Joelle Rose

Steve and I are so excited to announce the arrival of our daughter Joelle Rose Yousef!  She was born on Thursday 1/10/13 at 5:33 pm.  She weighed a whopping 5 pounds 15 ounces and was 19 inches long!  Such a tiny little peanut!  Jonas is so excited to be a big brother and loves to give kisses to his baby sister.  

Looking back to last weekend, I had absolutely no idea that this weekend we would no longer be three, but four!  Joelle arrived a few weeks early, however, she is very healthy and happy!  We couldn't be more excited that she is finally here! Thursday was a whirlwind of a day from finding out that we would be having our little one that day to arranging for someone to watch Jonas for the afternoon.  It all seemed to go by so fast and before I knew it, the doctor was putting Joelle into my arms for the first time!  When Jonas was born, there were some minor medical concerns that prevented the doctors from letting me hold my little boy right away, so when they put Joelle into my arms, I was so very overwhelmed!  Just that morning I was holding Jonas and playing with blocks and less than 9 hours later, our little girl made her grand entrance into our family!

Jonas has been doing great with having a little sister.  Jonas's Grandma Yousef was wonderful in helping us out by watching Jonas for a few days.  He was able to come in to the hospital with Grandma on Friday morning.  He met his baby sister for the first time, and the first thing he said was 'Baby!'  Ever since, he has been very interested in what she is doing and where she is.  Occasionally, he will look at me and ask 'baby?' if he doesn't see her in my arms.  Usually she is either sleeping in her bassinet or being held by daddy or a visitor, but it is so sweet to see the concern in his eyes, wanting to know where baby sister is.  We have tried to encourage him to say Joelle instead of baby, but the 'J' sound is a very difficult one to say!  I think we will just stick with 'Baby' for a while!

I will continue to post new pictures of our little princess and her big brother as we take them and as I have a spare moment!  Thank you all for the congratulations that we have already received and the prayers as we settle into our new normal!