A new name and a new opportunity

Almost 4 months ago on November 13th, I received a new name. Caleb got a new name too! All thanks to this precious baby girl. We are loving being an aunt and uncle and getting to love on this "sweet pea" as her mom and dad often call her. Thanks Krista & Daniel (who would loved to be called Papa) for bestowing on us this wonderful name and role! Once we heard Krista was in labor, I got together my things and headed out for the snowy 3 hour drive to Gunnison to meet my little niece. She was born about an hour before I arrived, and to the right is a picture of Gabriella less than 2 hours old. I was so excited to hold her and see how Krista and Daniel were doing. She had her little eyes wide open for a while after she was born.

The next day Caleb & Nathan picked up Carrie (my mother-in-love) from the airport and came out to Gunnison. They had even more of a slow drive through a winter storm than I had the night before. Caleb & Nathan stayed for the weekend in Gunnison getting to see Gabriella. Carrie and I were blessed to be able to stay a week helping out after baby came. I can say for myself that I enjoyed every minute snuggling with this baby girl even when it was at 2am so mommy and papa could get a little rest. It was wonderful. I missed her when it was time to head back home to Colorado Springs. I know her grammie and grandpa miss her a lot too and are looking forward to seeing her in June and seeing Krista and Daniel as well.

Caleb and I went to Gunnison mid-December for a weekend to see 1 month old Gabs and snuggle with her. When there's a sweet baby to love on who you don't see all the time, then there's really no reason to make plans to do anything else. At least I think so. So we had a nice relaxing weekend mid-December with Krista, Daniel, and Gabs. Gabriella loves being held. She especially loves laying against anyone's chest like she is with her Uncle Caleb in the picture below.

A couple weeks later it was Christmas and we got to spend a week with my parents here in Colorado (another blog post to come on that). Then we got to spend a few days in Colorado Springs with the Heavner (and Park and Pennington) crew. It was so special seeing Gabriella with her grandparents and her great-grandma as well! 

 Here's the special four generation photo. Grandma Park was so sweet holding Gabriella. She had the perfect touch bouncing her and loving on her.

   

I'm thankful for my special second family I get to be a part of. Thanks Caleb! I love each one of them and always enjoy when we get to have time together. My birthday fell during our time together and they were so thoughtful helping Caleb decorate the house to celebrate me and have a delicious birthday breakfast which Daniel cooked for everyone. It was a special birthday to relax with family and getting to love on baby girl all day. 

We made it to Gunnison another time in February and Caleb and I had lots of baby time with Gabs while Krista and Daniel got out for some date time cross country skiing. It was fun seeing her smiles and hearing her laugh as Caleb talked with her. Being an aunt is even more special than I could have imagined. I pray for this baby girl to grow into a woman who lives a life in response to the love God has shown through the gospel. I'm thankful for the opportunities I will have to pour into her life and to remind her of how greatly loved she is over the years along with all of her family. I know some day when she's older I'll probably have to stop calling her baby girl. She might not care for that too much. :)
This is an addendum to my original post: She will very possibly be called Consuela by Caleb for many more years. That's the name Caleb gave the baby the first day Krista & Daniel told us they were having a baby. It might stick around for a while.