Landry's Blessing

Landry was blessed on October 10th, 2010. 10-10-10, we thought that was cool and 10 has always been my favorite number, and so it remains. Grandma and Grandpa Jensen visited for the blessing which was also Landry's big brother Caleb's deacon ordination and Landry's Dad was set apart as a member of the Stake High Council, a big day in our home.

Dad and boys all wore matching pink ties for the special occasion

Bridger's tie may have been a little long

The dress that Landry was blessed in has a unique story. For 15 years I have been anticipating the blessing of a little girl. I carefully set aside the dress I was blessed in. A little ivory dress made from acetate ( the poor man's silk ). The little ivory dress was made by my Great Grandma for my Grandmothers doll. My Grandma Kennington presented it to my Mom the night before I was blessed because a dolly dress was better than the little sleeper my Mom had to bless me in. I wore the little dress, it was so charming. Years passed with Russell refusing to bless one of the boys in the dress, thank heavens. Then one evening my dear sister Karli helped me prepare the little antique for a Y.W. lesson and accidentally burned a small hole in it. Note to self and others, poor man's silk burns easily with a hot iron. No worries it only adds to the history of the dress. Finally when we didn't think the dress would ever be used again, Landry blessed us with her coming. So I went to pull out the little ivory frock. Where is it? I can't find it! I searched and searched. Went to my Mom's house and searched, back to my house and searched, made the boys and Russ search, then back to my Mom's. I cleaned and wiped out every closet in my house, dug through every bin and did a very thorough search. Even the night before Landry's blessing I was sure I would find it. I prayed and prayed and by the morning of the blessing the little dress still hadn't presented itself so.....

To my dismay I decided I had better find something else to put on our baby girl. My Mom had given me a dress for Landry's blessing but it needed some altering so on the morning of her blessing I sat at my sewing machine with scissors in hand. I cut off about 2 feet of fabric, moved lace about, trimmed the slip, added some detail here and took off detail there and dressed our baby in a newly altered little cotton dress and a little pearl bracelet. She looked beautiful and what really mattered was the that her Dad gave her a wonderful blessing and she is ours.

Landry Reed Arrives

Landry joined our family at about 8:30 am on September 21st, 2010. I had c-section with an epidural planned but apparently the "numbing juice" doesn't work on me so instead of feeling the whole thing I chose to be put under entirely. By the time I awoke 7 lb 1 oz Landry had already met her Daddy, 4 brothers, Grandma Gulbranson and Auntie Karli.

Even before I woke up I remember the nurses telling Russ that she was healthy and weighed only 7lbs, 1 oz, a whole pound less that our next smallest boy. I smiled to myself in my sleep.

We are so excited to have her here safe and we all love her to bits. Everyone says she looks like Coleson, Bridger and her Dad. It looks like she might have a dimple, blue eyes and fuzzy pink hair.

Caleb has been the most excited through this whole journey, he was the first to hold little Sister

Mckay will be a loving brother, and even though he was kicked out of his own room by a little sister, you can tell he still loves her.

I don't know, does it look like Dad loves her already?
Lots of pink hair.

Bridger is no longer the baby

Coleson is pleased.

Daddy visited us everyday over the 4 day hospital stay. He spent lots of time kissing Landry.

A Little Girl Room

A quick glance at Landry's room.

I repainted (for the 4th time) the red shelves from another room, added some inexpensive pots and flowers and anything else that matched the color scheme.

I have to admit, I was rather excited about decorating a little girl's room. Mckay on the other hand was a little bummed because we had allocated the room to him and had come up with some really neat "teenager" things to do for him. He was so good about giving the room up for baby.

We started by doing a very simple wainscotting and changing the boy color for several coats of primer and later a very feminine color chosen by Dad.

Dad also designed and built her a closet which is even larger than mine.

We found some things from around the house to accent the room. An old mirror with a little red paint, an accent table used in another room became a change table and a little tricycle, which you can barely see, is tucked in the corner.

Finally, I painted a crib a fun color and Dad insisted on installing a chandelier (Do we see a Daddy theme here? I think he already likes the girl). The hutch is from my mother with quilts I have been collecting for years sitting on top.

Window dressings are coming and I have a pretty quilt I am putting together, All reds and pinks, so fun.

A Pink Shower

I loved the pretty light fixture, thanks Sarah

Pink cupcakes were so delicious and all the wrappers were handmade.

Before the arrival of Landry, a.k.a Pudge, some of my dearest friends threw her and I a wonderful shower. Thank you Allreds for the pink party and to all the attendees. My best friend came all the way from Ft. McMurray, My sister came from Utah and all my other dear friends and family brought wonderful gifts and lots of kind words. Thank you so much for being such big supporters in the years past when things didn't always turn out as planned and for being good friends who are happy for me when great things come. I love you all !!! Now, just wait for baby to put all these cute clothes and toys to good use.