And a HUGE "thank you" to Boofer's grandmas and aunt!

Today is the first day in a month that I've been on my own. A couple weeks before Boofer's birthday, my mom came down to help with Mr. Boo and make sure I wasn't alone in case something happened - like me giving birth. It was such a huge relief to have someone help. I didn't realize how worn out I was, both physically and emotionally, until I had help.

Susan came down the day Boofer was born, and stayed until she took Dirk back to the airport on Saturday. Mr. Boo loved having his grandma around. And I know Dirk loved having her here for his short leave.

Because of the trouble I had with my epidural, I was under instructions to not lift anything heavier than 10 lbs for two weeks while the puncture healed. Mom and Susan set up a tag-team to make sure I had someone living here for those two weeks. I couldn't have done it without them, literally.

Mr. Boo's grandmas were great sports in taking him outside to play. They also did all the Boo-lifting - in and out of his crib, up to the chair to eat, up the stairs when he was protesting a threatened diaper change, and in and out of the car seat.

And best of all, they are good company. It was wonderful to not be alone those first couple weeks after Dirk left. I needed my wonderful mom and mom-in-law as much as Mr. Boo needed them.

My sister was also wonderful. She took Mr. Boo that first week for most of the days when he had such a drippy cold. As a blessing for her sacrifice, she caught Mr. Boo's cold and then passed it on to all three of her kids. Sorry Chelle!

Many thanks and undying gratitude for your help.

12 days old and all's well!

At Boofer's 12 day old mark, I am finally starting to feel normal again. Mr. Boo has actually gotten within inches of his brother. Mr. Boo has not been very social with the baby, probably because I banished him for a week when he had a cold and Boo did not know there was a baby in the house.



Mr. Boo did have a bonding moment with his brother. He was in Boofer's room, and suddenly started shouting "Melmo! Melmo!" and rushed out of the room. He returned clutching one of his diapers featuring Elmo. In great excitement, he pointed to Boofer's diaper in the garbage can, which also featured Elmo! Matching diapers! How totally cool! Other than that, he's tried to push him off my lap a couple times, but has otherwise ignored him.

I did coax him up to pat the baby today. I showed him how to pat the baby gently. Mr. Boo took a swing and whapped him a good one on the chest. We'll have to work on that "gentle" thing. At least he touched him, right?

Boofer at six days

Here are a couple photos of Boofer just before his first week birthday.

Mr. Boo on the farm

Mr. Boo is a collector of animal sounds. He loves performing. He'll come up and say, "baa" and then sign "more" so I'll prompt him for his entire repertoire. Naturally, I think this is the cutest thing ever. He was initially a bit shy for the camera in this clip, but overcame his stage fright and gives a four-star performance.

Simon's first bath

Simon had his first bath today. He was not very impressed.





Mostly, I'm uploading photos to the blog so Dirk can see them, since his email box gets overloaded with military stuff. All these photos, plus more, are also on the gallery. Dirk, can you get to the gallery easily?

Proof of his Wrath

Since Grandma Susan cast doubt on how angry he was at being put in his car seat:







Need I Say More?

Lil Boofer Has Arrived

It is with great joy that we announce the arrival of Lil Boofer. He was born at 8:16 am on 3 April, he weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz, and was 20 inches long.



His mother was scheduled to be induced at 7 am on the 3rd, but he wouldn't stand for that, things had to be run on his time. So at three a.m. HE decided it was time to go to the hospital. So off we went. Big thanks to Chelle for coming over to watch Mr. Boo that early.

We got to the hospital about four a.m. and four hours and a partially problimatic epidural later our new arrival was here. Mother and child are both doing extremely well.

Enjoy the pictures, and I'm sure many more will be posted in the following days on various family blog sites, and Da will most likely find some time in the next couple weeks to fill in on the details of this great event.



Brothers


The Happy Family


Ready to go Home!