Early Christmas celebration

We celebrated "Dutch Christmas" with Derek's family, which is early Dec. We had planned to have an early family get-together so that we could still come and not be in danger of being in labour in the car again (as it went with Brooke 2.5 yrs ago!) but we, of course, ended up celebrating with a newborn instead! :0)

We left Sunday after church and were back Monday pm, so not a hugely long visit, but long enough since I'm still a little tired from the whole Micah-birth-thing!

Gr8 time spent with Derek's family. I think they rather liked our little man. So neat to see the kids' cousins, very cool too that it was the "first Christmas" for Micah, and his twin cousins Hudson and Logan. There's quite a size difference now, but how cool that they're all in the same year.

Uncle Rudy

Aunt Tina

Opa and Nana's first time meeting Micah


Micah's new hat!

Brookie's favourite present. A BIG Bailey! We're still trying to convince her to name it something different... She said it was Benny at fist, but now it's Bailey. Again.

Chillin' after a tasty meal!

Aunt Tina, Geneva LOVES her princess dress up clothes! They just happen to fit Brooke well too, and G is sharing quite nicely. They spent a good hour at Nana's on Mon am playing dress up and posing and twirling. How'd I end up with such girly-girls? :0)

Aunt Lori and Uncle Ed came by for a visit

Cousin Abigail

My mom dropped the girls off on Sunday afternoon: they had been at her house since Thursday. We were really excited to see them! Brookie's first time away from home overnight! My dad came for a quick snuggle with Micah since he hadn't met him yet! What a gramps: he drove 5 hours total and could only stay for less than an hour. So good that he got to meet him.

Grandpa

G snuggling and talking to her baby brother after a few days of being apart. I think she missed him a little bit! During this pic she was looking at him and saying "Hi Micah! Hi baby brother, I'm your big sister."

SO, anyway, in a way, it's kinda nice that we celebrated with family early. Now that Geneva's a bit older, it's been neat to help her understand more on why we really celebrate Christmas: the true reason for the season, that Christ came as a wee babe! It's been neat to talk to the girls already and tell them that Jesus came as a baby- just Micah's size! :0)
I've been teaching them Away in a Manger, which is rather cute. I'm kinda surprised Geneva didn't know it yet, but I guess when you only listen to a song for one month out of year, it's hard for them to remember it the next year!

Anyway, as a side note, this year our church is doing something called the "advent conspiracy" which has been really neat to be a part of. Basically, it centers around keeping things simple: worship fully, spend less, give more, love all. http://www.adventconspiracy.org if you're interested... It's neat to pick names this year, so we can use some of the "extra" money to support a local ministry and a global water project as well!

Tuesday was my first day back at home with all the kidlets. Derek was back to work and Geneva was at school, so Brookie and I had a nice quiet day at home with Micah.

Today was our first day at home with all 5 (!!!!) of us. Brookie was a bear, but other than that we had a good day. Here are a few more pics of our beauties.

Micah basking in the sunlight. Still a wee bit jaundiced. Our midwife comes again tomorrow am for a weigh-in, please pray that the little squirt has finally gained some weight! He was still 7 - 5 when Tonya weighed him on Tuesday... The silly little bean is just so relaxed and DOZY while nursing!
We're hoping that these past few days of quietness at home have helped him gain!
He is SUCH a sweet baby and has been such a blessing in our lives already during his 8 days with us so far! I'm TOTALLY ga-ga for him. hehe.

Daddy and Geneva went out to get a tree while the rest of the fam napped.

Setting up the tree. What big helpers!

OH Brookie.

Slightly better... We'll try again another time.

Ok, long enough post. Micah will be awake soon and ready to eat. And then up lots in the middle of the night wanting to eat and be awake. Again, I say: Silly bean. Please learn that darkness means NIGHT and sunshine means DAY!