Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Introducing .... HOPE!

After waiting, for what seems like FOREVER, we'd like to introduce our newest niece, Hope Ann Springer. She is absolutely precious and such a good baby! We were able to get a few smiles out of her and she definitely has the Springer dimples.


We left Rochester around 4pm and made a stop for dinner and another stop for Amaya to run around. Surprisingly enough, Amaya DIDN'T fall asleep at all on the way down. Around 8:30pm or so, she was getting a little tired but for whatever reason, she caught a second wind and stayed awake until we arrived in Pender around 10:30pm. Unfortunately, Hope had just fallen asleep, so we could only admire her. Amaya was a little unsure of Joshua, Jordan, and Hannah at first, but she slowly warmed up.

Saturday afternoon we were able to go swimming, although the water in the pool was a little too cold for Steve, Amaya, and me. We took Amaya over to the baby pool and as we suspected, she LOVED it. Hope even got her swimsuit on and dipped her toes in!

We're just about to get Amaya in the baby pool.

Hannah in the big pool. She's an awesome swimmer. She can go off the slide and go off the diving board by herself!

Amaya met a few other babies in the pool - even one named "Maya".

We had several opportunities for "photo shoots".

Amaya's first time holding Hope. I was very nervous about Amaya holding her, but she did really well once I propped Hope up on pillows.

Amaya wasn't satisfied just holding Hope - she had to give her kisses too!

Hannah, Amaya, and Hope. All of the grandchildren have used this bassinet in one form or another.

Steve, Amaya, and Hope.

Other than swimming, we played quite a few games: Clue, Life, and Outburst, and watched a couple movies. On Saturday night, the boys drove to Sioux City to go to the Star Trek movie. When they came back, Jordan said, "That was the best movie ever!" (Steve would have to agree after now seeing it twice!) Since Carol, Steve, and I share the month of June for our birthdays, we exchanged gifts and had ice cream, too.

Amaya enjoyed spending quite a bit of time playing in Hannah's room. Hannah has all sorts of kitchen dishes, food, babies, etc. to play with. On Sunday morning, it was terribly quiet in Hannah's room and I found Amaya getting into ....

Hannah's beads and glitter glue!! How much fun!

Amaya and Hannah

Hope - snoozing away in the swing. Look at those eyelashes and cheeks! Too cute! There's nothing like holding a baby and I'm glad that we got to hold her as much as we wanted to.

Hope, me, Steve, and Amaya

The Springer Family - Jordan, Hannah, Dan, Joshua, Hope, and Carol.

We can't wait to see you again in July!