the 'ing's of our life

Hannah is camped out in the living room in a basinet. When JB needed to turn the light on above her head, he pulled out his eye mask to help make sure she stayed asleep. It really cracked me up!

 

Learning. We are learning our new little girl. So far she seems very mellow and sweet. She has a nice cry. (Some babies ... well, ummm, Elijah ... did not.) She is slowly getting her days
and nights screwed on straight and is very snuggly and chubby. We like her. :)

Welcoming. There's a new sibling to welcome aboard. Each of the kids is getting to know Hannah in their own way. Abigail doesn't want to hold her as much as I thought she would. (Which is probably a good thing.) But she's kind and curious and gentle which is great. Isaac is very sweet with her, giving her kisses or talking to her. However, overall, you can tell she's not anything of great note on his radar. Sidge asks the most questions and is the most curious about her arrival: umbilical cords, breast feeding, diaper changing ... Sidge wants to understand what is going on.

Doctoring. So glad to have a doctor on board. Little things are popping up. I've got some sort of rash on my stomach and legs. Hannah's bottom is mighty red. I've had some really bad pain in my lower left side. Those types of things. And having JB here means I just have to say, "What do you think about ..." and we have an answer. That alone was worth four years of medical school and three years of residency. The hospital recommended the local "Pediatric & Associates" which is right down the street. They saw Abigail on Monday and will see her again next Monday before we fly back. They can also get a letter which the airlines may require for flight.

Recovering. This is where Wendi is right now. I'm recovering from my fifth (and prayerfully last!) stomach surgery. Overall my recovery has gone nearly flawlessly. I was able to leave the hospital a day early and am now navigating the stairs at my parents' home and actually able to pick things up off the ground without using my toes. My biggest obstacle is always trying to manage the pain while keeping my bowels moving. (Percocet can back you up to put it bluntly.) I have a great fear of my bowels shutting down again like they did with Sidge and gas pain is a booger!

Preparing. We are preparing for our return to the island. Hard to believe we are planning to navigate a return trip in just a week. We will take a commercial flight north and then we hope to catch a military flight back to the island. Unfortunately, it's an overnight flight. Yuck! JB is also busy packing up boxes to ship stuff home. Man, we've accumulated a lot of things during our two months here.

Scrubby-ing. We miss him. JB's tech back on the island, a single gal whose name is, ironically Hannah Olivia (which were our two final contenders for a baby name), is staying at our house and taking care of our pup for us!

Passporting. We are getting the little lady ready to fly! We were able to get a birth certificate the day after the baby was born. Today JB managed to get passport photos of Hannah at a local pharmacy. On Thursday, JB, me and the baby will spend the entire day in Miami (about an hour away) getting her a same-day passport!

Visiting. We are spending time with family members we won't see for quite awhile. All of JB's brothers and sisters are here or have been here except for his sister Katie. My brother lives here too. John's sister Elizabeth flew in from South Carolina with her twin boys. His brother Rob and his girlfriend came down two weekends. We've gotten to spend some good quality time with his brother Matt and his wife Danielle. It's been great.

Blessing. We are watching the Lord's blessings every day. Individuals in my parents' Bible Study have been blessing our family with meals. What a great gift! This was a place that both JB and I spent our entire childhood, and it is wonderful to touch base with individuals who played a part in my life growing up.

Watching. A bit more TV than we are used to. Abigail has become addicted to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She makes a sign for "Mickey" by putting her hands on her head like ears. She asks to watch it nearly non-stop so mostly we are trying to keep her episode viewing down to a few a day. What will we do when we return to the Azores and we do not have Direct TV?

Eating. Aaaaaah "American" food. We sure are trying to get our full before we head back "home."