A very merry Christmas

This Christmas was especially special as it was Asher's very first. 

December 25th has come and gone in a flurry this year, and was jam packed full of family fun, summer sun and good deal of cough medicine.

First up: pre-Chrismas/wintery fun! Before the unseasonably warm weather flew through, the four-ahem FIVE- of us enjoyed a cool ride on the Wilson train of lights followed by a Polar Express themed night of fun for the boys. Also making Scott family headlines that weekend was dinner with "Santa Cow" at Chic-fil-a.

Oh and did I mention we went to see Disney on Ice with our local homeschool group? It was magical, and so so much fun! I can't wait to go back next year.

Grandma arrived the week of Christmas and loved getting some extra quality time with her. With shopping and presents mostly wrapped up and not much on the agenda, it was a great week to slow down, relax and enjoy extra snuggles with all the boys.

Presenting the Grinch draw off-of course Chris won "the grinchiest."

We also took our annual drive around town to look at Christmas lights. On strike against the warm weather, we dressed up the boys in their fleece pajamas and bought hot chocolate a la starbucks-all to the tune of Charlie Brown's Christmas music. We saw a good number of great houses and took many a mental note for our own bright lights and outside decorations next year. 

And now for the big event... On Christmas Eve we opened gifts with Grandma and Grandpa Tim. Star wars, stuffys and legos oh my! So many gifts! I pray our boys grow up to know how lucky and loved they are.

We did our own family Christmas the next morning. Delicious cinnamon rolls from a friend and a reading from our Jesus Storybook bible made for a perfect prelude to presents.

 

Our big gifts to the boys this year were Kindle Fires. Consider Pandora's box open.

Excuse the underoos-did I mention is was near 80 degrees?

Unfortunately Chris was pretty under the weather, but still managed to eat a piece of the traditional birthday cake for Jesus-this year decorated with the little people nativity scene.

That afternoon we headed to Gigi and Poppy's house and were as always thoroughly blessed-ahem spoiled- with gifts! My parent's have always done Christmas big and I'm sure I will always feel like a kid on Christmas day in their home. :-) The boys especially loved their star wars gear and first remote control cars. As much as they've been playing with them these past few days I'm amazed they are still in one piece! Once the rain settles down a bit we can't wait to get outside with them more.

Finally the day after Christmas we enjoyed a big lunch at Cracker Barrel with Chris' extended family. And I'm happy to say that daddy is feeling much better with the help of some antibiotics and other rx meds-let's pray that's the last of the season's sickness around here!

Asher meets cousin Faith for the first time-thanks for the picture Elissa!

I don't have enough words and certainly haven't posted all the pictures to do it justice, but there it is-another great Christmas for the books. Now to ring in the happy New Year. :-)

Wilson Christmas Parade

This past weekend we brought our new family of five out to see one of our small town favorites-the annual Wilson Christmas parade. It was a beautiful, crisp morning and the perfect outing for us, complete with with a Best-N-Burger on top. 

I spy an Evan!

 One day they will both look at the camera at the same time!

Asher was a doll and slept through the whole thing, drum line, police sirens and all.

 And with that, let the season's festivities begin!

Asher Elliot-At Home

Our sweet little piglet has been with us for a little over two weeks now. It's been a joy waking up to him every morning. He is the perfect addition to our family and I can't imagine our home without this third son of ours. Angel baby he is, and I can say that because I'm his mama. :-) Seriously though, he's a champion eater  and dream of a sleeper. We do not take it for granted and are so grateful!

It's amazing the things you forget about this whole newborn deal, like the diapers for instance-so.many.diapers. And the spontaneous explosion of laundry. And the way your nightstand looks, littered with said diapers, wipes, hand sanitizer, empty coffee cups, paci, backup paci, baby powder, lotion, and so on. Add to that our nightstands don't actually have that much surface area, so you can imagine what it looks like all piled up.

But for this? So worth it!

Since we've been home we have been overwhelmed with delicious food from our sweet church family and friends. The meal train and generous gift cards has been a tremendous blessing while we transition to a family of 5, and we are beyond thankful and blown away by everyone's kindness-it has all been so good and our tummy's surely show it!

Here's a few more pictures of life around here the week after we came home from the hospital. So many thanks to this handsome hubby of mine for taking such good care of the house and our big boys so mommy could rest up, recover, and most importantly take in every sweet snuggle with baby Asher.

Grandma took this picture of us the morning she left, our first as a family of five. Here she is with her THREE grandsons.

 

 

  

Below-So fresh and clean after his first bath. There's nothing quite like that baby smell a la Johnson and Johnson-yum!

Gigi and Poppy made our first Thanksgiving with Asher a memorable one. They brought the turkey to our table and the Christmas decorating to our home.

Our Christmas tree this year is brand new-to us-but has been an Abrahamson family heirloom for many many years. It's traveled around the globe and I am honored to have it make it's new home in our living room. Thanks to my mom, who took on the Christmas tree project full force and dressed it head to toe in white lights and beautiful gold and silver ornaments, it is absolutely breathtaking. Here's a small snapshot-

The boys donned their new Christmas pajamas to join the decorating fun.

We are slowly but surely finding our new normal as a family of five. Between Chris returning to work last week and us resuming school next, it's almost back to business as usual. I anticipate feeling much better once I am more recovered and able to get out and about on my own-not being able to drive has given us all a bit of cabin fever. So far we've taken a few family trips-to Target and Chic Fil A-and it was wonderful to bring Asher to church for the first time this morning. I've also had a few visits from sweet friends to brighten up our days-it's unspeakably refreshing to laugh and catch up with real grown up people after almost 3 weeks spent indoors. In seasons like these I'm thankful for this North Carolina winter-61 degrees and sunny in December! 

Stay tuned for many more chubby cheeked baby pics to come!

Asher Elliot-Part 1: In the hospital

On November 16, we welcomed our third sweet son into the world. Asher Elliot made his debut at 11:16am, weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces-mommy's exact guess for the record! At 21 inches long, he's our little string bean. Even so, I'm in awe of how this babe fit in my tummy-oh the wonders of His love!

We were able to do skin to skin in the Operating room, and nurse for the first time soon after in the recovery unit. Here's a picture of the first time we met...

As cesareans go, this recovery has been a tough one. But, every day is better than the last and at almost two weeks out, I finally feel like I'm turning a corner and see the bright lights to better days close ahead. No matter, this hard part is such a short season in the grand scheme a path I'd walk over and over again to get to my sweet Asher-he is worth it all!

We have affectionately nicknamed Asher "Piglet" or our "little piggy" because he was came out of the womb oinking(and sneezing!). In his first few days of life he filled our hospital room with the sweetest squeals, and that with his perfectly pink complexion earned him the title of "Piglet."

 

I feel like this picture above reflects a lot of what the hospital recovery is all about-simply sitting and snuggling with baby. That's the part I'll choose to remember anyways. That and the total deliciousness of room service-unlimited jello and strawberries for this girl please! The pain of recovery, seemingly endless sticks and signatures, and  parade of people-these are less appealing aspects of the hospital stay.  Chris might add sleeping in a chair for 4 days-he's my rockstar. ;-)

We took advantage of Rex's new "baby's first pictures" program and it was really neat to see him have his first little baby shoot. This one below was my favorite. Get used to it buddy, mommy loves the camera and this is just the first of many crazy photoshoots and pictures to come (thanks to big brother Bennett, I will spare putting you in a pumpkin). 

Here we are meeting Gigi, Poppy, Grandma and Evan and Bennett for the first time! I have to say this first big brother meeting was not as pinterest picturesk-my big boys were pretty much more interested in getting snacks than meeting their new baby brother! No doubt these 3 and 5 year old boys had better places to be and couldn't be restrained in a hospital room for too long. A tiny bit of me was disappointed to miss out on that ideal first meeting, but thankfully a bigger part of me was okay with letting go, because that's our perfectly non perfect life. I'm happy to say-now that we've been home for a week-BOTH boys are so sweet to and smitten with their new brother!

This is us breaking free and heading home-praise God!!!

While Chris and I were away in the hospital, Grandma Sharon took such wonderful care of our big boys. We are so so thankful for her and were overjoyed to share in this special time with her. She took this picture for us before she hit the road back to PA-it's our first as a family of five. Pajamas, no make-up, silly boys-just perfect.