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Luke & I are thrilled to announce the arrival of our first child, a beautiful baby girl! Janna Michelle Rene was born November 30th (3 weeks & 3 days early...she was due Christmas Eve!) at 7:24 AM, weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces; 19 inches long, at a hospital in Sacramento, California. We chose the name Janna as a compromise, or rather a combination of the two names we liked: Jenna (which Luke wanted to use to honor me) & Hannah (which I simply loved); not to mention the fact that Janna is the name of an individual who has greatly inspired me in life, so it worked out nicely (and I've always liked the name anyway). Michelle is for a close friend, as well as for my grandmother, Maria; it was one of the few "M" names we both liked that actually went well with Janna. And Rene is a combination of my brother's middle name, Ryan, and my sister's middle name, Danae (yes, we realize that this is typically the masculine spelling, but it was the one we both liked & yes, we know there is an actress named Michelle Rene Thomas, but I've always admired her work, so it worked out nicely).

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Janna was conceived at home in March, a year and a half after Luke & I were married. The pregnancy was normal and actually went really well. I only suffered from morning sickness every once in a while, and even then, it wasn't too bad. The labor itself was uneventful and only lasted 9 hours. I started having contractions around 10:00 on the 29th of November; we were a little concerned because she wasn't due for another 3 1/2 weeks, but the doctors assured us that she was fine and everything would go well. We knew we were having a girl, so we had a name picked out, but we were expecting a Christmas baby, so the name chosen was Alexandra Angeline Rose (Angeline because she was a little Christmas angel & Rose because, according to her daddy, "she would be as pretty as a rose"). Those plans changed very quickly, and we decided to use one of the other names we liked (we were tempted to use Alexandra anyway, but she just didn't look like an Alexandra to me or to Luke). Perhaps we'll use it if we have another little girl.

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Anyway, Baby Janna is doing extremely well. She is absolutely gorgeous & perfect in both mommy & daddy's eyes. Luke is such a proud daddy; he loves showing off his little girl. And she's a mother's dream; a very content baby who's hardly ever fussy. She just loves to be held and cuddled. Our little princess is the perfect addition to our family.

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Jennifer Nicole
Loving the Names:
Christina Lily Marie, Courteney Ava Rose, Elisabeth Rachel Grace, Janna Michelle Rene, & Josephine Monica Celeste
Austin William, Conner Luis, Jude Hamilton, Luke Preston, & William Grant

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Carrie Underwood is our American Idol...Congratulations Carrie!!!