Baby's First Christmas

Three weeks old and Penny already has a Christmas holiday under her belt.  It's hard to believe and frankly a bit depressing to think that Christmas is already over!  2013 is over already and we are ready to take on whatever 2014 brings!  One of the most exciting parts of the year will be to see how this little one changes and grows.  The changes that happen in the first year of life are stunning.  One of the biggest differences in the way I feel with the third child is that I catch myself savoring the sweet newborn moments a lot. I KNOW how it all goes by so fast.  It doesn't seem that long ago that my first baby, Lizzie, was scooting around in diapers, and here I have my third girl now. Babies are challenging, yes.  However, it's a stage that comes and goes so quickly you have to relish the precious moments.  

I wish I had captured her smile because she is already smiling a lot!  She smiled for the first time at Grandma when she was one week old.  Then, she continued to smile more and more after that.  I know babies "don't" smile this early but she really did I swear!  She is a big time smiler these days.

Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas!  Christmas this year was so special.  I imagined having a baby in December would be quite stressful, but it was actually very low key.  We had a simple Christmas with a lot of family time at home and it was amazing. We talked a lot about the true meaning of Christmas and how it is a celebration of a miracle: we were celebrating Jesus' birthday. For Christmas Eve, we got together with family, played volleyball, went caroling, ate pizza, acted out the nativity, played games, gave a gift to Jesus, and had a little talent show.  Lizzie and Julie sang "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle."  Then Lizzie played "Jingle Bells" on the piano while Julie sang and danced around with a little jingle bell.  It was so stinkin cute.

Then after the program the kids opened their "Santa Bags" from Grammy and Papa.  They LOVED that part and little Miss Penny even got a stocking of her own.  It was such a fun night!

Then, we all headed off to bed in anticipation of Christmas morning!

The girls were so anxious to go downstairs and peek at what Santa had brought them!  

It looked like Santa dropped his whole sleigh at our house!  The kids eyes were so wide with excitement and wonder at the sight!

Grammy and Papa were even there too! Christmas day was spent at home, playing with all the new toys!  Family time is the best and we got a lot of it this December!

Julie got a new bike.  Both girls received large Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals and stockings from Santa.

They opened all kinds of fun gifts.  Hello Kitty was definitely a big part of their gifts this year.  They are both so into Hello Kitty and Disney items.

They also received all kinds of crafting items from Grandma and Grandpa (a favorite activity of theirs).  They got some pretty cool things from Korea, too.  (From Abby and Leah).  It was a great Christmas and end to the year 2013!

Thanksgiving

Let's go back in time for a minute to remember Thanksgiving.  (Just got these pictures)  We had a big giant, delicious turkey dinner!  The whole family was there (except the Marstons). Nothing better than a delicious meal with some of my favorite people.  

This was pre-baby but just barely!  At this point I knew I would be having Penny within the week!  I was in good company with two other pregnant sister in laws. 

 The girls did a little craft the day of Thanksgiving making Christmas tree decorations.

 Grammy put together some games for the kids like Thanksgiving Bingo. (Which they loved of course)

 The turkey this year was really good!

 Cousins are the best!  They are always so excited to get together!

 The day following Thanksgiving, we got together for a gingerbread house making party!

 Lizzie and I teamed up to make a house and Dave helped Julie.

 Even Noah, the oldest cousin, had fun!

 The Laupers made one cute house!!

Grammy To the Rescue

I hear having that third child is a real doozy.  "So is it?", you may ask?  Well, i will let you know once I am on my own.  Up until now I have had the BEST help!  My mom was here for five days, like I posted below, but that was altogether too short of a time.  Fortunately, Dave's mom lives close by and has been such a life saver!  I'm sure Lizzie and Julie would be going crazy with neglect by now if Linda hadn't whisked them away so many days for fun times and activities at her house.  She has been babysitting, bringing meals, taking Lizzie to preschool and a huge support!!  Her help has definitely been "above and beyond."  We are so grateful for our super Grammy and super Papa that live so close by!

Penny, you have so many people that love you.  I can't wait for you to get to know all of the many family members that love you so much.

1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Baby Girls

   3 Girls?!!...is how people respond when they question me about my children.  It is then usually followed up with a, "That's a lot of weddings to pay for."  "Just wait til they hit the teenage years."  "That's a lot of estrogen."  and "I hope your husband has a gun collection."  Although, sometimes I get the more appropriate response of, "Wow. You are so lucky!"  And then, there's the most common response I get when the girls are with me, which is "That is a lot of cuteness!"  
All three of my girls have such cute little sleepy smiles.  When I put these photos together I was surprised at how similar they all look.  You can definitely tell they are related!  It's harder to see in the black and white photos, but the biggest difference in looks is that Penny has such light hair!  Her eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair are all very fair and sandy/blonde colored instead of the super dark hair and features that Liz and Juju had.  

Penny is 2 weeks old in this pic.  Notice the wings on her back...she is certainly our little Christmas angel.  She's smiling because she sure does enjoy her sleep.  She sleeps ALOT.  In fact, she was born with an awesome sleep schedule.  By day 2 she was waking up at 3ish to eat, then again at 7ish, followed by another couple hours of sleep.  It has continued so far. (fingers crossed) She has been very merciful to her poor mom who needs her sleep.  

   I took this picture when she was only one week old!  She is changing and getting so much bigger already.

And this is when she decided she has had enough tummy time...pictures or no pictures.  She has her moments like this but for the most part she is a pretty easy going, happy newborn.   

My Mom's Visit

My mom flew into town to help with Baby Penny and we had such a great time!  She was a big help, played with the girls, and we celebrated my birthday!  She even made my favorite chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!  I am now 29 years old...the age I will forever be when people ask, right?  It was a great birthday and one of my favorite gifts from Dave was "Verse by Verse the Book of Mormon" by D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C. Skinner.  It's like reading the book with a couple scholars who have deep insights and doctrinal, historical, cultural, and linguistic commentary along the way.  

It was so great having my mom around, but it went by so fast!  Five days was not long enough but my parents JUST opened their new Elements Massage business so she had to get back to work. :(  But not before we spent alot of time with the kids, baby, and even had some girl time shopping for clothes! 

Lizzie and Julie were in heaven with all the attention they got from Grandma.  My mom is so good with the girls.  (All of us girls including me!)  She is an amazing woman who never ceases to astound me with her work ethic, unselfishness, talents, and love.   We are still missing having her around!

Baby Penny is Born

Penelope Launa Stevens was born on December 6, 2014 at 2:40 am.  

She weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs, 5oz and measured 21.5 inches in length.  

We are so excited to finally have our brand new, shiny Penny!  :).  Jamie did an amazing job with the newborn photos of course.  These pictures will be treasured for sure!  

 The story of Penny's birth is pretty amazing.  Pregnancy can seem so slow and when you go past your due date it kind of seems like time stops moving...it's enough to drive anyone insane!  I was scheduled to be induced Friday morning (2 days after my due date) and sure enough Wednesday and Thursday come with no sign of baby coming.  By Thurs morning I am resigned to being induced so we make plans to drop off the little girls at Grammy and Papa's Thursday night.  Meanwhile, I am still praying and hoping this baby will come naturally so I don't HAVE to be induced.  By Thurs. afternoon I am packed up for the hospital stay, the girls belongings are packed for Grammy and Papa's, and we are all ready for the early morning induction. Dave gets home for dinner and soon after I start having some pretty strong contractions.  They continue and get more frequent to the point that I start saying, "I think we are dropping the girls off and going straight to the hospital!"  And that's exactly what we did.  We were doubtful enough that it was REALLY going to happen that we stopped at Costco for some pizza but soon after the purchase I am getting more anxious and assert, "Ok, it's REALLY happening. Let's go now!" We get to the hospital at about 8pm and I am dilated to a 3.  I get an epidural at around midnight.  My water breaks at about 2:30am.  Then little Miss Penny is born at 2:40.  The whole birth experience was smooth and I felt so blessed that there were no problems.  I had such strong feelings that God was a part of the whole process and gifting us with the perfect timing and delivery.  But, most of all I am grateful for the gift of Penny, herself.  I know she's the exact right little person to enter into our family right now.  She's such a sweet little baby.

 Little Penny seemed to dazzle all the nurses with her good health and patience with all their poking and prodding.  At one point the nurse told me that she couldn't believe she was scoring 100% on her oxygen and bilirubin levels and that this was the first time she had ever seen that.  Now, these scores don't matter much as long as she passes.  But since she was deemed healthy and well by all the nurses and doctors, they didn't protest when Dave and I insisted that we wanted to take her home by the end of the day.  (Normally you are supposed to stay in the hospital for at least 24 hrs.)  So we ended up heading home within 16 hours of her birth.

Penny has been such a little angel from day one.  She's a good sleeper and has a happy temperament.  It really made for a good recovery for the both of us!

 These pictures are my favorite!!  Three of my most precious treasures in one photo.  :)

 The girls have been SO excited for Penny to be born and they seemed surprised that it actually happened! (9 months of waiting is super long for 3 and 5 yr olds)

 It's been fun watching how they interact with Penny.  They were super excited to hug, kiss, and hold her right away but I had to hold them back a bit because they were both recovering from colds!

 I love this little girl so much.  I can't believe i have THREE of the cutest little girls in the world!

 Snuggling babies is the best.  This is the stuff life is made of.

 Having a baby during the Christmas season has been extra special.  She is such a good reminder of what Christmas is all about: the Christ child.

 Nothing like a baby to bring peace, love, and happiness into your  home.

I know this blog is so gushy, but this baby has melted my heart. I hope to always remember this special time and how I felt when our newest little family member, Penny, entered our lives.