Exciting Arrival!!

Hi Everyone, Another week has come and gone. It's hard to believe that my sister and Greg were here only a week ago. Time is flying and our baby is growing. I even think her hair as grown since the first day. Fiona is doing really well. She is changing a lot. Her gassy smiles seem to have changed into real legitimate smiles. She is going through a growth spurt and does not sleep any more than 3 hours at a time. I am hanging in there but will admit that I felt a little more tired toward the end of this past week. Who does she look like? I think she has a bit of each of her three older siblings. She has Graces mouth, Brodie's nose and cheeks and Riley's eyes. How does that sound?

As for the rest of them, they are doing great too. Grace has fallen in love with Mommy's shoes and loves to pull them out of the closet and wear them all around the house. Riley and Brodie started swimming lessons a few weeks ago and are loving them. Riley is learning so much at school. When asked almost any word, he can identify the letter that the word starts with. Of course, Brodie won't be left behind and is learning and identifying a lot of letters too, thanks to Riley.

So life here has been going really well. It hasn't been to stressful as Susan and Allen have been a great help to us. I have had a lot of appointments at the base and it has been so convient to have live-in babysitters so that I don't have to drag 4 kids around for these boring but necessary appointments. They are almost at the end of their tour here and will be leaving next Sunday, which makes me ask the question...How will I survive on my own?

As for the exciting arrival, our friends, Mike and Katie Strawson, have added another member to their family. Baby Claudia arrived on Friday evening so we made our way to the hospital to meet and visit our newest, and smallest friend, yesterday. Anyways, hope you enjoy the photos. Evelyn

Fiona's Baptism

Wow! What a busy weekend!! There was tonnes of stuff to keep us busy this weekend. First, my sister and her husband showed up at 1:30 am Saturday. They came into Kingston specifically for Fiona's baptism because they were the Godparents. They are already gone so the were here for less than 48 hours. We are so thankful for the effort that the put forward to be here for Fiona's special day.



They weekend, however, started with a surprize Baby Shower for me. My neighbour invited Connie and I over for tea on Saturday after lunch. Fiona was sleeping so I left her behind. Clay said he would call me if she woke up hungry. Of course, about a half hour later, Clay called and told me there was not much that he could do to provide a screaming baby with the nourishment she needed. So, Connie and I went home to discover a house full of my friends. It was awesome. What a great surprize, thanks to Katie Strawson.



As I said, Fiona was baptized today. I do realize that she was kind of a little young, but I honestly feel the younger the better if you can do it. We planned it for this weekend because it was the best weekend for Connie and Greg to be with us. Everything went well. Fiona slept through the whole mass, even when Father Paul poured the cold water on her head. She did very well. After church, we had everyone over for lunch and drinks. It was a really great day overall and it was really awesome to have some of our family and friends for this special day.



Of course, finally what would our blog be without a video of our rough and tumble Grace doing her thing.

Sweet Baby & Aspiring Gymnast

Hi Everyone,

I am sure that everyone is looking for some photos and an update of the situation at our home. Things are going great. Of course, I feel totally relaxed and spoiled with Clay's parents here, helping out. They have done so much and we can't thank them enough. Our house is spotless from top to bottom and they take such great care of the kids. Grandma and Grandpa got Riley off to school this morning while I slept and Clay went to work. Clayton and I even joked that we will have a fifth child when our house gets messy again and needs a good cleaning bomb to go through it. Just kidding, hahaha.

Fiona is doing great. She had a doctor's appointment yesterday and is regaining her birth weight. So, far she has been a wonderful baby. The second night home was a little rough, but the following nights have been really good as I managed to get good a few good chunks of sleep. Otherwise, Fiona likes to sleep... a lot. She really only wakes up to eat every few hours and is not interested in spending much time looking around.

So, all is going really well. Riley, Brodie and Grace are in love with their new sister and like to rock her, touch her head and kiss her. Riley and Brodie really wanted a girl because Grace needed a sister. They figured it would only be fair because they had both a brother and a sister.

So, below I have included a video from Saturday night. Grace was performing for the crowd of visitors at our house. She was doing somersaults. Don't ask me where she learned that but she started doing them all on her own. Otherwise, the rest of the photos are of us and the new baby around the house over the past five days.

Fiona makes it home!

Hi everyone!
We made it home today from the hospital at 14:30 and we are glad to be back. Things are great, everyone is doing well. Grandma and Grandpa Kotzer are ensureing that everyone is well taken care of. I again have taken over the blog, which Evelyn normally does, but I imagine she will have something on tomorrow. Here are some more pictures, hope to talk to everyone soon,

Clayton, Evelyn Riley, Brodie, Grace and Fiona

It's a Girl!!!!

Hello All!!
We are very lucky to announce the we have a brand new baby girl. She was born on 9 Jan, 02:30 in Kingston. Everything went very well, we got to the hospital at 01:50, so if you do the math, the labour was quick. Her name is Fiona Ann Kotzer, she wieghted 8 lb 8 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. Evelyn is doing great, as is Fiona. The family got to meet their new sister and are very happy. Here are some inital pictures, there will be lots more in the future. Taka care,

Clayton, Evelyn, Riley, Brodie, Grace and Fiona