Catching up with the Gills

As with a number of endeavors undertaken in the past, my blog has taken a backseat to life.  It has been 8 months since I last updated and SO much life has happened!  Here's a quick pictorial view of our last 8 months.



Christmas tree hunt, Julia & Suzanna in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Jacob's first Christmas
Merry Christmas from the Gills! 

Gill kids' birthdays:  Julia turned 11, Rebecca 17, Suzanna 9, Mariah 15, Thomas 7, Zachary 4 and Jacob turned 1!

Activities and accomplishments: 
Mariah (with friend & fellow Star grad) inducted into National Junior Honor Society, Rebecca medals at State SkillsUSA competition, Zachary spells his name with bendy sticks, Suzanna with her castle at Cultural Fair, Julia reading to her little brothers, Zachary at Star Preschool end of year celebration, Thomas catcher and with his buddy Robbie at tee ball

American Heritage Girls:  End of Year Ceremony, Corpus Christi Procession, Daddy/Daughter Cake Contest (with Jabba the Hutt cake) and July 2012 Explorers/Pioneers/Patriots Fort Flagler Camping Trip

Jacob pics:  Snoozing with Grandma Gill in the MO heat, enjoying ribs, Grandpa Revaughn meeting Jacob Revaughn,
Jacob at play, zonked out, first noticing our dog Hollie, anxious for his first food and hanging with Daddy

Summer fun:  Camping and exploring the beach at Penrose Point State Park with the Lentes,
playing in the snow on the 4th of July, exploring Rialto Beach on Thomas's birthday, tubing with the Klaessigs,
Scenic Beach with the Sprys and Thomas's first backpack trip with Dad, Mariah & Suzanna



  Thomas with his 2 best buds, Gavin and Robbie, at Thomas's birthday campout look eerily similar to Brian in 2 pics:
 impromptu reunion in KC with college roommates, Dan & Joe (top) & Saint Patrick's Day Pub Run with two of his current partners in crime, Brian & Robbie. (bottom)  I feel a scary feeling of prophecy when I look at these pics!

Easter family picture where personalities abound!

We celebrated our 20th anniversary on August 1

As you can see, life has been very, very busy in this circus we call a life!!! Hopefully, it won't be another 8 months before I can provide another update!!

Blessings to you all!

Beth (& family)

Parents' professions through the eyes of a 3-year-old

Zachary, Jacob and I visited my friend yesterday at the college where I worked for the last several years.  For some reason, Zachary thought it was a doctor's office.  We explained to him that it was a school and that Miss Gayle was a teacher there. 

Knowing that Brian is also a college professor, Gayle asked Zachary what his daddy did, thinking it would help him to understand that we weren't at a doctor's office.  Zachary surprised us, though, when he answered "he builds beds".  We do have 7 children, so Brian has spent a fair bit of time putting together beds.  He's put together basinets, cribs, bunk beds, futons, and doll beds...he has, in fact, built a couple of beds from scratch, including our bed and the captain's bed he built for Rebecca before bunk beds entered our lives. 

For follow up, Gayle asked Zachary what his mommy did, and he replied that I am a nurse.  I am indeed a nurse...I have been an RN for 20 years and although I am not currently working in the nursing profession, it indeed remains a large part of my identity.  I was feeling kind of proud and smug that he knew my profession and not his dad's.

Today, I wanted to see if Zachary had a different answer for yesterday's questions.  You know the 3-year-old's imagination:  things can change rapidly.  Well, his responses were the same...dad builds beds and mom is a nurse.  I went one step further today, though, and asked what mom does as a nurse.  I was thinking maybe he'd say "give shots" or "help people".  Nope.  You see, 3-year-olds view relationships through the filter of how they are affected or might benefit.  Knowing that, it shouldn't have come as a surprise when he stated "you nurse babies".  Yep, I do....I've been breastfeeding my babies for nearly as long as I have been an RN!
 
I am not nearly so smug as I was yesterday...but I am humbled and happy.  What could be more pleasing than being recognized by your child for providing a safe and secure place to lay his head and the food he needs to live?  That is our job, a job we lovingly and gratefully accepted when we said "yes" to God's call for becoming parents.  There is no more important profession nor part of our identity, after all, than that of being parents, and I thank Zachary for reminding me of that so clearly! 

Time to get back to "work"...I need to lie Jacob in his basinet so that I can prepare Zachary some lunch!

Graduating the "bonus month"

Our Jacob surprised us on August 2 when he arrived 5 weeks before his due date and 4 weeks before his scheduled  "eviction".  He arrived at a good weight (nearly 7 pounds, 4 ounces), which gave him an advantage.  The usual reaction to that news is "wow, can you imagine what he would have been if he'd made it to term?"  Yes, we can, as the median weight of our seven children is 9 pounds, 11 ounces...we assumed that Jacob would definintely reach, if not exceed, that weight.  Although weighing in large was an advantage, he was still very much a preemie and behaved as such. 

The "bonus month", as a friend of a preemie refers to the month we weren't really expecting or ready for, brought some trials.  Jacob was very jaundiced, and endured daily lab tests for elevated bilirubin, "sunbathing" and forced feeds.  He was also a poor nurser, as many premature infants are, which resulted in a weight loss of over a pound his first week and a month of visits to the lactation nurse, using breastfeeding aids and force-feeding to get things going.  For the first 3 weeks, he and I lived in a cave (my bedroom) with a nurse/pump/supplement schedule going every 2-3 hours around the clock, with naps in between that routine.  Our other children wondered if they had a mother, I am sure!  Fortunately, Brian was on summer break, as were the children, which eased up our running around and allowed him to chauffer us to/from appointments.  We received delicious hot meals delivered every evening for three weeks arranged through the Martha Ministry, a group from our parish that provides meals for during difficult times for parishioners, such as illness, new babies, adoptions and the like.  We were truly blessed!

Jacob is now eight weeks old and has officially been a "newborn" and not a "preemie" for three weeks, and is behaving accordingly.  His visit at the pediatrician today had him weighing in at 9 pounds, 13 ounces (which is what both of his brothers were at birth) and 23 inches in length (over 3 inches since he was born).  He "graduated" from the lactation nurse last week because he was nursing exclusively without breastfeeding aids and was gaining weight so well.  We're getting a stretch of about five hours of sleep at night, which is a vast improvement over 2-3 hours.  And, to top it all off, he has rolled over from his stomach to his back over the past two days!  He is definitely on track developmentally and is such a wonderfully loved and cuddly addition to our family.  I am thankful that he is growing and developing, but I am also very thankful for and will miss that "bonus month" that he has graduated from.

Newly baptized boy

Our newest addition, Jacob, was baptized yesterday. It was a beautiful ceremony shared with our friends' newest addition as well. We were grateful to have many of our family and friends present to welcome Jacob into our faith and our wonderful parish family.

The baptism itself was a bit of a circus...the numbers of children at the baptism was plentiful (and not just from the families of the newly baptized). It was a great witness to how wonderfully welcomed children are into our faith, our families and our parish. We are truly blessed!