Welcome, Little One

Monday morning we had a surprise delivery. Julee, my sister, had her little girl. She was born around 10 a.m. and weighed 5lbs 9oz. She is about 4 weeks early, but we are still excited she is here. Julee and Dan named her Ceseley Jane.
I decided to come to VA with Mom. We finally got here around 9p.m. on Monday. It was a long car ride with Will. He was sooo good though. He was very patient with Mom and me.

We stopped in Knoxville and had lunch with Blake and his girlfriend, Grace. Right before we stopped Will was making some interesting noises. Sure enough, when I pulled him from his car seat the evidence was all over his leg and part of his seat. It took quite a while to clean him up. Blake showed up and said, "Is he sick or something?" Fortunately he is healthy and the diaper was proof of that.

Since it was so late when we got to the hospital, we had to enter through the emergency room. I looked a mess and Will looked traumatized. Mom looked a little frazzled. We weren't sure what to do next but Mom received a visitor's pass. Since we had Will, only one of us could go up at a time. But before all that happened, while Mom was talking to the lady at the desk, Will and I were standing a little off and these 2 ladies came up and started talkin' about how cute Will was, which is perfectly fine. What Mom doesn't love to hear those things? But then they crossed the line. They started touching his hands and almost his face. Almost because I pulled him away a little bit and pulled the blanket tighter around him. Normally I wouldn't freak out so much but did I mention we where in the Emergency Room? I didn't know what they were there for, but I did know they were waiting to be seen. And they looked like very interesting (interesting is a generous description) characters no less. I grabbed the hand they had touched and headed to Mom for some sanitizer.

Then I stood afar off from everyone and waited for Mom to finish getting the pass. Well, one of the ladies then came up to me and asked me to come sit by her. I politely said, " No thank you." And prayed for Mom to hurry up. She finally did and I was able to go up first to see Julee. She kept Will for me and I surprised Julee. She didn't know I had come. I wasn't able to see Ceseley because she was in the NICU, and I wanted to hurry so Mom could go up.

On Tuesday, Mom and I cleaned Julee's house and did LOTS of laundry. Julee hadn't washed any of Ceseley's things because obviously she wasn't expecting her just yet. So I started that and am currently still working on that task, but I am happy to report there are just a couple loads left. Anyway, later that evening we went to see Julee and I was able to go into the NICU with her and hold Ceseley for just a minute. She is so tiny! and super sweet.

In the pictures, Ceseley has on an oxygen mask to help her breathe. The tube coming from her mouth is to pump air out of her stomach. It was hard seeing her that way and all the other little babies in the NICU. It was hard not to cry. Julee told me that I couldn't cry or she would lose it too. I did tear up a little while I was holding her but I kept it pretty hidden from Julee, I think? I hope.

Anyway, we are so happy she is here. Julee was able to come home today. Hopefully Ceseley will be able to join her very, very soon!

Annie

On Tuesday night, Mom took the girls (Mandy, Layla, Olivia, and myself) to see Annie Jr. A local elementary school was putting on the play. Two of the girls invloved go to church with us. They did a fabulous job! We were all so impressed. Jessica was cast as non other than Annie herself. I did not know that she could sing so well. Alyssa was "Molly," and she was cuter than a button! Both girls have lots of talent. You could hear them so well. I think that they were probably 2 of the best for sure. Anyway, it was all very entertaining and I'm glad we went.

Alyssa in action. She is the one wearing the white apron.

Jessica and Alyssa singing the finale of "Tomorrow"
(and Olivia's favorite, 'Sandy,' the dog)

And the super cute girls themselves! I was so pleased they paused from signing autographs to pose for me!

Liv

This morning Will and I had a visitor. Cousin Olivia came over to play for a few hours. Will was pretty happy she was there, and Olivia was more than willing to try and help take care of "Baby William." When Will would spit-up, Olivia was quick to remind him that he didn't need to do that to his mom. And then she would tell me, "You gotta get rid a that bay ba!" It was pretty funny.


A little later while Will was napping, she and I went outside to play. She stayed pretty busy taking my picture with her plastic Disney Princess camera and talking on her Hannah Montana cell phone to Patrick. She paused for a moment to sit beside me on the deck and asked if I could identify all of the princesses on her camera case. I did, and when I got to the last one, Sleeping Beauty, she asked, "Why is she sleeping booty?" I told her, "No, not booty, beauty." She said, "booty" I said,"No. Beau, beau, beau," she said, "boo, boo, booty!" I gave up. I think sometimes its better not to try and correct them. It makes life so much more interesting and funny.


One more thing. When Mandy came to get Olivia, I told her, Olivia, that "someone is here." Olivia was laying sideways in the recliner and said very desperately, "Ohhh I hope it's Patrick!" She and Layla are quite taken with Patrick. He always plays with them and pays a lot of attention to them. When the rest of us get tired they can always count on Patrick to keep playing with them. Anyway, she was very disappointed to see her mother come through the door. Sorry, Mandy.

This picture was taken back in Februay. Olivia was singing "Hush Little Baby"

The girls had come over to play on the slippin' slide. Unfortunately they didn't bring swim suits so their clothes got wet and only Olivia had another clean shirt. Layla is wearing one of my t-shirts. This was actually taken in 2006. Just goes to show you that even after all the slippin' slide play, Patrick is still willing to entertain them. Last summer (2007), Olivia was on a "Best Friends" kick. She would hug you around the neck and say "Best Friends!" It was so cute and sweet. She is a major stinker but we can't help but love her! We love this picture. Olivia looks like the happiest girl in the world

love hurts

Will is driving me crazy with all the chewing madness--especially when it's my chin he goes after. For some reason he thinks it's the perfect place to gnaw. Teeth or no teeth, he bites hard! Since he is basically perfection (I know, I know...he is only 5 months, but he really is a great baby) regarding everything else--omitting the near continuous flow of spit up, I'll let this slide.

Bath Time

Will loves taking a bath.

I love taking his picture.