Avery's big sister Kendalyn is only 19m old, so I didn't know if she would understand that she just became a big sister. I told her that her new sissy was born and she looked at me like I was speaking in German. She couldn't care less. But, you'll see in later pictures that all changed once she met her! Here's a picture of Kendalyn and her cousins as we got ready to head over to her house and get things ready there for the baby.
Because Avery was born so late on Monday evening, we decided to wait until Tuesday morning to head over there. We got there at 9, so we obviously didn't wait long. ;-) Here is Livie and Kendalyn making their way into the hospital. Now, I don't know if many of you have ever tried to cart 4 excited kids into a hospital, but it's not as easy as it sounds. First of all, once we finally made our way into the lobby, I decided that Kendalyn couldn't go empty-handed to meet her sister for the first time, so we had to find the gift shop. The gift shop isn't anywhere near the main lobby (which makes no sense to me), so we had to walk around to find the place, before heading upstairs to the room.
Having a 1 yr old pick out a singular present isn't easy either. EVERYTHING is the "right thing" for a 1 yr old. She found that wolf that's on the floor first, but then got distracted by Elmo, then Big Bird, then Cookie Monster.... We finally decided on keeping the wolf.
We added a couple of balloons to the wolf and headed to the elevators.
Madie, Noah, and Livie were very excited to meet their new cousin. Or, should I say, Madie and Livie were excited to meet their new cousin. To Noah, babies are babies. They get a whole lot more interesting to him when they're Kendalyn's age. Every time he would leave the room that Kendalyn was in, he would say "Let me know if she does anything interesting!". ;-)
Obviously, we were in love at first sight!
Madie held Kendalyn up to get her first glimpses of her new baby sister.
Kendalyn obviously missed her mommy and daddy and wanted to sit with them a lot. Here, Kendalyn is helping her mommy open up the present from us.
But, since she was on the bed, she had daddy help her get a better view of Avery.
She loved looking at her baby sister, but was easily distracted that first day with the balloons. And, the curtains too. She liked hiding behind them. :-)
Now that Madie is a grown-up 10 yr old, she was super-duper excited to hold her new cousin! She was big enough to hold her without our help too. :-)
Livie still needs our help, but was very excited to hold her too. :-)
Though I doubt anyone was more excited than ME! Holding babies is something I never, ever get tired of doing. Especially my nieces and nephews.
Look at that beautiful, happy family!
Em wanted to make sure Jeff took a picture of the "sisters". Nothing quite like a sister. So glad her girls have each other now, just like my girls do and we do.
After our visit at the hospital, I drove Madie down to her Nana and Papa T's. Madie spent the night with them and had a fantastically fun time with them! She got to do all kinds of great stuff - from swimming, to frame decorating, to river-walking. You can see that she was very excited to spend all that time with her Nana!
Noah and Livie had been invited too, but since I'm not 100% confident on Noah's abilities to handle his diabetes on his own, I had him stay with me. Livie was a little nervous about the "overnight" part of the bargain, so she too stayed with me. Hopefully in the very-near future, they'll get their own special day with Nana T. :-) To make it a little special for them, though, we went back and, while Kendalyn was napping at Nana and Papa D's, we headed out to get ice cream. I mean, it's not swimming, but it's still good, right?!
Noah and Kendalyn had a fun time together. He liked to make her laugh. They watched Papa out the window and talked about cars. All the kids had a really, really fun time with her. Now that she's bigger and can interact with them, they find her to be quite a hoot!
Em and Jeff were headed home today with Avery, so I took that as my cue to head home. I wanted them to be able to have that first trip home together as a family, so they could bond and sort out the new dynamics of a family of 4. So, I had to take one more quick trip to the hospital before I left. Today, when we got there, Avery was awake. So, I got to see her eyes! And, she was "unwrapped", so I got to see her little fingers and toes. She's just precious!
Kendalyn was VERY interested in Avery today. She didn't want to get off the bed. She wanted to see the baby. And, I'm pretty sure part of that was also that she wanted to see her mommy and daddy. She was such a good girl for us, but it was obvious that 4 days away from her parents was hard on her.
She sat on the bed and tried tickling Avery's toes and played with her fingers. She gave her kisses and hugs and patted her head. It was the cutest thing ever! I told Em I couldn't believe she wasn't sobbing at the sight of it! Madie was completely uninterested in Noah when he was born. When she finally pointed at him (aka poked his eye) and said, "Baby" I was a wreck. I cried and cried, because I knew that we were now a new little family. It was a fun visit and we can't wait to see her again!
When we got back, we ate lunch, then I put Kendalyn down for her nap. Gave her lots of hugs and got everything packed up and ready to go. Of course, Noah had a have a little time with Grandpa before he left. Grandpa heard Noah's interested in coin collecting, so Dad got out his coins to share with Noah. He was very excited, because he got to take some cool ones home with him. They gave hugs to Nana and Papa D and we headed down to pick up Madie at Nana and Papa T's. We were there for a little while, sampling the brownies they made, then headed home. We were greeted by a very excited Tater and a happy Daddy. It was a great few days, full of lots of happiness. But, it's good to be home. :-)
Having a 1 yr old pick out a singular present isn't easy either. EVERYTHING is the "right thing" for a 1 yr old. She found that wolf that's on the floor first, but then got distracted by Elmo, then Big Bird, then Cookie Monster.... We finally decided on keeping the wolf.
We added a couple of balloons to the wolf and headed to the elevators.
Madie, Noah, and Livie were very excited to meet their new cousin. Or, should I say, Madie and Livie were excited to meet their new cousin. To Noah, babies are babies. They get a whole lot more interesting to him when they're Kendalyn's age. Every time he would leave the room that Kendalyn was in, he would say "Let me know if she does anything interesting!". ;-)
Obviously, we were in love at first sight!
Madie held Kendalyn up to get her first glimpses of her new baby sister.
Kendalyn obviously missed her mommy and daddy and wanted to sit with them a lot. Here, Kendalyn is helping her mommy open up the present from us.
But, since she was on the bed, she had daddy help her get a better view of Avery.
She loved looking at her baby sister, but was easily distracted that first day with the balloons. And, the curtains too. She liked hiding behind them. :-)
Now that Madie is a grown-up 10 yr old, she was super-duper excited to hold her new cousin! She was big enough to hold her without our help too. :-)
Livie still needs our help, but was very excited to hold her too. :-)
Though I doubt anyone was more excited than ME! Holding babies is something I never, ever get tired of doing. Especially my nieces and nephews.
Look at that beautiful, happy family!
Em wanted to make sure Jeff took a picture of the "sisters". Nothing quite like a sister. So glad her girls have each other now, just like my girls do and we do.
After our visit at the hospital, I drove Madie down to her Nana and Papa T's. Madie spent the night with them and had a fantastically fun time with them! She got to do all kinds of great stuff - from swimming, to frame decorating, to river-walking. You can see that she was very excited to spend all that time with her Nana!
Noah and Livie had been invited too, but since I'm not 100% confident on Noah's abilities to handle his diabetes on his own, I had him stay with me. Livie was a little nervous about the "overnight" part of the bargain, so she too stayed with me. Hopefully in the very-near future, they'll get their own special day with Nana T. :-) To make it a little special for them, though, we went back and, while Kendalyn was napping at Nana and Papa D's, we headed out to get ice cream. I mean, it's not swimming, but it's still good, right?!
Noah and Kendalyn had a fun time together. He liked to make her laugh. They watched Papa out the window and talked about cars. All the kids had a really, really fun time with her. Now that she's bigger and can interact with them, they find her to be quite a hoot!
Em and Jeff were headed home today with Avery, so I took that as my cue to head home. I wanted them to be able to have that first trip home together as a family, so they could bond and sort out the new dynamics of a family of 4. So, I had to take one more quick trip to the hospital before I left. Today, when we got there, Avery was awake. So, I got to see her eyes! And, she was "unwrapped", so I got to see her little fingers and toes. She's just precious!
Kendalyn was VERY interested in Avery today. She didn't want to get off the bed. She wanted to see the baby. And, I'm pretty sure part of that was also that she wanted to see her mommy and daddy. She was such a good girl for us, but it was obvious that 4 days away from her parents was hard on her.
She sat on the bed and tried tickling Avery's toes and played with her fingers. She gave her kisses and hugs and patted her head. It was the cutest thing ever! I told Em I couldn't believe she wasn't sobbing at the sight of it! Madie was completely uninterested in Noah when he was born. When she finally pointed at him (aka poked his eye) and said, "Baby" I was a wreck. I cried and cried, because I knew that we were now a new little family. It was a fun visit and we can't wait to see her again!
When we got back, we ate lunch, then I put Kendalyn down for her nap. Gave her lots of hugs and got everything packed up and ready to go. Of course, Noah had a have a little time with Grandpa before he left. Grandpa heard Noah's interested in coin collecting, so Dad got out his coins to share with Noah. He was very excited, because he got to take some cool ones home with him. They gave hugs to Nana and Papa D and we headed down to pick up Madie at Nana and Papa T's. We were there for a little while, sampling the brownies they made, then headed home. We were greeted by a very excited Tater and a happy Daddy. It was a great few days, full of lots of happiness. But, it's good to be home. :-)
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