The Measure of a Man

Should be determined by his patience while holding a screaming infant and singing Steve Miller songs to her until she falls asleep. Boy, am I grateful tonight!

All Thumbs

Emily found her thumb the day she was born. Here she is on another such happy occasion.

ARG!! Camera is Down

Well, it's not actually the camera but the charge cord, without which the camera is worthless. Could it break (or get broken) at a worse time? Don't the camera gods know we have a cute baby in the house??

And on that note, she is starting to smile in response to us and there have even been some "gee"s and "a-gah"s coming from her. We're all waiting eagerly for her to laugh. She'll be 6 weeks old tomorrow.

Asking for Help

One normal ankle...




I was so happy on Tuesday. My debut drive... the first solo outing since surgery!!! I'd driven the boys to Kids Klub. The drive went really well and I was sure to be running around in days. Things were finally starting to get back to normal... I'd even scrubbed the WHOLE bathroom earlier that day. (Some women may bounce back from a c-section faster, but I was really pleased at my less than 4 week progress)

Here's where it gets interesting... It was time to get the boys from Kids Klub so I put the baby in the car and walked around to get in the van myself. I took a wrong step and ended up sprawled on the driveway where I realized several things.
I couldn't walk.
The baby was in the car.
I couldn't get her out, much less carry her into the house.
I couldn't even crawl because I'd landed hard on one knee.
My boys needed a ride home.
If I couldn't walk, I couldn't drive either.
Concrete is hard.

While not completely helpless, I surely needed help. After catching my breath, I got up and hopped into the house, grabbed the phone and stood (on one foot) at the door while calling my neighbor to come get Emily out of the car. Thank goodness for good neighbors!!! As soon as she was on her way, I called about a ride for the boys. My neighbor helped me settle on the couch with a bag of frozen veggies on my ankle and the boys arrived home safely.

So, for the past couple of days, I've been parked on the couch again. I've been going up and down the stairs on my bottom and have had to ask for things like lunch. Fortunately, I heal pretty quickly and today I've even walked to the bathroom sans crutches (thanks Uncle Chris for lending them). I believe that a quick recovery will be greatly influenced by staying off of my feet, so I have ended up sprawled on the couch where I have realized several things.
I don't like to ask for help.
I'd much rather do it myself.
There are some cases where I can't do it myself.
I am very fortunate to have people in my life who are willing and able to help.
I am thankful for them.
I can fall down and hurt myself on flat concrete... who needs skis?
It's hard to photograph your own ankles.
I am also glad that this is temporary.


One not so normal ankle...

Mrs. Darling's Kiss

"...and her sweet mocking mouth had one kiss on it that Wendy could never get, though there it was, perfectly conspicuous in the right-hand corner." J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

A perfect description of how I feel about Emily's smile.

And here she is peacefully sleeping... 4 weeks old on Wednesday.

What Do the Boys Think?

For Nathan, a picture speaks a thousand words (he'd like the idiom too)

Of course I'll add a few words of my own... He asks to hold her and says how much he likes being an older brother. He also says how he can't wait until she's up, moving around and crawling... I just think to myself, "I hope you remember saying that when she's after your toys."


Sully's answer is a bit more complicated. He's in the "I'm a way too cool teenager" stage so when asked how he feels about his cute little sister is he usually says, "Whatever."
But this photo says otherwise...

Don't pay attention to all the junk on the tables and floor :)

He'll sit with her and talk to her and bop this little bear around and watch her wiggle her arms and he laughs at the funny things she does... so when he answers with his "too cool" answer, I just think... "Whatever"!! ;-)