Welcome Susanna June

Although it took us nine months of gestation and 24 hours of looking at her, we finally named our sweet baby girl. Welcome to our family Susanna June!

We scheduled a c-section for May 5th (you're welcome SG - that was just for you) with the doctor who delivered Ben. Dr. Caffrey is a kind surgeon who joked about finding his watch and asked me if I wanted him to "just go ahead and put in a zipper this time."

At 12:04 pm, Dr. Caffrey showed us this:

Our first look at our sweet baby.

Baby Girl Enderle was 6lbs 5oz and had a full head of red hair!? Her hair wasn't the only surprise. I really expected this baby to look like me. Ben looks so much like Chuck, I thought surely this baby would be mine. After all, I just carried her around for nine months, but more than anyone else, she looks like Benny. Sigh.

Newborn Ben

She does have my ears, hands and dimple and we'll see how she changes as she grows. But I still feel a little robbed doing all this work to have have my babies look like Chuck.

I really had pictured our daughter being a dark-haired pixie and secretly thought Norah was going to make the final cut. As a reminder, it was down to two choices:

• Norah Ann (using my middle name)
• Susanna June (named after both my mom and Chuck's mom)

... and a late favorite:

• Pippa Anne (Yes, this was inspired by Kate Middleton's little sister.)

But the red hair threw us for a loop and we ended up choosing Susanna June for the following reasons:

1. Chuck said he simply couldn't imagine calling a little baby Norah. He said it was too grown up. I can see that.
2. Our sweet baby was born on the same day Chuck's grandma, Donna June, passed away two years ago. Donna loved children and we feel it's a sweet tribute to her to name our baby girl after her.
3. Just in case this is my only daughter, I want to honor my mother and my best friend.

Gammy Susan, Susanna, Mama.

So, our baby girl is Susanna June, named after three amazing women who have spent their lives teaching children about Jesus. My prayer for my sweet Susanna is that she will have the same heart for Jesus as her namesakes and spend her life investing in others the way these remarkable women have.

So far, she is a sweet cuddly delightful little baby.

I have lost my mind and like to coordinate hair bows
with hospital gowns... and Chuck puts bows on
like an athlete might wear a sweatband.

I don't think Ben realizes that we are going to keep this baby. When I tried to get him to hold her, he said, "No baby!" I still think he'll be a great big brother.

Ben and baby sister, Susanna.

In any case, I am excited to go home. I miss my Benny Bean and am ready to be home as a family of four.

Our first family pic. Ben says, "Cheeeese!"