My Sister's Visit and Mark and Melissa's Visit

We have been very happy to have visitors coming to see us and Evelyn. It is nice that we can be in the comfort of our own home, yet still get to see people. It has been very busy with people stopping on by, but we enjoy every moment of it.

My Sister, Holley, came to visit us last week. (Not blood sister, but I call her my sister because we have been best friends since we were born). It was fun to see her with Evelyn. She is a natural with newborns. Holley waited so patiently to come see us until after my mom had gone on home so she could be here to help out as needed. She stayed with us for 5 days and helped me out around the house a lot. It was great to have another week of help and to get organized. I miss her already and so does Evelyn!

This weekend we had Mark and Melissa stop on by for a visit and to meet Evelyn. Mark has been Reuben’s best friend since they were kids. We hung out at the house, visited Reuben’s parents on the farm, and went out for Sushi. It was a blast to have them over and watch them with Evelyn. Mark seemed a bit unsure at first on how to hold her, but then he got the hang of it. Melissa just seemed to be a natural.

We have more visitors coming this weekend. We look forward to it.

Friess Family Visit

The Friess family came to visit for a while on their way back from Utah. It was so wonderful to see them. It had been way too long. I worked with Dan for five years and watch his girls grow up while at the office. It felt so rejuvenating to get to talk to them and spend a good 3 hours catching up. They are such amazing, humble people, and whole heartedly a loving family. We can't wait to see them again soon.

Love & Miss you,
The Betts

Some cute photos of her first week

Evelyn's first week (5 days old so far).
She is such a blessing. I just can't keep my eyes off of her!

At her 1st Dr's apt in Daddy's arms.

Sporting her animal prints.

One proud Grandma!

Auntie Katie came to visit

Sporting her headband made by Megan Baldwin

Baby Bump Session EIGHT

Monthly "Baby Bump" Session 8 - January 2, 2010
Photos taken by Sylvia Flores

This was the last session before she was born. I look like I ate a watermelon. I was ready for her arrival. There will be one more to come of me holding her. I loved doing these photos. It will be something we cherish our whole lives.

Birthday of Evelyn Grace Betts

We welcomed Evelyn Grace Betts on January 8, 2010 at 11:32am. She was 9 pounds even, and 20 1/4" long. Evelyn's head circumference was 14 3/4".

We went into the hospital at 1:30am and I was dilated to 4cm on arrival. Both my Mom and Reuben’s Mom and Dad arrived at about 3:00am. The Mom’s stayed in the room with us and Dad Betts waited in the lobby.

At about 7:00am I had dilated to 8cm and our Dr. broke the bag-of-waters. From then on we were in active labor. At around 9:15am I started the transition phase of labor.

At 11:32am, Evelyn made her arrival with an all natural birth. Daddy Reuben cut her cord and she was placed on my chest. She began nursing right away.

On the APGAR score at one minute Evelyn was a 9 and at five minutes she was a 10. (The scale is from 1-10 with 10 being the best score you can get).

When I get some more time I will post a blog about our experience, but we just wanted to share some of the basic details with you and share her first photos. We are blessed to have Evelyn Grace in our lives.

Love,
The Betts (family of three)

Patience

So here we are 5 days past the due date for little Evelyn to arrive and we are still waiting for her. I have been told on the first pregnancy that most people go late. So we wait some more. It has been tough trying to just “relax” and let things happen. We have tried every home remedy in the book to try to get things moving along. It seems now, I just need to let things be and she will come. Patience is my word. It seems as though it has always been my word. The Lord continues to remind me to have patience and that he has a plan. Evelyn will arrive in due time, that is inevitable.

The Lord has shown me many times in the past two weeks how wonderful he works in peoples’ lives. Both my girlfriends who were pregnant and due AFTER me with boys and they had their children before me (early). Both of them had their first children (both girls) early. We keep joking around that Evelyn likes her "boyfriends" to be older than her so she was waiting on them to be born. Smart girl!

Traci and Jason had their little boy at 28 weeks along. Kaiser Ray Kenitzer was born on December 29th at just after 3PM and weighed 3lbs 2oz. It was a very difficult pregnancy for Traci, and also his birth was a scary one, but they all are doing well. He is nothing short of a miracle and growing stronger every day. I continue to look at his photos with encouragement that the Lord is working miracles every day. The Lord has big plans for this little guy!!! Not only has Kaiser’s arrival made his parents stronger, but it seems to be making everyone around them grow stringer in their faith too. I know that the Lord is working, in all our lives. Kaiser is just one example of how miraculous the Lord is. He is such a blessing to us all.

Sarah and Bob had their son, Justin Michael Fox, on January 6th at 5:38pm. He weighed 7lbs 3oz. and 19.5 inches long. The doctors had guessed he would weigh about 4.7lbs due to him being early but Justin almost doubled that. Justin is a miracle on his own that he was so large and healthy for being early. The Lord had a plan, and Justin arrived healthy. What a blessing he is.

The Lord has a plan for us all. I need to remember to have patience and rely on His strength and His plan. Evelyn Grace will arrive when she is ready and when the Lord wants her to grace us with her presence. So we continue to wait. We have an appointment tomorrow morning to see our progress. Even though we are anxious to meet her, we are patient for her arrival.

“Have patience, have patience. Don’t be in such a hurry.” That was what Reuben’s mom always sang to him when he was younger. It is fitting for me now.

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas. My mom came up and spent Christmas with us and Reuben’s family. I made pot roast for Christmas Eve dinner and we enjoyed the company of his parents, my mom, and his Grandma.

Christmas morning we went over and had breakfast and then opened presents. It was a lot of fun, laughter, and love. The rest of the day you could say was spent eating way too much. Eating lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert… etc. We had way too much food.

Reuben and I treated ourselves to a PS3 this year. Well it is more for him of course, but I will get some enjoyment out of it too.

Evelyn still has not made her appearance yet. We are hoping she will wait until Friday (1/1/10). I have been feeling some contractions, but nothing very strong. It wont be much longer and she will be in our arms.

Merry Christmas everyone!