Life with Our Daughter

I just love being with my little daughter! So0 blessed!!

The bouquet from Nelly - absolutely gorgeous flowers, complete with a girl teddy bear.

Flowers from Bethel Park Chapel - so beautiful.

James teaching Katelyn how to suck her thumb. So adorable. I love watching the two of them together.

Mommy and Kate.

Grandma taking Katelyn for an evening stroll. The weather has been so hot and muggy lately - evenings are quite nice though, and we enjoy them.

Little Avia and Katelyn - playmates-to-be.

Althea and I with our little ones - we were expecting together, and now both have baby girls!

Heather - our midwife, painting Katelyn's foot purple, to get her footprint taken. It was so cute. :0)

Katelyn's bassinet from Uncle William and Aunt Diane. It's so pretty, and makes night time so much easier!

Katelyn's First Few Days

The last picture of me expecting on the blog...:) Reading and getting the last bit of wisdom before the baby was born.

The night that labor started - watching James play soccer.

Contractions had started earlier that morning, and they kept getting stronger throughout thr day, but we still had lunch at the Windmill, went for a walk, and watched James play soccer that evening. An hour later, after getting home, the contactions got closer and harder... labor had started!!! The whole active labor lasted 6 hours, and after my water broke, 15 minutes later...

"... I'm here Mom and Dad!" Katelyn Ruth arrived.

Being weighed... She was 8 lb. 7 oz.

Our two midwives - Heather and Kathy. Heather came at midnight Fri/Sat. morning, and was with us the entire time - until 3 hours after she was born. Kathy, our backup, didn't quite make it time for when the baby was born, as Katelyn came rather quickly at the end, but she was such a help during the first while.

Our first good family picture, a few minutes after she was born - 4:30 a.m. How incredible it was to have on the outside of me, and to see her little life being brought into the world. God has blessed us far beyond our dreams...

It was so fun to have everyone come over during Saturday afternoon to see our little girl. They brought us a most yummy lunch, flowers, and a few things for the baby.

Uncle Henry and Aunty Heather seeing her for the first time on Saturday afternoon.

Auntie Diane holding the little girl that she has kissed and poked for 9 months. :)

Auntie Nel - what great aunts this little girl is blessed with...how I can't wait until the other aunties can hold her too! Miss you sisters and sister in loves...

Opa with the latest 2009 Heikoop model grandbaby. :)

Uncle Ben with the little darling.

Uncle Rob doing his quacky/duck noises for Katelyn - keeping her well entertained.

The afternoon of Katelyn's birth, I heard singing outside..."Happy Birthday Katelyn"...it was the Bethel Park Youth Group welcoming Katelyn. :) That was so sweet of them to drop by.

Uncle Tim came from Toronto to see the newest munchkin. :)

How I love being a family of three now!

After her first bath. She loved the water , kicking around and enjoying the familiar water feel.

...All clean...

For Father's Day, I got Katelyn all ready in a basket, with a pink ribbon, put a card from her to James, and 'presented' her to daddy. :)

Daddy with his little girl.

Going for her first stroller ride around the block. It took an hour to do the round, as we were able to show the neighbors our little girl. So fun!

The little Heikoop family.

On Sunday evening we went to an evening service to watch some friends being baptized, so these pictures were taken after coming home that night.

Three Generations.

The two Grandmas- Oma Heikoop and Grandma Fehr. May Katelyn grow up to be like them- lovely, godly and wonderful.

Our little sweetheart.

Second Day with Katelyn

Our family portrait - June 21, 2009.

Our Baby!

Little Katelyn Ruth Heikoop was born at home, on June 20, 2009, Saturday morning at 4:30 a.m.! We are so thrilled with her, and can't believe that she is our little girl! God has blessed us incredibly and we just praise Him! She weighs 8 lb. 7 oz, and is 21 inches long. She has the cutest cry, and is a very patient little daughter thus far. :) It is so neat to see God's timing in bringing her to us - right before Father's Day and at the start of our weekend, so James can be with us more. Mom Fehr is looking after us all, and we are doing really well. :)

Waiting for Baby Heikoop

I thought I'd quickly put up at least one more blog post before Hammy comes... :) It's past the due date now, and we're just patiently waiting for this little one to arrive. Mom came last Wednesday, and we're just having a ton of fun together while we wait. :)

I did my official last day of work at the Windmill a week ago, and since then mom and I have had fun cleaning, gardening and whatever else that needs to be done. We also worked at the Burlington market one day, selling flowers for the Windmill. Mom looked so lovely behind all those flowers. :) It was perfect that we could do that, so she could see where James sells his baked goods at the market. The flower lady.

Us - and the one above, James working at the market.

We went to Port Dover (25 min away) by Lake Erie, and spent the evening watching sailboats and taking pictures - mom took the pictures. :)

With my best friend...

Having ice-cream together before heading home...a lovely relaxing evening.

So now, that I'm all caught up, you can come now Hammy.... :)

Our First Anniversary!!

I don't have any pictures to post of our first anniversary, but it was a lovely day! We had spent the weekend before, celebrating - just in case the baby would come early - having a picnic by Webster Falls, relaxing, and getting a baby stoller/car seat the next day. :) Then on our actual anniversary, we had lunch with the family at the Windmill, remembering different moments of our day... I am just so blessed to be married to my best friend! This year has been so full and so wonderful. I can't believe how fast it went by, in a lot of ways, and any day now, we will have a little one to join this family. James is the most amazing man, and I'm so thankful that I get to spend each day for the rest of my life with him. He makes life absolutely wonderful - to God be the glory!

Elizabeth and Ronnie's Wedding

The day before our first anniversary, we went to Elizabeth and Ronnie's Wedding near London. It was such a lovely day, and so neat to see a couple who waited for God's best. Nelly did the flowers for the wedding, and I got to help her which was quite fun!! They were the most gorgeous bouquets, with fresh grapes in them. She did an amazing job on them, and Elizabeth was thrilled. Here is one picture from the wedding ceremony - most of my pictures were corrupted - bad card or something, so this is one of the few that survived. :)After the ceremony, there was a three hour gap, and then a garden party at Elizabeth's family farm with ladies wearing hats, croquet and badminton, and then when the wedding party arrived a couple hours later, there was a dinner outside. It was all so beautiful and well done; but the weather was quite chilly, and some people had to leave because of the cold. Then after everyone scurried to get the tables and decor taken taken, there was the program at a nearby church, with fireworks afterwards at Ronnie's Farm...but we drove home as it was really late. :) James was one of the videographers for their wedding, which gave us a great vantage point for the wedding... :) Anyways...a lovely day. Ronnie and Elizabeth Dagg - and some of the bridal party- June 6th, 2009