold shape, so we called them Funnel Snakes instead of cakes.

Here is a picture of Sandy's Funnel Snakes!

Mom & Ariella.

Mom has a fried twinkie, Ariella has a fried snickers bar.

Jonnny & April sharing a Funnel Snake!

Me & Jill after we were done eating.

Jonny eating one of the last Funnel Snakes.

The fry fest was a total success! Everything turned out really good and we had tons of fun laughing and hanging out around the fryer. Can't wait til next year!