Spein Bean

This past week we had my family in town to celebrate Katelyn's birth and Christmas. We were so excited to have them here and we got to see my brother Spencer after 2 1/2 years of being apart. My brother got home from a 2 year mission in Fiji in October and we haven't been able to see him until now. Abby had so much fun reuniting with her Uncle Spein.

We love you Spein Bean, it's great to have you home.

Santa Visit

On Christmas Eve Brett took Abby to see Santa next to the White House Tree. It is a really fun place to take kids because it has Santa's Workshop, Mrs. Clause, and Elves...it's the real deal, plus it's free. This year Abby has been talking about Santa a lot so we thought maybe she would 'like' him when we visited...no such luck. She thinks he is cool from a distance but put her on his lap and the tears flow in full force.

Abby with Mrs. Clause

Merry Christmas!

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! It has been an extra sweet Christmas at our house because little Katelyn joined us. We have really enjoyed just being together as a family. It's a wonderful time of year to celebrate our Savior and His birth and we are so grateful for Him and His life. May you all have a great time celebrating with your friends and family.

Love at First Sight

Introducing

Katelyn Jane

We just love our new baby girl! She was born on Thursday, December 16th @ 12:17pm, 8 lbs and 21 inches long. The delivery went really well and we're feeling great. Abby loves her new little sister and gives her lots of kisses. We are so happy to have her in our family. Welcome to the world little one! She's definitely the best Christmas present we have received.

She loves to sleep...during the day. :)

Loves from Sister. It was really sweet to see Abby hold her sister for the first time.

Checking out the world

Ever since we looked at her, the name 'Katelyn' kept coming to our minds. We looked it up in the dictionary and 'Katelyn' means 'pure.' The name 'Jane' comes from my ancestor, Jane Treharne Ashton, who was an amazing pioneer woman.

Little foot

xoxo

Happy Birthday Katelyn Jane!

(We wanted to have a little something for Katelyn, to see what happened the day she was born.)

Birth Story

We arrived at Fair Oaks Hospital Thursday morning, around 10:00am. (After a lot of thought and prayer, we decided to have Katelyn via c-section because of complications from Abby's birth.) It was beginning to lightly snow as we walked into the hospital, which made it fun for her birthday. We checked in and the nurses got us ready with paper work and tests before the doctor arrived.

Entrance at the hospital...ready for delivery!

Listening to her heartbeat as we waited. She did not like the heart monitors on my stomach and tried very hard to kick them off several times. She put on quite the show.

Here is where she would be placed for recovery...the same place Abby was when she was born.

Dr. Maddox arrived around 11:30am and we headed to do the c-section...

Here we are in front of the operating room ready to go in to have her. I loved my nurse, Amy, she made it so nice. The doctors and nurses really helped calm any fears we had. They even turned on some nice Christmas music I could listen to in the background while we were in there. They made everything a really good experience.

After a short time we heard a sweet little cry and Miss Katelyn came into the world.

Where did she get all that dark hair?

Not so sure what to think of all those bright lights.

I love this little face.

The nurse holding her close so I could kiss her little cheeks.

Holding our baby girl...we love her.

Daddy daughter bonding

Getting to know little Katelyn in the recovery room.

Dr. Maddox...one amazing doctor.

Daddy daughter time.

Here is Abby giving 'loves' to her sister. She was going around the hospital telling everyone 'I have baby sister'. She was so proud to be a big sister.

We love our little girls! Happy Birthday Katelyn. We are excited to have you in our family.

Abby got to watch Katelyn get bathed. She was very concerned that her sister was crying.

Twas the Night Before D-day and Ready to 'Pop'

Twas' the Night before D-day and all through the house,

Not a creature was sleeping, not even a mouse (yes, we have mice but hopefully not for long)

The bags were all packed by the doorstep with care,

In hopes that Baby Girl would soon be there.

Tomorrow is the big day! Baby girl will make her debut and we can't wait to cuddle her in our arms. We have deemed these past few weeks 'the final stretch'...literally. I am huge and ready to 'Pop'. We're excited to have her here.

Gingerbread

I love the smell of gingerbread at Christmastime...yum! My mom has a great recipe for gingerbread and she has a tradition of making it every year. We kept the tradition alive once again this year and made our own gingerbread houses this past weekend. My good friends from work came over to join in the fun and we had a great time decorating. These kiddos are all just a few weeks apart. We were all pregnant at the same time and all had our babies in July 2008. I always love to get together with them and the kids have become really good friends. Last year they weren't too interested in making the houses, but this year they discovered CANDY and suddenly became VERY interested in decorating. :) There was a lot of finger licking as they 'helped' put the frosting on the gingerbread.

Benjamin

Jensen

We also had fun making gingerbread with some friends the night before...

Daddy daughter bonding with candy

Miss Abby very happy about her creations...