She's Here!

Last week on September 26th at 12:10pm we welcomed a new addition to our family,  Gwendolyn Jane Gates (9lbs 3oz and 22 inches long).

What a blessing and answer to prayer this little bundle of joy is to our family.  We feel so privileged to be able to be parents for a second time and are so happy for the blessing and gift that Gwendolyn is to our family.

We are so excited to finally get to hold and snuggle her!  Neal has been a great big brother and loves to make sure that baby Gwen is happy all the time.  You can often find Neal rubbing her head, giving her kisses, tickling her toes and even signing her songs.  He also lets me know the moment she starts to cry 'cause he doesn't like to see her sad in anyway.  I can already tell he is going to take good care of his little sister.

The newborn stage has to be one of my favorite.  I love how they just sleep all the time and are so cozy warm.  Tyler has been home all week and it has been great to have our whole family together at the house.  It has been extra helpful for me to have Tyler home, since he is doing a great job taking care of Neal and helping around the house, so I can nap some during the day and catch as much sleep as possible.  Gwendolyn is also doing her job quite well and is letting me sleep at night for about 2 hour chunks at a time, so I really feel fairly rested for a mother of a newborn.

We are loving our time together as a new family of four but are also very excited to welcome Grandma and Papa here (Laura's parents) later this week.  We can't wait to introduce Gwen to them and I know that they are very anxious for some baby snuggles.

This is the first grandchild that has been born without the Grandparents (on both sides of the family) at the hospital.  It was been different not having family around and I know that it is hard on all the Grandparents to not get to be here right away.  We hope that Gwendolyn will be able to meet her GiGi and Grandfather (Tyler's parents) soon but until then we are sending lots of pictures and daily updates to help them feel as close as possible.