Klay Family: And our hearts just grew...

Welcome Baby Lindell! It is with great joy and excitement we share Baby Lindell's arrival. He came one week early on a very special day... April 24th. On April 24th, our Great-Grandmother turned 81 (happy news), Grandpa Chris passed away 9 years ago on this day, but life is amazing and brought us James Daniel. James because it is a family name and Daniel because it is Karri's brother's name. James will be called Jimmy, since that is what Uncle Jim was called growing up and is still called this by Mommy, Auntie, Grandma and Papa. It is a special name indeed! Baby Jimmy was a healthy 8 lb, 13 oz, with lots of dark hair, a tiny dimple in his chin, 20 1/2 inches long, and super long feet and hands. He is perfect! Thank you God for our new addition! The above photo makes us giggle a bit.... can you imagine us with another baby!?!?!? Looks pretty crazy to us!

Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Karri drove to the hospital (Minneapolis) at 5 a.m. Her water broke that morning so they knew their time had FINALLY come!

After a full day of labor (all good except the last hour of her 4 hours of pushing... SUPER KARRI!)

a prince was born and 2 became 3!

Papa and Grandma Sharon flew in from Florida with plenty of time to spare!

The Lenders also arrived to hold their beautiful nephew/cousin

Mommy felt blessed, once again, to job-share as it was her non-teaching day and was there to meet Jimmy! Look at how he is looking right at her.... awwwwww!

Daddy, Cooper and I had to wait until the weekend to meet baby Jimmy. We made the trip over to the cities to spend a few hours and have lunch with the new family. All looked great, sounded great and were so happy to have baby! As I exclaimed earlier in the week, "Mommy, that bag in Karri's tummy popped and out jumped the baby!"

Daddy loves babies and tells Mommy often "let's add one more to our little brood." Mom says yes as long as he can personally deliver a baby and can get up every two hours to breastfeed.

Cooper and I took turns holding Jimmy, touching his sweet little face, and giving him kisses. I often just sat and stared at him. I also commented on how much we love each other. I am so excited for Jimmy to grow up so that I can play with him!

It was hard to say "goodbye" to Jimmy, but we will get to see him on Mother's Day weekend. Before we left, Jimmy gave us a tiny glimpse of his props for his photo shoot that afternoon with Kristin.

And in case you are curious, baby Jimmy looks just like Uncle Jim based on baby photos. Ironically, besides having the same name, they were both the exact same weight when born.

We have been spoiled the past few weeks with a few new toys. The turtle was purchased last weekend (flashback anyone?)... I am quite skilled and quick on this device but Cooper can't quite reach the handles, so he just scoots along with his feet.

Our next BIG toy, was a swingset! We found a super fun one at Sam's Club (strangely, we didn't think of this place as an option). The swingset has two swings, a seesaw (or whatever you call it), wavy slide, picnic table underneath, clubhouse up top, rock wall on one side, ladder on the other, and a small area underneath for a sandbox or play area! We love it!

Mommy asked Cooper to show his teeth when he smiled (above) and then asked me to smile while going down the slide (below). We were having way too much fun to stop and pose. By the way, Daddy said he wouldn't wish this job of assembly on his worst enemy after it took him nearly a week of tinkering.

Finally, we discovered bubble containers in our garage and decided it would be fun to ~~fight~~ share the bubbles and chase them around the yard (disregard the snotty noses, ugh weather!)