Annabel's Baptism

We are so proud that our sweet Annabel was baptized in the Catholic Church on August 12th! The little lady continued tradition by wearing the baptismal gown my great grandmother made over 60 years ago. Annabel was the 18th family member to wear it (her brothers wore it too). Here she is wearing her first formal gown!

It was a bit of a challenge stuffing her into her carseat with the gown on but we did it. She was a good sport and even tolerated a bonnet! 

Annabel was such a happy little girl during the ceremony. She seemed to like the attention and didn't mind the bonnet or bulky gown. We were surrounded by lots of friends and family. It was such a beautiful day!

A little dip in the holy water! Big Brother Liam is watching to make sure his sister is okay. Or maybe he's hoping they will dunk her. He would think that was very funny. Dylan was probably climbing over or under the pews.

When the baptism was finished, Neil held Annabel high up in the air and everyone cheered!

Our daughter is very blessed to have Uncle Colin and Cousin Bridget as her Godparents. It was especially meaningful to have Colin and Bridget in this role together because they were the Best Man and Maid of Honor at our wedding. We were very thankful that Bridget was able to fly in from Chicago to participate in this special day! Here we all are with Father Nelson.

Although it seems we take hundreds of pictures every month, Neil and I are hardly every in them at the same time. I'm so happy that we remembered to take a family picture!

Grandma and Grandpa Hunter traveled from Iowa to be at Annabel's special day! It was also their first time visiting us in our new home. We are so happy to have a proper guest room for them now. When we lived at the condo, they always had two little roommates!

After the baptism, we had a party in our backyard catered by a local Italian deli. Annabel did an outfit change, it was really hot out! And, we had our local bakery make this delicious and adorable cake!

 Neil's Aunt and Uncle came from Connecticut to join the celebration! The last time we saw them was summer 2011 at their home and we announced that we were expecting Annabel. They were very happy to finally meet her.

Our friends, the Teagues, joined us in celebration too. We were so happy since they also brought playmates to keep the kids entertained!

At this afternoon party, we learned that the sun shines directly on our deck around 2:30pm. We just moved the chairs out to the middle of the yard and continued to move them into the shade every half hour. We were told by the previous owners that the sun shade for the deck was damaged during the October snowstorm last year. I guess we may need to invest in a new one or maybe we'll just have to schedule parties in the late morning or evening from now on!

Uncle Colin and Aunt Annie cuddle with the little lady!

Nana was at the baptism too! Here she is enjoying a little snuggle with three of her grandkids!

We thank God for a wonderful day of celebration and that our friends and family could be there to witness Annabel's special day!

Welcome to the World - Annabel Claire!

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our precious baby girl - Annabel Claire! She was born on April 2nd and weighed in at 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 inches long. She's perfectly beautiful in every way!

Miss Annabel was due March 27th but seemed quite comfortable right where she was and an inducement was set for April 2nd. We went to the hospital at 7am very excited for our little darling to make an appearance.

We thought we'd have a baby by noon but when nothing was really happening by noontime, we realized it was going to be a long day. I was hooked up to the monitors so I couldn't even walk around. And, unfortunately we couldn't find much on TV. Neil read the paper to me, even the horoscopes. Waiting...

At 10pm, we finally agreed with the doctor that it was time for a c-section. And, by 10:30pm, our baby was born. It's a GIRL!

Such a sweet baby girl.

First photo of our family of five!

Thank goodness Grandma Hunter had made it to New York in time for Annabel's arrival. The boys were in good hands and we didn't have to worry about transporting them between our neighbors/friends/family or calling anyone at 2am. Here's Grandma and Liam meeting Annabel for the first time. They are inspecting her tiny hands.

"Yea, yea, we love our baby sister. She's so cute. But, what did you bring us for snacktime, Grandma?"

This little lady attracted quite a crowd of admirers at the hospital. Nana Rudden and Aunt Annie came to visit!

Uncle Colin and Doreen also came to meet Annabel. And, they brought her an entire wardrobe of dresses and cute girly outfits. She's all set for her first year!

My friend Ayana lives near the hospital so she came by after work to meet Annabel. She delivered her son at the same hospital two years ago. Two other friends, Ana and Katherine, also came by one evening. They brought desserts and wine! They also stayed an hour and a half past visiting hours. It was one of the rare times we could get together without one our 9 kids combined interrupting the gossip.

I'm so excited to have a girl. I believe there will be lots of bows and pink in the future. One morning at the hospital they brought her in wearing her first bow!

And, she tried on her second bow. Uh, oh. Maybe she doesn't like bows.

Daddy's little girl already. Neil bought three containers of hand sanitizer to have around the house. He doesn't want any germs near his precious girl.

At four days old, we welcomed Annabel home. She slept the entire ride from the hospital and then slept for a few hours after we arrived. It was such a blessing that she eased us slowly into our new life with three little ones.

We are so in love with our three wonderful children and look forward to another busy year. Hopefully I can keep up on the blog. Let the chaos begin!