Gage's First Christmas

Gage is to young too enjoy Christmas, but we had fun unwrapping his presents for him and letting him try out the new goods! We opened presents and then had our traditional Christmas brunch of Carmel Rolls and Breakfast Casserole, complete with chocolate milk and orange juice of course! The rest of the day was filled with movies (Christmas Story and Fred Clause) games, and more food. Growing up, Rob’s family always had meatballs and Italian Sausage, in celebration of their Italian heritage. Rob decided to continue that tradition with our family and this year the official tradition began.

I love how Gage is holding onto the Bumbo like he is ready to float the river!

Gage wasn't too sure about this contraption, we might wait a month or so and try again

Cooper opening up his present from Grandpa Hill


Gage was more interested with the pattern in his shirt then trying out the new Bumbo

Christmas Eve

We took Gage to the mall to get his picture with Santa, and apparently a lot of other people had the same idea. We waited in line for over an hour so that Gage could sit on Santa’s lap for his first Christmas picture with Santa. Gage was more entertained by watching the kids playing in line then he was with Santa (as you can see in the picture he is looking at the kids to his right), but lately Gage has become a little people watcher. We drove through Candy Cane Lane on our way home to see the Christmas lights and then came home to enjoy Rob’s pizza. We talked about our love of the season and the wonderful feeling that comes as we celebrate Christ and his birth. We are excited to teach Gage about the Savior and look forward to future memories, laughter, and love.

New Christmas Pajamas

The tradition of new Christmas Pajamas lives on! Nonna got Gage his first pair for his first Christmas. They are a little big but I am sure he will grow into them.

So hard.........

It is so hard to leave the room and let this cute little baby boy go to sleep when he does this as soon as you lay him down! Talk about pulling on the heartstrings!

Gage is still not sleeping through the night or taking consistent and long naps during the day. When he wakes up at night he thinks it is fun to stay up for awhile instead of going back to sleep. Gage likes to play “sleeping games” with Rob and I. Just as we think we finally have his sleep patterns figured out he switches them on us. Gage also doesn’t like us to get more then four-five hours of sleep in a row and he has a magical instinct of knowing exactly when we go to bed so he knows when to wake us up. Last night Gage woke up at 3:00 am. I fed him and laid him back down. Of course he began to cry. I was really tired and hoped he would go back to sleep. But Gage had other ideas in mind. I let Gage cry for about fifteen minutes and then went back upstairs to see why he was so disgruntled. As soon as I peeked over the crib he looked at me, stopped crying, and gave me the biggest smile. A smart little lad he is because of course I couldn’t resist and spent the next five minutes talking and smiling with him. I left the room and the crying resumed. Another twenty minutes goes by and I return to the room to burp him and re-swaddle him. Again, the minute he sees me he stops crying and gives a big cheesy grin. A second time I am captured by that smile. This process went on till 5:30 am!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

It was just the three of us for Thanksgiving this year. Rob took over “turkey duty” while I made rolls, mashed potatoes, salad, and pie. We were small in numbers but large in our gratitude for our blessings.

Gage Turns Three Months Today!

It is a true phenomenon that a baby can completely change your life. We are so wrapped up with Gage and celebrate every tiny event he has. Gage starts to babble and coo; we become enamored by it and listen for long periods of time as he repeats the same thing over and over. Gage begins to realize he can grasp things with his hands; we spend hours giving him different textures and toys to hold. Gage rolls over for the first time; you think we won the lottery as we scream with excitement and grab the camera!









Gage is growing in length and can no longer wear the sleepers in 0-3 months because his legs can’t stretch all the way out. He still wears 0-3 clothing just perfectly because his legs aren’t restricted. We put him in the 3-6 sleepers at night. They drown him in width but since it is getting cold we layer with onesies underneath. Gage is starting to focus more consistently. He has become aware of Cooper(our dog) and he likes to watch Cooper move around the house. Gage loves to watch the t.v. and see the different colors and flashes. Gage loves to hear music and be held. Gage has turned in to quite the talker (does he get that from his mom or dad?!!) Gage finally started to like tummy time but since he rolls over it is hard to keep him on his tummy now. Gage still becomes very fussy and colicky between 5 – 7 pm every night. Our goal for Gage for month four---a consistent sleep schedule! It doesn’t have to be through the night, just something a little more predictable.

Welcome Home Sister Hill

Gage had his first airplane trip as we flew back to Utah to be there for Kayla’s return. My worst fear was that I would be the mother with the baby that cried the entire time. Gage did pretty good on the flights, but it did take a lot of work to keep him from crying on the return flight home.


Kayla returned from the Manchester, New Hampshire mission on November 3. 2010. We are so excited to have her home! We are grateful for her love of the gospel and the example she set as she served. Kayla served from May 2009 until Nov 2010. Kayla was able to touch many people’s lives and reminded us to be a little better everyday.

Gage and I waiting for Auntie Kay's arrival

I was lucky enough to be out there for two weeks and it was so fun to be around family! We watched movies, ate, played games, ate again, talked and laughed, and went to Temple Square. We were also able to take family pictures with both sides of the family.

Gage received undivided attention with everyone wanting to hold him and play with him. It was very hard to leave and come back to Milwaukee. Being away from family is difficult, but once you have children, it becomes even harder because you want them to experience the relationships and fun times that come with grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. Gage and I are counting down the days until we can go back.

Great Grandma Hirschi making Gage his favorite silkies
Precious moments with Nonna
Great Grandma Hill showered Gage with love and attention
Gage loved listening to Great Grandpa Hirschi's stories
Uncle Clarke and Gage having guys time before a Sunday nap
Great Grandpa Hirschi would always refer to Gage as "Tiny"
Sleep is so much better when Aunt Shanna rocks you
Partying all day makes for a sleepy little boy and a sleepy little great grandma
Great Grandma Hill with her two newest little ones
Uncle Trevor hoping that Gage becomes a Lions fan!

Shan and I thought it would be fun to try and do a “sleeping baby” photo shoot with Gage. I don’t think we have a future in photography as we had some funny mishaps. We were never able to get Gage asleep because we keep waking him up when we tried to position him. Gage was a pretty good sport and this is what we ended up with.