Leah's 1st Christmas

Happy New Year to everyone! We have been so blessed this year with the birth of our daughter Leah! A few days after we brought her home we celebrated her very first Christmas. She was intrigued by all the lights on the tree and would stare at them for quite a while! So many people were so generous with gifts for Leah and we thank you all! She will be the most well-dressed newborn this side of the Missisippi :-) We've had lots of family in town to help out over this wonderful time, and Leah has enjoyed meeting her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins!

All the holiday festivities really wore Leah out, and we couldn't resist capturing every moment on either camera or video. The picture below is one of our favorite- she's like a little peapod! She loves to sleep during the day. Maybe someday she'll do the same at night! We love just watching her sleep though, she looks so peaceful and content.

We had Leah's 2-week doctor appointment today and everything looks great! As we've been saying for a while, she eats like a champ. She's gained almost a whole pound since birth! The doctor said that was a great sign though and we should continue to do what we've been doing. He also said that she should start sleeping up to 4 hours at a time in the next few weeks, which Jonathan and I are really looking forward to! As difficult as it can be to go without normal sleep, we're enjoying every moment with Leah and thank God daily for our beautiful little angel.

Our Baby has Arrived!!

We are so thrilled to announce the birth of our new little girl, Leah Noel.

She was born Friday, December 19th at 6:41pm. Leah weighed in at 7 lbs, 7 oz and is 21" long. She has a full head of beautiful dark hair, just like her mom and dad both did at birth! More pictures to come since we can't stop taking them, but here's a small sampling below, starting with right after birth through her first full day:

The Countdown Begins

Well folks, it's T minus 4 days until my due date! I went into false labor last week which was a little disappointing, but nothing exciting really has happened since then. It was a good dry run though! Jonathan and I are both anxious and excited, and just waiting for everything to start. At least the baby is nice enough to have let us enjoy our work Christmas parties :-) For all the curious people who haven't seen me in a while, here's what I look like 9 months pregnant:

We'll keep everyone posted when something exciting happens - hopefully in the next few days!

Baby Showers!

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging! I don't know what took me so long - it's a great way to keep in touch with everyone, which will be increasingly important as my due date gets closer!

I had two great baby showers, which I thank everyone for! I know how much work went into both, and I'm so blessed to have family and friends that love this baby so much already! My first shower was so creative- a web cam shower!! My mother-in-law Connie set everything up at her home in Indiana where the family is, and we logged in from our house in VA. After a few technical snaffus, we got it all set up, and it was so nice to see the Schulte/Pierce families! Such a great idea! Connie even got her sister Doris to decorate my house in the same decorations and the make the same appetizers!

My second shower was this past weekend, and I'm still shocked at the surprise everyone was able to pull off! I wanted to cry when I saw everyone who had traveled in just for me- I got to see my mom, sisters, aunts, grandmas, and so many great friends! It was such a wonderful suprise, and meant so much to me. My sisters and my mom put in so much work to coordinate everything. I hope someday I can do something similar for them! Jonathan too did a great job keeping it from me and coordinating the use of our house. We had such a blast!!

Thanks again to everyone! Love you!