Grandmother Chance meets baby Rachel

Grandmother Chance flew into town to meet baby Rachel. She was excited about meeting her new little grand daughter and she even wore a special pink shirt in honor of the day.





Nicholas was proud to show off his baby sister to Grandmother. He even made sure that Grandmother used "magic soap" before holding her.



Throughout her stay, Grandmother was happy to cuddle with Rachel every chance she got. I love this sweet picture of the two of them together.



Of course, Grandmother also got to spend some fun time with Nicholas. The two of them walked to a park or around the neighborhood at least once a day.

They read the Dr. Seuss story, "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" then made Oobleck to play with. Nicholas went a bit heavy on the green food coloring and it stained his feet. How funny!





Nicholas got to carve a jack-o-lantern free hand. Pretty impressive for four!



Grandmother brought along a cool kit called Dino Egg. In it were three big "eggs", safety glasses, a chisel, and a hammer. Nicholas got to play archeologist and chisel his way into the eggs to find three different dinosaurs. Once the dinosaurs were unearthed, Grandmother and Nicholas painted them.







While they were working on their dinosaur excavation, Nicholas said, "Grandmother, next time you come to visit, please bring another one of these kits with you so Rachel can do it too."







They blew bubbles...



They played with the Magna Doodle and Tangrams...



They went to the Pumpkin Patch...









Nicholas even taught his grandmother how to play Lego Star Wars on XBox!



We are so grateful for the two grandparents who came to stay with us during the delivery and recovery time afterwards. Not only was it nice to have the company but they both helped to make Nicholas feel special while Stuart and I were distracted at the hospital with Rachel.

Settling Back In At Home

We're getting settled in at home with our new family of four. Rachel is doing great. The first night at home she was really fussy during the night and we couldn't seem to do anything to help calm her down. Poor Nicholas and Granddad probably didn't get much sleep either. She seems to have her days and nights mixed up so she sleeps all day then is awake more at night which means she wants to be fed more often. But each night has gotten a little better.

Stuart and Nicholas are great with Rachel. They are both as proud as can be. Stuart simply calls her "Angel" - and she is such a little blessing from Heaven.



We took Rachel for her first family outing - a walk around the block. Stuart and I took turns pushing her in the stroller while Granddad walked ahead with Nicholas who was riding his bicycle. It was nice for me to get outdoors again after being couped up in the hospital for so many days. However, I realized I wasn't going to be able to make it around the block so we had to turn around and head back home. But it was fun while it lasted.



Nicholas spent some time in the backyard today with Granddad and Daddy. He did his usual rounds of searching for bugs and worms by turning over stones in the yard. He even found a cool caterpillar to play with.







Stuart caught this picture of Nicholas picking some flowers for me. He was so proud to give the bouquet to me. I just love this little guy. He is so sweet and thoughtful of others even though he's only four years old.





Stuart and Nicholas spent the evening learning about fingerprints and how they can help detectives solve crimes. First Stuart took Nicholas' fingerprints to show him what they looked like. Nicholas especially enjoyed using the magnifying glass.





Next, they put their fingerprints on a glass and used the special crime lab fingerprint powder to highlight the fingerprint. They found that they could then use a piece of tape to collect the fingerprint off of the glass and transfer it to paper. What a cool experiment.

Coming Home

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Hooray! We're all going home today! The nurses have taken great care of me in the hospital and the food is actually really good. But I'm ready to be back home in my own bed without the 3:00 AM wakings just to check my vitals.

When Nicholas had his Sibling Class and tour of the hospital, he made a picture frame to put his picture in for Rachel to look at. The picture has been in her bed the whole time so Nicholas is the first person she looks at when she wakes up. Several times we actually saw her staring at the picture as if she were really studying it.



Rachel is in her car seat and ready to leave the hospital. She left in a little outfit that Grandmother Owen sent her which appropriately says on the little feet, "Too cute!"



Welcome home, little Rachel!



Ok, now for a little overload on cute baby pictures. I can't help it! I'm a proud Mama!





















God Bless Our Little Family!

Thank you, Granddad Owen!

We are very thankful for Granddad Owen coming over to help out with Nicholas during this week. In honor of Nicholas calling his sister "Purple Leaf" for many months, Granddad Owen wanted to celebrate the weekend before her birth as a "purple weekend". He brought Nicholas a purple shirt and purple blanket (that just so happened to say, "LSU Tigers"!).



Granddad Owen got to celebrate his birthday with us. It just happened to work out that Rachel's delivery was scheduled on Granddad's birthday so that made the day extra special. Nicholas made Granddad a birthday card and he told Granddad that he could take the card home with him so he can look at it and smile later.





I know he must have been exhausted by the end of the week but he never showed it. Nicholas would bound into Granddad's room early in the morning ready to play and amazingly Granddad is ready to play too. This week, Granddad has fixed school lunches, taken Nicholas to school and picked him up, driven out to the hospital twice a day, done laundry and dishes, picked up take out food, and most importantly just had fun spending time with his grandson. Here are some pictures of their activities this week.

Playing with the puppet theater...



Playing in the fort....



Taking Nicholas to various local playgrounds...







Building things with Tinkertoys...







Playing with sidewalk chalk...







Playing with a new Nerf missle gun in the backyard...







Riding bike...









Reading books...



And of course, visiting baby Rachel at the hospital...