The Early Days

Oh, we are loving every minute with sweet Baby Grant! These early days are so precious, so full of little moments. Since returning home from the hospital yesterday, we are getting into the swing of a new routine as a family of 5 ... we're happy to report all is going great! Grant is eating like a champ and sleeping well. The big brothers balance doing their own thing (mostly playing Legos and video games) with checking in on baby brother to see what he's up to (mostly sleeping). Grant does have some stretches where he's awake for about an hour, so Luke and Reid live for that time when they can entertain him ... and be entertained by the funny baby faces he makes. Scott is taking the entire week off work, so we are treasuring the extra time spent with him, too. The following photos are little snippets of our favorite moments from Days 1, 2 & 3 for Grant.

Happy Baby

The Brothers

Bright Eyes

Cuddle Time

Headed Home from the Hospital

Goofing Around

Buckled Up for the 1st Car Ride

Peaceful Moment

1st Nap in the Crib

(Love how his hair is a mohawk!)

Papa & His 5th Grandchild!

Introducing Grant David Leahy!

Grant David Leahy

Born Jan. 21, 2011

11:16 p.m.

8 pounds 11 ounces

21.5 inches long

Lots of blonde hair (and a

bit of a conehead at birth!)

Showing off his healthy lungs with a loud wail!

Time to weigh in. We had heard that babies

born at higher altitudes tend to be smaller

in size like around 6-7 lbs. Not so with Grant!

He was our biggest baby of all three boys!

A tired but very happy mama holding sweet Grant!

We had prepared ourselves for another long labor experience,

knowing that Luke's labor was 30 hours and Reid's was 20.

Grant's labor also took 20 hours.

A proud father admires his new son.

Big brothers meeting baby brother for the first time.

Our first photo as a family of 5!

A Birthday ... Then a BIRTH DAY!

All along we knew that the baby would be coming around the time of Jami's birthday on Jan. 20, but how the day played out will make #34 quite the memorable birthday! The day itself was filled with some last minute preparations for the baby ... a Wal-Mart run, some housecleaning, packing bags, etc. That evening Scott and the boys treated Jami to a nice dinner out at one of our favorite Italian restaurants called Biaggi's. It was a bit sentimental to be celebrating so many things at once on that evening ... Jami's birthday, our last dinner as a family of 4, and the anticipation of welcoming a new baby!

Jami & Scott at dinner

Our final feast as a family of 4!

After dinner we returned home for a

special birthday dessert. Why have cake when

you can celebrate with CCBs?! This dessert

was a classic at the Theta house in college ...

cookie covered ice cream balls. What a fun

surprise for this birthday!

Jami shows off her birthday present ...

a Kitchen Aid attachment for grinding sausage!

Now we can make our own Swedish sausage

and goodies for summer grilling. Can't wait!

After dinner & dessert, we took the boys over for their sleepover at Papa's house and headed into the hospital at 10 p.m. to start the induction process. Time to switch gears from one birthday ... to another BIRTH DAY!

All smiles post epidural!

Final Countdown

Thank you for all the emails, texts, and phone calls to check in with us to see if the little guy has made his debut. No baby yet! However, as of today's doctor's appointment, we have an induction scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21 ... so the final countdown is on!

The last few weeks have been filled with great anticipation. Every day Reid has asked, "Mom, is the baby coming today? I really want to meet him." Reid has been a source of daily baby belly kisses and hugs, and he can't wait to be a big brother! Luke is always Mr. Helpful, so he is sure to be our right-hand man once little brother arrives on the scene.

The room is ready, diapers are stocked, and the hospital bag is packed ... we can't wait to meet you soon, Baby Leahy!

Let the Good Times Roll

Much like October, the month of January is another big birthday month for our family! We celebrated the eldest member of the January Birthday Club this week as he turned 68 ... Happy Birthday, Papa!

We cooked up a birthday dinner at home featuring an Asian-fusion menu: chicken wontons with chili garlic dipping sauce, Thai chicken coconut soup, sesame rolls, and German chocolate cake for dessert (Papa's favorite!) We're so blessed to have Papa live right down the road and to be able to share so many fun memories with him, especially treasured days like this!

Lunch Date

Luke and his buddy Mason at lunch

Remember the good ol' days in the school cafeteria? Mom had the opportunity to share a school lunch date with big 1st grader Luke today. What a treat! Some things have changed since Mom was in school. They now get 5 entree choices, and they offer a fruit/salad bar for the kids. But some things remain the same. Corn dogs and chocolate milk remain favorites, and the cafeteria still buzzes with excitement with all those kiddos packed in there. All the first graders eat together, and they only get 20 minutes ... better eat fast! It was such fun to get a sneak peek into Luke's school routine and to chat with his friends.

Great Expectations

As our family prepares to grow from 4 to 5, we found an opportunity to have a maternity photo shoot through a MOMS Club connection. On a Sunday before Christmas, we ventured out to one of our favorite outdoor spots -- Fox Run Park -- for a photo shoot with the talented Anthony Fredrickson, whose daughter happens to be a MOMS Club friend and neighbor of ours. He's a new photographer in town and was looking to build up his portfolio with some maternity shots. The pictures he captured are a wonderful snapshot of our growing family and this joyful time in our lives!

(One of us isn't really jumping... Guess who!?)

Brotherly love.

Snow Day

The boys were thrilled to have a SNOW DAY from school today! While it only snowed a few inches, the temps were bitter cold, but that didn't stop us from getting out and about! Since we've had next-to-no snow this winter, the boys were itching to break out the sleds. So we suited up in our cold weather gear and headed down to a sledding hill by Luke's school. Even Papa joined us, armed with a thermos of hot cocoa and cookies. We haven't tried this sledding hill before, but it was a doozy -- steep and speedy! You will notice in the video below how little snow we have, but it was still enough for the boys to have fun (even if they were sledding on a combination of dry grass, dirt, and snow!)

Sledding 2011 from Jami Leahy on Vimeo.

New Direction

Ch-ch-ch-changes are not only coming up for our family but also at Scott's work ... and boy, are they exciting! Before Christmas, we learned that Scott had been awarded a special fellowship within his company to conduct an independent research & development project on new technologies. Only 3 people within the parent company (who owns several companies internationally) were awarded this opportunity, which will span over a 6 month timeframe. Scott is thrilled to have the chance to explore some of his creative ideas and hopefully turn them into something profitable for his company. Congratulations, Scott! We are so proud of YOU!

Celebrating Seven

This is set to be one big month of milestones. With everything on the horizon, we opted to celebrate one milestone a bit early ... Luke's 7th birthday! We switched up the festivities a bit this year from the traditional party, and Luke asked 4 friends plus brother Reid to join him for a day of play at a local entertainment complex called Mr. Biggs.

A dino-mite time in the sand pit!

Serving up Frosties in the Wendy's play restaurant!

Off to the arcade! We snapped this pic of

the birthday boy on a surfing video game,

looking so grown up at (almost) 7!

Mama loves some skeeball!

Proud father with the birthday boy

The gang

The *new* January birthday crew.

Luke, Mama & Baby Brother ... coming soon!

Scott directs the process of cashing in the tickets.

After the fun, fun, fun at Mr. Biggs, we returned home for lunch, cake, and more playtime. With a warm, sunny day upon us, the boys decided to enjoy their pizza and Capri Suns on the back patio.

Can't beat a picnic for a January birthday!

Make a wish...

The trick candles didn't stump

Luke for too long!

Celebrating the New Year ... on Snowshoes

"Check out my Spiderman snowshoes!"

Cold weather (single digits ... brrrr!) + 2 sick patients + cabin fever from being cooped up for the last 2 days = Mama was ready to get out and about today! Luke woke up this morning feeling much better after his 24 hour flu bug, so this afternoon we decided to dust off the snowshoes and head to Fox Run Park to explore the snowy trails. Luke has snowshoed around our backyard, but this was his first experience on a trail. One of the best parts of parenting is introducing a new activity to our children and seeing their enthusiasm about it: "Mom, I'm just like Bigfoot in these snowshoes!" So Mom and her lil' Bigfoot ventured off into the woods. Luke spent the better part of the first half of our snowshoe trek running ... guess he was THAT excited! What a wonderful way to spend New Year's Day!

Here's to a mother/son snowshoe adventure

on New Year's Day!

Goodbye, 2010. Hello, 2011!

The end of 2010 may not have been packed with big plans (both Scott and Luke had a flu bug so we lounged around home), but it certainly was restful ... as have been the last 2 weeks. We caught up on movies, home projects, and final tasks before the baby's arrival. We went to bed early and slept in late. We spent time outdoors enjoying warm 50 degree temps and our chilly winter weather with snow. We played a lot of board games, listened to music, tried out all the new Christmas toys, and laughed a lot. Going into the holidays, we hoped we could enjoy a nice laidback break from the usual hustle and bustle of life. Happy to say ... mission accomplished. January is about to bring much excitement and change, and all this rest & relaxation from the last 2 weeks has us prepared and ready to go. Thank you, 2010, for being a fantastic year. Welcome, 2011, and all the blessings you will bring!