She’s here…

I know this is a little late coming, but things have been a bit busy around here lately (besides the obvious, the icky winter storm also left us without power for almost three days).
So, our baby girl has arrived. Avalee Apryl was born on December 12th at 8:19 AM. She weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 19 ½ in long. She came out looking gorgeous, of course, and a lot like her big brother Z. She had lots of black hair and piercing steel blue eyes.
Colin and I spent three days in the hospital bonding with her, which was amazing. Z came up and spent time with us as well, although he didn’t much like leaving Mom and Dad. We also rode out most of part one of aforementioned winter storm. It was nice just watching the snow falling outside, knowing we had nowhere to go. We had a beautiful view from our room of the Capitol building and the trees at Willamette University, lit with Christmas lights. The worst day of the storm though, just happened to be the day we were released from the hospital. It had been snowing for days, than everything froze. We ended up driving about 5-10mph to get home. It was like a completely different world from what we had left. We were never so happy to get home!
So, now we are all home enjoying each other. Colin is off work until the second week in January, which has been so nice.
Avalee is doing very well and growing quickly (she has already grown an inch and a half!). She is the mellowest baby I have ever encountered, and we’re certain she has Colin’s personality. ;) She rarely fusses and doesn’t let much bother her (even when her big bro is running around screaming!). She is also quite strong, already holding her head up for lengthy periods of time and rolling to her side. She just might be our little overachiever. :)
Z is taking his role as big brother very seriously. He is great with Avalee and it’s so exciting to see them together. He asks to hold her and wants to help with everything. If she does get fussy, he’s right there to kiss her head or rub her tummy. He tells us that he loves her and that she’s “just precious.” Of course, we agree with him. :)