Hello World

We would like to introduce our beautiful baby girl, Kaelyn Beth Leineweber, born Sunday, January 9th, 2011, 4:18PM, at 7lbs 11oz and 19.5". It's hard to believe that we created something so perfect and beautiful. We wanted to post this sooner, but the past 6 days have been kind of crazy, as we've been busy getting to know each other. We would love to share every detail of this amazing experience, but that would take too long, and Kaelyn is waiting for more milk. Here are a few highlights (using bullet points, sorry).

• Saturday, Jan. 8th, Amy was having contractions (we thought false labor).
• Sunday, Jan 9th, contractions grew stronger and closer, arrived at the hospital 4:00 AM, Amy was 6cm dilated. "Give me an Epidural!"
• At the hospital, we finally decided on her name. Her middle name, Beth, has been in Amy's family for 5 generations.
• 12 hrs. of labor and it was time to push. Amy pushed for 20 minutes. I'm so proud of her. She was so strong throughout the whole thing.
• During labor I was the Doula, Photographer, and Videographer. Watching the birth was so amazing.
• Right after the birth I caught Kaelyn opening her eyes for the first time, see video. (G rated)
• Amy's parents, Gene & Polly, drove down from Cloverdale that morning, and were patiently waiting for 9 hours.
• We brought Starbucks coffee and cookies for the nurses to keep them alert and happy. (They were great)
• We spent the next 2 nights at the hospital. The first night, Kaelyn slept soundly. The second night was rough, didn't get much sleep. By day Kaelyn is adorable, calm, and sleepy, by night she's awake, hungry, irritated, but still very cute.
• When we got home from the hospital, we were surprised with baby girl decorations all over our apartment front door, and dinner waiting in the fridge. Compliments of Amy's parents. Thank you!
• Kaelyn sleeps most of the day, then at about 11pm she wakes up and doesn't crash until 6am. So we crash with her, and sleep-in until about 11am. We are trying to change her schedule.
• We love Skype! We've Skyped with my parents back in Portland, who will be visiting in a week.
• Today (Friday) was a big day. The sun was shining and Kaelyn started pooping again! There was about a 36 hr window where she did not have a BM. We celebrated by taking her to Babies R Us, and bought her a few outfits. (Realizing that we only had 2 'newborn' outfits).
• After the outing we did tummy time. Kaelyn is so strong. She already can pick her head up while lying on her stomach. See video.
• Amy's recovering from the labor and loving that she's starting to get her body back.
• I took a week off from work, but will head back on Monday with a new schedule, which allows for an hour lunch so I can hang out with Amy and Kaelyn. (I work full time from home).

We are so happy and blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy girl, and great family and friends who have been there to support us along the way. The past few weeks, we've gotten a lot of emails, letters, phone calls, text messages, comments, food and gifts from family and friends. We want you all to know that we are SO grateful for your love and support. Love, Steve (Amy & Kaelyn)