Last week staying home

This is my last week of maternity leave. Hard to believe Gage is almost 8 weeks old and I've been out of work just as long. I am eager to get back, yet dread it at the same time. I LOVE my job and LOVE the people I work with and truly couldn't be happier, yet my heart is at home with Gage. I would do anything to stay home with him... hopefully one day that will happen. It's going to be extremely tough next week when I have to leave him. He's going to be in great hands and I have nothing to worry about, but I want to be home with him. I am going to try to enjoy the rest of this week and weekend with him. He's just precious to us. We are so happy and blessed to that God trusted us with him. Enjoy a couple new pics...

I love my baby

Gage was a little out of it the other day, so I decided I could pose him and snap a few shots. Some are sweet, some are goofy.

Ryan read "Unlovable" to Gage. A book about a pug given to us by some great friends. As you can see it had no effect on Lola or Sydney. =)

Hey dad... there's one in here for you... as Ben once said, "I got pockets!"

4 Week Photo Shoot

On our return home to Austin after Christmas, we stopped in Cisco for a couple of nights to stay with my in-laws. Gage had a mini photo shoot that started out pretty bad, but ended up going great! Boy doesn't like to be stripped down and changed multiple times, but he sure produced some great photos (taken by Andy Escobedo of Cisco).

As you will see below... Gage has a "special right ear" and I love it! It's pinched at the top where God kissed him. It's precious.

Last picture is Gage laying in Santa's hands (aka his dads).

I must say... we make beautiful babies!

Enjoy...

What a wonderful Christmas...

We have just returned from a whirlwind of traveling... we traveled from Austin to Cisco to Roswell to Lubbock back to Roswell to Alto to Cisco and back to Austin. Wheewww, isn't that exhausting just reading it?!?

We spent a couple of days before Christmas with my family in Roswell, then headed to Lubbock for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with the Johnson side and what a Christmas it was! There was the Blizzard of Cisco 2009 that stranded my in-laws on I-20 only 10 miles from their house for 4 hours, not moving. Thankfully, they ended up making it to Lubbock 9-10 hours later!!! Keep in mind that it is a 3 hour trip! The Wilcoxen/Collier clan was stuck in Cisco until Christmas day, but thankfully everyone made it safely to the Penas in Lubbock. Ryan and I enjoyed spending Christmas afternoon with the Grahams/Weathers/Blanns! So much much fun and so many laughs! On the 26th we headed back to NM and spent a week in Alto with my parents and enjoyed more snow! We were gone for 2 weeks and our sweet Gage is only 4 weeks old! Boys been traveling half of his life! We had a wonderful time sharing Gage with family and were so thankful that we had the opportunity to do so. It couldn't have been a more special 1st Christmas with our son.

Gage is doing awesome and is such a sweet baby. He's eating up a storm and has began to smile at us when we talk to him. So exciting! For the most part... he's sleeping really well at the night and only wakes up 1-2 times. Gage is quickly outgrowing many of his clothes. He's wearing a few newborns sleep n' plays, fits well into 0-3 month clothes and actually fits into a couple 3-6 month outfits! I guess everything/brand fits very differently.

We are so in love with Gage and are so thankful for him. It's so true when people say, "You really never know how much you can love someone until you have a child". Now I realize how much our parents love us and would do anything for us. Pretty amazing. We have a beautiful life.