She's Here!

And she's perfect.

Thursday morning, we woke up around 4am and drove to the hospital. Here I am in those fashionable little hospital gowns they give you.


They wheeled us into surgery about 7:20. I was so nervous and I'm sure Steven was too. But everything went swimmingly. The surgery staff was fantastic. I waited with bated breath until I heard two sounds: first, her beautiful, angry cry and second, my OB say "It really is a girl!" Steven brought her around for her first kiss from Mama.


NINE POUNDS, ONE OUNCE and 21 inches! Cute upturned nose and beautiful, full lips.




Strangely enough, she has tons of beautiful blonde hair! This absolutely must come from Steven's side of the family, because everyone knows Howsley babies are bald as cueballs. After giving her a first bath, the nurse tried to style her hair like a little kewpie doll.


Cynthia Grace Grundberg is such a wonderful little girl. She's a great nurser, and a very heavy sleeper. I usually have to wake her up in order to get her to eat! Steven and I are so in love with her.



As soon as Gracie and I received clear bills of health, we left the hospital on Saturday (thank goodness--I was so ready to come home). Here's the little beauty in her homecoming outfit.




I was a little worried about how the boys were going to react to having a newborn in the house, but so far, they've been wonderful. They absolutely love her. It's so heartwarming to watch them hover over her and coo to her. Even Jacob is constantly talking to little "Gwacie."


I love our family!

Countdown Begins

I will have Grace in my arms in 13 hours.

Now is not only the time to wait restlessly, but also to hope and pray that everything goes right, and that Grace is happy and healthy.

It's so strange to think that I'll be meeting her so soon. I've been pregnant for so long now it seems, and it will be a great relief to be free of that. But I will miss the little hiccups and kicks. Then again, I'd rather see them in person.

I feel strangely under-prepared and even more strangely unconcerned about it. Let's just do this.

Here are probably the last pregnant Jenny pictures I'll ever take--just for nostalgia's sake.




(Good Grief, that side shot is a little alarming).


Oh please, let her be healthy.

Sir Jacob

Jake and I had some fun playing dress-up last night.




Not sure about the jazz hands...


Jake liked it, though.


(All of this started, by the way, when Steven and I noticed Jacob was struggling with all his might to pull on the knight boots and tunic. We decided to help him out with the rest.)

Father/Son Campout

Despite my rather adventurous evening, Steven and the boys did have a wonderful time on the Father/Son Campout Friday night. The campout was in Seabrook, right by the beach.

Apparently there was a huge hill where all the kids had a great time running up and down.


They also enjoyed building a sort of step-stone bridge out to the water.





David tried to build his very own bridge, and in doing so accidentally stepped in the water up to his mid-calves.



(YEAH, she is).
The weather ended up being pretty warm and damp (surprise, surprise, Houston,) but rather windy, causing one of the tent rods to snap in the middle of the night! In the morning, the temperature was in the low 60s, and after breakfast the boys decided they were all a bit too cold. They cut the morning short and came home to their slightly hysterical Mama (though everything did look safer in the morning light).

An Exciting Night

Friday night was the Father/Son camp out. With me being terribly pregnant, Steven was a bit reluctant to go, but Stevie and David had been talking excitedly about it all week, so I told him to take them and have fun.

Jake and I had a nice time watching Thomas the Train episodes and eating Chick-fil-A. As I was putting him to bed at around 8:00, I noticed that there were two cop cars parked directly outside my house. I was a bit nervous, so I kept an eye on them awhile (translation: I turned out the lights in the office and snooped like an old busybody until they left at around 9:00). I was still feeling a bit scared when I started hearing noises. I walked into the hall, and distinctly heard two knocks. I thought it must be the police so I threw on some clothes and started to run downstairs. That's when I heard two more knocks---this time I realized it was coming from the BACK door.

Well, I freaked out completely. My back door and my kitchen don't have any curtains on them, and I was scared out of my mind. I called my friend and made her send over her ex-marine/ex-cop husband. He scouted out around the house for me and didn't find anything. He even suggested I call the police, and they told me that the police cars were sent out for a juvenile disturbance and it wasn't a big deal. Then I felt really silly for making Ben come over and check things out for me. Nevertheless, I double-checked all the locks and windows, took Jacob into my room, locked my bedroom door and had a fairly sleepless night with the baseball bat next to my bed.

The next morning Steven was home by 9am. He said it was because it was cold and the boys didn't have jackets, but I think he was worried. I don't know if I was just being hysterical (a true possibility, considering my current hormonal state) or if someone really did knock on my back door. Regardless, I feel a lot better now that Steve's home.

Friday Tidbits

David was home sick for two days this week--some bizarre illness where his fever would come and go. The Father/Son campout is tonight, and I was really afraid he was going to miss it. Luckily, he woke up this morning temperature-free and so off to school he went. Thank goodness, because I was truly in danger of going crazy: not unlike David in this picture:


In other news, Stevie is close to finishing his first "big kid" novel-- Rick Riordan's 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones. It's a hot new series for boys. It's taken Stevie awhile, but he finally got hooked about half-way through. I'm always looking for books to entice him. He's a fantastic reader, but finding a book he likes is a difficult endeavor (I wonder where he gets that from?)



And lastly, Jacob has been practicing his chops on trombone. Now if he could only lift it by himself (Daddy helped).

Dr. Seuss Days

The next couple of weeks at school they're celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday in the first grade. Today was crazy hair day in honor of the book, Daisy-Head Maisy.

Anyway, here's a few shots of Stevie's wacky hair:






Let's hope it washes out!

Squatters

First Jacob, and then David have been hit by a mysterious illness that causes them to have a high fever, followed by their feeling 100% fine almost immediately. It was just enough to necessitate David's staying home from school, and so he played happily and tormented his little brother all day today.

Because today was somewhat of a bust productivity-wise, I thought I'd share about a few family visitors of ours. One is this spider...


I swear I have vacuumed up at least 5 different spiders and their webs from this exact spot in the corner of our downstairs half-bath. But they keep telling their friends. It must be prime real estate. I'm about to give up and just dedicate this corner to the spider community.

Another is this dove...


She (?) lives in our backyard (I think?) with her mate. I couldn't get a close enough picture with both of them in it (they must've been together for awhile--no PDA for these birds). I hear them cooing all the time. I've got a soft-spot in my heart for doves. It makes me feel all Valentine-sy and squishy inside to think of them mating for life. It reminds me of Mama and Daddy.

Little Sissy

Last night, I thought that Grace was going to try and make an early appearance.

Around 5pm, I started having contractions and seriously feeling like she was trying to JUMP OUT of me ahead of schedule. At first, I was thrilled by the thought of her getting here early--until I realized that meant that Steve would have to take his week of vacation a week earlier and then I'd have to take care of ALL the kids during Spring Break. After that little revelation, I tried to persuade her to stay put.

Luckily, she listened. Contractions stopped after a few hours and as long as I laid down, I felt better. Today's visit with the doctor confirmed that it was just a little Braxton Hicks and that everything looks fine. My doctor just advised me to stay off my feet as much as I can (ha ha ha).

So no surprise appearances from Little Sissy, thank goodness. Everything is all set. I have the kids all (more or less) farmed out, and Steven and I have to be at the hospital at 5am on March 8th. Only 8 1/2 days to go! I getting pretty darn excited, here.

A Few Action Shots

Yesterday it was actually warm enough to wear shorts to school. It hovered around the low 80s in the late afternoon. So the two big fellas took the chance to get in some trampoline time with their friend from around the corner. (Please excuse our death-trap of a trampoline...4 Texas summers was about all it could handle).


I just adore this picture of Stevie. He kept saying, "Did I get high enough in that picture, Mom?" Yeah, I think he's got plenty of air here.



The next day (today) was so windy and cold that I felt bad for not sending the boys to school with heavier coats. Jacob, who had missed all the fun the previous day, decided he wanted a few action shots of his own.