We don't have too much to report. Autumn's already two weeks old today! We're busy adjusting to our larger family and trying to get some rest in between! Everyone's doing well though. Here are some pictures of our recent activity!

Daddy loves his little girl!

Big brother Bruce and Mommy



Shhh - I'm sleeping!



Fell asleep during tummy time



Wide eyed and alert!



Cuddling with Grammie



We finally got a picture of one of her many smiles! Maybe it's because she gets to be a flower for Halloween (thanks Aunt Kimmy!).



All dressed up



Trying on Grammie's shoes...



...And Mommy's!



Snug

Autumn Update

Today, the pediatrician checked Autumn's collarbone and said it's healing well. She doesn't need to wear her harness anymore - thank goodness for that! She has already exceeded her birth weight and he thinks she's doing great!

First Days at Home

We have been a bit busy the last couple days showing off our newest family member! We are all doing surprisingly great and settling in well. Bruce now loves his little sister and is a wonderful big brother. He is eager to help and is so proud of himself when he fetches a diaper and wipes for me when I am changing her diaper. He also (with very close supervision, of course) wipes her mouth when she spits up and pets her head. Today he leaned over and gave her a kiss and our hearts just melted. Luckily he repeated it for the camera so you can watch the precious video below. There are also a few pictures of Autumn's recent social activity for your viewing pleasure.

Our new family of 4 (one of us has better things to do than have his picture taken)



Bring held by Daddy (this is where you can find her most of the time)



Daddy and Bruce



Meeting her Great-Grandma



Close-up



Aunt Sara (holding Autumn), Grandma, and Great-Grandma



Meeting Grandma



Autumn's 2nd Cousin, Deb

Here is a very sweet video of Bruce and cousin John being silly on the porch while everyone else is inside cooing over Autumn.

Going Home!

Just wanted to give everyone a little update. The good news is that Autumn and I are soon to be released from the hospital! It seems that we will be going home today despite our minor setbacks. The bad news is that one of those is that Autumn apparently broke her collarbone in her rush to get out into the world! I know that sounds very bad, but it doesn't even seem to bother her. We didn't even know about it until late last night when the pediatrician found it. They confirmed it with an x-ray and fitted her with a little harness that she will have to wear for about a month. Since she's so new, they expect that it will heal quickly and not have any lasting effects. We are just waiting on her bilirubin level and will be going home in the next couple hours if it's within normal limits.

Thank you all for all the lovely e-mails and comments! It's very encouraging to know we are surrounded by so many thoughts and prayers in the very exciting time of our lives!

Autumn's Here! (in more ways than one)

Hello everyone! We've had a busy day! Autumn Rose was born this morning at 1:20 am. She is 6 pounds, 7 ounces, 19 inches long and doing great! I am recovering very well. Last night, I started having some serious contractions at about 10:30. I started to get ready for bed and my water broke! I called Jerret, who was almost on his way home anyway and he came home right away. We got our stuff together and decided not to wake Bruce until the last minute. Luckily, we decided to have Sara meet us at the hospital to get him! We wouldn't have had time to get to the hospital before Autumn was born if we dropped him off at her house, which was our original plan! Yikes! But things worked out great and we got here just in time to have her. The entire labor was pretty hard, but short at only about 3 hours total! Wow! My Dr and Autumn showed up at the same time and the nurses barely had time to get things set up. Now we are just enjoying some restfulness and family time. The hospital even gave us champagne flutes and sparkling grape juice to mark the occasion! Happy birthday, Autumn!

Bruce got to spend some time in the hospital today to meet his new sister and hang out with Mommy. He was a bit apprehensive at first, especially about the fact that I was in a bed in very unfamiliar surroundings. He seemed very worried about that. He also wasn't really sure what to do with the new person we were holding. But then he had some dessert from my lunch and played in the room for a while and was over all that and back to his normal sweet, happy, fun self!

Here are some pictures of our day, to be followed by an infinite number more in the future! :)

Unsuspecting Bruce sleeping in a cute position (I didn't know I would be in labor later that night when I took this)


Cuddling with Mommy after all our hard work


Being shown off by the proud daddy


Getting some rest



Autumn with her eyes open



Bruce meeting his new little sister


More introduction

We will fill you in more as we go along. Just wanted to share the news and some initial pictures. Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Today's Dr. appointment (for myself and our little girl) went pretty well. The doctor concluded that labor could kick in at any time now! Good. These contractions have been doing their job. We're ready. I hope...
The doctor has set us to the work of finding flu vaccines since I am in a high risk category. I was hoping to escape this by not being pregnant here pretty soon, but we would want have it done with a newborn in the house anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter. It's better than staying in and not making any public appearances, which has been our solution thus far. It would make me feel a bit better since there are so many people around here that have had such a battle with the flu and swine flu. Our prayers are with all the sick families at church and elsewhere!

We took this video trying to get yet more footage of Bruce's dance moves. However, when the camera came on, he decided to just run in circles and get dizzy. We find it very amusing when he does this, but we are the parents. We understand if you do not. Don't feel bad if you skip out on this one or stop it half way through. That's really all it is. I will sum up for those without the interest of a grandma - he claps at the end. I say all this because I don't think our non-parent friends and family always understand why we think our offspring is the most perfect, genius, attractive, and hilarious specimen out there. I don't know either. Can't help it - it's nature. Just being honest. :)

Whew! 18 days left! I sure am ready now. Although pregnancy is such a supernatural and wonderfully maternal miracle that's a privilege to be a part of, I am ready for this one to come to a close. I am getting quite uncomfortable and am more than ready to meet our new daughter! This week, the doctor estimated that she's about 6 pounds and still concludes that she's doing very well in there. There's no change in the due date, but we know that babies tend to come when they are ready regardless of our schedules and calendars, so we try to be ready at a moment's notice.

Here are a few pictures and one video of our life (mostly Bruce's, as usual) in the past few weeks.

Reading with Daddy


Playing in the yard


He doesn't look like a baby anymore! He's a little boy now! :) and :( combined!


He'll grow into it

This one is more of Bruce dancing. Sorry it's so dark. You have to catch pictures and video whenever you can, ideal conditions or not! He's on to the next thing before you know it!