He loves being read to by his Aunt Kate! She did a very good job entertaining him - 
Gabe's first official hike. Location: Eagle Lake Camp
Playing Hide & Seek!"let the inaugural independence games commence!"
and with that, a tradition was born. an annual tradition of games, food, people, and fun. the games began with the all-american classic, horseshoes. round one: amy vs. tyler. the match warmed up right from the start with each athlete racking up three points quickly. however, a makeshift grass court (not sand or clay, as standards require) can upset the rhythm quickly, and both athletes struggled for several innings to score again. finally, tyler was able to toss a ringer for the victory.
round two: carol vs. tyler. confident after his earlier win, tyler was hoping to pull ahead early and make quick of the remaining brauer family. several innings of back & forth took a toll on the gabe-laden pitcher & the previous victory proved to only prolong the inevitable: a carol brauer win. on a ringer, no less. it was a live by the sword, die by the sword day for tyler. but a mighty congratulations to the champion of the inaugural independence games, carol brauer! (*roaring applause*)
the post-game celebrations were to consist of fireworks, but where? corporate woods, shawnee mission park, riverfest - so many options! our neighbors were in the middle of their own (though obviously inferior) independence games and mentioned to amy that the country club a block north of us launches their own fireworks display & the neighborhood usually lines 71st street & santa fe to watch. do we drive 30 minutes to share a 20 minute show with strangers or walk five minutes for a 30 minute show with our neighbors? the decision made itself.
and sure, it was just a small show, but it was done really well. gabe enjoyed it so much that he was almost asleep as the grand finale rolled around.
this is the first fourth of july that i've really been aware of independence (or lack thereof) on so many levels. gabe is the biggest factor, seeing his total dependence on us and thus our responsibility for him, which is itself reflective of our relationship with God. then there's our relative independence as American citizens. i complain a lot about how individual freedoms are losing popularity (and rejoice in their approval), but we've still got it pretty good compared to some. i could list dozens of countries & hundreds of people groups that would give their right arm (and so many have!) for the freedoms - and the people that protect them - that i take for granted. that's a sobering & humbling thought. we don't appreciate the worthy enough.
tim keller says of freedom, "In many areas of life, freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions." the context of his remark is personal moral autonomy, but i think it's nonetheless a challenge to us as a country as well, finding the bindings that most allow us to soar. er, strut.
i hope everyone had a happy, relaxing & safe independence weekend! don't forget to make reservations now for next year's second annual independence games!
the gaber loves to stare & laugh at ceiling fan. i don't know what this says about him, but we hope he grows out of it. simple things for simple minds, i guess.
occupied.
'fun', 'joyous', 'exciting', 'exhausting', & various others work too, but 'occupied' seems to sufficiently encompass everything. this was not unexpected, yet you can prepare all you want, but you're never ready. despite these new adjustments, we've been able to show the gaber more than the inside of the house.
the gaber's first neighborhood walk. we take a stroll most every evening and he's taken quite a liking to the baby bjorn.
fist time to the op farmer's market & hanging out with his future buddy isaac gfeller.
he loves being outside on the deck & looking at the trees. i think it's obvious that he can't wait to go camping (and we can't wait to take him).
somehow, family got wind of this new kansas city attraction, so grandma & grandpa & aunt katie came out for a few days. everyone had their share of gabe-time (for now) except for grandpa considering his execution of a masterful, impromptu partial bathroom remodel.
we're still amazed that gabe's ours for good (how'd they let us out of the hospital without some kind of quiz?). he's four handfuls of fun & occupation but 100% worth it. please hold all "just wait until _____" jokes; our sanity is fragile. we're fully aware of the chaos ahead and excited to enjoy the mayhem at hand!
thursday: we finally get to bring gabe home. the morning brought a scare when he learned his bilirubin levels (jaundice) were pretty high so they might have us stay another night. but we waited it out, got another test done & they cleared us for departure.
friday: his first pediatrician appointment! while getting ready to go, amy casually remarked that there are probably a lot of people who are late for their first appointment. naively, we laughed it off. soon after, i had just gotten gabe buckled into his car seat when he spewed all over himself & the straps. i called the pediatrician to say we might be a bit behind.
we had prepared for this. we still had time.
we got him changed, the seat wiped up, all ready to go. as we got him buckled in again, like pavlov's dog he spewed all over again. apparently, this was a game of some sorts. score: gabe 1; mom & dad 0. however, we managed to even the score by making it out of the house, everyone wearing clean clothes and arriving a forgivable two minutes late. granted, the doctor is only a two minute drive, but that's neither here nor there as long as we got there.
saturday: we all slept in until almost 10! gabe is doing really well through the nights. other than waking up & eating every 3-4 hours, he found that mom & dad are pretty boring when they're sleeping.
today: gabe learned what fun a properly aimed stream can be. he showed his appreciation for his first bath by peeing & pooping at will. he then told grandma how great she was by peeing a good 18" onto her shirt, teaching her to cover the artillery when changing a little boy's diaper. and mommy, having failed to learn that same lesson, taught gabe that peeing on his face isn't as funny as it sounds (except to mom & dad). and then daddy, having learned the value of a well-placed washcloth, learned that such washcloths don't really matter given that gabe can pee right under it, soaking gabe's newly adorned pajamas.
our little gaber (gabriel: "hero of God"; "august" was amy's dad's middle name) was born at 10:52 pm last night, may 13. at 19 inches, 7 lbs. 9 oz. & tons of cuteness, he's doing amazingly well & hasn't hardly cried at all (except during his bath, just like a good boy).
amy's doing really well, too. she initially went into labor around midnight and after a couple walks through the neighborhood we headed to shawnee mission medical center at one in the afternoon. things went slowly it seemed, but amy seriously did really really well. there was no name calling or screaming or drama of any sort, despite how much i might have earned it. she went through the whole labor - 23 hours - totally natural, entirely free of pain medicine. i don't know that i've ever been more proud of anyone in my life!
so we invite you to share & multiply our joy and we look forward to letting you all love on gabe!
make sure to keep up with the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/tyler.hilker/TheGaber
last friday amy & i went in for an ultrasound to make sure everything was in good shape for the home stretch. gabe let us know that everything was quite alright, signing "rock on" with notable enthusiasm.
we were also able to get some good long peeks at his face, upper body & kicking feet. unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures to prove it. instead we got the one below where his left eye is actually a black hole. seriously though, he opened wide his eyes almost as if he knew we were looking at him. he would stretch, throw his head back & mouth open like he was getting ready for a nap. and i'm sure he smiled at us at some point, but we missed it because we were looking at his brain. speaking of which, his size is right on average except for his head which is larger than normal. a smart hilker? he gets that from his mom ;)
so here we are at 31 1/2 weeks and both amy & gabe are doing great. hopefully we'll stay on top of the updates, but sign up for email updates (in the right column as soon as i put them there)!
After over a year of 'forgetting' about our blog, we are finally back! We figured since we now live so far away from everybody we should have a way of keeping everyone up to date. So here we go!
