Ezra's Blessing

Ezra loves to bite his lower lip.

Our sweet little guy in his blessing outfit.

He looks so much bigger after just a few weeks!

We were so happy to have Grandma Cathy here with us today.

Here's our little family with our new addition.

Daddy and Ezra.

Mommy and Ezra.

I love this picture of him - so alert!

Tim gave Ezra a name and a blessing at church today. The ordinance of giving a name and a blessing is a joyous and sacred occasion for a family. It is truly a special experience as a mother to see your husband gather with other men of faith to give your baby a name and a blessing. Ezra slept so peacefully throughout all of sacrament and was so calm during the blessing. He is such a sweet little baby. I am so grateful for the gift of both of my children and my wonderful husband!

I've included some pictures of our family from today and a few of Ezra from the other afternoon. Be prepared for picture overload! :0)

Our Little Angel and Baby Jesus

We spent a wonderful Christmas Eve with our cousins, the Karlinseys, and our friends, the Nelsons. We've also loved having mom here. The children dressed up and acted out the Christmas story from both the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Ella was our little angel and Ezra did his part as the baby Jesus. Ella stood at the fireplace, placed her hand delicately, and took it upon herself to serenade everyone with "Silent Night" throughout the storytelling. Ezra was blessedly asleep and rested in Brynne's arms.

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends! We miss you and love you! May your day be filled with joy as you celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Snow Fun

It snowed most of the day yesterday, so Ella and I decided to go outside together. The poor thing hates being cooped up in the winter, so this was a true pleasure. Unfortunately, it was the wrong snow for making a snowman, but we had a fun, albeit cold, time anyway. She could have syayed outside all day! I plan on taking some more photos of Ezra when he's alert today and posting them as well.

Introducing...Ezra Thomas Farmer

We welcomed our new baby boy, Ezra Thomas Farmer, into the family this Tuesday, December 9th, at 11:13 am! He came into the world fairly quickly - I'd spent the night with labor pains that never progressed enough to go in, then went in at 6 am to be induced. With Ella, I was in the hospital practically 24 hours before she was born. With Ezra, we were out of the hospital in 36. He is a sweet little guy who mainly fusses for nourishment and who's still trying to figure out this night and day thing. Ella wasn't so sure about her brother at first and is still adjusting, but she has wanted to hold him a few times and offered to share her crackers and chocolate milk with him today. We truly appreciate having Grandma Nancy here to help (so much help!) and we'll be blessed to have Grandma Cathy here in a week. Ella and Ezra are truly lucky Grandkids!

Accomplishment!

Ella just looked at me and clearly counted to 11 with such confidence! She has been playing around with the sequence of numbers recently, but I couldn't believe how easily she went from 1 to 11 tonight. I learned recently that she knows almost all of her letters by site too. My friend Bonnie gave us a beautiful alphabet book when she's was a baby and we've been reading it for 2 years now. She's known what the pictures are for a long time, but now she identifies the letters. She's working on colors and is pretty good with red, blue, and green. She even likes to teasingingly tell me that red things are pink with a grin. Right now she's singing her "ABC's" for me. What a fun age!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Ella and I had tons of fun putting up our Christmas tree this weekend. I wanted to get it up before the baby came, so our family went to get one on Saturday. Tim helped cut the tree and get it up. I put on the lights, then Ella and I decorated it. I am so thrilled to be home this year and able to enjoy our own live Christmas tree. The tree is such a significant part of Christmas for me. My Dad loved live Christmas trees and selecting the perfect tree was a huge holiday event for our family. We've always had trees with big, colorful lights to go along with the bubble lights my father loved (and I do too!). We also received a new ornament each year, so we'd have a collection like the one you see here later in life. I love snow baby ornaments and figurines, too, so there's lots of those as well. Ella has started her own collection and hopefully she'll find as much pleasure in the memory's associated with each year's ornament as I do! Happy Christmas season!