Meeting sweet baby Jorie- I'm an aunt!

Big news- I'm an aunt! My brother Keaton, and SIL Rose, just had their first baby. They didn't know gender beforehand, and we were excited that it was a girl! Her name is Jorie Jeanette, born on June 5 and was 19" and 7 lbs 4 oz. It's really neat because Jeanette was our great grandma's name, who was our longest living great grandparent. She passed away the week before Norah was born at 106 years old. Keaton was so good about calling her and staying in contact with her, so it's special that that's her middle name!

The girls and I drove down early to spend some time in Des Moines and to meet baby Jorie. Norah was SO excited to meet her! We left Lucy and Ellory at my parent's (because they didn't understand what was happening anyways, and bringing two toddlers to a quiet maternity ward with no toys and lots of things they aren't supposed to touch didn't sound super fun), so Norah and I got to have some special time meeting her. We would have been happy either way, of course, but Norah was hoping it would be a girl all along. She also hoped they would name her Elsa, but she only got one of her two wishes. :)

Norah was so sweet holding her. She sat very still, stared at her, and gave her a tiny kiss on the forehead. She held her several times and never got tired of it!

I already love being an aunt! This is the first niece/nephew on both sides for us, so we are thrilled to be uncle/aunt and for the girls to have a cousin. Norah had been saying she was so excited for her cousin to come for weeks! It's so special to have another member in the family. We've already commented on how fun it will be to have her at all the family get togethers from now on and how fun it will be to watch our girls play together. Also, it's super sweet to get the newborn snuggles and not have to nurse frequently or wake up in the night!

We had some fun at grandpa and grandma's while we were there too with lots of playing and walks to the park. Ellory loves dogs and liked holding Daisy's leash.

We sure love playing and swinging!

Love getting a picture with Aunt Kayla, who is home for the summer from college.

We got to go to Keaton and Rose's house again to have some more Jorie time and Norah loved holding her again!

Lucy and Ellory got to come this time and meet her too. It was special to watch. Ellory was more interested right away and Lucy took a few minutes to show any interest, but then they both wanted to look at her and touch her. Lucy just wanted to poke her in the eye real quick in this picture.

Norah looks so grown up in this picture. She says she wants to be a mom when she grows up, which I think is the sweetest and I can already tell she will be a great one! 

My favorite picture. So much fun to have a cousin!

She's so adorable!

Uncle Kley!

Our paternal grandparents were so excited to meet her too!

My other sister, Karlie, was here for a couple days from Minneapolis too, so it was fun to see her, and Kley drove down for the weekend with my grandparents (who live pretty close to us), so they got to meet her too. The weekend looked a little different than hoped unfortunately, because Norah woke up Saturday morning with a high fever. We were planning on going to the pool, seeing friends, and having a big family dinner with everyone, so it was sad to cancel those things and I felt bad that we all didn't get to have dinner together, but oh well I suppose. All in all it was a fun time and we are so excited that Jorie is here and healthy. We already can't wait to see her again next time!