Babies! BABIES!

 We have had such wonderful spring flowers.  I wanted to take pictures before I left.  I'm sure they will be gone by the time I return.

Monday we had a cajillion things to do.  We needed to get it all done before Tuesday noon.  We started early—went and signed papers to refinance one of our rentals.   It’s a lower rate, 10 year pay off, no balloon.  All good things.  But it took longer than I thought.

I have kudos for Home Depot, too.  We had ordered some tile that was on clearance.  The clerk said some other stores still had the tile.  However, the other stores never sent the tiles. (Likely someone bought them before they could be sent.)  So they called and said, pick out another tile, and we’ll sell it to you at the clearance price.  Since Tom wants to proceed with the bath remodel, I needed to choose the tile before I left.  I found two good choices.

Tom had a laundry list of short projects to do at several rentals—from when we had the inspections last week.  So he went off to fix a tub drain, replace a stove knob, and a variety of other things.

I had a 1pm call with my prospective client.  And at 4 Bruce Cox came to see what it would take to replace the tub downstairs.  I figured if we were doing all the work… we didn’t need to keep the blue tub.

Tuesday I had an 8am meeting with the attorney and his staff about the home page on his website and the other pages he wants to have written.  It brought to mind, afresh, that there’s a difference between copywriting and other kinds of writing—educational, informative, etc.  With every kind of writing, there are rules that make it successful.  When the novice decides to change things… usually the purpose of the writing is not fulfilled in the best way possible. The goal now is to have the different staff members contribute to their pages and have me work it so it sounds like the same voice.

The weather men had forecast rain for Monday through Friday.  It held off all day Monday… and Tuesday morning as we wrapped Miranda’s food storage boxes and mattress and box springs.  We loaded them into the pickup and headed west.  We ran into rain starting in Yelleville and it didn’t stop all the way to Tulsa. And it continued raining most of the week. (When Tom got home on Saturday, we had nearly 5 inches in the rain gage.)  This was what it looked like driving into Broken Arrow.

Wednesday we went to ½ of ½ for clothing bargains and then to Home Depot, so Tom could see what I picked out.  They only had one of the two choices.  Fortunately it was the one I liked best.

Deborah called.  She’s seen the Dr. Tuesday and was 4cm dilated.  It seemed the baby wasn’t even going to wait until Monday’s scheduled induction… much less April 3^rd’s due date.  Deborah just wanted the baby to wait until after Ian’s test on Thursday morning.

Thursday at 5:30am Miranda, Dan and I left for the hospital.  Tom stayed behind to dress and feed Camden when he awoke. All went well, and Miranda had a healthy baby boy at 7:30ish.  7 lbs, 9 oz.  20 ½ inches long.  It took a day or so to choose the name: Ethan Walker McClellan. (Walker was Dan’s mom’s maiden name.)  He looks like an Ethan.  Cute, eyes open-- observing the world, a quiet, happy baby (for the moment) and with lots of dark brown hair. 

Tom dropped off Camden at the sitters, and arrived at the hospital before Miranda was out of surgery.  We hung out for a while, then went home to get Camden, feed him, and put him down for a nap.  Through the rest of the time, we took turns taking care of Camden and being there for Miranda.

We checked on Deborah Thursday morning.  At noon her time, she called that she was headed to the hospital.  We connected again as they decided to keep her and again later in the afternoon.  At 6:43 that evening, Christopher Thomas Reck was born.  He was 8lbs, 9 oz and 20 inches long.  He had a large noggin which made delivery a little slower.  Deborah commented that it was a good thing he didn’t wait until term to come!

So Deborah and I are both sorry that I didn’t get there in time for the delivery.  We are glad it went well, and we’ll spend time together shortly.  However, I feel very blessed that both daughters and grandsons are doing well.  And that their families love them.  Deborah said that all her children wanted to hold Christopher.  Even little Samantha was delighted with her new baby brother.

Camden seemed very adaptable.  He said, “Mommy-- hospital.  Baby-- hospital.”  And at the hospital he pointed to Ethan and said, “Baby. Brother.” Tom got him out of the crib the first two mornings.  When I went in on subsequent mornings, I was greeted with, “Papa?”  Clearly, I was relegated to 2^nd place.

Tom left Saturday morning.  He returned to Mountain Home in time to set up for the Young Women’s broadcast and went and watched it that night. Deborah came home from the hospital on Saturday with little Christopher.

Today I took Camden to church. It went pretty well.  I think I am not that good at multitasking—as my attention was divided between the speakers and Camden.  Actually, as I recall, I never was that good at listening and minding children.  It was such a delight when they were quiet… if not attentive… in church.

Miranda came home this afternoon.  She’s pretty tired and sore.  She thought about calling and commiserating with Deborah… but decided to fall asleep instead. Hmm. Sounds like a good idea.