Birthday Day at the Hospital (Tuesday)

 We were grateful to be so close to family for Gwen's birth! We had so many visitors during our hospital stay and felt so much love and support from everyone!

 A very proud Daddy!

 Gwen and Ma

 Gwen and Pa

 Gwen and Mamma

 Gwen and Bampa

 Adam and Tessa have been so excited to meet their new baby sister! They even brought her flowers when they came to the hospital!

 My 3 beautiful children! I can't believe I am a mother of 3!!

 Gwen and Aunt Dee

 Gwen and cousin Ares

 Gwen and Uncle Danny

 When my youngest brother Andrew was born, my other siblings used my Mom's hospital bed as a jungle gym when we went to visit her and the baby in the hospital. Matt and David found they could make a lot of noise by blowing into the bottom of the bed. This drove my Mom crazy and she eventually asked my Dad to take everyone home because having my brothers there was far from relaxing. We all had a good laugh when my kids discovered the same noise maker in my hospital bed and went to town making all the noise they could. It's nice they make hospital beds to kid friendly!

It was a busy day and exhausting day! I was so thankful to have a wonderful Nurse (Cami) that night who gave me and Gwen some much needed tender loving care.

Baby Gwen

We have a lot of pictures to post and our hospital stay to get caught up on. Here are some pictures from the first hour or so of Gwen's life. Daddy did a good job of juggling the video camera and the digital camera. 

Our New Addition!

Introducing.....

Gwendolyn Marie Nielson

Born: January 3, 2012 at 11:49am

6 lbs 9 oz and 18 1/2 inches 

We are so thrilled and thankful to have our little Gwen here safe and sound! 

She is perfect!

Happy New Year!

Our New Year's Day didn't start out like we planned. Eric left for meetings at church first thing in the morning. I called him a few minutes later to come home and take me to the hospital due to some bleeding I was having. We spent the whole morning in the hospital and then were sent home without any answers. Frustrating!!

We got home from the hospital just in time to get the kids to Primary. Our Tessa Boo is now a Sunbeam and she was so excited to go to Primary! Adam is a CTR 5 now! How do they grow so fast?!

More Christmas Fun!

More pictures from Christmas at Ma and Pa's house.

 Cannoli's here I come!!!

 Tessa loves to take pictures now. She's surprisingly good at it!

 Tessa helped Ma dip peanut butter bon bons one afternoon while I had a doctors appointment. I am 100% sure that more chocolate ended up in Tessa than on the bon bons! She loves to help be a "cooker".

 Our Christmas elf!!

 It wouldn't be a true family gathering without a nap from Uncle Mattman! We are glad he is home so we can take more pictures of him sleeping!

Christmas Day!

We had a wonderful Christmas day with each other and with our families. We got to talk to Uncle David in Brazil and that was a highlight! The kids were spoiled rotten and had lots of fun opening all their gifts!

Before we went downstairs to see what Santa left, we read the Christmas story from the Bible and had family prayer. They kids were so excited, they could hardly sit still through all of that.

 Santa left scooters and piggy banks!

Tessa was so happy to get her princess piggy bank!

 Adam was thrilled to get more cars!

 Unloading their stocking loot

 From Mommy and Daddy, Tessa got a toy cash register, a baby doll, and a princess key board.

 Adam got some new legos, a pirate ship, and a race track. When he opened the race track he said, "Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome!!!" He was a happy boy!

 Some family presents to share

 Daddy got a sound bar for the tv!

 Mommy got a griddle for lots of pancake making!

We spent the afternoon at Ma and Pa's house and then the evening at Mamma and Bampa's house. We are so thankful to live so close to both families! We are sad it is all over, but grateful that we had such a merry Christmas!