Meeting The Crew.

After arriving in the world, Audrey had a busy social schedule to attend to ...
After the Audreys met, it was time to have my Howie meet the next Audrey in his life ... I think it was LOVE at first sight and I LOVE that he prayed for our sweet new addition as he welcomed her into our family!
Up next ... Ben's parents arrived from California ... Audrey and her "Cake" ...
and her "Pap Pap" ...
Then ... Audrey and I spent a few more quality days in the hospital. We welcome a few more visitors and then ... on Father's Day ... we came home!
I think I win for best Father's Day gift for Ben ... forget the new tie ... it's not every year you get a new daughter :)
On our way home ... we stopped by my mom's and introduced Audrey to the CHARMINGS ... we have the best video of their introduction. Audrey is one lucky girl to have such great big brothers!
It's funny how HUGE J. How and Eli looked after spending a few days with a newborn.
The two things the boys cared about the most ... when was her cord going to fall off and when was she going to get teeth!Then my mom and I compared my baby pictures to Audrey ... I believe I might have an offspring that FINALLY looks like me!
And finally ... before we left ... the boys gave Audrey gifts ... I think she LOVED them!
And look what we found when we got home?
Our porch had been attacked by the infamous Miss Robin!
LOVE Miss Robin ... LOVE all the pink ... and LOVE our sweet Audrey!

Welcome.

Ben just took the boys to the park. Audrey is sleeping. I've had a cup of coffee and as I reached to grab my cereal bowl, I saw the camera (that has 322 pictures on it since last Thursday). And I thought ... perhaps I should upload a few and give you a glimpse of our past few days.

This is Miss Audrey Elizabeth. She arrived last Thursday at 10:11am. I had the entire OR on alert that she really might not be a girl. You see ... I wasn't completely convinced. Sure I had an ultrasound by the world renowned Dr. Finberg who has NEVER made a gender mistake but even that didn't completely do it for me. The nurse in the triage area told me a Finberg scan was as solid as it gets. Apparently, I have issues with believing even world renowned physicians. When Audrey did make her first appearance, one of the OR nurses shouted ... "She really is a girl!!"

Here we are ... meeting for the first time :)

And here is my most favorite doctor on the planet. He had to work on me for QUITE some time. I had a few complications that I can explain at a later date ... but when I say that our Audrey is a complete miracle ... she truly is. And that Dr. Urig ... he's a total rock star!

Benni holding Audrey in the recovery room ... apparently ... by this time ... he and Audrey had already had "the talk." I'm pretty sure she won't be dating until she's 30!

And probably my favorite moment of the day ... other than meeting Audrey myself was when my grandma arrived. My grandparents have always been the first visitors for each of my kids in the hospital. I was pretty sure they weren't going to keep up their track record with baby #3 but when the phone rang in the recovery room that we had visitors ... I was THRILLED!

Audrey .... meet ... Audrey!

Life just doesn't get much better than to capture a moment like this!!
P.S .Audrey's name was kept a secret so my grandma (Audrey) had only found out moments before this picture that she would be meeting the newest Audrey!

Miss Audrey Elizabeth Makes Her Appearance!

This is Mikele, guest blogger for the Pit Crew.

Audrey Elizabeth was born on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 10:11 am. She was 7lbs 3oz and 21 inches tall.

She is a gift from God and a precious blessing.

Josh, Kate and I had the honor of visiting her yesterday. Kate was especially excited and ooohed and ahhhed over every detail.

This is me explaining the umbilical cord. I tried to be cool.

Ben has many, many more wonderful pictures to share, but I am way thrilled to be able to introduce her.

We love you, sweet miraculous Audrey. Welcome!

Love,

Aunt Mikele (your favorite)

Still Cooking.

If you would have asked me a month ago, I would have bet a lot of money that by today ... I'd be able to see my toes again. As it turns out, I had them painted yesterday. By a professional. Who told me it was boring not to put a flower on my newly glazed beauties. It's cool. I can handle being boring. It's not as though I can't see them anyways.

Speaking of professionals ... I am now waddling like one. I have it down to a complete science. It's a newly acquired skill that I am looking forward to parting with ... come THURSDAY!!!

We've been keeping busy around here ... not sure painting is the best choice for a nesting mother? I'm usually am pretty relaxed about the whole painting process but last week ... I had damp towels ready to go and made my E remove his shirt before getting armpit deep in the colorful goo.
He didn't seem to mind the lack of clothing ... he never really does! And those painting cups ... BEST INVENTION EVER! I am slight neurotic about mixing paint colors and since we have paintbrushes that match the cup color that match the paint color ... E has NO EXCUSE for playing paint chemist ... except on his paper!
Then our favorite Miss Robin dropped off some reading material for our upcoming arrival ... the perks of living next to a teacher :)
And our J. How ... started soccer lessons!
Want to know his strategy?
J: "First you dribble. Then you make a big kick and fake out the goalie."
Me: "Joshua. You are going to be a great soccer player."
J: "Mom. I'm already great. In four more lessons, I'm going to be awesome."
And there you have it!!
And finally ... I'm bored. And large. And in need of something to keep myself occupied ... so I made more dresses for the girl child. She better get here soon or her closet will be bursting at the seams!!!

It's Like Watching Paint Dry ...

Those last two weeks of pregnancy...

Waiting, waiting, oh ... what's this ... a contraction ... maybe ... nope ... waiting, and more waiting ...

So what are our plans for today? Ah ... just sipping some natural orange TJ's soda and ... well ... how about waiting a bit longer?

(The kitchen cabinets did, however, get a scrub down this weekend ... an almost certain sign that the end of incubating this baby girl is coming near!!)