The Growing Gant Family...

Calvin's first Christmas! Not that he really "enjoyed" it at all, he just got passed around between family members... Uncle Cory. Auntie Lori. And here he is doing what he does best...eating (o: William had fun opening his gifts. "Look Dad, CANDY!!!" Okay, so maybe William didn't enjoy it ALL...Not sure what happened at this moment. I think we told him he had to wait to eat his candy. Lots of cousin time... Overall, a very Merry Christmas! Oh, how I love all my boys...

What's there not to love about a sweet face like this?...

Decorating for Christmas... I've made a tradition of taking a picture of William wrapped up in the Christmas lights as we decorate the William...I mean the tree! Look Mom! My ears and nose are glowing! And now for a glowing headband... Featuring...the glowing Brother! (William really liked this one) Calvin, all snuggled next to Mom while William strings the lights...wait, William's stringing lights by himself?!?! He had no idea...Too engrossed in the decorating. I'm sure I'll pay for this one later.

Now that our little William isn't so "little" anymore, he entertains us with his ever growing vocabulary. Most of the time, you don't have to wonder what he's thinking. And just when you think he doesn't get it or isn't listening, you're suprised and caught off guard at the next thing he says. Here's some of the latest William sayings... While buckled in his car seat, Curtis pulled the car up to our doctor's office to pick me up after our apt.. Randomly, Curtis and Grandpa (in the car as well) tell me that William, all on his own while watching me walk towards the car, said "Mama is so cute." Don't think I'm forgetting that one anytime soon...Now, if he keeps telling ME this and not all the cute little girls he's around... (o: I positioned William so that he would be able to see our Christmas lights come on when I went and plugged them in. As soon as they came on, he comments "Woooah!! That's so cool!"

While pregnant, and after finding out we were adding another Mr. to our family, we were stretched to find a name for our second little guy. William is named after my Grandpa William who, unfortunately, lost his battle with cancer just a few years before he got to meet his first great-grandson. After that, we couldn't just pull our 2nd boy's name out of a book! Curtis and I are striving as parents to raise our children to know the Lord; to have a faith that reflects a personal relationship with Christ. My Grandpa was a spiritual patriarch in my family. I asked Curtis to think of some men in his life that strongly influenced him and his faith. He mentioned Cal Thayer. We threw around the name, midst others, and then eventually came back to it. Cal was a part of Curtis' church growing up and died just shortly after we got married. Our decision was made-Calvin would be his name. Although I never met Cal, I was fortunate enough to have attended the memorial service that

Here they were in the belly's... 10/15/11 Here they are out of the belly's (o: Dalen (born 10/21/11) and Calvin (born 11/8/11) It was so good to finally meet little Dalen Charpie (6 wks old). Who would've thought, as friends in high school, that we would stay in touch and have little boys so close in age? Thanks for stopping by to visit Charissa (o:

Where has the first month gone?...I can hardly believe Calvin's a month old already. We've got a healthy little Gant boy on our hands. With the guesstimated weights I've done on various scales (weighing myself and then picking him up and weighing myself again), he's somewhere around 12lb already! And not that I'm comparing or anything, but William didn't pass up 12lb until he was almost 3 months old. They're proving to be their own individuals! And since I never got a picture of Calvin with his Auntie Lori on his birthday (Lori was there for my labor and Calvin's birth and so fabulously documented the entire day with photos...so SHE was never in ONE of them!), here he is at a month old being held by an Auntie that has lots of love for our little guy (o:

My uncle Curtis (Dad's youngest brother) recently passed away in a motorcycle accident. It was a sudden death...no time to say goodbye. I decided to take the two boys down south to be with my family during this time. I didn't go for myself, although I was very thankful to have been there. I went for the joy that children can bring to tragedy. I knew that, despite the heavy emotion, William's giggle and laugh could make anyone smile. And that holding Calvin would be a reminder, despite death's inevitability, of the precious "life" we get to experience. Auntie Hermila and Calvin Cousin Nicholas (Curtis' eldest) Cousins Nicholas and Sara (Curtis' 2nd eldest) Cousins Sara and Emily (Curtis' 2nd to youngest)...I'm pretty sure William left a puddle of drool on Emily's shoulder after he woke up. All us goofy cousins... The Pile Family...Grandpa and Curtis together in heaven

Us and our two little "turkeys" (o: (Crazy to think that Calvin's due date technically wasn't until today...)

When I was pregnant with William, there were so many times I'd wonder whether little Calvin was going to look like William did when he was born. Even though the pictures weren't taken at exactly the same age, here's one of my favorites...Calvin, proving to be the "bigger little brother"...We'll see how it pans out as they both grow. WILLIAM: 2/10/2009 3 days old CALVIN: 11/15/2011 1 week old *Even though he is a bit older in this picture, he definitely fills out the onsie a bit more! WILLIAM... CALVIN...

What a blessed 30th birthday this is for me. I get to share it with all three of my boys together...Curtis, William AND Calvin. We held off on William meeting Calvin the day he was born due to a puking episode William decided to have at Grandma's house after we made it to the hospital in labor...Turns out, it was likely just his nerves, but we had to be cautious. He was running around like his normal self later that day and so he got to come meet his new baby brother along with the rest of his cousins. He wasn't too sure at first. The video we took is a little long to upload to blogger, but he clung to Curtis as he approached me and Calvin for the first time. He didn't say much and just kept asking Curtis to hold him (of which he was). Then Calvin started crying and William clung to Curtis even tighter. We got some family pics sitting on the hospital bed and I had Dad take Calvin while I held William...You can see how he's still unsure of the whole thing. He ner

Read at your own risk...Full labor story ahead... At 3:30am, the exact time I woke up when my water broke before delivering William, I woke up with contractions that wouldn't go away with any position changes. I decided that I wasn't going to be able to lay there any longer and try to sleep so I got up and took a shower. William, hearing the water of the shower run next to his bedroom, woke up and started asking for me. Surprisingly, he was wide awake. I hadn't woken Curtis up at this point and waiting until I could more accurately time how far apart the contractions were (I wasn't used to labor starting this way since with William is was so clearly obvious with my water popping initially!). 5 minutes or less and getting stronger as time progressed. William asked "Whatcha doin' Mama?" I replied, "I think we are going to go get baby Calvin today." He responded (with much enthusiasm), "You going to go get Baby Brudder!?!" He seeme