Our new life

All is well with the new addition!

Emmy is doing really well. We had a GREAT night with her last night - perfect sleeping, waking only to eat, which is great news for sleepy mom and dad. Hayes is really looking forward to bringing her home today. We're looking forward to learning what "normal" is for our new family of four!

Here are a few pictures from the first 48 hours of Emmy's life.

Hayes is (clearly) so excited to be the BIG SISTER!

Hayes LOVES sunglasses right now and was so excited to receive a gift from Megan and Marla that included matching sunglasses for her and Emmy. She couldn't wait to get them out and on both of them!

Emerson Hampton Welch

We are thrilled to announce that our second daughter arrived today, April 28, 2010. Emerson "Emmy" Hampton Welch was born at 9.15am and weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and is 20.5 inches long. She is, of course (as any good parent will claim), perfect! She is doing really well.

I'm still waiting for the impact of two daughters to hit Hank. :) He hasn't thought ahead to two proms, two weddings, etc. :)

Hayes absolutely loves Emmy already (as you can tell by the cheesy smile in the picture below). We hope that they will always be friends and love each other.

A New Chapter...

Given that the last post on here was when Hayes (who is now 26 months old) was 9 months old, it is clear that we've taken a bit of time from the blog. We are resurrecting the blog to share some exciting news - - - we are moving...to China!

Hank has been offered a position with his company in China so we will be moving at the beginning of September. We're so excited for all the experiences this move will provide. We visited in December to look around and check things out and Hayes LOVED it. Since returning she says very often, "I wanna go to China." She claims to dream of China every night and often makes imaginary phone calls to China. She's learned to say, "I love you" in Mandarin, too.

Hank and I have a Chinese tutor and are doing our best to learn this very complicated language. We're moving to a "smaller" city called Suzhou (population around 6 million). It's about 60 miles west of Shanghai and other than in the expat community there isn't much English spoken so we've got to get on the ball and get the hang of the language!

Our next little one is due to arrive in just 20 days so she will be about 4 months old when we move. I will become a full-time mommy to our two little girls and I'm so excited for the opportunity to share their days with them. The girls and I will return home twice a year for 3 -4 weeks at a time (probably in June and December) so we'll have time to catch up with everyone. Hank will come home with us in December.

We're so excited about this new chapter in our lives and hope that some of you might come visit us in China!

9 Months Old!

Hayes is nine months old. We truly cannot believe it! Our baby is growing up so fast. She's babbling constantly and is a speed crawler now. She's started pulling up and we feel like walking will be here before we know it. Hayes has a recent fascination with her tongue so she constantly has it hanging out and making noises with it.

She is still an angel. She's a great sleeper and has such a fantastic personality. Now, all that said...we are her parents. She could be an evil baby and we'd probably still think she hung the moon. And we think that's exactly how it should be. :)

You can see from the expression on her face how much she loves to swing!

Trying out the slide for the first time.

We're not admitting to anything but there might have been a face-first tumble just after this picture was taken.

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...

"Hold it. I'm 9 months already? Seriously?"

I love these pictures of Hayes...

Hayes's First Buddy Turns 1!

Hayes's buddy, Jax, recently had his first birthday party. Jax's grandparents live on a farm (a fantastically cool mini-horse farm!) so his party was out in the pasture with a tractor and fire pit the way all little boys' parties should be!

Hayes, the baby fashionista, wouldn't dream of showing to a party without theme-appropriate attire so I had to whip up some girlie overalls. She donned her pink alligator cowboy boots and had a blast celebrating Jax's big birthday!

The Fitch Farm is a child's dream - they have so many fun things like this - the "Barrels of Fun." Hayes isn't old enough to really ride it but she loved sitting in the barrel while it was still.

Hayes getting in touch with her country roots.

The birthday boy!

This is as country as my little girl can be.

Jax is saying, "just wait, Hayes, when it's your birthday you get to eat cake...real cake...it's amazing! And you don't have to take a nap. And the toys, my goodness, the toys. I'm going to have a birthday everyday!"

Hayes and the birthday boy.

The Fall Festivals Are Never-ending!

Our friends, the Hatmakers, invited us to their Fall Festival. It was so nice to be able to experience it with Hayes (and not be in charge of it)! We had a great time just relaxing and enjoying the evening together as a family.

Babies and Daddies.

Babies and Mommies (We realized this night that it was roughly a year ago that we met in our birthing class. It was nice to enjoy it this year and not be uber-pregnant.)

Fall Festival Time!

We had a blast at RBCC Fall Festival! Hayes was overwhelmed by all the people and she had so much fun seeing all of her friends dressed up!

Hayes and Daddy (who was supposed to also be a cute pumpkin but ended up a rather terrifying version!) with her Nursery buddy Lynley and her daddy.

As people began to arrive.

Hayes and Landon (who were both, apparently, famished! They were attacking Cherrios!)

On a race for the Cheerios.

Landon's pulling ahead...

Our little pumpkin all bundled up for the cold.

Hayes and one of her favorite people, Mallory (the cowardly lion). Mallory's sister, Sarah Beth (quite possibly Hayes's favorite person on Earth), was Dorothy.

Getting Lost

We recently tackled (and dominated!) a corn maze with our new friends, The Littles. I am please to announce that with keen sense of direction from the Littles, Hank, and Hayes (I am NO help in the way of directions!) we owned not one, but two, mazes is 45 minutes!

Hayes rode in her backpack and was so quiet the entire time. She was just soaking it all in!

Hayes and Daddy in front of one of the many, many "See Rock City" barns.

Our Little Pun'kin

Hayes is going to be a pumpkin for Halloween so we thought it only right that she visit a pumpkin patch to do some research on being a proper pumpkin...you know, get into character and such. She had such a good time!