9 Days Old

No, not peas porridge hot, it's Gracie! She had her "post-nursery" check-up today. She weighed in at 6 lbs, 6 oz today. She gained back all the weight she lost in the hospital, plus a couple more ounces. They said she looks great. They will do an ultrasound in a couple weeks on her hips because she was breech, but the doc said he didn't expect any findings from it, but it's just a precaution.

New swing

Gracie loves the swing Aunt Nancy and Uncle Brad gave her. Mommy & Daddy love that it plugs in!! Yeah! No more replacing 4 D batteries in the middle of the night! Actually, we haven't really had to use the swing to soothe a fussy baby like we did with the boys. She likes to sit in her swing and look at the Christmas tree, and sometimes we put her in there to let her sleep near the rest of the family while we are in the kitchen or living room.

Ice Cream Man!!

The boys have been keeping busy being excellent, caring big brothers. Here, they are taking a break from holding and kissing Gracie and fetching diapers and burp cloths for Mom when they heard the siren song of the ice cream man! Canaan raided his piggy bank for the last of his report card money to buy ice cream to share with Matty.

First sponge bath

Or, baby torture. Like any other baby, Gracie didn't care for her first sponge bath. We both look forward to the umbilical stump falling off so she can soak in the tub properly. She sure did smell sweet afterwards, though!

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New Family Photos

Gracie's Arrival

On Saturday, November 15, I attended the Fayetteville Cares Boots & Booties World's Largest Military Baby Shower. As it ended, I began to have painful contractions. Nothing terribly new; I've been having contractions off and on since November 4. I headed for home, but remembered we were out of coffee and trash bags and only had a bit of milk left so I would have to stop by the commissary. We had dinner at our neighbor's house across the street and the contractions continued to be painful and got closer together. Our neighbors generously volunteered to watch the boys for us as we headed to the hospital. They put me in triage and checked me after an hour and said I was still only 1 cm dilated but they wanted to keep me and recheck me due to my pain level and description of the contractions. After 2 hours, I'd made progress so they decided to go ahead with the surgery a few days early. The surgery went very well. Graceanne Gabriella was born at 2:35 am on November 16, 2008. She weighed 6 lbs, 4.5 oz and was about 19" long.