Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Wow, what a year!! 2011 held many exciting times and experiences for the Gallahers. Angela and I had the chance to take a dream vacation to Italy, which was awesome. I started my first job out of residency in Mississippi after a wild job hunt. We were reminded more than ever this year that God is in control. He is sovereign and He can be trusted with every detail of our lives. As we were moving into our house in Oxford, MS, in late July, we received a call that we had been chosen to adopt Mason, who was born August 10, 2011!!

Mason was a hit in his Santa suit

Mason does a little dance in his Christmas threads

As usual, the dogs are never far away from the baby :)

Mason isn't too sure what he's supposed to do with the rice cereal in his mouth!

Mason with Nana and Pappy who came to visit from Knoxville

Mason with Uncle Patrick, Mimi and Papa at Cracker Barrel in Lebanon, TN where we visited the Gallaher Family for Christmas

Giving one of his big "good morning" smiles

Enjoying the beautiful first day of 2012

Mason wants you to read his shirt closely....yep, that's right, it says he is going to be a big brother!! That was our big Christmas news!

We shared our news of Baby #2 with our family over Christmas. Another precious gift from God! A very unexpected one :)  Due June 20, 2012. This is the ultrasound taken at 7 weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mason has had some big life moments recently. At the end of October, he went to his first UT football game (or at least his first UT tailgate!) and was a hit in his Smokey costume. On November 14th, we traveled back to Alabama to finalize his adoption- Mason even had his own lawyer! (we let the lawyer hold his client). Bella continues to find ways to get as close as possible to Mason, especially when we have him on the floor. I have a feeling as he gets older, they may be inseparable.

We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and we are thanking God this year for the blessing of Mason in our lives.

Mommy's big guy in his favorite chair

Mason checking out our lawyer's bowtie

The Gallahers with our social worker, Renee

An updated post wouldn't be complete without a bath-time picture!

Best buds

Mason donning his Smokey costume

Happy Halloween from your Wizard of Oz friends!!!

Dorothy and the Scarecrow

Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Lion

Mason Update

 Sorry it's been awhile, but we wanted to post some updated pictures of Mason from the past couple of weeks.  He just had his 2 month checkup where he weighed in at 13 lbs, 6 oz and was 24 in. long (83rd percentile for height and weight)!!!   He's recently begun to smile back at us and he is cooing up a storm! Last night was the first night he has slept through the night....11p-7a.  Yay Mason!!  Hopefully he'll keep it up :)

Mason saying "Hey" to his twin brother!

Mason and Bella are already best buddies

Mason's other best buddy is Gentle Giraffe.  He goes to sleep with him  every night

Samson and Bella love every chance to get close to Mason

One of his first smiles!

Laughing at Daddy!

Snoozing in his Halloween sleeper

Cute diaper cake that the ER nurses at Preston's work made for Mason

Bella's in for a surprise when Mason goes mobile!

Mason sharing a word with Gentle Giraffe

 Our Birmingham friends threw Mason a shower and we all drank out of  "Mason Jars"

Mason in a wide-eyed sleepy stare right before bedtime

Mason's newborn photo shoot

We had to stay in Alabama for a while after we got Mason (for legal purposes) and I needed to get his "newborn" photos taken. Since it was such late notice, I couldn't find any photographers who could schedule him anytime within the recommended age range for a newborn (the ideal age is 2 weeks). Apparently people schedule them in advance, while they are still pregnant.  Obviously we weren't able to do that. So my sweet photographer friend Lauren (who was 3 weeks away from giving birth herself) squeezed Mason into her busy schedule. When he was 17 days old, we drove down to Birmingham for his photo shoot. Here are some of our favorites...