Sarah Avery

She is finally here!!    Sarah Avery Mallory was born August 22 at 1:32 am.   She weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20.8 inches long.    We are so happy to finally have her here with us.  

In Germany, they dress the babies in hospital provided clothing which included a weird backward bib/undershirt thing.   We changed her into her own clothes after the first day.  

 The days leading up to the labor we tried our best to entertain ourselves, but as I was 2, 3, then 4 days overdue, even relaxing at the biergarten with Susannah wasn't enough to keep me distracted.  

Susannah was going crazy with the waiting too......

as evidenced by this photo

 So on Thursday morning of last week, we woke up and assumed today wasn't the day either.   Susannah and I went to story-time at the library and then met Peter for lunch before heading to a friend's house for a play-date.   About an hour into the play-date, my water broke.   We are on the base where Peter works, so I called him and he sprinted (literally sprinted.....I'm not exaggerating) to pick us up.    We dropped Susannah at home, grabbed our hospital bag and headed to the hospital.

We got checked in and they had me rest for monitoring for a couple of hours.    Around 6pm, they cleared us to go for a walk so Peter and I walked around the neighborhood for an hour or so.    When we returned, labor was in full swing,  and Sarah Avery was born at 1:30 that morning.  

We had a great experience at the hospital and loved our midwife.

We were so elated and grateful to meet this healthy beautiful girl.  

We opted for a private room so it was just the three of us that first night and morning.  

Until Peter went to get big sister and Aunt Nancy.    Susannah was so thrilled, she was literally beaming when she walked into the hospital room.   (That little red purse held baby toys that she brought for her baby sister.)

Such a happy moment.

Love this picture.   Floods my heart with gratitude every time I see it.

Getting to know her Aunt Nancy.

Peter's voice was the first one that she seemed to respond to.   She loves listening to him talk and opened her eyes for him first. 

Her little footprints are just so tiny and adorable. 

We only stayed in the hospital for 2 days, but Susannah wanted to be at the hospital with her sister every minute that we would allow it. 

Opening her eyes for Aunt Nancy.

Sister love.

So happy for these girls to grow up together.

Susannah is already fully embracing her role as big sister and franco-german relations have never been better.  

Such a sweet little sleeper.    Unfortunately, she is only doing this for 2 hour stretches.   Last night we had one 2.5 hour run, but this mommy is keeping fingers crossed for a 3 or 4 hour stretch tonight.   

We left the hospital on Sunday around lunchtime and we were so happy to be headed home.

I was so happy to be outside in the fresh air. 

Susannah met us at the door with big smiles.

We are loving having Aunt Nancy here.

Of course Susannah wanted to show Sarah Avery her room right away.   Here she is explaining all of her Vacation Bible School crafts.  

So Sarah Avery already knows the story of Moses parting the Red Sea which we count as being pretty advanced curriculum for a 2 day old, right?   ;)

Monday Susannah headed back to school after a 3 week break.   She spent some time holding her sister before heading out the door.

Back to school outfit.  

We took a family outing to pick up Susannah and Peter tried out our new baby carrier.  Sarah Avery seemed to like it.



And now we are settling into a pretty good routine.   Lots of eating and sleeping.  
 

Thank you to each of you who prayed for us.   We are so thankful and can't wait for everybody to meet her!   

Rainy Days and a visit to Tubingen

Still pregnant.    That is all I have to say on that topic.  

 

As for our week, we had a good one despite this mama's impatience.    It was really rainy all week so we did some crafting and baking.   Aunt Nancy taught Susannah to spell her name with some fun, colorful bubble letters.   

 

Susannah loves coloring and crafting with Aunt Nancy.

And now she has her name-spelling down pat.

We finally got around to baking Daddy his birthday treats.    Susannah was a fan of the hand mixer.

Wednesday I had regular contractions all day.    And even though they never got very intense, we thought a little visit to the hospital would be wise.   This is before we left.

Last picture as family of 3?   NOPE.    Wasn't in labor at all, but our baby girl is healthy so that is all that really matters.   Even though the waiting is really making me insane.  

We took advantage of one dry morning and headed to a park to exert some energy.

This girl is growing way too fast.

But hanging out with her during her school break has been so much fun.

Tired baby.

Enjoying our favorite breakfast of nutella on an English muffin.

Rainy days = Lots of dressing up.

Saturday the weather cleared, so we headed to the charming riverside town of Tubingen.   It is a thirty minute drive from Stuttgart and a really lovely place.

We even found a really good (for Europe) Mexican restaurant which was a big added bonus to our afternoon.

The flowers were so beautiful.

Susannah insisted on having her own map so she could navigate.  

Isn't this gorgeous?   Reminded us so much of Strasbourg.

We decided to rent a paddle boat and it did not disappoint.

Susannah and Dada took turns steering.

It was such a fun afternoon.

Love.

Last picture as family of 3?   Probably not.  

Aunt Nancy enjoying the ride.

All of these old buildings were so colorful and charming.

This dog laying in the sun was so cute.

After our excursion, we took our turn watching the other boaters from the beer garden that is on the riverbank.   It was a great day. 
 

Hope all of you are well.    We miss you all!