Santa's at Starbucks!

Reaping the employee benefits. Kasaan was the first one that day to offer up his wish to Santa. "I wish that Dad would get his stinking paper done and I wish that mom would stop tickling me so I'd eat more, using cold wipes on my bottom, and changing my diaper in general has become a real drag. Is there anything you can do about that? Also could you give my mom some more sleep? Our Christmas tree is wicked cool so thanks for that one. Oh Santa, I love my bathtime! Could you hook me up with a velvet bathrobe or something! I'm just so chill after my bath I feel like I need to be in something nice up against my skin. But you know what I mean...come on you are the king of velvety bathrobes! Wicked nice! Thanks Santa."

OK so let me tell you what's going on. I'm two days away from finishing my final paper for seminary. Its been a long 3 1/2 years but come Tuesday, I'm never looking back. I'll post the paper on the blog it promises to be a real snooze to 99% of you but for those of you that need some stimulating night time reading to put you to sleep...we promise not to disappoint you. Bird is doing a phenomenal job at being a mom. Stress and exhaustion has reached new levels but the Lord has been so faithful and good. We leave for VA next Sunday morning and will be spending Christmas with the Byrne's. Kasaan is changing almost daily. He is one month old and we just love him so much.

Lois and Lilly = Bed for Bird

Grandma Byrne and Cousin Lilly came in from Virginia this week and have been a huge help. Bird has been getting much more sleep the last couple of nights. Kasaan has decided after much persuasion from his parents to sleep in 4 hour blocks during the night. This has helped Bird out so much.

Don't let the smiles fool you.

Yeah...so don't let the smiles fool you all...we haven't slept in what seems like weeks. I was told while working at Starbucks yesterday from one of our customers, "I'm telling you Gregg when Kasaan sleeps through night that first time...at first you'll wake up and wonder what happened or did we forget to feed him or did he hate his bed and run away...then you'll realize no he just slept through the night and that my friend is better than sex." We are tired but the joy far outweighs any amount of sleep.

Grandma and Grandpa Jennings have been in town for a stint and Grandma Byrne comes in tonight with Kasaan's cousin Lilly. It's hard to imagine doing any thing right now but worrying about the sweet baby so we are so grateful for all the help from our wonderful parents. It really is amazing how your life just stops. But really its like your life just begins, a new set of priorities really.

Grandma and Grandpa getting their fill. Dad likes to hold him when Kasaan is sleeping...Mom like to hold him when he's flashing gang signs.

Bird and Baby's first field trip!

So as is our tradition we went out to get our Christmas tree on Friday after Thanksgiving. Bird and Kasaan have been doing wonderfully.

Kasaan is sleeping a little better and each day is better than the one before.

Welcome Kasaan Julius Jennings!

Bird's water broke at 11 pm on Thursday night. This was about that same time on Friday night. She was and is my hero! What a job.

Brian Marsh--a old college and DC friend was up for a visit. Little did he know he was going to get the surprise of his life. He was amazing and played worship songs during much of Bird's labor. We laughed we sang, it was from God. Very relaxing.

The joy that was in Bird's hear at the time of the birth was overpowering. She says that the pushing was her most joyous moments in life. Kasaan came within 20 minutes of her pushing. Its just all over her face (not so much his) but she is so happy!

A good profile shot!

We see a lot of Grandpa Byrne in baby Kasaan. I think its cause he's going to be so tough! Or it maybe that Julius has an alternative meaning (aside from Kind) of "downy-bearded youth" So who knows maybe he'll have a white beard someday like Poppy!

Brandi--is Brian's wonderful wife and she was able to fly in on Saturday for the Kassan birthday. I'm not even sure if she had to pack her toothbrush because before you could spell Kasaan Julius Jennings she and B had to head back to DC. But we are so thankful they were able to be here for such a special day.

Bird and one of the many wonderful nurses putting Kasaan in his car seat.

This is the video of Kassan being weighed in.





The beauty and the beast! I'm telling you Bird looks better than me! She was amazing.

From Office to Baby Room with help from Virginia

Do you ever have a project that just sits around the house? No matter how much you stare at them the dishes just don't do themselves. No matter how much research you do...you still have to write the paper. Our original thoughts were to leave our second bedroom as a 1/2 office and 1/2 baby room. But no matter how much we stared at the space or the crib--things just weren't getting done. That is until Kathy, Bird's sister came up from Virginia. I think her exact words were, "We are getting this done in 24 hours--come on get the keys Gregg we are going to Baby's R Us."

Sometimes it just takes one little piece for the whole puzzle to make since. From the time we got back from Spain until 3 weeks ago we knew we had so much to do but just couldn't do it. Kathy is our baby's aunt and our baby's interior designer. So after the 24 hour mad marathon the room looked great and Bird and her went to the Spa for some pampering.

Kathy was simply amazing! Bird was so encouraged to have some family close by during the pregnancy. For me it was great to watch the sister dynamic going on all weekend. It was like they were teenagers again! Tons of joy! Kathy thanks so much for all your love and support and just for being you. We love you and can't thank you enough!

A Harbor Baby Shower

This December will mark our 3rd year on staff with Harbor of Hope Christian Church. My job has adapted and morphed from more to less to more over those three years but through it all one thing has remained a constant...the churches unfailing love for Bird and I. We feel so undeserving of the joy and excitement that is thrown our way week after week. On Sunday November 4th in the cafe of the church several people came out to support us and to bless us with baby gifts. We can't thank YOU and Harbor enough. This is a picture at the very end of the shower of Linda Bortmess (also the gal who gave Bird tons of maternity clothes so that she didn't have to be at her own shower in her birthday suite) praying for Bird that she would loose her anxiety unto the Lord and that He would carry us through the next four weeks. There really is not one thing we need. Between our wonderful family, church and friends Baby Jennings is going to be very welcomed.
We played wicked fun games and got a rat as a gift. The couple who pulled it all off were our small group leaders, Priscila and Nathan Keliher. Leave it up to Mrs. Flint to remind us that some point our baby is going to get so bored of all the new toys and so we need to be flexible and have the baby play with what is around the house...aka...our new toy RAT. Hilarious.