Welcome sweet little Tessa Grace!

Daniel and I are thrilled to announce that our daughter was born on New Year's Day, at 11:12pm.  She weighed in at 6lb 5.8oz and 19.25inches (almost exactly the same size as her big sister, and both born around 38weeks).

A great day for a birthday!  This one was a little different for me than the other three (just when you think you know what to expect, right?).  My water broke that afternoon (which has never happened to me before), but labor didn't start until that night.

This was taken as we were leaving for the hospital- last few hours as a family of 5!

I literally didn't know what to do with myself once we got to the hospital.  I felt great- so we just hung out, walked around, called our family, painted my toenails (priorities!), and bounced around on this torpedo ball looking thing (kinda fun, but didn't do a thing! haha).

 

After the threat of Pitocin, and a few more hours of waiting around, I was finally in labor! With Dan and my mom by my side, less than 2 hours later this little sweetie made her entrance into the world.

 Giving birth is no easy task, and daddy had his own fair share of hard times too- It just so happened that that very morning, he started his New Years "Detox" eating plan (read: no caffeine, no sugar, and lots of leafy greens!)...so needless to say he wasn't feeling the best (think sugar and caffeine withdrawls...and we love our sugar!).  First, as I was getting my initial IV (before any labor started), he got lightheaded and had to ask the nurse for some crackers and orange juice- lol!  But he assured everyone he would be fine for the delivery- my tough guy just has a thing with needles :)  But.....during my delivery, literally as.I.was.pushing,  I looked over to find Daniel squatting on the floor double fisting two containers of OJ- ahh!! The nurses took good care of him (hah!) and we had a lot of laughs later.  He did get to see her being born, at the last second (from the "peanut gallery")!

 

Wow, so after what felt like a loooong wait, a short hard labor, Tessa's brief (but scary!) heart decels, an oxygen mask, tight nuchal cord, and a small placental abruption, it was sweet relief when she came out pink and screaming!

I got to be a part of yet another one of God's miracles.

My mom was there also with us in the delivery room this time, too, and look what she gave me afterwards!  A beautiful "Beat of my Heart" necklace- i LOVE it!

Going home! 

It's hard work being born- and she's been practically sleeping ever since!

Little girl is just sooo sleepy, and a calm baby overall.  Good thing, since our lives are pretty much chaos now!

But I love it, and wouldn't trade it for anything. One example was just this morning.  Tessa was up a few times in the night and Dan and I both slept through our alarms.  I happened to look at the clock and saw it was 7:40am!!! AH- and we usually leave to take Caleb and Ellie to school at 7:55.  So we sprung out of bed and fully expected the kids to be fast asleep.  But to our surprise our little sweeties were up and around and had already quietly gotten dressed, made their beds, brushed teeth, poured themselves a bowl of cereal, and decided on hot lunch.  Maybe we should sleep in more often!  Oh and they will be getting a big time treat this afternoon!!!! Normally mornings can be a battle, but wow, they really impressed us today :)  It's the little blessings that we learn to appreciate more and more!

The kids are absolutely loving having Tessa around.  Caleb has already created her very own Rdio music station, complete with One Direction, Three Little Birds by Bob Marley, Louis Armstrong, Circle of Life, You've Got a Friend in Me, and many more!

 

 

Comparing feet! Wow, what a tiny little peanut :)

So proud of my biggest boy!  We had a little ice cream date-

Ellasyn made her a little story book, too, and read it to her.  It's absolutely precious, and most of the pages say, "Love you" on them. 

("She has a nose. She has a mouth. She has a smile.")

("I love you. You are cute.")

 ("You are nice.")

This shirt says it perfectly!

 Ellie got to help with her first bath- Tessa hated it! haha

And William prays every night, "Thank you, God, for letting Baby Tessa come to our house."

(the fact that he wants to keep her is a miracle in itself, since he was not so excited about giving up his status as "baby of the family")

 

Here's a few pics of her with her eyes open!

 Oh, and we've got a few other surprises up our sleeve, but I'll leave those for another post!