Thanksgiving with the Grommersches

This was our year to travel to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with the Grommersches. Being that I was still on maternity leave from work, we were able to leave after Ella's Thanksgiving Feast at school on Tues. afternoon so we got to Alpharetta late Tues. night and had Wed. - Sat. to spend w/ family. The kids both did phenomenal on the trip over. Henry slept most of the time and Ella napped on and off. We stopped 2-3 times both going and coming home to change a diaper, stretch our legs, eat, and use the restroom which I didn't  think was bad. It was fun introducing the fam to our newest blessing - Henry. Ella was thrilled to see all of her cousins too and they were sweet enough to get down on the floor and play with her the entire time! See pics below from our trip.

Center of attention....Everyone checking out Baby Henry

Aunt Julie holding Henry for the 1st time

& Uncle Mike

Big Daddy & his namesake - Henry is a 3rd generation Grommersch male whose middle name is David! Patrick David (Big Daddy), Timothy David, and now Henry David! I love a good, strong family name!

Being silly with cousins Bryan and Kevin

Holding our little turkey

Our family of 4 on Thanksgiving Day @ Uncle Mike & Aunt Julie's #thankful 

Our feast laid out before us! Thank you Aunt Julie for the delicious meal.

Baby Henry found a new friend in his cousin Kelly! Kelly is a PICU nurse and is WONDERFUL with babies. You would think she had a few of our own, but she is a newlywed & enjoying that phase of life right now (don't blame her!), but mark my words, she will make an excellent mother one day. When she was around, I rarely had to tend to Henry b/c she did everything- including, but not limited to changing a dirty diaper! 

Kisses for Baby Brother - Love these 2 so much!

Now that is 4 Grommersch TURKEYS right there! STINKERS!!!! 

All smiles with their Big Daddy!

Bryan is the youngest of the Grommersch cousins and although they're all tall, he stands the tallest at 6'6"! It is so neat seeing him hold Henry who is so tiny in his big hands/arms!

And here is Henry at 2 months (8 weeks) growing and growing! He weighed in at 12 lbs 2 ozs at his 8 week check up/ shots that we had the day we left for Atlanta. Do I spy a bit of red hair here in this pict too? Noni have you worn off on another one of our babies!!!! LOL

Fall Happenings

Even though we stayed at the house much of the month of October due to a newborn, we did manage to get out with Ella (& Henry) towards the end of the month for some fall fun! We went to Faith Lutheran's (Ella's School) trunk or treat the weekend before Halloween & did Collierville's Annual Scare on the Square the night before which is always fun to trick or treat around the different stores on our town square.

This past weekend, Tim & I attended Ella's Harvest Party at her school & then went to our neighborhood event that night- roasting hot dogs & smores around the fire pit before heading out to trick or treat our circle. :) Saturday morning, we got up and all 4 headed to Coffeeville (Henry's 1st trip nonetheless!) for the remainder of the weekend. Tim & I carried Ella (Henry stayed back in Coffeeville at Bibby & Dee's) to Bull Bottom Farms with all of the England Clan for the kids to play all day. It was a perfect day for that b/c they weren't very busy and the weather was nice. That is also the one time of year that I know I can visit with one of my very good childhood friends Katie since she & her in-laws are the one's that run & own the farm. We were bridesmaids in each others weddings and can always pick right up where we left off! Sunday was FBC C'ville's annual homecoming where we had a delicious meal and got to see many familiar faces. Afterwards, we all ventured up to Grandmama's to help her blow out the candles on her birthday cake - she turned 100 years old this past Thursday! We had Sugaree's strawberry and caramel cakes complete with ice cream to celebrate this momentous occasion. Grandmother's mind is still pretty sharp. She can't see anymore, but knows voices. I think she liked hearing the children (all of her great-grands) yesterday just playing and talking to her. I introduced her to Henry and although she couldn't see him, I took her hand and placed it in on his little head so she could feel him. :) Henry makes #6 in great grandchildren for her. Our small town newspaper had a sweet article and  beautiful picture of Grandmama in their weekly edition this week. She was their feature story on the front page- a great article written by my dad and Aunt Nan. :) How fitting that the article was published and run in the same week as Henry's birth announcement ran on the back page. What a neat thing to stick in his baby book and look back on for years to come.

I would be amiss to not mention that earlier in the month (almost 2 weeks after Henry's birth) Tim and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Mom & Dad watched Henry as we ran out for a quick bite at Firebirds here in town. I can't believe 6 years has flown by this quickly. Tim & I have been together for 11 years total this Christmas and that seems even more unbelievable. Tim also has a birthday coming up this Sunday and he will turn 35. He made the comment that he will be 50 in 15 years.....When I told him that we had been together for 11 years, it was a scary realization that time flies all too quickly. I couldn't be more blessed in a husband, best friend, and life partner in  Tim. He takes care of Ella, Henry, and me daily and truly is the ultimate family man. I often joke with him that he needs a hobby outside of just being with his family of 4....but that is where he wants to be- all of us together as often as possibly doing whatever it may be.....Can't complain about that hobby, can I? ;)

Enjoy some pictures below from the past month. Henry goes back to the doctor this month for a check up and I can't wait to see how much he has grown!

@ Faith Lutheran's Trunk or Treat

Henry - 4 Weeks Old

Ella's Class @ Faith Lutheran - Harvest Party Day - Oct. 31st

We actually got a good pic of the 3 of us! Henry was hanging out in the stroller nearby :)

Baby Henry on his 1st Halloween- not impressed! LOL

Cousin Ames & Ella @ our neighborhood trick or treating- It was cold! 

3 Sweet "Babies" - Griffin 7, Robbye 5, Ella 3

Jumping on the HUGE pillow

Playing in the corn box w/ her cousin and BFF

Sweet girls holding hands @ BBF

  

4 of the 6 Griffin Grands. Thomas and Henry will get to come next year! :)

Racing Robbye down the slide

In JAIL!

A pic of all of us before we left...Best we could do!

Celebrating Grandmama's 100th!

Introducing her to Henry

Grandmama, Bets, Henry & I

We have a new addition at our House :)

Welcome to the world Baby Henry! We were scheduled to be induced on Monday, Sept. 29th @ 8:30 a.m.; however, Henry decided he would like to meet us earlier and so the contractions started at 9 p.m. on Sunday evening. Thankfully, the car was already packed and ready to go and my parents were here to stay with Ella so off we went to Methodist Germantown about 11:30 p.m.! We were admitted at midnight and I progressed fairly quickly on my own with little to no pitocin. I got an epidural around 3 a.m. and tried to get some rest which totally didn't happen! Around 10 a.m., the grandparents, my sister, and Big Sister to be had arrived & we began pushing shortly thereafter. I was hoping for a quicker "push time" than 2.5 hours again like we did with Ella & we did manage to beat that time by about half an hour, but man that will wear you out! At 12:29 p.m., Henry David Grommersch came to meet us & was just perfect - 8 lbs 4 ozs and 20 3/4 inches long. Big Sister was completely in love from the moment she met him and has been a huge help at home! I am slowly coming out of my "baby fog" & getting back to reality a little bit. Still adjusting to life as a family of 4, but loving every minute. See below for picts.... :)

Bibby getting her hands on Baby Henry for the 1st time

Noni too!

And then there were 4....

#grommerschpartyof4

One of me best friends Randye drove all the way from Grenada to come and meet Henry shortly after he was born @ the hospital. Sweet friend since childhood!

Mrs. Laura came to visit too!

& all the Englands!

Dee holding Baby Henry w/ Big Sis (in her Doc scrubs nonetheless)

Daddy & Mr. Zach

Noni loving on Henry

Getting Henry dressed and ready to head home

My best friend Ginny & her mom, Mrs. Cheri, came to visit the first weekend in Oct. We hadn't seen each other since Christmas!!!! 

Our sweet nursery director, Mrs. Cheryl and Ella's Sunday School teacher Ms. Jessica came out to bring us gifts and hold Baby Henry! Love our church :) Ella was beside herself that they came out to our house!

PROUD Big Sister

And helping Bibby bake us a choc chip pound cake one night! YUM!

This pic above was from Daddy/Daughter Date Night at our church this past Friday night. All dressed up for their date and posing in front of our hydrangeas. 

Life is good at our house- just getting used to the demands of a newborn again and the multiple middle of the night feedings. Henry is a good baby for the most part and he is 3 weeks old (soon to be 4 weeks on Monday- agh- where is the time going?!) Ella still loves pre-school and the fact that I am picking her up earlier a little bit each day due to me being on maternity leave. We are slowly getting back to doing a few things outside of the house and getting brave enough to venture out with 2 kids. LOL. Mom came and stayed with us for a couple of weeks while Tim had to travel out of town twice for work. So thankful for that! We have had several friends, family and neighbors bring by food since Henry's arrival which has also been super helpful. I will try and update sooner rather than later but make no promises :)

Until next time.....