gabriella rae proctor

after much anticipation and excitement a 4th little proctor arrived via waterbirth to my sister and her husband on july 20th, 2011. sweet gabriella, or "brie" as she will be called by the family, pestered her mom with some start-and-stop labor over a couple days before making her grand (and ultimately speedy) entrance on wednesday morning at 10:56 am. she weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long and is absolutely beautiful. as with her siblings, i was there for her birth and was able to enjoy the first few moments of her birthday with her and the proud parents.

i was also able to bring her two oldest siblings (maddie was sleeping) up to the birthing center a short while later so they could meet her. this proved to be quite an event since i had told the kids we were going for a surprise, and when we wound up at the birthing center liv was more than a little disappointed. it wasn't until we were half-way upstairs that she finally put it all together and realized that the only reason we would be visiting the birthing center was to meet her newest little sister (after this realization she leapt up the last several stairs!). however, my favorite part of the whole conversation was in the car while we were waiting for ray to be ready for us to arrive, it went something like this:

liv: what are we doing

me: we're waiting for your daddy

liv: what?! i thought you said we were going to a surprise?!

me: we are, but your daddy will be there too

liv: NO! i don't want him there! i see him *all* the time, he doesn't need to be at the surprise!

me: (suppressing giggles) he'll just be there to take pictures of you with your surprise

liv: well, fine.

that girl is so funny! after spending some time with their new baby sister, i took liv and jonah to the grocery store where we picked out a birthday cake for the family and some ice cream for grandma sharon's house.

the kids enjoyed the trip immensely and then we headed back over to grandma sharon's to gather everyone up for dinner at the proctor's house with the whole family. unfortunately, when we arrived back at grandma's house we found that the power was out...and the house was 85 degrees! not ideal when you are hosting a "slumber party" for a 5-, 3- and 2-year-old! so we loaded up again and everyone came to our house for the night. it was interesting, but an overall success and i was happy to be able to help. besides, it will be a great story to tell brie when she's older :)

our congratulations to the proctor family on their sweet little one and her arrival. happy birthday, baby gabriella!