The Next Chapter

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Psalm 36:4-6

This has been quite a summer. The birth of Brenner Oz was certainly our high point, but it came just days before Steve lost his job. Back in May he learned that his entire group was getting laid off. I was 32 weeks pregnant. To say this rocked my world was an understatement. I knew this was always a possibility- we had friends losing jobs all around us. My initial fear was that my husband would have to start traveling again. The selfish part of me was overwhelmed with the thought of raising 3 kids by myself. But after talking with my parents, my in-laws, and Steve I realized that I could not worry about what might happen and only focus on the baby. A healthy pregnancy was my focus and looking for a new job was Steve's focus.

For that reason, we shared the news with very few people. I just couldn't handle the "How's Steve's job search going?" questions on a daily basis. For those that have gone through a job loss, you know that finding a new job is actually a very slow, tedious process. Things don't happen each day. Sending out resumes, making contacts, having phone interviews, following up... there were some weeks with multiple leads and other weeks with little movement. Thankfully we have a very supportive family who encouraged us all the time and really saw this entire journey as a positive thing for our family. As the countdown to baby got closer, so did Steve's final day at Accenture. Baby was due July 18. Steve's last day was to be July 15- his 34th birthday. What a gift, huh? With the due date after his last day we opted to induce so Steve could get paternity leave benefits. It all worked out great and Brenner was born July 9th.

After we got home from the hospital we started letting more friends know about our situation. Several people started passing around his resume and the ball really started rolling on the whole job search. A couple of weeks ago, my BFF Sunni submitted his resume for a position at Baylor Healthcare System. Soon after, Steve got a call to come in for an interview.

So, this past Wednesday he put on his suit and tie and headed down to Dallas. He met with 4 people and then was asked to come back the next day. He was really interested in the position and it seemed they were equally interested in him. After Thursday's interview he felt good about things. They said they would be in contact with him next week. Imagine our surprise when they called Friday afternoon and offered him the job! PTL!! He accepted and we couldn't be happier! Steve will initially be working with patient survey data and then adding more responsibilities as he becomes more familiar with the job. There is no travel- except for the lovely 40 mile commute (one way). Sunni and Brad are already trying to talk us into moving near them in big D.

So now we have 3 more weeks together at home before the new job starts. Looking back, I thought the timing couldn't have been worse... Steve loses his job just as we add Brenner to the family. But, God really did have the perfect plan for us. Steve has had an extended paternity leave. Brenner will be just over 10 weeks old when Steve starts his new job. This time together has been priceless. We are so blessed and are excited about this new chapter in our lives.

My "Awake" Son

My friend, Randi, told me she never sees Brenner awake. It is true that he sleeps a lot- like any newborn, but recently he's been having longer periods of awake time. He's starting to make faces, coo & goo, smirk, and occasionally smile. His dimple melts my heart. Overall his facial experession just looks very serious... again, reminds me of his brothers. His eyes are still a deep blue. But, if can recall correctly both Caleb and Carter had blue eyes for quite some time. Now Caleb has light brown eyes and Carter has green eyes. So, I have no idea if the blue will stay. I'm sure his blue-eyed father would love to have one son with his eye color.

Here's just a few photos from the past week.

The First Days of School

Here's a look back at Caleb's first days of school.

Kindergarten- shy and nervous 1st Grade- eager and toothless

2nd Grade- excited and confident

My Big 2nd Grader!

Such a big boy! We had the calmest, easiest morning. I remember our first day of K was so crazy and emotional. It helped that Steve took care of Brenner and Carter was still asleep even as we left for school. Caleb was just thrilled to be heading off to 2nd grade today. Joy Joy Joy!

We popped in to say Hi to Mrs. Larkin since we missed seeing her at Meet the Teacher night. We will always love his K teacher. I suggested we also go say Hi to Mrs. Long in 1st grade, but he was ready to get to class. This kid did not want to be late!

At the locker. Can't we all relate. He immediately walked in the room and put away his stuff. You can imagine the excitement when he saw worksheets on his desk. He's been excited about doing "harder work" for quite a while now. Each year it seems to get easier to drop him off. We know most of the kids in the room and are familiar with the parents as well. It's like picking right up from when we left off.

And here she is.... Mrs. Leibold (pronounced Lee-Bold) She is not much taller than the kids. Good thing she teaches 2nd and not 5th! She's very experienced and rumor has it... she loves boys. I hear she's very sarcastic and lots of fun. I'm so excited for Caleb. I'm sure this will be another great year!

The Hook-Up

Gotta love being neighbors with the local Enfamil rep! Cha-Ching$$$

6 Weeks

Sweet Brenner is 6 weeks old today. It's so hard to believe that much time has passed. I want him to stay itty bitty forever, but I know that's not possible. He's starting to coo and occasionally smile. I'll put the camera in his face for minutes at a time hoping to catch the quick smile. Here's the one and only shot I've been able to get! He's got the crooked smile- a James trademark. And that cute dimple pops out every time! Love it!

The hair on top is falling out, but he still has hair around the sides- kind of like a Dr. Phil or George Costanza look. It has hints of blond, brown, and red... completely the way Caleb looked at this age. Oh, and that's Caleb in Brenner's face. He's the one that got him cooing and smiling.

And here's Carter with his baby brother. He has been thrilled with Brenner from day one, which is so nice. Carter really likes to pat him on the head and talk to him in a high-pitch voice. So cute!

And here's the bigger brother! What a helper! Caleb asked to give him a bottle the other day, so we got things arranged just so and he was very successful. I stayed right there the whole time. I really love having such a big age difference in my boys. It presents a whole new dynamic into our home that I hadn't expected. I've been told how great it would be, but just didn't really get it until now.

Not Much Lakin' at the Lake

First let me say I borrowed these pictures from Shanan's blog. This is from July when they went to visit the lake house (where Steve's parents live) down in Austin. We obviously couldn't make it this summer. I knew the lake was low, but man oh man it's super low. Estimates put it at 60 feet down. Last I heard it's the 3rd lowest it's been in history (or since someone has been keeping the history of the levels of Lake Travis)

Steve and Shereda live on a cove and you can see it is nearly completely dry.
Here's all the family hanging out in the area that is usually deep under water.

Just to give you some perspective. At normal lake levels you just walk down a few steps to get to the dock. It's so low now that even all the additional stairs that have been added are useless in this drought. Crazy thing though a few summers ago Amy and I were staying there when a huge storm came through and pushed the lake up 20 feet over normal. That's the thing with a lake that is not a constant-level lake... you depend on mother nature. Austin needs rain badly. It's been a few years of less than average rain fall which adds up quickly to low lake levels. As crazy as it sounds we're all kind of hoping a good size tropical depression makes it's way into Austin this fall!

New Outfit

Here's Brenner's newest outfit. Steve saw this at Northpark and loved it (of course). He didn't buy it since he wasn't sure of my reaction. I then called my BFF, Sunni, and asked her to pick it up for me. I think any guy would be proud to wear this shirt, right?

Plus, it'll be the perfect thing for him to wear when we go cheer on Team FROG at the Breast Cancer 3-Day this fall.

Thanks Sunni!

Shans Visit

Shanan and Shannon came to visit after spending time at the lakehouse with family and then in San Antonio working on their house-building plans for their future home in New Braunfels. We were their last stop on their Texas tour. We are so happy they were able to squeeze in DFW!

A couple of weeks ago my boys went to the lake when Shanan and her 3 sons got there. So, they had lots of cousin time. This short visit was great because we got to just watch them all interact together. My boys just loved getting on the floor with baby Grant. Seems like a taste of things to come in our household. Right now Brenner doesn't do much, so they really liked playing with their baby cousin.
And here's Grant with Uncle Steve. I swear, this is the happiest baby ever. I think he smiles 99% of the time. Everything just thrills him. He's just precious!
Here's what happens when you put a bunch of boys together- all out wrestling. Yes, that's 2.5 year old Mason putting his 5 year old cousin in a headlock.
We walked over to the pond to feed the fish and turtles. Shanan and Steve opted to stay cool in the shade with B. Who can blame them?

Here's all of us: Steve, me, and our 3 boys. The Shans and their 3 boys. And Uncle Stew!

Here's Shannon's parents- Benny and Cathy. They live in Grand Prairie and brought the boys over for brunch on Saturday so we could all see each other.

Daddy juggling #2 and #3.

Stewart and Shanan with Brenner.

I love this photo! Grant and Brenner are bonding!

This is my favorite shot. Cole and Carter are such buddies! They are just 10 months apart. I'm sure this is what Grant and Brenner will look like one day. Look at those sweaty heads!

Shanan and Shannon each got special Brenner time. I'm so glad they were able to come meet him and spend some time with us. Shanan was so helpful. She did laundry, dishes, and put away so much stuff that just needed to be taken care of. We asked her to move here full-time. I'm thinking that means we'd be taking in 3 more boys! :-)

Thanks for coming to love on us!

Boy Boy Boy Boy Boy Boy

How does one family end up with so much testosterone? Poor Grammy... all she wants is one granddaughter... just one. She's got the baby dolls stored away and the dresses smocked. When, oh when will that baby girl get here?

If you leave it to the Shans and us we'll just continue to birth more males. Here's the six cousins and ages in picture order: Carter (5), Grant (9 months), Cole (4), Mason (2 1/2), Caleb (7), Brenner (4 weeks).

But can you imagine just how much fun these boys have??

Waco Family Time

On Thursday we made a quick trip to Waco. Andy, Emily, and the girls were driving in from Tulsa. Only Emily has met Brenner so we decided to drive down to see them. Plus, this was a chance for Granny to see him for the first time and for Mamaw and Papaw to get to see him again.

Mamaw is holding Brenner like this so she can just look at him. It's so sweet.
It took a while, but Papaw warmed up to holding Brenner. I think he was afraid he was too small to hold.

I love this photo. Brenner just sat in the boppy for the longest time while Papaw talked to him. He was so alert like he was just taking it all in.

Here's Granny holding her 17th great grandchild. Caleb is number 9 and Carter is number 11. There is always a baby in the Gorham family.

I love this photo of Granny and Brenner. It's hard to get a good picture of Granny because she's always talking and therefore always has her mouth opened in photos! So now we just say, "Stop Talking!" and she kindly obliges for just enough time to take the photo.

Here's Mamaw and Papaw with their 3 grandsons. My brother and 3 cousins all have girls. I'm the only one with boys on the Winkelmann side.

And here's Nanny and Papa's 5 grandchildren. My dad was always very happy with 4- 2 boys, 2 girls... a nice even number. Brenner has thrown him off a bit, but I know he's very happy to have him here. The girls were happy to meet their newest cousin!

And here's my girls- Kayla and Caroline. I know many friends were wanting me to have a girl this time around and I want you all to know that these are my girls. I love having 2 nieces. They are precious. I just wish we all lived closer so we could see each other more often! The kids all have so much fun together no matter how much time passes between visits. Aren't they cute??

The Sock Monkey Room

This room just makes me smile!

Here's the new crib bedding that Vicki made for me. What an amazing gift! On Monday I went to Babies R Us and found a red gingham crib sheet on clearance for $4. It looks so cute with the rest of the bedding.

I love the blanket too! My "Sweet Baby James" pillow from Kim looks great in there as well!

Here's the window treatment. There are little monkey heads at the top- they were actually drawer pulls in the dollar spot at Target.

And here's Carter's big boy bed. It's my bed from childhood (which was my Granny's bed when she was a girl) and then Steve's quilt from childhood (that his Grandmother made him). Vicki added the bed skirt and pillows to tie it all together.

Kim made Carter's pillow and I added a real sock monkey just for fun. I just love how everything came together. I have such talented friends!

Queen of the Jungle

On Sunday I was celebrated as being "Queen of the Jungle"

My sweet friends hosted a sip-n-see for Brenner and me. It was a come-and-go event, although most came and stayed. I think that's what happens when long-time friends all get together! Most of these girls I met between 2002-2004 and have been great friends with ever since. They are all mommy mentors for me and amazing Christian friends.

Here's my cake- it was so cute and very tasty as well! I love the theme because it's so true... I am the Queen of the Jungle!

And here's the newest cub: Brenner Oz. He was a perfect angel for the shower. He loved getting loved on by everyone there. I think this is the one time I held him during the shower- and I had to take him from someone for the quick photo. I love that my friends love my boys!
Here's a few of my besties! From the left: Michelle, Kim, Lori, and Stacy (and Stacy flew in from Ohio!!)

Lori and Jeanne

Amy, Crystal, Kim, and Jennifer- all girls from our original small group at church from way back when.

Jennifer (I teach her son piano), Angela, Leslie, and Cynthia (all MOPS girls)

Some of my crazy loud friends- I don't think they'll be offended by that statement.

Michelle, Vicki, me, and Marla

Randi and Stacy (see, Stacy fits right back in... she needs to move her precious family back to Texas!)

My cousins, Leah and Anna, stopped by as well.

I got some wonderful gifts from friends- lots of gift cards and baby boy clothes and such. But my friend, Vicki, surprised me... actually shocked me! She is my sewing friend that has pretty much decorated my entire house in window treatments. She did Carter's big boy room a couple of years ago. She apparently had some leftover fabric and made a whole crib bedding set for Brenner. It will completely match the Sock Monkey room. When I opened the package I just cried. I had no idea she was doing this... nor would I have ever expected anyone to do anything so nice. You can only imagine how much time and effort it takes to make custom baby bedding. So, my goal for this week is to get it on the bed. I promise to post pictures!

I am so blessed with such wonderful, deep friendships. These women have invested so much into my life and family over the past 7 years. I feel so lucky to call them my friends. It's funny because we all started at the same church, but many go to different churches now. However, our friendships remain just as strong. I'll always consider them my "Sunday School" friends. Brenner certainly was the prince of the party and I really felt like the queen! Oh, shoot... I forgot to get a picture of the red carpet walkway outside the house! Really, there was a red carpet- a trademark of my girl, Lori. Thanks to all of you for showering us with gifts and love!