Olive 1 week old

A live in maid...

what a nice thought!! Not to demote my dear mother to "maid" status, but truly she was an amazing help when she was here. Having live in help made the transition so much fun from 1 to 2 little ones. (Well, I guess I am still transitioning and haven't hit reality yet?) She arrived the day after Olive arrived, her timing couldn't have been more perfect. She guessed that our little pea might arrive about a week early, and also that I might go into labor if a storm hit. Well, she was right on with both of her predictions. We had so much fun while she was here and Caroline loved singing each day with grandma and her Mo Tab voice. I have missed that. Our days were spent at our cozy little apartment and she just let me have time to tend to Olive, and also get some one on one time with Caroline. Whenever I set a dish down, I would turn around and magically, it was washed. Somehow the bathroom sink was a bit cleaner one morning, and the kitchen floor was swept, laundry was folded.
During these two weeks my dear hubby was working his brain overtime and getting through finals. He was at school a lot and it was nice to have company at night! It was also great to have my knitting teacher in front of me rather than on the phone in Utah. I told my dad that I was going to hold her hostage and that she wasn't coming home, he laughed and thought I was joking, well I wasn't. Yet, she is back in Utah and we just want to say a big THANK YOU!!! We love you so much!
Luckily Adam is done with finals...Yea Babe!!! so he is home until the second week in January. Having neither of us working is a pretty sweet deal because we have almost a month to spend as a family. No work, no school, just time for holiday festivities and family bonding. Everyday Caroline says, "Let's have a family day!" and everyday that is what we do.

A wish come true

Caroline's Christmas wish that she made on Friday night for a baby sister came true early Sunday morning when our precious Olive Mary Beckstrom arrived one week early!


Olive arrived at 1:02 am Sunday, December 6th. She weighs 6 pounds 9 ounces and is 18.5 inches long. It was an extra special arrival date because it was also my dad's birthday. She is absolutely perfect and we are relieved to have her snuggled safe in our arms. The labor and delivery was smooth and quite quick, more details to come soon. Adam was the best support and coach, so calm and helpful throughout the entire process. We were sad that we couldn't bring Caroline to the hospital to meet her new baby sister, but the new rules in place to prevent H1N1 are a blessing. She loved looking at pictures at home with Adam and she keeps saying, "She is very, very, very, very cute!" It's nice to be home all together again. Just as it was a perfect gift for my dad's birthday, we couldn't ask for a more miraculous and memorable Christmas gift.

Action packed

This week has been a very busy, but fulfilling one. We have been packin' in all we can before we will be hanging out at home for a while. The weather has been unseasonably gorgeous, 66 degrees yesterday, and so it's been nice to be outside a bit.
On Monday it rained all day, but we took a drive to go to a museum in Dover. The museum was closed, but I was really ok with that because the drive was so festive. We drove past several antique shops, quaint New England homes, and beautiful churches. There were fresh pine wreaths with red bows hanging on the church doors and many of the homes, it was a scene out of a movie. Melanie and I stopped, with the kids mind you, at one of the antique shops and I scored an amazing vintage highchair for free! I already have one that two of my darling friends from out here gave me. Melanie said, "Oh, so you are a highchair collector." Yes, I am strange, I guess I have a thing for them.
For playgroup this week we got a tour of the fire station. The kids loved it and Caroline loved pretending to drive the fire engine so much that I thought she was going to break off the window wiper device.




Today we remade a little Winegar family tradition and made some festive sugar cookies. We didn't have Caroline's cousins there, Liam frosting his cookie to the table because he can't get enough of it, but it was so fun to make them with her. We played Frank Sinatra's "J-I-N-G-L-E Bells" in the background and got flour everywhere. The best part is we are saving some for my mom to try because she flies in Monday!! Hooray, we can't wait to have her here. She will be here almost 2 weeks and we hope to have an exciting new arrival come during that time. I feel guilty because I still feel really good and I am sleeping well too. I think I am going to be overdue. We are fine with that because it means our little peanut is packing on ounces and that Adam could be done with finals. He finishes the 17th, GOOD LUCK BABE!