Christmas

A picture is worth a thousand words, so how about 13 to tell about our Christmas Day?

Santa brought a necktie, just like Liam asked!

The boys attempting to assemble an Iron Man action figure

 The Glenn clan

 Liam and Avery opening their gifts from Mims and Baba

 More presents!

 Mims showing Liam her new earrings

 Aunt "Shanny" loving her gift

 Baba likes his citrus press.

 Hey...real Scotch rocks!

(I love how you can see Sam's leg and his hospital anklet peeping out!)

 Uncle Connor getting his print of the AU radio call 

from the best sports play of the year, 

"Kick, Bama, Kick!"

 Sweet cousins walking over to see Wacky

 Hugs for Wacky

Wacky meeting Sam

Happy Birthday, Samuel Odom Howard!

On Monday, December 23, 2013, Samuel Odom Howard was born!  What an exciting (and adventurous) day it was!  

After several days of off and on contractions and rising and falling hopes, I woke up that morning a little after 5 a.m. knowing it was the real thing.  Geoff and I got ready, dropped Liam off at Mims and Baba's, and headed to the hospital.  Admittance took a while, but I was finally admitted at 8:45 a.m., despite not having heard back from my doctor's office.  

To say things progressed quickly is a bit of an understatement.  While in triage, Geoff and I tried our best to make the nurse understand that this labor would progress rapidly (Liam only took 6 hours, remember?), and that we would like an immediate call to the anesthesiologist.  After the nurse asked me one million questions about my mental state, my level of support at home, the amount of baby safety gear I had, etc., I started to get the idea that I may have to deliver naturally.  Geoff firmly asked the nurse to call the anesthesiologist again, once I could no longer breathe through the contractions.

The next time the nurse checked me, I got wheeled to the operating room since all the delivery rooms were taken.  While chaos reigned supreme, Geoff held my hand and tried to reassure me while yelling for someone to find a doctor.  Dr. Dubois from my office arrived in the nick of time, and sweet Sam was born at 10:54 a.m., just over 2 hours after my admittance.  He was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 1/4 inches long.  About 30 minutes later, a delivery/recovery room was finally available for us, and we were able to move to a normal setting, where Geoff and I were able to relax a bit and joke (a tiny bit) about our experience.

On Christmas Eve, Mims and Baba brought big brother Liam to meet his new baby brother.  Liam was immediately enamored with Sam, and Mims and Baba fell in love at first sight.  It was a precious time at the hospital, and Geoff and I will treasure (almost) every moment.  Welcome to the world, Sam!

 Sweet Sam

 Meeting baby brother

 Mims and Baba with grandson #2

 Pure love

 Me and my boys

The Howard family, party of 4

Fall and Winter Fun in Alabama

 Fighting with Baba

Celebrating Auburn football victories

Canoeing with Daddy

Picking out and decorating our tree

Singing in the children's choir at St. Simon Peter

Ice Skating with Daddy

& Visiting Santa

Fun at preschool!

Liam has been attending the Episcopal Day School at St. Peter's in Talladega.  He has really thrived there!  Geoff and I have been so pleased with his progress and development.  Here are some shots of two special events...Farm Day hosted by Talladega High School's FFA, and the school's Thanksgiving program, where our little guy was an Indian who had to say "BIG and BRAVE" at specific moments in the program.

"BIG and BRAVE!"

Halloween

I am skipping our Zadar, Croatia vacation since there will be several posts associated with that.  I am posting about our Halloween instead.  With Christmas and a new baby coming, I don't want to get too far behind!

This year, as no big surprise, Liam wanted to be Iron Man.  He got to wear his costume to school, to the Embassy's Halloween party, AND to go trick or treating!  Several families who live in one particular neighborhood arranged for the kids to go trick or treating and have a "small" party afterwards at our friends, the Zurchers' house.  Liam had a GREAT time, and so did Geoff and I, despite the fact that Liam and I had to fly out bright and early the next day.

 The Embassy party, before (above) and after (below)

 Ayanna and Liam getting ready to trick or treat

 Action shots

Last of the April European Vacation posts--Kotor, Montenegro

After our overnight stay in charming Brela, we hit the highway toward our first trip into neighboring Montenegro (or Crna Gora as it's called in Bosnian and Croatian).  The drive was beautiful for the most part, hugging the rugged coastline for a majority of the way.  It took longer than we thought it would to get to Kotor, a fortified coastal town on the Bay of Kotor on the Adriatic.  Lots of people mistake Kotor to be on a fjord, but technically it is not.  But who cares?  It's really breathtaking!

After finding our hotel and resting a bit after such a long drive, we headed out to explore the little old town.  It's quaint, not very big, and after seeing so many old, fortified towns in Italy (where smoking is not allowed indoors, cough, cough!), we were a tad underwhelmed...particularly when our dinner turned out not so good.

But the next day, we were able to put all our gloomy thoughts behind us as we climbed the mountain behind the city to the top of the fortification.  WHAT A VIEW!  It was gorgeous, and a little mind boggling that people so long ago went to such lengths to build a wall up the side of a mountain to protect their city!

Can you spot my guys in these two shots?

After our hike, we had a little snack, packed up, and began the trip home.  The Griswolds ended up taking the long way home, through Podgorica (the capital of Montenegro) and along scary mountain roads that lacked guardrails.  We passed through a very sketchy border crossing, where they still use log-books and hand raised gates instead of more modern conveniences, and drove across a single lane wooden slat bridge over a gorge of rushing water to get back into Bosnia.  Needless to say, we were grateful to get home after the world's worst GPS "shortcut!"

All in all, it was a wonderful 2 weeks!  We very much enjoyed our European Vacation!