Who Could Stay Away?

After re-cooping a few days at home, I flew back to see how I could help out (no selfish motives here. . . HA!)

It was nice to see them settled in at home. . . so much better than being trapped in a hospital room!
Leah had mastered the whole sleeping all the time thing. . .

while occasionally eating and . . . well, you know!

I was able to help clean, stock the fridge and freezer with lots of meals and round out her wardrobe.  It’s nice to be able to figure out what the greater needs are.
Don’t you love tiny baby hands?  We do


The daughter of mine who refused to babysit has taken on the role of aunt quite seriously!

We were pretty excited on the occasions when she’d open her eyes. . . 
Paul drove out to fetch me, but I think it was really to meet his grandbaby. . . .

Allie made sure we knew that she would get to spend a lot more time with Leah than we would. . .

We would take turns holding her when we went out to eat. . . they looks good together, don’t they?
Since we happened to be there on a Sunday, Jennifer and Samuel arranged for Leah to be blessed. 

David was able to make it too.  The stars may never line up again for us all to be there for a baby blessing, so we felt very blessed ourselves.

Sadly, we could not stay forever. . . something about a job that pays for these type of trips.
But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t already scheming about our next encounter!

A Slice of Heaven

After grabbing a few hours of sleep, I found myself heading back down to my newest love of my life!


While her mom and dad napped, I got to hold this precious bundle.  To think a few hours earlier, she had been hanging out with Heavenly Father!

I love that they make awesome name tags for all their guests.

Allie was never a babysitter but this little girl would change that for her, right? 

I couldn’t ask for a better early birthday present!!!!!!


I decided to head home the next day because the Jennifer and Leah would be in the hospital for several days, I wanted to spend some of my birthday with MY man, and I wanted to let Jennifer and Samuel have their first Valentine’s Day without me hanging around.
Even though they had this life changing event happen, Jennifer and Samuel plied me with birthday gifts (as if a grandbaby wasn't enough.)  Allie took me out for ice cream and sang to me.  I felt so loved!

It was a great trip, but I would be back SOON!

Never the Same

Do you ever wake up thinking that something will happen that day that will change your life forever?
Sometimes I do and I thought I knew the day it would happen and what it was.  I was right about the event (more or less) but not the date!
While Jennifer labored all day, it was not to be the day that she had her baby.  Baby Leah was not born until after midnight.
Due to medical things that I didn’t fully understand (with it being waaaaaay past my bedtime), we did not get to meet her for quite a while.
They took her off to a nursery where her daddy watched out for her.  And we waited.
Jennifer was transferred to another room so we all headed there. . .and waited.
We could wait no more and headed to the nursery to peak in. . . .

They told Samuel he could join her so he did. . .
They poked her, prodded her, foot printed her, gave her a bath and who knows what else. . .


and finally (at 4 AM) she was brought to her mom!

Allie waited it out with me . . .

Doesn’t this look just right?   (Look at all that hair!)
It was late (or early) and I was really tired.  I felt so lucky to be there, but I also hoped that I would be able to make it back to my bed without falling asleep.
This was the day I became a grandma. . . or a nana. . . or sometime that sounds older and wiser than I really am!