Monday, September 04, 2017

Monday-12:45pm

Leah and Liam!  :)
 He was about 4 1/2 hours old.
Lots of dark hair. 
Meeting Grandma with phone in front of her face--LOL! 
Dagan had picked up Ian first and left him with Mama and Liam while he dropped off Aaron (Leah's brother) at home and cam to pick me up.  Ian greeted me with the exciting fact of the day--"Gramma!  He just came out! He just came out!"  (He and daddy had been telling Mama's overdue baby belly--"Come out--we want to meet you!")
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I'm not sure he quite knows what to think of this new sibling yet, but they will all be going home this afternoon so things will settle into the new routine.   
McFamily photos! 

Liam (9 lb 8 oz) was smaller than Ian (10 lb 9 oz) even though he was about a week overdue.  A good thing.  And Liam took a massively shorter time getting here (a little over 6 hours vs. Ian's 69 hours).  An excellent thing.  So very, very happy for them all.  :)
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Other than a crazy day in the 90s yesterday, it has been feeling like fall already.  The grackles must have gone south a couple weeks ago...along with the geese.  The sparrows are flocking up.  My flowers are still looking pretty good. 
These were shot through the screen, as you can tell. 
I have absolutely loved having them this year and will have flower boxes again next year for sure! 
I made up a what's-left-in-the-pantry-and-freezer soup...well more of a stew, as it turned out.  Some frozen veggies, canned beans, brown rice, soy hamburger, crushed tomatoes, and spices.  Tastes a whole lot better than it looks--LOL!
Today I'm doing laundry and plan to start an online calligraphy class--first month is free.  If I like it I can keep going through February for $12 a month. (Well, you have one day each month to sign up for the $12 and then it's back up to regular price of $24).  I've wanted to learn how to do the brush calligraphy they do these days plus how to use my oblique pen holder.  This course starts with the very basic strokes and she has worksheets for both smaller strokes and larger so I can use it for small brush pens, large brush pens, or a dip pen.  Cool!  I'll see how I like it and if I can keep up doing my 15-20 minutes a day on my worksheets.  ;)
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Annie has been coming up to sit with me in my chair every single day since she first surprised me.  She's still quite skittish otherwise, but isn't darting away quite as far and I can walk by closer than previously before she scoots away. 
She's even taken to jumping up on the arm of the chair the past two days so I will give her an actual cuddle before she kind of slithers down onto the footrest.  Very quick cuddle.  Maybe 30-60 seconds.  But she's asking for that tiny bit of closer contact.  Whatever Shy Annie can handle is okay with me.  :)
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Annie spends most of her day watching the birds and the ground squirrels. 
Does my heart good to see her looking so relaxed.  As long as I don't step foot in the living room--hehe!
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Well, buzzer went off.  Got to go deal with clothes.  Have a nice Labor Day those in the US.  We're having a nice Post-Labor Day here--LOL!
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"How many times have you noticed that it's the little quiet moments in the midst of life that seem to give the rest extra-special meaning?"
Fred Rogers

19 comments:

GrandmaG said...

I think the soup/stew looks wonderful! Looks like what we call chili. Yum! Leah looks great! Happy family. I still can't believe the doctor let her go through 69 hours of labor. Or did she refuse a c-section? Bet you can't wait to hold Liam :) Liam and Ian. . .kind of a tough twister – LOL! Congrats!

Joyce F said...

Congratulations on the new grandson. Like the name. Also happy Annie decides she likes you!

pearshapedcrafting said...

What wonderful photos! Two big babies there - glad it wasn't so long this time! Love seeing your flowers! It's amazing what can make a good soup isn't it - I love 'Pot Luck' soups! Good to see that Annie is relaxing while she watches 'Cat TV'
Have fun with your calligraphy! Hugs, Chrisx

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

LOVE the photo of McFamily. Looks like this is going to be a great relationship between Ian and Liam.

So glad for you about Annie, too. Lots of love all around in this post!

My name is Erika. said...

I saw on the news you were having a major heatwave. Total opposite from us here in NH. And Liam is a cutie. He looks so curious even just a few minutes after being born. He has such intelligent eyes in these photos. Stay cool my friend. Hugs Erika.

Janie Junebug said...

Such a beautiful, beautiful baby, and Ian is such a lovely little boy. Congratulations to all of you.

Love,
Janie

AliceKay said...

Wonderful pictures of your new little family. They all look very happy. I'm glad Leah had a much easier delivery this time around. And hey, we'll need to see pictures of Gramma holding Liam soon. ;)

Leah said...

With Ian, I had hoped for a home water birth with a midwife. So I labored at home with the midwife for the first 2 days, then my labor stalled at night, the contractions completely stopped.
The midwife told Dagan and I to sleep and we'd go into the hospital in the morning. We got to the hospital in the morning, a C-section was given in the options, but we wanted to try petocin to see if we could get labor started again and avoid a C-section. Ian was born just before 10 pm that evening. So, I only labored in the hospital for about 13-14 hours. Though they knew when my labor started, Ian was always fine throughout their monitoring of him. I was very happy to not have to have a c-section.

Anonymous said...

Liam is a handsome devil, just like his brother!! I do calligraphy & I love it--I think you will, too.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

I am sure his parents are happy he came out at last, he is gorgeous but generally speaking babies are gorgeous, although I have seen a few babies who were not

DJan said...

So very glad that the birth was perfect. And Ian will adjust to his new baby brother, but he'll need his grandma even more. Love the fact that Annie is now settling in so well. You and I are both happy about that! :-)

Sherry Ellis said...

Ian is adorable. He reminds me of my Bubba with all that hair! Congratulations to all of you.

Divers and Sundry said...

Congrats on the sweet growing family :)

Your flowers are like mine, I think, such a wonderful addition to the patio you can't imagine not having them :)

My husband learned calligraphy from a book, lined paper, and lots of practice. Online options have given us more choices these days.

Jenny Woolf said...

Oh congratulations to the proud parents (and Grandma) ! What a beautiful baby Liam is! Lots of good things in your life now, Liam being the most wonderful but also Annie's growing confidence and those ever-giving flowers! I hope you enjoy the calligraphy,too!

froebelsternchen said...

So nice - big congrats ! Thank you for the photos!
Have fun at the calligraphy class!
oxo Susi

Lady Fi said...

Awww - huge smiles and congratulations!

Serena Lewis said...

Baby Liam is adorable! Such a sweet family. You must be so thrilled, Rita. I'm glad everything went well.

Your flowers look beautiful!

I'm sure your soup was delicious and it looks very tasty.

The calligraphy course sounds very interesting. Which website are you going through? I've always loved calligraphy and yearned to do it myself. I'd buy the calligraphy do-it-yourself sets but never stayed at it long enough.

I'm so happy to hear that Annie is making a habit of sitting with you every day.

Life is good!

Love and hugs xo

Far Side of Fifty said...

Such a handsome baby! Two boys they will be good friends! A gal I used to babysit for back in Moorhead in the mid 1970s has three boys, Aiden, Liam and Ian,,,so the name choice made me smile.
What a good first pic of the Mc Family they all look so happy!
So good to hear that Annie is doing some more socialization with you! :)

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

Your flowers look beautiful and so colorful! Liam looks like he is doing so well. His eyes are already open...such an alert little one. Happy to see Annie is making such good and steady progress with spending time with you.