Welcoming Ava Lynne!!!

Dear Ava Lynne,
From the moment I found out I was pregnant with you, I knew you were a girl. I waited nine months to see your beautiful face and even though your daddy and I hadn't settled on a name, the moment you were born I knew you were an Ava. You were born on a Friday morning at 10:12am...ten days early.

About the time I was ready to go to bed on Thursday night I started feeling uncomfortable. I went to bed sometime after 11pm and woke up at 2am because I couldn't sleep through the contractions. I got up and began timing my contractions and took a shower. About an hour later I knew I needed to call Daddy and tell him to come home from work. He got home and we began getting ready to go to the hospital. After about an hour we called Nono and Papa and asked if someone could come be with Kaitlyn and Lance while they slept. Papa came over and we left the house around 5:15am. I was supposed to have my first Mops meeting that morning and had prepared things for my first meeting as a table leader the night before. So on the way to the hospital we stopped by the church and dropped some things by the door. By this time my contractions were completely sporadic and I was beginning to feel nervous about if this was really it. I asked your daddy to stop at Starbucks, he had been at work all night and I knew he could use some caffeine. I thought I wanted a snack but when we got there I didn't feel like eating and after a few contractions daddy said it was time to get me to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital they checked me in and said I was 5cm...I was going to meet my baby soon! After getting into our room and settled it was only a few hours before you were ready to arrive. You arrived with an attitude of your own and came out crying before you were completely born into the world. When the doctor announced you were a girl I just smiled, like it was a secret we had shared for the last nine months. I couldn't wait to tell Kaitlyn she had a sister, she had been talking about a sister since before I was even pregnant.

You are now one week old and the perfect completion to our family. It's only been 7 days and I cannot imagine our family without you in it. Lance emphatically calls you "VA!" and Kaitlyn asks to hold you about 28 times a day. She cannot get enough of you and is always trying to soothe you when you cry and play with you while you are awake. Lance wants to hold you a lot as well and is mostly very sweet and gentle with you, he's only whacked you over the head once all week.

Here are some pictures of our adventures as a family of five from the last week...