The Zero Birthday Party

On Tuesday November 3rd we celebrated Kate's Zero Birthday with cake and (don't tell anyone from the hospital) champagne. It is a Johnson family tradition that we decided to continue, and of course Nick decided to add a little Louisiana flare to it. When searching for potential cakes, Nick decided to use Gambino's Bakery, which is walking distance from Woman's Hospital.

Gambino’s Bakery, based in the Greater New Orleans area, has been delivering its cakes, king cakes, pastries and confections anywhere in the United States for more than 50 years. The Gambino family business bakes its king cakes plus 100 different items from scratch daily using only natural ingredients. Gambino’s king cakes are festive dessert confections coated with icing and purple, green and gold sugar served during the Mardi Gras season each year. It is also a tradition to hide a 'baby' in each King Cake (the baby is meant to represent baby Jesus as the Catholics of South Louisiana prepare for the Lenten season). Whoever receives the baby in their piece of cake must provide the king cake for the next party or gathering. Guess who received the 'baby' at the party? See pictures below...

So what kind of cake did Nick order? You guessed it - a King Cake. And his reason - King Cakes are made in an oval shape (and his interpretation of an oval is a ZERO), so thus, the perfect Louisiana Zero Birthday Cake for our sweet little Kate.

Celebrating Kate's Zero Birthday with her were her Nonna and Papa, Pop Pop, Aunt April and Aunt Anna, and Momma and Daddy.

Here are some pictures of the Zero Birthday Party.

Mom, Dad, and the Birthday Girl.

In case you can't read it, the inside of the King Cake was filled with yummy icing and the words "Welcome to the World Kate".

Momma/Daughter. Look who got the baby!

Cheers to Kate!

Nick really needs to quit with the faces when feeding... He has plenty of time to learn.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rou-KATE (more pictures)

Still have more to learn about blogging, but here is my 2nd attempt at uploading multiple pictures.

Nonna with Kate

Sha' Baby. Aunt April keeping her comfy.

Momma and Kate resting up.

Dr. Cheree was great.
Our Family

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rou-KATE

Friends and Family:

Abbie and I have been blessed with the arrival our sweet little angel - Ms. Katherine "Kate" Marie Speyrer. She was born at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA at 12:40 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2009. Kate weighed 7 pounds and 1 ounce and measured 20 inches. Kate was delivered via a C-Section by Dr. Cheree Schwartzenburg.

The feeling of holding her in our arms for the first time is a moment we will never forget.

Kate was born on November 2nd, which is a date the Catholic Church celebrates as All Souls' Day. We know she has many guardian angles watching over her, particularly her Granny.

Kate's Nonna, Poppa, Aunt April, Aunt Anna, Pa-Pop, Maw-maw Speyrer, and Nanny were here for the birth. Uncle Derrick stopped by later in the evening.

We were also fortunate to have our good friends stop by for a quick visit as well - Uncle Scott/Aunt Candace and Uncle Matt/Aunt Nicole.

Kate has had 3 great feedings thus far and we are soon gearing up for our fourth.

Abbie is recovering nicely and she is enjoying the opportunity to snuggle up with Kate as I type this post. I need to hurry up and finish so I can get my turn. :)

Here is round 1 of pictures. Stay tuned for more to come over the next few days.

Kate's 1st Picture

7 pounds, .6 ounces = 7lbs., 1 oz.

The Final Countdown...

We have finally joined the league of bloggers so that we can allow our friends and family to follow our growing family. We are currently T minus 52 hours from the birth of our little girl, Miss Katherine "Kate" Marie Speyrer. We went in for our final Dr's appointment yesterday and got a good glimpse of Kate's profile. She already is a spitting image of her Daddy.

Words cannot begin to describe how excited we are to meet our sweet little angel!!