Well, Baby Ezra made it! There was nobody more excited than this kid to meet our new addition! Oliver had been asking about Ezra almost non-stop for a month before he was born. I would hear hourly things from him like "I can't wait to meet the new baby!!!!" or "When is the baby ever going to be here?" Now that he's here, he loves him more than he thought he would.
This is day two. Thomas wanted nothing to do with the baby when he first met him. But the 2nd time they came to visit in the hospital, he was more excited to hold him. Thomas has been such a good big brother. He has been very careful with Ezra, and I haven't noticed his behavior change too much because of this new arrival.
On the 2nd day we were at the hospital, Oliver asked me, "What is the baby's name again?" When I told him. Thomas walked over to his small bassinet and said. "Ella". Thomas gave Ezra a name before he started saying Lincoln's name. Which is now "Whin". Lincoln doesn't know it's his name, so Thomas just yells it louder thinking Lincoln will somehow respond to "Whin"
Uncle John and Aunt Katie have been so good to us this holiday. They always love the new babies and Ezra was no exception.
Dean's mom came to visit Sunday afternoon...Ezra slept through her visit. He has actually slept most of his life so far.
It was time to leave the hospital. This kid has cheeks so big, it seems they will hold him in his car seat!
After a 2 night really expensive stay away from home, I came back to reality. That blurr across the picture is Oliver making a dash for his bed when he heard me open the door. Thomas was not so quick to leave Lincoln's bed, but he was still pretty quick.
And this is my new life. Four awesome boys! They are all so, so different, yet they all have me wrapped around their fingers.
Most of the time when the boys are playing together, they are wrestling.
Here was an exception. They made a Christmas movie about...well I never was very sure what it was about. But it was really fun to watch them work together on it.
Lincoln really has been a good helper with Ezra. He still likes to hold him! The anomaly has worn off with the other two.
The Gary Poll Christmas Party was very memorable this year. My mom, always has these amazing plans of exactly how things will be. I will admit, it was very different without my dad there to instruct everyone to follow my mom's lead.
We thought about different venues, and on the Saturday night before the party we decided to have it at GGPa's house. It turned out to be the best thing! Marissa provided the dinner with all the sides, my mom provided gifts, decorations and activities and the rest of us just showed up. We ate well, exchanged gifts and ended with a picture with the whole family in pj's on the big stair way at the center. Then the adults went down to say their goodbye's to my grandpa. My uncle Cory gave him a priesthood blessing and released him from this life. I love my grandpa, and loved how he loved me and my family...so much. He was so good at sincerely loving my boys...they really liked to visit him, all the way up in Layton. I'm mostly glad they had the chance to meet him and I hope they will have memories of him.
My grandpa passed away the next morning, December 18th. My Grandpa was awesome! His funeral was held on Thursday December 21st. There was an open mic at the end of his children giving remarks. A few friends spoke, my brother said a few words, and Lincoln decided to participate also. He's a brave kid, and like his grandpa, enjoys the spotlight when he can get it.
The Great grandkids all got to put a rose on his casket . Oliver was very particular on where his landed. And when we were loading into the car, Thomas was very concerned that Ezra didn't get a chance to add to the bouquet.
After the services and chuck-a-rama, we headed to sugarhouse park to enjoy the first official snow storm of the season. I parked next to the hill and let Ezra sleep while we played.
They even did a dance. There are some things schools can do, that this mom can't do, like teach a kid to dance.
Can you see my son? Yep, the red hat is my boy:-)
Having a newborn is exhausting. There's no way around it, but this particular kid is so dang cute, we can get past the no sleep. I also think he knows he's number 4, because he has been my number 1 sleeper in the first 6 weeks.
Winter time and a newborn = a lot of time to play indoors. These two boys have played so well together and have spent hours with Hot Wheels. I guess the $100 plus of Hot Wheel merchandise is paying off!
The extended Poll Party was another hit. Ezra slept through the whole thing, just like I asked him too, and Oliver was pretty good at musical chairs once again.
We spent Christmas Eve evening at John and Katie's house. Lincoln and grandma Graham passed out gifts and everyone enjoyed the traditional ham and funeral potatoes for dinner.
Christmas morning was another success! We told Dean's mom to come over at 8:00 to watch the unveiling of gifts. Well, Lincoln woke up before 7 and the others followed close behind. Let's just say it was the longest hour of their lives!
If you know me well, you know I have a few qualms with Santa. So this year, I wanted Christmas to be from me and Dean. Santa was allowed to bring each boy 2 gifts, the rest would be from us. (I wanted some credit.) Lincoln asked Santa 2X for a violin this season and couldn't stop telling everyone how excited he was to open "his violin" on Christmas morning. Well, I did some talking to Santa, and talked him into leaving Lincoln some piano books instead. Lincoln will have to "earn" a violin by learning the piano first.
This year's big gift was a bunk bed! They were thrilled about it! Poor Thomas had to come to terms with only getting Lincoln's old bed.
It took about 10 days for him to finally go to his new bed when we told him it was time for bed. The first night, he tried to sleep in the window sill.
More gifts were awaiting them on their bunk beds.
More Lincoln and Ezra time. I need to knock on wood, but Ezra really has been lucky to have 3 brothers who love him, and really do want to help him. For the most part, they have been gentle with their baby brother. We'll see if that changes in the next 8 months.
So yes, I will admit, these kids have had more time in front of a screen in December than they did the rest of 2017. But it has proved to be sanity for all of us.
We took Ezra on his first walk...after all the weather has been in the 50's. We had thank you cards to deliver! I cannot believe how blessed we were as we welcomed Ezra during this busy season. I counted 16 meals that were brought in from neighbors and family...Seriously, who does that?
The game our boys got was Jenga. It turns out, they are all pretty good at it. Even Thomas has some steady hands!
I hired my niece Madi to take family pictures with our entire family. We got these pictures taken just a couple hours after we returned from the hospital.
Lincoln worked hard to give his grandma's a Christmas gift this year. He spent quite a bit of time making his Gram Graham this needle point penguin. He was supposed to have it finished by Christmas, but ended up getting it done in time for New Years Day. After, all that, when he finished, he wanted to keep it...Yep, that's my kid.
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