Merry Christmas!!

Before all the lights come down, we wanted to wish you a very Blessed Merry Christmas! May God shed many graces on you in the coming year!

Baby's First Christmas

(she gets extra pictures :)

Love, The Larsons

and the stockings were hung....

Gingerbreadhouse exhibit

our mantle adds another stocking!

Nativity scene at the baseof our Jesse tree

Christmas morning

The best gift our family received this year... :) What more could we want?

What a mess! The proof of a good time

My family came over for Christmas dinner. We broke tradition and grilled steaks and burgers this year. Great Grandma, Fr Brancich and we invited Ed too. After the baptism we had everyone over and then exchanged presents with each other.

Sunday was Christmas in Mead with Tom's family.

Grandma Larson(tom's stepmom)

Uncle Jonny and Aunt Marlys from Kansas City

One of the best Christmas' EVER!

A Christmas Baptism

Philomena was baptized into the life of Christ on Christmas Day after the 10:30 Mass by Father Brancich. Meg and Shane Knopp are her godparents.


And Dominic got to serve!

All the prayers and rituals involved in the traditional baptism have such deep meaning. From the actual entrance into the church to the dedication at the end. Oh I'm a sucker for anyone's baptism but especially of my own children. Is there anything more beautiful than bringing a soul to Christ? Thank God for this great blessing!

It's a GIRL!!!

We have a GIRL!!!

Philomena Marie

12-17-10

6#1oz

21 inches

Philomena has been a name we have been thinking of since before we were married. Well, Tom liked it a lot. It grew on me. Now there is no doubt. This girl was meant to be a Philomena. I agreed to the name when hearing what she will go by : Mena! I love it and it fits perfectly.



Not only is Philomena named after a beautiful saint who is very close to our Lord, but it has Greek, and Italian ties. "Meena" is a popular Korean name meaning beautiful. and I just found out that there are many women named Philomena in Ireland!

Anyway. She wasn't due until the 23rd but I was trying to go into labor early. On my way up to my 39week appointment I decided to take the stairs and jog up. By the time I got in to see the doc I was 3cm and 70%effaced. During one of the contractions, which were 2.5min apart, her heart rate dropped. That concerned the doc enough to monitor me for a while and then send me over to labor and delivery. I was in LABOR!! Yay!

My brother came over to watch the boys while Tom hurried to the hospital and hoped he could get off work that night. A couple hours after they put me on the IV fluids, my contractions had noticeably started slowing down. So pitocin was started at 8pm. At 11pm my water was broken. Active labor started at 1:30 when I hit 6cm. Next thing we knew it was nearly 3am and I was 9cm. At that point the doctor was called. He came right in, and caught the baby. 3:06am! 2pushes! As far as labors go, this one was as easy as it gets (minus the epidural of course) I don't know if I would have had time for one if I had wanted one anyway. What a blessing! Stacey my labor and delivery nurse.

Dominic is a big brother again!

and Zachary is a big brother for the first time! He calls her Philomena

but it sounds like "Pretty Mena"


Xavier holding Mena for the first time

Blaise is more excited to meet her than anyone. He has been talking to her in the womb pretty regularly and telling her how much he wants to meet her.

Mena Marie Day1
We left the hospital Saturday afternoon and welcomed our new daughter home.

She was a little jaundiced when we brought her home so she would sit in front of the window with a heater nearby.

Mena's first bath was December 23rd, the day after her cord came off. She ENJOYED the warm water in our bathroom sink. She's so precious.

At a young age, Saint Philomena died a martyr's death instead of denying our Lord and giving herself to Diocletian. He had her imprisoned, scourged, thrown into the Tiber with an anchor, then dragged through the streets of Rome. She was even shot with arrows but they all missed. Nothing worked until he finally had her beheaded. In the meantime, many people came to Christ because of her Christian fortitude and our Lord's protection of her.

St Philomena, pray for us.