Gracie and Cletus

Cletus has been my baby for almost four years now. Over the last couple years he has endured a lot of changes in his life. Having a new baby at home seemed like it would be the biggest change of all and I was not so sure how he would handle it.

We brought Gracie home from the hospital Tuesday afternoon and he overall seemed pretty disinterested in her. He was much more interested in following my mom around or seeing what Eric was doing. Mom went into Grace's room the following morning and this is what she found . . .

He looks like he is going to be a very protective big brother for our little girl.

At attention...

At ease....

Baby Grace is HERE!

Grace Anne Roundy was born on Monday, July 25th at 3:49 am. She weighed 7 lbs, 6 oz and was 19.5 inches long

Grace decided that her arrival should be dramatic. Everything was quite normal, so normal I started wondering if this baby would ever come. My mom was in town and there was no sign that her arrival was going to be anytime soon.

We went to bed like normal Sunday night and I woke up just before 1 am. I was having some short contractions and really just cramping bad. I woke Eric up around 1:30, by that point I couldn't stand to lay in bed anymore. By 2:30 things were so bad that Eric woke my mom up and started putting everything in the car to head to the hospital. Eric and mom were pretty sure I needed to go, I still wasn't quite sure what was going on. It just seemed nothing like what the classes and books had told me to expect.

We arrived at the hospital at 3:16 (or so I am told). They took me straight upstairs. My mom had to help me change into a gown, I could hardly stand by this point. The nurses were pulling things together and one of them checked me. All I remember her saying is "yup, she's complete." They called the doctor and he walked in just minutes later all suited up.

I'm really not sure I understood what was going on at this point. All I know is that they started taking the bed apart and telling me how they wanted me to push while getting Eric, mom and the nurses where they needed to be. I pushed through a total of four contractions and she was here at 3:49 am. I just remember thinking, "really? it's over?". Overall I was pretty confused about the whole thing.

Eric and mom went over with the baby to get pictures and watch while they cleaned her all up and checked her out. Meanwhile, the doctor spent some time stitching me up (fast labor = pretty good tear). I just remember looking around and the scene seemed so unreal to me. Just a few hours before I had been at home sleeping and then here we were with a brand new baby.

Really, it was nothing like what I had imagined it would be. I had done a lot of reading, talking to other moms and birthing classes and none if it quite prepared me how things worked out. I had assumed I would have a long labor and pain medication, instead it was so fast and intense I didn't have time for and IV let alone the epidural I was planning on asking for (in fact I was officially admitted to the hospital after the baby was born).

All in all it was a wonderful day and I wouldn't change it a bit. Now we have our perfect little girl here with us and we couldn't be more excited!

Here are a few pictures from our hospital visit . . .

She stretched herself out right away

She loves to tuck in her lower lip

Here she is with daddy :)

And now with mommy . . .

And now all together :)

Getting dressed to come home

In her car seat and ready to go :)

Our garden is growing!

We moved into our house almost a year ago and have had non stop projects ever since. I have to admit I had no idea how much work a brand new house would be. Last year we started our landscaping and put in our fence and this year we have continued to add to our landscaping, put in a paver patio and got our garden boxes put together just in time to plant them.

I haven't had a garden since I lived at home and worked in my parent's garden. Which was a long time ago and means I have never been the one responsible to decide what to plant and where. So this was quite the experiment this year. We built 6 boxes and also planted some blackberries, raspberries, and rhubarb in the ground next to the house. The boxes are filled with peppers, tomatoes, carrots, onions, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, and strawberries.

So far we have only gotten a couple of raspberries, but it is early and things are well on their way. Things have done much better than I expected and I have already learned a lot about what I will do different next year. It is funny to me that with all of my horticulture/landscaping background that a vegetable garden is so foreign to me. You would think that they would have a lot in common, but I am discovering they are two very different beasts. Hopefully in my retirement from professional landscaping I will learn more about home vegetable gardening.

Welcome

I have been neglecting my blog for months now and finally decided that it was time to start a new one, so not just mine. That isn't to say that I actually expect Eric to post anything, but just something that is more about us, our family, etc. not just about me. So here it goes . . .