Abigail is her father's daughter

Does anyone see why this pose would make her Joe's child? Way to show of those guns! The girl loves to flex.

Clara's Impeccable Taste

This was Clara's ensemble of choice the other day. You've got to admit - the child's got style.

Look at those Cheeks!

 MMm mmmm....don't you just want to kiss em? Delicious!

Clara's new expression

This has got to be one of my favorite new faces that Clara makes. The girl is so expressive, and she constantly makes us laugh with the new expressions she comes up with.

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a two-year-old named Clara. Clara loved to wash the dishes.

Even though she was small she would pull up a chair to the sink whenever there was work to be done and eagerly get to work.

She was very good at rinsing all the dishes and piling them up near the dishwasher so they could be loaded.

Occasionally, she would even be brave enough to try and wash a pan.

The reason Clara was so good at doing the dishes was because she had a magic dish-washing wand. Everything she touched with it just magically became clean.

Then one day, as Clara was washing the dishes, she decided it would be a good idea to give herself a bath as well so that she wouldn't need to take one later. It would save a lot of time.

So, she took her magic dish-washing wand, waved it over the top of her head, and wallah!

Too bad this story ends with Clara needing a real bath. Her magic dish-washing wand just hadn't quite done the trick.

A Tender Mercy

A few days after Abigail was born she started projectile vomiting everything she ate. It'd been almost 12 hours since she'd kept anything down so I called the doctor. They said if a few things didn't change in the next little bit I was supposed to take her to the ER. This was on a Sunday so Joe and Clara were at church. When they got home at 4:00PM Joe gave her a blessing. It'd now been almost 15 hours since she'd kept milk down. In the blessing Joe said that even though Abigail was small she had a faith in Christ that would heal her. The Spirit was overwhelming and I am so grateful that Joe honors his priesthood. By 5:00PM Abigail nursed again and kept down everything she ate. Since the blessing there have been no issues with her eating and she has actually gained an incredible amount of weight. It is truly humbling to look at this little person and know how strong her faith is - a great reminder of the truths found in Moroni 9.

The New Addition

Here are some pictures of our sweet little Abigail. I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get these up!
A few things about our little Abigail:

• She is the sweetest little baby! She is so pleasant and calm.
• She is an excellent sleeper (only waking up once or twice at night - such a blessing!).
• She has quite the appetite! She is nursing really well and had reached 8 lbs. 11 oz. by one week old.
• She has very stunning blue eyes, and though her hair is dark it isn't as dark as Clara's was. There are traces of blonde in there so we wonder how much lighter it will get.

So if you are curious:

On the night of the 20th I was feeling a little overwhelmed because I was nervous about my induction scheduled for the next morning. I just wanted to make sure the Abigail was ready to come. Around 11:30PM I started having regular contractions (btw this was a normal occurrence - nothing that got me too excited, but I was still hopeful.). We went to bed that night, the contractions got more intense, and then around 3:30, since I wasn't sleeping anyway, I decided to get up and shower. By 4:30AM I woke Joe up and told him it was time to go to the hospital. The contractions were coming about 3 minutes apart. We left for the hospital by 5, and arrived by 5:30AM. Since I was scheduled for an induction the morning of the 21st anyway, they ushered me right into a labor and delivery room - no waiting in the triage! At 7:30AM my contractions actually started to slow down to 5 minutes apart. The nurses asked if I'd like some pitocin to get things going, and I decided to go for it since I didn't really want a 12 hour labor. I got the pitocin by 8AM and went from 3.5 cm to an 8 by 9AM. At 10:07AM our beautiful little baby was born. It was a wonderful, very calm labor and birth - so much better than how things had gone with Clara. This one actually made me think I could do this again!

What a wonderful thing it is to be a mother. Clara absolutely loves her little "A-Bee." She is a very good big sister that loves to help give Abigail baths and help change her diapers. The cutest thing is when she watches her and then will walk over and kiss her on the head.