Meet Miss Olivia Rose Remien!

One of the BEST things about spending Christmas in Denver this year (besides hanging out with my family, of course) was the birth of my beautiful new baby goddaughter, Olivia Rose. Lots of you know my friends, Janna (Jennings) and Ryan Remien. Jan and I have been friends since we were ten years old and we went from elementary school through college together. Ryan and I worked together when I was a freshman and he was a sophomore, and I introduced them (the rest is history). :)

Anyway, this summer Janna called me and asked me to be the godmother of their baby who would be born in December. Of course I was totally honored and excited, even more so a few months later when we found out it would be their first little girl! :) When Jan heard my family would be spending Christmas in Denver (where they happen to live), she told me they would arrange to have her baptized while I was already there so I didn't have to make another trip (yay for me and my wallet!).

My sister, the amazing photographer, took this incredible picture of Olivia being baptized. All these photos were taken by Amy, and the even more incredible thing is that her lens is broken on her DSLR, so these were all taken from afar with her telephoto lens. Yep, she's amazing.

Miss Olivia was due on December 19th, but this little girl knows a good thing when she's got it--she decided not to come until the doctors induced Jan on Christmas Eve Eve. Once she got started, she didn't mess around; from the time they broke Jan's water until little Olivia was delivered was a grand total of 22 minutes. Yep, minutes. For all you mommies out there, Jan's doctor checked her and she was at almost 4 cm--literally TWO minutes later she was almost an 8 and feeling ready to push, despite the fact that the epidural had yet to kick in. So Olivia was born au natural (much to Jan's chagrin). But she is healthy and beautiful, 7 lbs 12 oz. :)

Unfortunately she's had a go of it already...30 minutes after this beautiful babe was born, the nurse was trimming her umbilical cord with a scalpel when Olivia kicked and wound up with a gash in her leg requiring four stitches (daddy was NOT happy). Then when the nurse came to visit at home right after Christmas, they discovered her little collar bone had been broken during the delivery. Luckily babies heal quickly, and her stitches are already out and she doesn't seem to have any pain at all from her collar bone, so things are looking up. :)
Jan called me shortly after she was born, but I was already on a plane to come visit! So I called her back when I landed, and the next morning my dad and I were their only visitors at the hospital. :) I got to hold her before she was even 24 hours old, which was pretty sweet. (Not often this happens with the babes of all my far-away girlfriends!) I got to spend some time snuggling her after she got baptized the Sunday after Christmas, and then Jan and Ryan had me over for 2 days while my sister and brother-in-law were working to "help" with the kids. To be honest, I'm not sure I was much "help"--I basically just snuggled with Olivia the whole time I was there (although I did spend some time snuggling Joe and Ben, too--we were all best friends by the time my sister came to pick me up on Wednesday night). It was wonderful. :)

The Remien Family: Ryan, Ben, Janna, Olivia, and Joe.

It was a GREAT part of my visit to Colorado, and Ryan made sure to make many pitches for me to move to Denver ("You know you could come hold her anytime if you lived here, Jen." Talk about hitting where it counts!). :) I love this little girl and I can't wait 'til the next time I get to see her and snuggle her...hopefully in March if all works out! In the meantime, welcome to the world, Miss Olivia! :)