Hey, we're all talented in our own ways.

-brandon

Hey everyone, this is brandon putting a few more photos on the blog for you all to see. We're doing great and loving our new addition. Feel free to call, stop by or bring red wine as an investment to my "sanity fund" :)

The first photo is Christopher grabbing every burp cloth he could find to cover Sophie; it was so cute to watch him. He kept doing that for like 10 minutes.

Second photo is Sophie's first car ride.

Third is Brit leaving the hospital... whoo hoo.

Fourth is beautiful Sophie sleeping away.

Fifth is Mommy staring at beautiful sleeping Sophie instead of sleeping herself.

Love you all,

brandon

Meet Sophie Anne Hemphill, our new baby girl. She was born January 21 at 4:24 p.m., weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair and blue eyes. We had no idea she was going to come so early, but we were thankful she did! Brandon and I had just talked Sunday afternoon about when we would want to induce, if I didn't go into labor on my own and little did we know that about an hour and a half later we wouldn't have to be making that decision. The contractions started, were very regular and so after putting Christopher to bed, calling a neighbor to come stay with him and our parents to let them know, we headed to the hospital. They admitted us and we tried that night to get some sleep, hoping that when we woke up we'd be holding our little baby soon. Of course that wasn't the case. It was an incredibly long and painful labor, disproving what everyone told me about the second labor being easier. (Don't mean to make anyone who is pregnant nervous, I just had crazy things going against me this time around.) But Brandon, the nurses and my doctor were absolutely amazing and I would not have made it through the day without them. We are doing well and surprisingly not really in any pain (thanks to the drugs they give out every 6 hours) and looking forward to going home tomorrow. Not sure when we'll post another update, but since Brandon has the next 4 weeks off, we might actually give you some updates. Better run, my girl is calling!

Yup, we had one of the south's bad storms come through the other day and Brandon came home early from work since everything in town was closing as a result. Since we couldn't go outside and play we decided to set up the tunnel that Christopher got for Christmas... all 13 pieces. It took over the house, but it was worth it because the boys had a blast crawling around in it. Then, once the storms ended Brandon and Christopher got ready to go play in the puddle that used to be our front yard. (Everyone's yard drains into ours, so you can only imagine what a good rain will do to it!) We put on Christopher's new fireman dress up clothes, but they didn't last long since they are about 3 sizes too big and he couldn't walk in it very well. At first he wasn't sure about getting dirty (he loves to play in it, but doesn't like to wear it) and after laughing at Daddy enough he decided to join in the fun. Once they were done, being the Mommy, I made them come in through the garage so they could just strip down and put their clothes directly into the washing machine and not track it through the house. (I still have grass in both machines.) They had a blast and now Christopher wants to go out and play in the water, but he doesn't understand that it's all gone. At least until the next big storm!

Burt, Melissa and big brother Nicholas welcomed the newest member of their family on Thursday afternoon. Joshua Liam Khan came into the world weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long. He has a full head of dark hair and looks very much like his big brother did when he was born! We are so happy for them and can't wait to meet him. Of course it will have to wait, since we are due with #2 in about 3 weeks or so. Congratulations guys and we wish you all the best!! (Brandon had a chance to swing by and meet Joshua the other day on his way home from Atlanta and snapped these photos of the boys. Aren't they cuties??)

Again, we continued with our tradition of spending New Year's with the Khans. I think this was our 5th year (missed one when Brandon was deployed). A couple days before, we met Grammie and Pop in Birmingham so they could keep Christopher for a few days so we could have some alone time before the baby comes. We caught up on movies we haven't seen (I think it was about 6 total) and did a few things we've been wanting to do around the house, but mostly just caught up on sleep and were lazy. It was wonderful, but we couldn't wait to get our little man back either. We woke up early Sunday morning and headed down the road. We were anxious to see the Khans since Melissa was due any day with #2 and Nicholas had recently broken his arm. Thankfully, Christopher fell asleep on the way to their house and Nicholas had just gone down for a nap, so we had a great start to the trip. After naps, we went for a walk to see the construction that was being done and the boys went nuts when they saw all the bobcats (or "tractors" as they called them) that were still hanging around. On Monday we loaded up in the van and headed to the mall to let the kids burn some energy by running around and they really enjoyed riding the "choo choo" (a.k.a. train) and the other "choo choo" (a.k.a. carousel). After lunch and naps, Brandon and Melissa took the boys out back while I ran to visit with a friend for a little while and Burt started cooking dinner. After putting the boys to bed early, Melissa and I relaxed on the couches and the dads headed out back for their guy time. We were all in bed before midnight, something we haven't stayed up for since the kids were born. The next morning we had breakfast and then loaded up the car to head home. Christopher was very excited about getting back to all his new toys and more importantly, his own bed. It was another great start to a new year and we always enjoy looking back to see what has changed in the last year and what's to come in the new one.