A wonderful day

What started as a not so great day turned out to be a great day. Elaine and I had gone to the hospital to get her blood drawn for her thyroid check. She had the unfortunate luck to get a big guy who didn't do as gentle as a job than I've seen done before for blood draws. :(

I continued onto the grocery store, where Elaine decided to start crying in Aisle 2. I spent the remaining 50 minutes holding her in one arm while pulling the cart with the other. Thank GOODNESS Sam offered to watch Peter and Natalie at home (while I had said I would attempt to shop with all three)!

The day started to turn up when I got the call from Elaine's endocrinology doctor. Turns out Elaine's thyroid levels are good and she was taken off her thyroid medication! YAY! Next week we have to go in for another blood draw (darn sure I'm not going back to big guy vampire). If Elaine's levels remain good, it looks like she'll be done with this hyperthyroid deal! YAY YAY!

Next, I got a delivery of BEAUTIFUL flowers from "Dan, Beth and the kidlets". THANK YOU GUYS! The arrangement was enormous and wonderful! They have my favorite favorite flower - asiatic lily. They smell SO GOOD! Love them!

Right behind that delivery (literally, FedEx lady was walking up behind florist delivery), I got my Old Navy/Gap order of post-partum/summer clothes. I was so excited to get those flowers AND clothes that weren't maternity and fit me nicely! Sad to know, I've been wearing the same two pairs of goucho pants for months. Now, you know my sad secret.

Finally, Elaine's baby swing order came into the store! After Elaine's diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, I was overwhelmed with guilt that I bought all these cute baby girl stuff for her, including this butterfly baby papasan swing. I'm not even sure if she'll love it or not, but I was willing to get it to try! I have to say, she looks totally cute in it!

And Peter was VERY interested in it too!

Right now, all three kids are sound asleep, allowing me to update this blog of mine.

Like I said, it's been a wonderful day!

Let us not forget Uncle Jim's visit!

June 12-16th - Father's Day weekend:

Amidst last month's flooding, Uncle Jim (Sam's brother) paid us a visit. It probably was not the easiest time to travel to Iowa since the flooding closed several bridges and roads between Iowa City and Quad Cities airport. Jim's travel time into Iowa took 6 extra hours due to airplane mechanical problems, tornado warnings in the Quad Cities, and closed flooded bridges/roads on I-80. I just hope it was all worth it for Jim!

Peter and Natalie loved having him here,

horsing around the yard...

eating Airliner pizza together...

telling Knock Knock jokes...

(Transcript to Natalie's one-woman joke:

"Knock Knock...Who's there... Boo... Boo who...don't cry it's just a joke...ha ha ha ha")

watching Burer brothers be Burer brothers...

giving Uncle Jim lots of love...

...but were sad to see him go.

Three-week old Elaine update

It's been an interesting and fun adjustment period for us all. It's still work in progress (I would imagine it'll be a lifelong adjustment) but we're doing great. Elaine is sleeping more at night. Her "typical" night would be to fall asleep around 10-11pm, wake around 2-3am for feeding, then again around 7am. I can't say that this is every night, but it's been a repeating pattern that I think I could live with! She's more alert during the days, looking around at her surroundings, especially Peter and Natalie:

Her nap schedule during the days is a little unknown to me. She doesn't nap well other than in my arms or on my chest. That's why I'll be reading my "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" book again. Until she's 6 weeks or so, I can't help but spoil her by holding her all the time.

Here is a rare daytime moment of Elaine sleeping like an angel...

...apparently, having a nice dream (or a warm diaper feeling).

Being more alert, Elaine opened her eyes enough for me to snap a picture of them:

Not sure if you can see it, but she does have Sam's blue eyes!