Lincoln's Special Day

We wanted to do something special for Lincoln so that he didn't feel left out during all this new baby fever. What better than a day of Thomas Live and trains. Thomas & Friends came to town on June 6th and if you've been doing your reading then you know that Lincoln is obsessed. He carries trains with him wherever he goes and we have more Thomas stuff than you can imagine. The show was neat and I think he was a little in awe of the big moving trains on stage.

Here's a shot of the mischievious Percy (one of Lincoln's favorites).

The cast with the round Sir Tophum Hat.

Thomas and his conductor.

We decided to continue on with the train theme so we took him to Ollie's restaurant in west Tulsa. This was our first time there. They have model trains that run all around their restaurant. Fun for the little ones. The food was home cooking, nothing too spectacular.

I'm pretty sure that Lincoln had a good time and I think he enjoyed the fact that he got to go solo. As for us, well, let's just say that Thomas Live once is enough for this lifetime.

Week Two

Well, I think that sleep deprivation has set in and so has the milk, so now I officially feel like a dairy cow. Don't get me wrong, I am proud to provide my son with all the nutrients that he needs, but it is exhausting. He is growing well though, so I can't complain. We brought him in for his 2 week check-up and he weighed 7 lbs. 8 1/2 oz. He looked good but had to have his circumcision area pulled back so that was a little unsettling for him.


Here's another sock monkey picture.


These are some of my favorite pictures that I took of him. He is so sweet when he looks at you with those big brown eyes and chubby cheeks.

This was my first week alone with Lincoln and Madden both. It wasn't too bad but I'm not sure how stay at home moms can get anything else done. Trying to entertain a 2 1/2 year old and feed and change a newborn is a lot of work. I haven't yet ventured out of the house with both of them and I'm not sure when I will get that brave.

Has It Been a Month?!

It's hard to believe that a month has passed since we welcomed little Madden into this world and since I have last updated this blog. Get ready for some reading because I am going to catch everyone up. I'll try to do it in a few posts so as not to overwhelm anyone. I'll start where I left off, right after we brought him home.

Little ones change so much within the first few months so we decided to use something to compare Madden's size to in pictures. The sock monkey was close to his size so here he is. Surprisingly, he was already about the same size as the monkey.


We brought him to see Dr. Jones on the Friday after we brought him home. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 10 1/2 oz. She thought that everything looked good and no signs of jaundice.


Lincoln loves his little brother. He wakes up every morning and says good morning to him and give him a kiss, too cute.


This is Madden and Lincoln's feet, I never thought that Lincoln was as big as he is until now. My first baby is growing up.

Sleeping soundly.

The weather was actually not scorching hot then so Lincoln was out watering the front flower bed. Our daylilies were in full bloom.

Well, that was week one in summary. Madden is sleeping well and eating about every 2-3 hours. He is such a sweet baby and really only cries when he wants to eat. Let's hope this continues.

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!