Welcome, Lainey Grace!

She's here! Lainey Grace Thomson made her debut on September 20th at 8:26 p.m. via c-section. She weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz, 20 inches long and had a head full of jet black hair. I must say that #4 is no less sweet, and we already can't imagine life without her. Jacob and Riley are in love with their new little sis and their most frequent fight is now over who gets to help feed Lainey! For now, I'll let the pics speak for themselves...you might say the sleepness nights are kicking in! Thanks so much for all the prayers and well wishes!






With big brother....I love the look of adoration in his eyes!



And big sis...


Best attempt to get a family shot!




And home at last after bath time!

Milestones!

Thanks to TPPMommyof3, I have been guilted into a quick update! And there is much to update for the two of you who may have occasionally checked in over the past 18 months!

I guess the biggest and most exciting news is that we are expecting baby #4 in just four short weeks. Unlike the ordeal we went through in an attempt to have Jacob and Riley, this baby has been our unexpected blessing. Although we are occasionally overwhelmed at the idea of containing the chaos of three (; ), we can’t wait to meet our newest baby girl!

Here I am a week or two ago…



Riley is 2 ½ and full of humor and spunk. She is a natural athlete, but is also a complete girly girl. If you come to our front door on any given day, you’re likely to find her in her favorite “night, night dress” and Cinderella shoes. She is so obsessed with this particular nightgown that we now own three identical ones. (We do make her wear real clothes when out in public – though she has been known to “click, click click” her way through a store with princess shoes). She is a unique mix of style and comfort! She loves her baby dolls, and we are anxious to see how she reacts to the new baby. She says she’s going to change her diaper for me – wouldn’t that be nice!? She loves to follow Jacob around doing whatever he does and is loving taking gymnastics class. She starts preschool two mornings a week after Labor Day, and I’m sure her social little self will love it!



In her new big girl bed!




Meanwhile, Jacob is truly becoming a little man. At five, he started kindergarten this year. With the new baby arriving shortly and a small classroom with an amazing teacher, I really thought I would be fine with the transition. Chalk it up to pregnancy hormones or just the true nature of the milestone, but this mommy got in her car and sobbed after dropping him off. But he absolutely loves school, and we are thrilled he does! He seems to be our future engineer and can tell you anything and everything about a car engine or a vacuum. He is a great big brother to Riley, and we know he will be for his newest little sister too. When we first told him we were having another baby, his reaction was, “Well, I’m going to need someone to help me. I can’t take care of two babies by myself.” Ha! My sentiments exactly, buddy!



With Alan at the beach this summer!

After years in the financial services industry, Alan started his own financial planning company last June, and is happier professionally than he has ever been. He certainly can’t complain about his boss these days, and I love the relative flexibility it provides! He continues to serve on the board of CURE Childhood Cancer in his “free”time.

As for me, I’m just trying to keep up with everyone else and stay out of the heat! It is my first summer pregnancy, and God bless all of you who do it routinely. ; )

Thanks so much for checking in on us. It means a lot that those of you who fell in love with Hayley continue to think of us. While we can truly say that family life will never be “complete” this side of heaven, it is very, wonder”full” indeed.

Our Irish Blessing - Riley's 1!

Where did the year go? Hard to believe our little cutie is ONE! Happy birthday, little princess!


Our birthday beauty!


How big is Riley?


Enjoying her St. Patty's Day bling!


Mom and Dad with the birthday girl on her new "throne!"


Loving her new "Violet" doll!



Happy to dig in!


Not gonna waste any icing!


Can't leave out my favorite guys!

Five Years

Five years ago today, Hayley smiled three times, took her last breath and heaven got a little brighter...

Five years...a weird sort of "milestone" to reach. It doesn't seem right to have lived without her that long. And yet, we're five years closer to seeing her again. That is a happy thought!

Too tired to write much, but many thanks to all of you who thought of us today (and for that matter, who think of us on any day!). It was a day full of smiles...

So proud of our little man who delivered a wagon full of presents to the hospital and handed them over without fuss. Perhaps slight hesitation, but no fuss! Can you tell he was a boy on a mission?







We were thrilled to see three smiling old friends while there...: )

And I'm not sure it's legal to have this much fun at a cemetary...(though I'm secretly thrilled it's so). You'll notice pink was conspiculously absent...I guess that's what we get for letting Jacob pick the colors...



And though I didn't have my video camera handy, Riley made our day when she started doing the "Funky Hayley" chair dance at dinner at our favorite Mexican place. She was starting to gather quite a little crowd!

We couldn't help but look around all day and be so grateful for these special kiddoes who bring us such joy. And I know we appreciate them all the more because of Hayley.

One of the opening pages of Hayley's final scrapbooks has the following words...

"You will always be our first...
our first baby,
our first time to be "mama" and "dada"
Our first understanding of unconditional love...
Thank you for the chance...
Thank you for the journey..."

Today, on this five year anniversary, know that you are loved and missed...always.

Santa Love

So, for the past two years, our "Santa" pictures have looked something like this (pardon the poor quality):



And while I am glad to have such "classic" shots, it lost a little bit of the thrill on year 2. You might say we approached this year's visit to Santa with slight trepidation. Especially becasue last year, Jacob "seemed" into it. He talked about Santa all the time, even gave Santa a high five when he walked by, but when it came time to sit on that lap, he wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with him.

So, needless to say, I was thrilled when he walked up without hesitation at the CURE party last week and hopped right on Santa's lap.



He may have been a bit stoic, but there were no tears, and he actually told Santa exactly what he wanted (which by the way, was a tennis raquet, play doh and a coffee maker). Just to clarify, he's referring to a toy coffee machine he saw in a catalogue. I know - it's perhaps the most bizarre three-year-old list I've ever heard). But I digress...

So, with one child down (Riley wasn't at aforementioned party), it was time for another trip to see the jolly guy in the big red suit. Riley's teetering on the age where stranger anxiety is kicking in so I wasn't totally sure what to expect. And after the initial inquisitive glances,

our little girl fell in love.




I don't know that you can tell, but she was BELLY laughing at Santa Claus. Full out cackling. It might have been the cutest thing I've ever seen. (If only I had brought the video camera). And in spite of the fact that Jacob was back in stoic mode for the group shot...(Riley and Santa were really both rolling by now),



I wasn't sure our Santa visit could have gone any smoother.


And then there was this:



Insert contented sigh.