A Smooth Criminal?

Heather and I have started a new punishment that we find rather effective. Some good friends of ours talked about how important it is to teach children not to hit other children. Their rationale: our job as parents is to teach children how to become effective and safe citizens; and if you hit people when you are an adult than you would be arrested and put behind bars.

So, Heather and I decided to turn our beloved toy room into a makeshift prison. You'll never guess who was our first convict. She may pack a powerful punch but she sure is adorable.


Now, although we really do have friends who support that "prison theory" and we have begun talking to Katie about the ramifications of hitting people, here is the real story. Over our Christmas Holiday the Baker's were in town to celebrate Christmas and the birth of our newborn son. Days before he was born we decided to have an early birthday party for our nephew Matthew. We decided that there isn't a better place in the world to have a birthday party for an eight year old (and all of his childish uncles) than Mr. Gatti's. One of the strong attractions to Mr. Gatti's is there inner tube bumper cars. These things are electric. Well, the whole family (minus Grammy and my eight and 3/4 month pregnant wife) decided to have a family bump-a-thon. The only problem is Mr. Gatti's has enforced a height requirement and as many of you have probably guessed Miss Katie was too short. She was heartbroken and simply looked on with those sad puppy dog eyes. I was so sad I was almost distracted from crushing my fellow family members. One day Katie I will bring you back to Lubbock just so you can have a go on those infamous bumper cars. Until then, don't hit or you'll find yourself behind bars!

Death to my Manhood

So as a family we decided to attend Mr. Gatti's right before the birth of our new son. As we finished dinner and entered to game room we (Dad Baker and I) were given a very specific charge from Heather. According to her we needed 200 tickets in order to allow every cousin to be able to get a plastic toy from the counter. So being the manly men that we are we puffed up our chest, we prayed to the token God, and we left on our pilgrimage. As you can see from the picture below our quest was not that lucrative. While that story if funny what makes it even more humiliating is what happened next.

While Dad and I were off strutting our stuff Heather decided that she would have a go. Now I don't know if this was staged or not but I'm beginning to have my suspicions. What I failed to mention above is that Heather told us that we were assigned to the skee ball machines. Did we mock that suggestion? Did we even stop to consider that the skee ball machine is not the most giving of all machines? Not at all. We were Manly Men and we were on a quest. We simply threw out tokens in and did what we were told. Any how, Heather decided that she would play the game where you try to dump the dump truck with your token (the prize: 177 tickets for whomever can tip it). Well, knowing that my wife is amazing and that she seems to have the Midas Touch she puts the coin in the slot, directs it's path, and dumps the truck on her first turn. Here is a picture of her spoils:

Needless to say, I simply tuck my manhood between my legs and let her cash in the prize. You know it is not always fun and games having such an amazing wife. I tell you what though, those kids sure thought she was a hero! Way to go Heather.

Birth of Baker Scott Brimhall

To all our dear friends and family,

Although we have tried calling many of you, with the Holidays happening, most of you are gone. So we are writing an email to announce the birth of our son, Baker Scott Brimhall.

He was born on the 22nd of December and it couldn't have been a better delivery. We went to the Hospital on Wednesday night (right after visiting Santa Land) to be induced. We hadn't ever toured the Hospital or anything as it sort of snuck up on us, so we ended up at the wrong place but after figuring out that they have created a whole new birthing center a few blocks away, we arrived for our fun evening.

They started the cervidil at about 11 PM and antibiotics at the same time. The IV hurt the most out of the entire process and they blew my vein the first time and ended up having to stick me again. At about 6 Am, they started Pitocin and the fun really began. My Doctor arrived at 7:30 to break my water and I received my first epidural around 8. Then since that didn't take, I got a second one about 9 and from there on out, I was in Heaven. It was just like with Katie. Once the epidural kicked in, my body just jumped into delivery mode and the nurse checked me about 10:15 and ended up just holding the baby in until the Doctor could arrive. Baker was born around 10:30 and I pushed about 2 times and he just came out wailing. I had talked to the Doctor about not cutting or wanting to tear and he kept making comments about how a peanut like him wasn't going to make a difference. And sure enough, the baby I thought was going to be soooo big ended up being 5lbs 5 ounces, and 19 inches. So it was a great delivery. We had family troop in the rest of day and more family as we were blessed to have all the Brimhall side except Andy's older brother's family and dad there in Texas for Christmas and my entire family was here as well.

What a Christmas gift we got. And it all worked out according to my Master plan. In on Wednesday and out by Friday morning. He was healthy and has a cute little wrinkly body and I think, looks like Andy. Well, at least he has Andy's nose. :) We blessed him on Christmas Day since all the family was here and he did really well.



The most fun we have is with his name. He was named after my maiden name of Baker but me entire family goes by our last name instead of our first. Like when we play games, we'll say, nice move Baker to my mom, or my dad will call us Baker or things like that, so now we are realizing we have to clarify who we are speaking of. so it's been fun.

Other than that, he is a great little guy and is very stretchy, he doesn't like squishing up and prefers to stretch out and flail around. I am grateful he is healthy and we are grateful for our little miracle. We have been so blessed to have 2 children and are hoping the Lord will grant us at least one more.

Anyway, Just wanted to share the news and let everyone know we love them

Love to All,
Heather and Andy and Katie and Baker

Here are some more pictures. Heather says that he looks more like me but I'll let y'all be the judge of that.

More and More Texan

You know the longer we've lived in Texas the more I realize that Katie is becoming Texan through and through. I think these pictures speak for themselves. Not to mention the fact that she has started saying y'all, fixin', and right quick (or maybe that is just her father). Enjoy the many faces of our beautiful little girl and let us know which picture you like the best.

This is a picture of Katie at the Annual Cowboy parade. She was patiently waiting to see the Horsie parade and decided to pose for some cowboy fashion.


This is acutally a picture of Katie at the Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma so it isn't technically Texan. However, when I saw how cute she was in that outfit I was very tempted to stop by our local Western wear and pick her out an outfit.

I knew the conversion had officially taken place when I came home one day and found her wearing my cowboy hat and nothing else (well, except for her panties and one sock). Heather would claim that she takes after her father in that regard.

Now you may be wondering how this picture represents Katie being Texan. My response, it doesn't. This just goes to show you that even though she is slowly becoming Texas there is still a lot of Brimhall in her. Needless to say Katie makes our life worth while and keeps us on our toes. She is a wonderful daughter and fun to have around. We love her deeply and continue to cherish the opportunity we have to raise her in our home.