From Holland to Holland: Meet Romy

It's about time for a blog update! It is my pleasure to introduce you to the newest member of the Riksen household, Romy Kathryn. Our sweet little girl was born on June 27 (which happens to also be my brother's birthday!), weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches (52 cm) long. She's just about as perfect as they come, in my humble opinion.

Romy decided she was sick and tired of hanging out in my womb, and wanted to see what fresh air felt like, so she made her appearance 18 days early! To say we weren't expecting her yet was an understatement. We had been in our new house for about 2.5 weeks and were trying to quickly get the house in order for her arrival. Thankfully, we had most of the baby essentials in the house by then (well, except the car seat, Todd went to get that while we were in the hospital). But in the end, I'm so happy she came when she did. Not only do we get to spend more of the summer with her, but it spared me the discomfort of the last 2 weeks of pregnancy (which I hear are the worst). Thanks Romy!

Today Romy is 6 weeks old. Wow. She is growing up before our eyes. Yesterday I looked at the fingernail on her thumb and it suddenly looked massive! She is becoming more and more alert, which is a lot of fun. For the first 2 weeks, it seemed like she slept all the time, but now she's definitely spending more time looking at us, staring at new toys, observing the trees on walks, and of course her fair share of crying. We are really doing quite well based on my expectations of having a newborn in the house. We're not zombies from lack of sleep, which is such a blessing.

It has been a joy showing her off to those around us. Her grandparents and the rest of our family are totally smitten, and that has been a lot of fun to see. Jackaroo has been a great big sister, so that's a huge relief. Although sometimes it's hard to keep her from giving doggy kisses on the lips.

But I know you're really reading this post to check out some cute baby action, so I'll include some of my favorite shots (you know, out of the hundreds we've taken). Photo credit goes to BeeTree Studios for all of the professional shots (you'll know the ones).