Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas again this year. The weeks leading up to Christmas are my absolute favorite and I go through a slight depression on Christmas Day night when I realize I have to wait a whole year for Christmas to come again!  Jason and I stayed up a little later than normal on Christmas Eve so we could soak it all in--I really feel like a parent on Christmas Eve. 

We headed to the children's service at our church. It is a really fun and LOUD service. There are kids all over the church so you don't feel so bad when you look over and see your son wrestling in the pew with his buddy (true story-I look over and Davis and his friend were putting each other in headlocks)! 

We brought our little angel with us and she slept through the majority of the service. 

 Jason and Davis in matching Christmas shirts:

 Christmas jammies:

 Growing up we had a tradition at my house. The 12 nights leading up to Christmas you got to open a box and inside was a suprise. It might direct you to look under your bed for m&ms or tell you about some family event we would do together. We have continued that tradition with Davis. We did all kinds of fun things this holiday season including looking at lights, ice skating, ornament making and reading Christmas books. It really added to the season.

 Papa and Carter

We hosted Christmas Day at our house. Here is some of the craziness:

For some reason there are no pictures of the other side of the room--sorry guys!

Here is our fireplace this year--it looks complete!

 Grammy made Carter her first quilt. It is even prettier in person

 And Aunt Lo being Aunt Lo spoiled Carter with her first doll house. You can tell that Carter is totally pumped about this gift! It is awesome-Lo's talents never cease to amaze me. The house is a replica of ours right down to the same exterior paint color....

Here is our second adventure out to look at Christmas lights. The night started with one screaming and one wanting the other to be quiet...

 And before we could even get into the neighborhood....

Luckily by that point both kids were asleep so Jason and I enjoyed looking at lights together!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Davis meets Carter

Thank to Stephanie from /http://www.simplycharmedphotography.com/ we got some wonderful pictures of Davis meeting his baby sister for the first time.  When Jason brought Davis he initially didn't want to hold her or kiss her-he was pretty timid. But after a minute he warmed up and then could not get enough of his sister.  He and Jason returned to the waiting room to get the grandparents and when they asked if she was pretty he responded "she is beautiful, just like my mommy!" Smart boy :) He was so proud of the bracelet he received from one of the nurses that says "big brother" and he has yet to take it off. When he returned to school he took Jason's iphone and walked it around to each of his friends to show them pictures of his new baby sister! He is a proud big brother. 

More hospital pics to follow!

Carter Elizabeth

Carter Elizabeth Knecht joined our family on November 27, 2013. Sweet girl weighed 8 pounds even and was 20.5 inches long. She has made our family feel complete! 

We arrived at Methodist Hospital at around 5:30 am to check in. Here is our last family photo as a family of three. Davis was SO excited to go to the hospital. The night before we let him sleep in our bed. It was so weird knowing that we would be leaving as a family of three but coming back as a family of four!

 One of the last photos of my belly. Hard to believe there was an 8 pound baby in there. I knew she was big but had no idea she was 8 pounds!

 Waiting to be wheeled to the operating room:

 Jason was ready to go!

 It went so much faster with Carter than it did with Davis. I felt like with Davis they pressed on my stomach forever. With Carter Jason came in and we held hands and talked for a few short minutes before Dr. Peakes said she was almost out! And all of a sudden we heard this high pitch crying and they brought me my daughter!

 Proud daddy!

The best part about this delivery is that I got to hold Carter right away. With Davis I had to go to recovery for about 30 minutes before I could hold him. I loved being able to hold her right away. They took her to weigh her and then immediately brought her to our room. She had to go in the warmer for a few minutes. Here is Davis checking out his baby sister in the warmer

We are so thrilled to welcome our sweet Carter to our family.