Welcome, Eva Claire!

Wednesday morning we arrived at the hospital at 5:30am.

Here's the last belly shot at 39 weeks and 1 day!

We got to visit with the girls for a couple of minutes before they took us back.
Just before Daddy put on his scrubs...

Eva Claire arrived at 7:51am weighing 7lbs. 2.5oz. and 19inches long!

She stayed in the O.R. while getting all cleaned up and weighed so I got to watch everything. It was great! Then Michael brought her over for a quick picture before they moved me into recovery.

We got to keep Eva with us while in recovery and the girls got to come into recovery and meet her for the first time! Once we got to our room the girls got to hold her for the first time!

Eva sleeping while she got passed around to everyone...

Eva with a picture of Madilynn & Elizabeth that I took with us to the hospital to put in her bassinet.

Grandpa Larry and Grandma Pam with Eva

Mama & Keith with Eva

Us with Nana, Papa, & Ashlee after we got to the room

Granny meeting Eva

Daddy and the girls! They are so proud to be holding her.

Papa and Eva - she had her eyes open!

Four generations...

Mommy & Daddy with Eva

Madilynn & Elizabeth came back to visit after their naps

Daddy got to go to the nursery and help with her first bath! He washed her hair. When she got to our room she had this little bow in her hair.

We are so thankful that everything went so well all day! She is just precious and we are all enjoying getting to know Eva!

Everyone's Here...Ready for baby Eva!

Lots of family came out to Utah to celebrate Eva's birth with us! They arrived the weekend before so we had a few days to visit. They also enjoyed trips out to Bear Lake, Tony Grove lake, Logan River trail, and some fishing while they were here. It sure beat the heat they were missing out on back in AR! Mama & Keith arrived Sunday afternoon. Here's the girls with Mama.

She brought the girls these cute hats!
They fit each of their personalities perfectly!

ready to head outside

Papa and the girls

All us girls on Monday afternoon

Tuesday night we all went out to eat together at Olive Garden. I got some pictures with everyone just before we went...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy's day started out with getting ready to go fishing and a special breakfast of french toast! Daddy and Madilynn rented a canoe and spent the morning out on the lake fishing! Madilynn had been wanting to go again, so they decided to go today. They caught several fish. Daddy even got to use his own fishing pole, as Madilynn can pretty much use her's by herself. They got home at lunch time and Daddy went into work for the afternoon.

When he got home from work we were ready for him to open his gifts!

Daddy & girls

Madilynn took a picture of us before we went to dinner
the girls giving Daddy the things they had colored for him along with some updated wallet pictures for his wallet.

We got him a couple of USU shirts to wear to work.

This is the pie he requested for his birthday. It's a cross between a pecan pie and hello dollies. It's basically a pecan pie with chocolate and cocunut on a graham cracker crust. Turned out really yummy! He ended up having 2 pieces at lunch.

After opening gifts we took Daddy out to eat at Hamilton's. It's a nice restaurant. We've actually never even taken the girls there before, but we made it and they did well. We had some really good steak. When we came home it was time for dessert. I got this little cake at the grocery store for the girls since the pie had pecans in it. We decided it would be better to put the candles in it, instead of the pie! We were laughing at the huge flame and quickly melting candles on the little cake while we sang "Happy Birthday"!

Elizabeth thought it was so funny!

I took this afterwards of the pie, so you can see how it layered.

Hope Daddy had a great day! We love you Daddy!!!

Oh, by the way we are exactly a week away from meeting baby Eva and we can't wait!!

38 weeks and the girls...

Here we are at 38 weeks...

Both girls went with me to the doctor yesterday and they did really well. Madilynn was excited to hear the baby's heartbeat on the monitor. Goldfish and magazines kept them entertained during the appt. Everything is still looking good. My belly has been measuring exactly on track. I've gained 24lbs. so far and ONE WEEK to go!!

So this morning Madilynn was at preschool and Elizabeth and I just hung out and read some books. Then we decided to go outside and walk around and check out the flowers.
It was good to have some relaxed alone time with Elizabeth before the baby comes.

smelling the flowers

the hydrangea has some new blooms

Elizabeth has been interested in her pockets lately or "pock, pocks" as she calls them

She's been saying everything lately, and I mean everything! If we are talking then she'll just repeat like a whole sentence of what we say. She has lots of words more than I can count or identify, and she is working on learning colors. She's almost 2 and I can't believe it! What I really can't believe is everything she is doing and saying and she's not even 2 yet!! I know that once the baby is here, Elizabeth will have seemed to grow up overnight.
Then we had to do some sidewalk chalk before leaving to go pick up Madilynn from school. All of the lines are "A's" she said.

Madilynn loves school and as soon as we picked her up we got an immediate lesson on blue whales. She said they measured with string the length of a blue whale (100ft) in their school and it was longer than their hallway. She said she got to help her teacher and run down to the end. She has learned so much this summer about bugs, spiders, pond animals, and now sea animals. It's so fun when she comes home and tells us everything she's learned! Next week is the last week of preschool for the summer and she'll have a couple of weeks off before she'll start back again for the fall. She won't start Kindergarten till next year since her bday is Oct. She'll be REALLY ready I'm sure!! Right now she just can't wait to turn 5 and she talks a lot about her birthday party. It won't be long till we'll be planning her party!

37 weeks and the weekend...

Here we are last Tuesday (7/26/11) at 37 weeks. Michael and I had a date night to ourselves while the girls stayed the night with friends. We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Elements restaurant and then walked a little trail along the Logan River located just outside the restaurant.

Friday morning the girls were ready to try out their new playdough. This is the first time Elizabeth has played with playdough. She did well. I had to tell her not to put it in her mouth a couple of times, but she enjoyed breaking it all up into tiny pieces then putting it all back in the containers and just taking on and off the lids. It's so funny the things that keep her entertained at this age. We were at the table for over an hour...
Madilynn making "cookies" with cookie cutters

Saturday afternoon we ended up getting a new vacuum cleaner as our other one had broken (we've had it about 7 years).

The girls "helped" Daddy put it together

I guess you could say the "nesting phase" is here. We spent the weekend getting lots of last minute things done around the house before baby arrives. Michael even did several things that weren't on my list including organizing our storage room in the basement and steam cleaning the carpet upstairs!

watching closely

Sunday morning before church - Daddy with the girls

Then we decided to get out the tripod, so I could be in the picture too!

Here's a little video of our Saturday evening putting the vacuum together - Elizabeth helping!