Isaac is one month old today. He decided to wave at the camera for me.
We celebrated the day with a sponge bath for Isaac. I enjoyed it probably more than he did.
Isaac is doing great and continues to make baby steps towards going home every day.
Here are a few things of the things I am grateful for today:
good doctors
a great children's hospital near our home with surgeons who perform the surgery he needed
great nurses
a supportive family
answered prayers
In some ways the past couple of weeks have felt like one long day, but we had some exciting firsts around here.
There was the first time of meeting the rest of the family.
The first time of hearing a little brother cry.
No worries though. Natalie loves being a big sister.
And this is all it took for Ian to decide it was ok to have another boy in the family.
I was still in the hospital for the first day of school, but luckily Scott had it all handled. Including taking lots of pictures for me and answering my texts to check on things.
First day of the 4th Grade.
First day of the 2nd Grade.
I wondered if Kimi was trying to send her teacher a message by wearing that shirt.
Natalie had to get in on the act.
And one week later. . .
I got to be there to see my little guy off to his first day of kindergarten.
We saw this backpack and knew it was made for him.
This is the point that I started crying, and was glad that I had another little boy at home to go cuddle.
This little guy is just as lovable as he looks.
When I was typing my last blog post on Friday I had no clue that 24 hours later he would be here. I guess he didn’t want me to get bored or Natalie to get lonely with everyone heading off to school.
At about 4:30 on Saturday morning I felt my water break and after getting someone to come over to watch the other kids, Scott and I were off to the hospital.
Scott and I have always just gone to the hospital on the day the doctor told us it was time to have the baby so this was all new to us. I didn’t even have a bag packed.
They took things pretty slow which gave Scott and I time to try to pin down final names. (And no, we hadn’t heard about the hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast at that time, though he did come into our lives like a whirlwind.) I finally starting having contractions around 1:30 pm and he was born at 2:23 pm once we got the doctor back to the hospital.
I really thought the odds were with having a girl so I was a little shocked when they yelled out “it’s a boy!”
So here are the stats:
Isaac Daniel
born August 25
2:23 pm
5 lbs. 7 oz.
19”
We are so happy to have him here and healthy.
Life is a lot less entertaining for me without all the kiddos around.
These are Kimi’s handiwork.
Can you guess what these horses are disguised as?
That is a piggy-gnome. Obviously.
That is a horse disguised as butterfly, disguised as a cat, disguised as a dolphin.
With goggles.
Were you thinking “walrus-bunny?”
Good guess.
This is a sea-horse.
That’s why he is wearing a snorkel.
Natalie is going to find it a lot more quiet and lonely around here too.
But that should only last a few weeks, and then she’ll have more company arriving, with some new noises of it’s own.
Picking out just a few pictures about this day of our vacation is not an easy task.
It was one of those times that when someone tells you to “go to your happy place,” this would come to mind.
Ian said “this is WAY better than a sandbox.”
Quite.
Here’s our whole pirate crew.
We amazingly found a buried treasure. What were the chances?
Grandma snapped a picture for me to prove I was there with my 4 1/2 chilidren.
Aunt Elizabeth was nice enough to let us stay with her and enjoy the view.
I’m ready to move in whenever she asks. (hint, hint)
It’s not every day that Grandma turns 60. And so she was properly coronated, and helped to celebrate in proper fashion.
Natalie will be there for anyone who needs a candle blown out. She’s helpful that way.
Happy birthday dear Grandma, happy birthday to you. And many more.
We made a stop on our tour of the coast at one of the coolest aquariums ever.
I wish I had more pictures, but I was battling to keep my insides on the inside of me that day, so I wasn’t at the top of my game.
We love our cousins.
Heading into the “passages of the deep”. . .
If you have ever wanted to know what it feels like to be surrounded by sharks swimming around you (without having to try one of those insane diving cages), this is the place for you.
An view of the ceiling. It was actually little creepy, but maybe that was just my stomach flu talking.
Open wide. . .
One of my most memorable parts of the experience was the souvenir shopping.
Ian picked a pack of play sharks.
Cali picked a turtle necklace.
Kimi picked a shark tooth necklace.
Natalie picked some cotton candy.
Ian asked Natalie incredulously, “Don’t you want to get a toy or something?”
Natalie just hugged her cotton candy and said “I like cotton candy. It makes me happy.”
Simple things are the best.
After staying a few days with Grandma and Grandpa M. at their house, we spent a few days in the car, driving to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
This was just a little stop along the way through the Colombia River Gorge. It is so unbelievably beautiful to someone who has lived in a desert for her whole life.
The kids were so happy to get to their Aunt Shellie’s house to get to see cousins and stay in a house with this right behind the backyard.
It was a perfect place for exploring.
Being with aunts aunts and cousins and Grandma made it all even better.
I asked them to smile for a picture, and this is what I got.
This was just one afternoon, there’s still more to come.
