You know you're a new grandma when....

....you allow your son-in-law to convince you to be "swaddled" like your new granddaughter. Yep - Katie, Evan and I convinced Nana to allow us to swaddle her (like a burrito, as Katie would say) just like Jane and take her picture. The pictures didn't turn out quite as we were hoping because we all were laughing so hard that is was difficult to get a good photo. If only we had the video camera going....

(Notice Jane's Power to the People arm - it never goes down!!)

Daddy Time

Evan was really bummed to be heading back to work this week, but he has still managed to get plenty of Jane time! Check it out!

One of my all time favorites - he must have the magic touch - she is OUT!
...and she must have the magic touch as well!

Lounging around

I imagine he will be getting this look when she is around 14 or so

A classic picture - she loves to be stretched out

This picture is so funny for Evan and I - we call this her "Power to the People" pose - as she does it ALL the time, especially after eating. She slowly lifts one arm in the air and leaves it there, we finally had the camera ready to capture this habit of hers.

Grandparents are Great!

Jane is so fortunate to have such loving, supportive, and patient grandparents! Due to a new hospital policy related to the H1N1 flu, only 2 visitors were allowed back into the maternity ward for Jane's entire stay. This was tough for everyone because we all thought we could have visitors and share our newest arrival. Evan and my mom got to see Jane during her stay, but everyone else had to resort to looking at her through the glass of the nursery. The hospital did make an exception for my dad to see Jane for a few hours before he left again for Northern Kentucky and we were so grateful for this. Unfortunately, Evan's parents had to wait until Friday night to get to hold their 3rd granddaughter...but we are hoping it was worth the wait! Thanks also to Aunt Leslie and Aunt Lana for coming to say hello through the glass window! We appreciate everyone's patience as we get acclimated to life at home and keep Jane healthy and doing well.

Jane is enjoying life at home.....

Coming Home

Evan and I were able to bring Jane home from the hospital on Friday! We had to stay an extra day due to her temperature being very low on Thursday morning. We were disappointed at first, but looked at it as an opportunity to get more guidance and assistance from the wonderful nurses who were taking care of us. After keeping her bundled up, and keeping our room at sweltering temperatures, she had a normal temperature on Friday morning and the doctor discharged us.
Evan got us all packed up, including the most important bundle of all! We dressed her in the only outfit that seemed to fit her to keep her warm and tried to nestle her in her carseat, which took about 20 minutes....lots of straps and buttons and openings...Jane was not a fan of being a guinea pig for this!

Jane was a very calm traveler

All settled in!

Have we mentioned that she is tiny?

Happy Birthday Katie!

I woke up this morning and this is what I found. I guess someone was busy during the night!
Happy 23rd Birthday Katie - can't wait to see you this week!

Meet Jane Elizabeth Gottschalk

God blessed us with a 6lb 2 oz baby girl at 2:21pm on Tuesday December 8th - her actual due date! Here are a few pictures we wanted to share - check back often, the camera loves this girl!

Blogging 101

Clearly I am still a novice blogger, as evidenced by my post below. I'm still trying to navigate how to publish posts and rearrange things, and I'm obviously still in the learning phase. In trying to move my text up to the top of the screen, I somehow thought hitting "Ctrl + P" would miraculously copy, move, and paste my text up to the top of the screen. However, it does not. Hitting "Ctrl + P" will actually immediately publish your post as it is. Lovely.

Fighting Irish

My mom and dad came up to Rochester for a visit and we had the awesome opportunity to spend Saturday afternoon up in South Bend at the University of Notre Dame! It was such a great time and the weather could not have been more perfect. We were able to tour the campus, see the Basillica, visit the bookstore and even attend the Notre Dame/Navy football game. It was nearly perfect and Evan and I were thankful that mom and dad were willing to make the trip!

Girls Day Out

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon in Indianapolis for a "girls day out". It was a great time - in lieu of a baby shower, my friend Angela planned a fun relaxing day for me with some friends in Indianapolis. It was SO much fun!

We started the day with brunch at Angela's. Then from there we treated ourselves to pedicures (foot massages are amazing these days!) to beautify our tired feet. Afterwards, we made our way over to "You Are the Potter", a paint-your-own-pottery place, where we all picked out our own pottery and came up with creative ways to paint and decorate it. It was one of the best parts of the day and surprisingly very relaxing, especially to me, seeing as I would normally avoid any and all type arts 'n' crafts activities. We all really enjoyed ourselves and spent nearly 3 hours there!

We finished the day with a yummy dinner at St. Elmo's Steakhouse downtown, which lasted nearly 4 hours! It was so nice to get to spend some time with my girlfriends and get away for a little bit. Thanks Ang for creating such a memorable day for me!

Angela and I post-pedicure, waiting for our nails to dry

Heather and I picking our masterpieces

Our selections: a piggy bank for me for the nursery, coffee mug for Angela and brush holder for Heather

A surprise cake brought out to me by our waiter "Toole" (yes, his real name and yes he was). Of course the cake was courtesy of the girls as well.

What a fun day!

Is it bad......

.....when 2 of your current favorite songs are sung by Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana)? I'm thinking yes.

I was driving today and her song "Climb" came on the radio and I was reminded how much I absolutely love that song. And then I was also reminded that she was nearly half my age. It's tough to get old.

Bloomington-Bound Boys

On the day of the baby shower in Nky, Evan and the boys packed up and headed to Bloomington for the day for the IU football game. Here's a picture of them with their "fake" cigars to celebrate the birth of Keegan (Brian's son) 1o days earlier, quite the Motley Crew! I think they all had a great time and the Hoosiers pulled out a W as well! From L to R: Evan, Brian, Matt, Joel, Dad.

Belated Baby Shower Post

Almost a month ago, my family hosted a very fun baby shower for me back in Nky and I wanted to post some pics! Aunt Jane, mom, Meagan and Sarah collaborated to put together a very memorable afternoon for me in celebration of Baby G's arrival. Everyone had a great time and the big surprise for me was that my sister flew in from Charleston to be there for celebration! A majority of the time was spent laughing at my expense, about my lack of innate motherly abilities (I opened a large box of wipes and thought they were diapers; a completely innocent mistake if you ask me!).

Here are some of my favorite pics:

The Party Planners

Despite my earlier mistake, I did, in fact, know that this was a bib. (Thanks Aunt Louie!)
My mom has become a whiz on the internet and found the idea for these rattle-shaped cupcakes!
My mom and Meagan joined forces with Evan and his mom to find some baby pics and put together this picture board for us - I absolutely loved it! And everyone agreed that Evan was a much cuter baby than I!
Mom and Aunt Jane taking a break after a long (but fun) afternoon!