Aunt Karen visit

Aunt Karen made a quick trip to meet Cecilia this weekend. It was so nice to see her, and she even treated us to a chick fil a lunch!

 Manah generously took baby duty while we ate.

Babymoon project

I am not sure if we are just crazy or what, but it seems like every time we have a babymoon we end up tackling some small house project. When Sebastian was born, Austin did a major cleanout/overhaul of the shed. This time, we made a mudroom wall...

It may have had something to do with the cold snap that came right when Cecilia was born. But the jackets everywhere, piano bags hanging from doorknobs, and the constantly overflowing shoe basket drove Austin crazy. He hung these hooks for jackets and piano bags, and then I added the shoe cubby. Sebastian was so excited the first time we told him to go get his shoes because he actually found them with ease. So cute and so worth it! We actually have a small mudroom in our expansion plans to add space to the schoolroom and a small office for Austin. But that project was postponed, so in the meantime this will be great!

More baby

Austin and I celebrated our 14th anniversary yesterday. I can't think of a better way to spend it than with this new little sweetie! And since he is off this week helping me out, I got to see him all day. Double bonus! We did go on a nice date the weekend before she was born, compliments of Pawpaw and Manah. ;)

St. Nicholas Day and baby holding

It was really nice to be home for St. Nicholas day and to have Austin home too! It was an easy going morning before we decided to put the energy from all the treats to good work and get the house cleaned up a bit. The kids were really good sports about that part...I think they are so full of joy at Cecilia's arrival and at all the yummy stuff they got!

Godparent visit

Cecilia's soon-to-be Godparents stopped by to meet her last night. We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing examples of our faith!

Introducing Cecilia Rose

Our sweet baby came on her own, thanks be to God!
Cecilia Rose Riddle was born 12/3/2016 at 12:18am. She was 8lb 7oz and 21 1/2" long. Her eyes are baby dark blue, so real color to be determined. Her hair is a combination of strawberry and dirty blonde...hard to tell who she will look like at this point! Her eyes are wider spaced like Allia's for sure.

I was expecting a fast labor after Sebastian came so quickly and I had already had so many contractions earlier in the week, but every baby is different! Labor started around 4pm but it was very stop and go. I would have several good contractions, get tired, and my body would take a little break. But I absolutely could not lay down during contractions, even at the end, which was a new experience for me. This made all those breaks much needed. And thanks to that, her labor was actually my longest since Allia! However, once it came time to push, it only took one big one and there she was. That was a huge blessing since it turned out the cord was round her neck. Perhaps that was why my body was taking so many breaks...to keep her from getting stressed. We had an amazing labor nurse who was so sweet and accommodating, and we actually had our own doctor this time instead of the on-call! Yay!

It was quite slow at the hospital after what they assured us was a crazy beginning of the week. One of the nurses made these swan towels all over our room to welcome us when we moved from L&D.

Of course the kids were just dying to meet her the next morning!

 Homecoming! We came home at lunchtime today, and there was an eager line of baby holders and admirers waiting. So sweet. It must be wonderful to be so loved!

Thanks be to God for such a blessing!

D+2

We are still waiting on baby girl. She checked out ok at my dr. appointment yesterday. And I am definitely making progress toward birth. We went ahead and scheduled an induction for Monday. I was hesitant to do it so early since we could have easily bartered for a few more days. But next week's schedule is a little crazy both for us and our doctor. I didn't want to get stuck sharing our anniversary Wednesday! I am still hoping and praying that she comes before Monday on her own, but either way we will be very happy to meet her. I have been having so many contractions I feel like I have been in labor for days already. So I imagine if we make it to Monday I will be ready to get it over with! We will see...