Lots of Pictures of Rachel

 Here is our littlest cutie! 

 Rachel is almost 4 months old and is cooing and blowing bubbles and SMILING!

 She adores Drew and will make all these cute noises to get and keep his attention. 

 "Look mom, I can lift my feet!"

 Happy girl

 Surprise! I can turn (more accurately, flop) over!

Fun with the family

 We had the best time playing with our cousins and Aunts and Uncles over the Christmas break!

 The girls all played so well together and Kate and Lily begged for the Farrs to move to Evansville and live right next door to us. I like this plan very much!

 On a warm day we took the crew to the park to burn some energy.

 One of the best things we did? Ice skating. 

This was Kate, Lily, and Elise's first time on the ice, and it was a blast. 

 Lily and Melanie took to the ice like naturals, 

bravely letting go of the wall and striking out on their own.

Elizabeth and I spent most of the time clutching the sides in efforts to keep our clinging children from taking us down with them! 

Some christmas

 Christmas 2014 was a huge success! The girls receive many items from their lists and we were able to have Elizabeth and company, and Jonathan and Mandy in town for the Holidays

 Elise had been asking for those tights for 4 months. 

 Kate picked out this shirt herself.

 This one was not that impressed with the festivities.

 Christmas morning pictures with the cousins.

 Christmas day at Dad's.

Proof that I was there for all the fun!

Elise's birthday and a Gingerbread House Competition

 On Dec 1 Elise turned 4!It was so fun to celebrate this little angel and all the time she has spent with our family. She brings us so much joy!

 We were excited this year to attend a Gingerbread House competition in early December. The houses were so good and the girls want to enter next year with Drew.

A month of cuddles

 Last week Rachel turned 1 month! 

We have spent every minute of that month soaking up our little miracle.

 Kate, Lily, and Elise cannot get enough of Rachel, they want to hold her all the time and Lily has been begging me to let me feed her a bottle...too bad she can't take the night shift!

 Rachel was very excited about halloween.

 The older girls have been fantastic; they are so helpful, and Lily and Kate (and Drew) have done a fantastic job of getting up and getting ready for school on the mornings when I need some extra rest. 

Adding Rachel to our family has made my heart overflow with love: the moment I held her in my arms I felt my heart grow 1000%. I love that about babies.

Heckert #4 has arrived!!!

 At 5:51 am Friday morning, I woke to a wicked contraction, but I just turned right back over thinking it was braxon-hicks. However, when I got up a few minutes later to use the bathroom, these fierce pains started coming about 4 minutes apart, which was really surprising because I have always been induced and didn't think I would naturally go into labor before my scheduled induction at 39 weeks. I goofed around a little thinking it would all stop, then took a shower only to have the contractions keep coming. At 6:40 I told Drew to get up because I was hurting pretty bad and thought we should get ready to go the hospital. Then the craziness started! I started bleeding pretty bad and we went into overdrive to get me to St. Mary's. Mom came and picked me up while Drew waited for my Grandma Eva to come and watch the kids.  It was an intense few minutes to the hospital where I waddled in and asked for my epidural as soon as I saw the nurse. I was really concerned when they informed me that the Dr. was in a C-section, but I would be right after that. Every contraction I would turn to Mom or Drew and say, "where is my epidural?" You can tell how tough I am! The Dr. must have sensed my concern from the OR because he speed over as soon as the C-section was done and got me set up really quickly. Crisis averted!!!! Things didn't calm done too much because in just a few moments it was time to greet Baby Heckert. With one push baby was out at exactly 9:51 am! Welcome to our family Rachel Mae Heckert: 6lbs 10 oz, 20 inches

I was so fun to have the girls walk in and tell them they had a new baby sister! 

These Heckert girls are pretty beautiful!