Abrielle Cae...

Late Monday night, at 11:17 p.m., Abrielle Cae Tallquist made her way into the world. She weighed 6 lbs 1 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. The boys were so antsy all day Monday, waiting for any word on whether or not their sister had been born yet. Andrew was super excited about possibly sharing his birthday with his sister...until he really thought about it. Andrew doesn't share very well and when it comes to his birthday, the whole day is all about him and he lets everyone know it! We went to bed that night not knowing anything more than Jen was dilated to a 9 and hangin' in there. I had to send the boys to school the next morning, still not knowing. Jen called just after 8 a.m. to let us know that Andrew's day is still sacred and Abbi arrived the night before! I had already planned on taking the boys out of school and popping over to the hospital for lunch to visit the newest member of the family, so I had sent notes to school with the boys. Funny thing...the secretary asked if I was dropping off or picking up. I told her my boys have a new baby sister and we were going to visit her...can you imagine her look of total confusion?? I then explained the situation and told all the ladies in the office that giving my boys a sister without actually delivering one myself is the BEST gift ever! They all laughed.

We were able to visit for an hour and a half. The boys fell in love with their new baby sister. She is so sweet and little!! I told Jen ahead of time that I would take a few pics and then leave them alone for a bit with the boys. She told me that I was family (awww...) and I was more than welcome to stay. It is a good thing she said that because I never left. I got way too camera happy! I wanted to make sure Jen got pictures she would want later on. All of my pictures of Caleb's birth had everyone else posing and smiling, but as for Caleb, I only saw his hat or the back of his head, and a few times I got a profile. I wanted to make sure Jen had Abbi's face. After we said goodbye, I asked the boys what they thought of their sister. Caleb told me he's surprised at how much he loves her. I'm tearing up now, typing this, and I did then, too, when I hugged him and told him that I wasn't surprised and that he'll never even realize that he loves her more than he thinks he does!!