Introducing Ava

We are delighted to announce that our sweet daughter has arrived!

Ava Linnea Gaskins was born on May 17th at 3:53pm, weighing 5 pounds 14 ounces (same exact birth weight as her big brother Owen, what are the chances?!) and 20 inches long.

We went to our regularly scheduled doctor appointment on Tuesday morning, and ended up heading straight from there to the hospital. Ava was born about 6 hours later! She was very prompt, arriving on her due date - atta girl! Everything went very smoothly and she is healthy and perfect. We are so blessed.

As some of you may know we were still deciding on her name - but upon meeting her, Ava seemed to be a perfect fit. The name Linnea is not only my name, but also my mother's middle name - in honor of the Scandinavian heritage on that side of the family (Linnea is a flower primarily found in Sweden). Ava Linnea rolled so nicely that we chose to pass along the name - making her a 3rd generation Linnea.

We've thoroughly enjoyed welcoming Ava and have been very blessed to be surrounded by family during these precious first days. Owen is very sweet with Ava, and is slowing beginning to realize that she's here to stay.

We have yet to unload our cameras of all the photos taken since she was born, so there will certainly be another posting of many more photos. But to give you a glimpse of our precious new daughter, see a few photos below taken just shortly after her arrival.

Welcome sweet Ava! We love you so much already and are deeply grateful for the wonderful blessing of having you as part of our family.

Ready for Baby!

Baby girl is due on Tuesday! Owen was 6 days early, meaning she is officially "later" than Owen. On her own terms and timeline...a true girl! Or perhaps, as we like to tease, she hears all the busyness of her brother and thinks "I think I'll stay in here awhile longer"! We are excited for her to come when she is ready...and regardless, she'll be "evicted" (I'll be induced) on May 24th. So we know we'll be holding our sweet new daughter in our arms in 11 days or less. Amazing!

We are ready for her arrival, or as ready as it's possible to be I suppose. Her room is decorated, clothes, burp cloths & blankets are washed folded in her chest of drawers, diapers & all other necessities are purchased & prepared. Owen is still not quite ready to let go of the crib (which we are totally OK with!) so baby girl will be in a bassinet for the first while...and we hope to transition Owen to a big-boy bed this summer, freeing up the crib for the new baby.

Next blog post will likely be announcing her arrival! Thank you in advance for everyone's prayers & support during the upcoming labor/delivery and transition to a family of 4!

Our little girl's room - shades of pink & green, with accents of blue, yellow, purple, etc.

And not to be outdone, we took this opportunity to re-decorate Owen's room, removing the "nursery" decor and replacing with a safari animal theme!

Linnea at 39 weeks

April Events

What a wonderful and eventful month! Beyond the regular day-to-day highlights, April brought two highly anticipated family celebrations....end of tax busy season (yay for having Brian around more!) and Owen's 2nd birthday!


Classic Owen - never has been a great eater, but we can convince him to stay in his high chair a little bit longer if he has some of his beloved cars/trains/trucks with him.

This boy loves anything that "go's"! Running an errand to Home Depot becomes a very exciting activity when Owen gets to pretend to drive a tractor.


Getting ready to make pancakes with mom. Such a helper!

Owen's morning routine...cozy on our recliner with a collection of stuffed animals, watching Sesame Street. Essentially this is his only TV time of the day, and he loves every minute...especially when it's time for the beloved Elmo's World segment (next to cars/trucks, Elmo is a favorite!). Here he's saying "cheese" for the sake of the photo, but doesn't risk taking his eyes off the TV. Silly boy!


A special and spontaneous visit from Cousin Landon (and Auntie Angie) for Owen's birthday celebration.

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In celebration of the conclusion of tax busy season, we headed to the Oregon Coast for 3 nights...just the 3 of us! We enjoyed special quality time as a family, treasuring these special days with Owen as our only child before we welcome little sister into the family. Thanks to the beautiful weather, we were able to spend lots of time on the beach and also spent a morning at the Aquarium in Newport.


Happy 2nd Birthday, Owen!

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We can hardly believe that our sweet little boy is now two years old! Owen loves all things transportation, and therefore the theme of the party was "two two" Train (rather than "choo choo" train, in case that play on words wasn't obvious). We were blessed to have a houseful of family to help celebrate Owen's big day. We love you, our sweet Owen! And we are so excited to watch you grow and learn during this coming year.