We love Grandparents!

God knew what He was doing when He made grandparents. Over the past two years we have found how important it is for a family to have grandparents be active in their lives. I am so grateful that God has given us two great sets of grandparents and healthy, active great-grandparents as well! They have helped us so much in keeping Samuel when we needed it, or offering David and I support emotionally, physically, and mentally. We know that they pray for us and our children, which is vital in the Christian faith. My parents and David's mom have been great these past few days in helping us adjust to Emma's arrival. And we know that if Dixon were here, he would have a huge bow on the door and stork out in the front yard! My father has done an excellent job in taking care of Samuel while mama was at the hospital with Emma and me, which I am sure was a very busy task with a 21month old. We are fortunate that David's grandparents are active in our lives as well. They offer us wisdom and comfort that comes through a life time full of experiences. Below are a few pictures of them with Emma, helping us celebrate new life. Some are at the hospital, and as you can see in the bottom, mama came home with us to help with whatever we needed. She has helped cook, clean, feed Emma, keep Samuel, offer emotional support to me, pray, and much much much more! Thank you to our parents and grandparents for everything!

Emma's First Bath

Emma is five days old and doing well. My breast milk never fully came in, so we are formula feeding her. The same thing happened with Samuel, so this was not an unexpected surprise. We had a hard time today getting her to eat because she did a lot of sleeping. So we decided to give her a sponge bath (her umbilical cord, or "the Slug" as David likes to call it, hasn't fallen off yet). She was not very happy with us while it was happening, but the end results were worth it. She was smelling and looking good afterwards! It was amazing to be bathing her, but remembering so much of Samuel's first bath. I know that the two of them will be very different, but its neat to see the traits that make them family. Here are some pictures of her first bath!

Emma is home!

Many of you are probably wondering how Samuel is doing with his new little sister. He is adjusting to having her here. At first he did not want to have much to do with her and said "uh oh" when he saw her in HIS house! He has become very interested in her feedings and diaper changes. And when she cries, he wants to know what is wrong. Samuel is and is going to be a great big brother! Now he likes to give her kisses and push her in her swing. He even has figured out how to feed her. He either wants to help give her the bottle, or run off with it and tries to use it himself! Fortunately for us, he does not like the taste of formula and can be easily bribed with a "big boy" cup of juice or milk. We are continuing to adjust to being a family of 4 instead of 3, and having a baby in the house is very different...but we are loving every minute of it! Here are a few more pictures of Samuel and Emma.

Here she is!! Emma Grace Blackwood

So, after an hour of trying to get an epidural in and hitting my nerves 3 different times, the anesthesiologist decided to do a spinal block. With much prayer and confidence in my obgyn, I delivered a beautiful girl at 8:50am. Emma weighed 8lbs 6oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. As you can see in the pictures, she has a head full of black hair. We stayed in the hospital the full 3 days to give ourselves some time to rest and heal. Due to not having an epidural I was pretty sore from the beginning, but I am doing better now. The key is to keep moving around! Emma is doing well also. She is healthy, and we are so thankful for that. God is good!

Anxiously Awaiting Our Little Girl

Well we got to the hospital around 6:00am on July 25. Here are some pictures of us as we await the arrival of our daughter (and sister). We are all so excited and can hardly wait to see what she looks like!

Sleeping Cute

I always check on Samuel before I go to bed at night. I got so tickled at seeing him lay like this. He has two blankets and two stuffed animals that he always sleeps with. For some reason he has become very attached to these items and if he carries one around, then he has all four! Anyways this is just a cute picture that mama was able to get with her camera.

Having Fun at the Car Wash!

So I am two weeks from having Emma and we are staying in Irwinton due to a few preterm labor scares! All is well and I am so thankful to have family who is so helpful. Mama (or Grandma to Samuel)decided to wash the car before daddy returns from Kenya. She and Samuel went to washing and here are some pictures of Samuel helping. As you can see below, nothing is safe from the cleaning sponge of an almost two year old!