Welcome to the world, Miss Anne Marie!

So, as (most of) you guys know, my sister found out around Thanksgiving that she was pregnant!  I can't remember if her original due date was August 1st or July 31st, but it soon got moved up to July 28th and stayed there.  It was such exciting news and it was pretty sweet that our pregnancies would overlap three months together.  Amanda came to visit in December...

These were taken after a trip to Chicago. (The city is not as fun when you are in your third trimester...)

Amanda put this in a "grandchildren" frame for our mom to tell her that she was expecting!

The next time we saw her was in May when her and John (and my little sister, Ashley) came in town for Presley's baptism.

John & Amanda (P's Godparents) and Tony, Presley & I at her baptism
at Christ the King -- the church where we were married at in May 2011!

Presley and Amanda :)

While Amanda was here we also threw her a baby shower!

And I had to throw this one in there! ;) Pregnant Amanda & not pregnant Ashley!
(She's got a balloon under there!)

And that was the last time I got to see Amanda while she was pregnant!  She was glowing, extremely laid back, and happy as usual; pregnancy definitely looked good on her.  Not to mention she had a healthy pregnancy and remains stretch mark free!  (Try not to hate her, ladies, she is very deserving of her good fortune!)

So, the week of her due date, she started to experience what she assumed were pretty light contractions.  They came and went and she was frustrated that it hadn't progressed into labor.  The day before her due date, she started having light contractions again that stayed around pretty consistently.  She and her husband, John, went to get checked out at the hospital around midnight and she found out she was 2-3 cm. already!  They kept her around for another hour to see if she would progress and she had progressed to 4 cm. so they admitted her and administered her epidural - which she said was magical! :)  She pushed for less than an hour (I can't remember how long exactly, sorry if I'm butchering your story, Amanda!!!) and Anne Marie was born at 8:28AM on July 28 -- HER DUE DATE!

A 7 lb. 9 oz. beauty born with a head full of brown hair!

Anne Marie (3 days old) and Presley (5 months old) during their first hangout.

My sisters, myself, and our kiddos!

It was awesome to be there during Amanda's first few days as a mom and throughout Anne Marie's first few days on the outside!  I've only been home a couple days and I already can't wait until the next time that we can be all together.  Not to mention, poor Uncle Tony didn't get to meet his sweet niece!  So although that drive was NOT fun, I think we will have some serious motivation (Anne Marie!) to do it again soon.

Perhaps I can talk my sister into guest blogging on here in case she wants to share Anne Marie's birth story/her first few days as a mommy from her perspective!

Until then, hope you enjoyed hearing about my sweet niecey-poo... babies are just so wonderful.  Thank you Amanda and John for bringing such a sweet baby into this world and thank you Miss Anne Marie for giving me the privilege of being your auntie!!!  We plan on loving and spoiling you until you can no longer stand it.