Getting Settled In

Well, our last day in the hospital I tried to take some pictures to capture his newness. He is wearing the outfit that his daddy came home from the hospital in 30 years ago from the same pink palace. It's hard to believe that Lincoln was even smaller than him. I forget how tiny and fragile they are at first and how much they depend on you.


I love this picture. Ryan thinks the world of our new little one. He has also done a good job of making sure that Lincoln is getting the attention that he needs too. He is truly a great daddy.

We made it home and I have no pictures to commemorate the occasion because I was busy trying to not throw up in the car. I made the mistake of taking a pain pill before I left on an empty stomach and it did not settle well. I felt bad because Ryan was looking forward to bringing us all home and not one picture was snapped. Here is Madden once he was settled in. The ride home must have worn him out.

Later that night Nana, Pa, and G.G. came to visit. This is Madden's only great-grandparent that is still with us.

We did get settled in and he was very good that first night. He pretty much only cries when he is hungry, otherwise, he is pretty content just laying in his boppy or in your arms. We'll see how long that lasts.

Lincoln Meet Madden

We wanted to introduce Lincoln to his new baby brother Madden without a lot of distractions. Ryan went to go and pick him up and then we had Ryan get the baby from the nursery. Lincoln was somewhat excited but still a little timid. When we first introduced him he was a little unsure of how he got out of my belly. He quickly took to him and kept saying, "Madden is so cute". That will melt your heart and then he told him that he loved him. I hope he keeps this same viewpoint of his little brother for the rest of his life.


All the men in my life getting to know each other.


We have been reading a book called I'm a Big Brother and it's about a boy who has a new little brother and he is waiting for him to grow up so that he can play with him. It was very cute because Lincoln kept asking, "He play with my cars when he grow up?".

I am actually starting to feel outnumbered but look at how cute all those boys are.

One last story for memories sake. Lincoln came in later and saw me nursing him. He asked what I was doing and I told him that Madden was eating. His response in question form, "He eat your nipple?". You can't help but laugh at that. He then asked my cousin who came in later, "He going to eat your nipple too?". We then had to explain that he only eats from mommy. Love the mind of a 2-year-old!

Memorial Day Visitors

Monday was Memorial Day so most of our family was able to make it up to visit Baby Madden. Here are the boys with my mom. She works at the hospital so she was able to pop in and out all day.


Ryan's whole family showed up at about the same time so we had a room full of boys. It was a bit rowdy but what do you expect. Madden makes the 6th grandson (in a row) that we will have on that side.

Here is Aunt Sonya, we were so grateful that they kept Lincoln for us the night before. That was his first time to spend the night with someone other than his grandparents. I think he did fairly well.

This is Aunt Jeannie with Cousin Mason.

The rest of the cousins, Kaleb, Jordan, and Morgan. I got pictures of all them except for Ethan, he was not quite as cooperative.

Pa and Nana were in Branson and weren't able to make it for his birth. They did come up as soon as they got home on Monday to visit. Here is Nana with her 6th grandson.

Pa was excited but looked a little tired after the long drive back.

Our last visitor for the day was our best buddy, Shay. These pictures are rare because she admittedly not the most kid friendly person there is. She, however, makes exceptions for our cute little ones.

Thank you to all those that called and visited. Madden will be very excited when he looks back one day to see all the people that came to welcome him into the world.

Welcome Baby Madden!

We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new little one and he finally decided to make his appearance on Sunday night. After doing more walking than I have ever wanted to do 9 mths. pregnant, it all finally paid off. My water broke at about 3:15 on Sunday afternoon so we headed to the hospital after dropping Lincoln off with his Uncle Tommy. They verified that it was actually my water that broke and we got settled in. Here I am in my last pregnant pic and Ryan expressing his anxiousness about leaving here with another baby.

A few hours later, some potacin, and an epidural we were ready to push. After a bit of a struggle due to some broad shoulders and a bit of help from Dr. Sterling, Madden Lun Gambill joined the world at 9:00 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 inches long. He was a bit bigger than we all had expected. He outweighed his brother by exactly 1 lb. and was exactly 1 in. longer than him. I think he even beat the amount of hair Lincoln had.

Here's our 1st look at our new baby boy. I have to admit I thought he was pretty cute with those chubby cheeks.

This is his 1st picture with his mommy. Don't you just love how swollen you look.

I was absolutely exhausted so I actually took a nap while they had him down in the room getting him all cleaned up. It actually wasn't that long of a delivery but it felt like forever to me. In the end it was all worth it and we had a beautiful little boy who was wide-eyed from the minute he came out. It was late when we made it to a room so Lincoln wasn't able to come up and meet his brother. I am very interested to see what his reaction will be. We'll keep you posted!

Still Waiting (Anxiously, I might add!)

I appreciate all the comments and calls, but, yes, unfortunately, I am still with child at this point. Still with child and still dilated beyond belief. He did an office procedure on Monday to help naturally induce (not comfortable at all). I guess our little one is too comfy and being a little stubborn. I am determined to coax him out before this weekend because the Doogie Howser doctor is on call and I am not necessarily wanting him to deliver. But, if that's what happens, so be it, I am just ready for him to join us in the real world. Talk to everyone soon (I hope)!

Pregnancy Update

Just a short post- went to see Dr. Williamson today and he had some interesting news. This was my first "getting checked" appointment. I was actually anticipating it because Lincoln came so early. He checked me and looked at me kind of shocked and told me I was at a 4 and almost completely effaced. I asked if he was kidding and he told me that he doesn't joke about things like that. I'm thinking that we are going to meet our new little guy pretty soon. Very exciting but very nerve racking because again I am not ready!!

A Perfect Mother's Day Weekend

I had a great Mother's Day weekend that included all of my favorite things. Ryan and Lincoln took me to the Wild Fork for breakfast on Saturday morning. If you have not been there for breakfast then you need to go and go soon. I think they have the best breakfast around. We then headed out to Philbrook for the 2nd Saturday Family Day. This was our 1st time and Lincoln had a great time. I was able to get some good pictures of Lincoln making art. Unfortunately he was too young to sign up for the My Museum program but he still had a good time.


Here is his finished painting.


We then headed out to the gardens. It was a tad dreary but the rain at least quit long enough for us to get some pictures. Here I am in all my glory, only 3 1/2 weeks left to go, yeah!

Lincoln had a good time running around and luckily Ryan was there to run after him. I thought I was going to pass out just walking back up all the steps. He is not quite cooperative with pictures these days so but I was bound and determined to get a good one of me and him to commemorate the day.

Ryan did a pretty good job and I was happy that Lincoln looked and smiled long enough to get a few good pics.

I hope that everyone had as good a weekend as I did. The best part was just getting to spend time with Lincoln and Ryan and doing things we don't normally do. I think I got an extra special weekend because I was pregnant, who's complaining though right.

Happy Mother's Day to all of my wonderful friends who are mothers. I hope that you were all able to sit back and relax.

Enjoying the Weather

It seems like so long ago that we actually had a dry day with sunshine. I think about 2 weekends ago we were actually able to play outside and we broke out our sidewalk chalk for the first time and piddled around in our front flower gardens.


Here is the art that we ended up with on our sidewalk. Most came from Ryan, quite creative.


Lincoln loves his dinosaur that blows bubbles. I would recommend these automatic bubble blowers for anyone who has almost passed out trying to blow bubbles for their children.

He is quite the helper when it comes to getting to use the watering can. I share this picture because Ryan was glueing the foot back onto my flower pot and managed to glue a few fingers together as well. He tried to blame me for making him fix it, but I blamed his inability to squeeze a tube of super glue. Either way, I think only a minimal amount of skin was lost.

I think it's time for the nice spring weather to stay. Who knew that the weather could really depress people. I actually have been cringing every time I get hit with a new raindrop. I guess the only thing that is nice is that everything is turning green, soggy but yet still green.

A Scrapbooking Shower

My 2 sister-in-laws and my good friend threw me a wonderful baby shower on April 25th. I wanted to keep it small since it was my second go round. I was so impressed with all the neat things that they did that I wanted to share them. Everything was so pretty and the cupcakes that my friend made were very intricate.


These cupcakes were so cute and they tasted just as good.

My sister-in-law made this arrangement out of all fresh fruit, very cool.

The shower activity was to make scrapbook pages for the new baby's book. Let's just say that some people were not into scrapbooking but they all at least made the attempt. Thank you girls for all the great pages. Maybe I won't be so behind all the time.

It was such a great shower and I got a ton of fun things that have come out since Lincoln was born. It's amazing how things change in just a few years. Thank you girls for such a great shower and for all the effort that you put into it. I love you all!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

April 18th was my dad's 67th birthday. Since he is gone, we try to always celebrate his birthday in a special way. My sister and my nephew were able to make it into town from Houston to join us. My mom made a traditional big lunch and we lit incense for him and sent him good wishes. We try to always talk to Lincoln about his Tha so that he won't forget what little time that he had with him. These events are good reminders.

After lunch we all ventured to Floral Haven to put spring flowers out on his grave. I do have a hard time going out there but I try hard around these important times. I always thought that I would visit often but it's harder for me to actually go there than I thought it would be.

The boys are singing happy birthday to him. It was very sweet and so sincere.

Here is me and my mom, this day was hard for her but having her grandsons around was helpful.

Although the day itself was dreary, it was a very nice day for our family. We got to celebrate the day our dad was brought into this world and not dwell on the day he left. We miss him dearly but I try to remember that he is up in Heaven watching over us.

Why I Love My Husband

There are many reasons that I love my husband but there are just certain things that make you realize even more how cute he is. The other morning (well a few weeks ago), I was rushing around getting ready to leave for work. I walked through the kitchen to find this little scene. It made me stop and just thank the Lord for what a great husband I have.

Coconut Cream Cake

For those of you that love coconut, there is a very easy and very yummy cake that I like to make in the spring. I promise that if you make it, you will continually get asked to make it again. The best part is that it is so easy to make and can be made ahead. People are always asking for the recipe, so here it is. It's so easy, it's almost embarrassing.

1 box white cake mix
8 oz. flaked coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can cream of coconut (usually found where the pina colada mixes are)
1 tub cool whip

Prepare the cake mix as directed on package and add in 1/2 the package of flaked coconut into the batter. Bake as directed in a 9 x 13 inch pan. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over the cake using a fork (the more holes the better). Mix together the condensed milk and the cream of coconut and pour over the cake while warm. Let the cake cool completely (it's better if you can leave it in the refrigerator overnight). Ice the cake with the tub of cool whip and then sprinkle with the remaining coconut flakes and enjoy!

Happy Easter!

I've decided that I'm not going to worry anymore about blogging in a timely fashion, so my posts may be a few weeks late but they will still all be here. Easter was fun but unfortunately wet. We started the day at church and didn't get to the Easter basket until we got home. I am into themes, so this year was Curious George (courtesy of Target's dollar aisle).

He pretty much opened up one egg that was full of jelly beans and was not quite concerned about anything else in the basket. I thought this picture was so cute and didn't even notice the tear. He got upset when I tried to make him quit eating jelly beans.

He finally made it to the rest of the basket and realized there were actually some fun things in there.

He is really into puzzles right now and loved his new puzzle. He is getting better at them but still has a hard time with the ones that are fully interlocking.

He decided to let his daddy in on some of the basket action.

Easter lunch is always at Ryan's parents house. We usually do a big egg hunt in their big backyard, but due to the rain we moved it indoors. Not quite as exciting picture wise but the kids still had fun.

The little kids headed upstairs for their 5 minute head start.

He did finally get the hang of picking up eggs, but still got easily sidetracked with the candy in the eggs.

We ended up with a lot of candy and a lot of eggs, all of which we attempted to piece back together to refill for next year. I keep thinking that next year we will have 2 boys, what an exhausting and exciting thought!