The closest I've ever felt to Heaven is when I witness a baby being born. I've always felt that babies are gifts/pieces from Heaven. Now you know where I got the title of my blog. I was able to be part of a wonderful birth this last weekend. We welcomed my niece baby Lauren to the world Sunday morning at 2:23am. She weighed 6lbs 9oz and was 19"s long. I don't even need to describe how perfectly cute she is because I'll let her pictures do the talking...
The story of her birth is a long one, but to sum it all up we went to the hospital Saturday night around 6 after my sister Janeane had been there all day going through the process of being induced. She wasn't progressing and the doctor said she didn't think the baby would be born until between 8 and noon the next morning. Around midnight we decided to go home and get some rest thinking we had hours. After getting about 15 minutes of sleep my phone rang. It was Audge saying that Janeane was dilated to a 10 and getting ready to push, this was at about 1:30. My parents were sleeping at my house so they didn't have to drive all the way home so I woke them up and we scrambled to get out the door. They had her right about the time that we arrived back at the hospital. The wait from the time they had her to the time we were able to go back and meet her seemed like forever. Even the long walk to the last room in the hallway felt like forever.
But Oh My Gosh was she worth the wait!
When her daddy held her for the first time is when she really started to open her eyes. While she squinted to see his face my heart melted. It reminded me of Derek holding Peyton for the first time.
Two proud Grandmas
Both Peyton and Jax have been sick the last few days so Derek watched them while I went to the hospital. None of them have had the chance to meet this pretty bundle. I can't wait to see how the kids will interact with her.
My kids, Kinsley and now Lauren make four cousins. Our family is growing and I feel more blessed every day. I almost feel like I am at the best point in my life so far and seeing how much more my family is growing just makes it better and better.
Derek and I love to have what we call "family day". Whenever we decide to have one the kids and I always chant while we're getting ready, "hooray for family day!" They love them too! With the way Derek's schedule works out they mostly fall on weekdays. Usually we take the kids to various stores and do a little shopping, go to lunch, buy them a new toy to play with, and throw in a fun activity. The other day we decided to have a family day and I asked Peyton if she could pick any fun place in the world to go where would it be. She said, "Audge's house"! :) We decided to take them to John's incredible pizza instead. They have an arcade there that is so fun for kids. Peyton and jax loved the games. Jax was a big fan of the way the tickets would come out of the machine. I think we kinda helped with the excitement by saying, "wow! Look at all the tickets you won on that game!" every time they would come out. It wasn't till the end that they knew what the tickets were actually for. Then they liked them even more because they were able to get a few small toys and a coloring book with their winnings. Seeing their excitement throughout the day is the whole reason we make an effort to make these family days special for them and to have them as often as possible. I know that as children grow things become more hectic and their lives become consumed with school, sports, friends, and other activities so for now I cherish the uninterrupted family days we get to have and only hope that as time unfolds we will be able to set apart special days for each other. At the very least I hope these will be days that my children will look back on as fond memories from their childhood. 
