This post is simply self-indulgent on my part.  I wanted to get some fancy pictures of Emmett while he was still so tiny, but every time I looked at how expensive those pictures are, I couldn't get myself to hire a photographer.  So, instead, I decided to use whoever would be the most willing to be my models and get snapping with my own camera.  Robert and Alaina were both very willing to be photographed...again and again.  Emmett didn't seem to mind either.  Jason nearly refused entirely and the big boys only lasted a few frames themselves.  I didn't really feel like narrowing them down too much and so I decided to just flood this post with the pictures.  (I took them over a couple of days.)  

Already, at nearly 2 months later, Emmett has changed so much.  I'm glad we got these ones when we did.  

The first few days home were all about this little guy.  I'm afraid he was the center of all of our pictures, the topic of all our conversation and the only thing really on our minds as we slept-walked through the days.  Who could blame us?  Little Emmett was just too perfect to take our eyes off of.

Here he was at his day-5, shoebox weigh-in.  As you can see...he's still such a tiny little lamb.

Emmett also got jaundice and so we had to use the blue-light blanket.  The poor little guy didn't get dressed for about the first week of his little life.

It was such a blessing to have my Mom and Dad with us for that first week.  Meals were made, Christmas Eve and Christmas magically happened,  (complete with orange rolls!) the big kids were taken care of and entertained and I was given time and energy to take care of myself and Emmett.

But most of all, it was just wonderful to have them there when we brought Little Emmett into the world.  There's something extra special with having Grandparents around when your emotions are going haywire.  They bring a calmness that helps everyone handle every new change with just a little more peace and grace.  

However, since most of their work was behind the scenes, I hardly got one picture of them.  (Maybe you got some more you could send to me, Mom?)  Pictures or no pictures, we loved having them with us.  Thank you for spending your Christmas with us this year!

Christmas morning, I was busy staring at baby Emmett, but Santa came anyway.  I heard that Ethan managed to stay up until about 2 a.m. before he allowed Mom to cart him off to bed.  And even though I wasn't there, those kiddos still ran down the stairs Christmas morning to enjoy all the fun presents that magically appeared under the Christmas tree.

Since I couldn't be there, Mom held up Rob's phone and I watched the whole thing on facetime.  Now, that is technology for ya!  

Here are the present opening shots.

Look at me!  I'm there too.  :)  Rob was there as well...but he was behind the camera the whole time.

And here is just one little extra picture.  The kids were all in choir this year and they sang for their Christmas production.  It was fun and they did a wonderful job.  The only thing that I didn't love was the not only were the kids not allowed to sing any song that had any hint of religion, but they didn't even sing the old favorites about Santa and Frosty.  Instead, the choir teacher insists on writing the most horribly inane jingles and makes the kids sing them for an hour straight.   The kids sound pretty but the songs are mind-numbing.  They did finally sing some good ol' Christmas music during the sing-a-long after the choir presentation but, seriously, this choir teacher drives me insane.  Robert just reminded me that we did actually get one religious song in there.  Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel got into the mix somehow.  It's catchy, but how fair is that?

Still...look how cute they look.