Caleb's Birth Day

Because I was 10 days overdue (I went 11 days over with Ella), the doctor decided we should induce labor. I really wanted to avoid inducing, but by the time the day arrived I was ready. That last day of pregnancy was really physically difficult. My mother came in the afternoon and took me for a mani/pedi (divine).  At 8 PM that evening, Matt & I headed to the hospital. Here I am... the last pregnancy photo.

The labor & delivery unit of the hospital is on the tenth floor and we had this amazing view of midtown & downtown Manhattan.  It was a little smoggy and overcast, but still fabulous.  

It was a busy night in labor & delivery, so it took a few hours for me to get checked in and for the doctor to come & start the pitocin.  Things didn't get under way until about midnight.  I was able to sleep for several hours which was good.

The next day-- it took a long time to progress and seemed like labor was going to last forever.

Then, really quite suddenly, it was time for Caleb to be born!  The doctor was in the OR with a scheduled C-section because he had checked on me and thought there was still a couple of hours to go-- and then all of a sudden, there was no time left!  He wanted to deliver (and I wanted him there, quite frankly) so I held off for as long as I could and he made it just in the nick of time.  Two pushes later, Caleb was here- at 12:48 PM.  He cried initially, and then settled down & so far has proven to be a very mellow baby.

He weighed in at 3880 grams which is 8 pounds 9 ounces.

This was my labor & delivery nurse Maura (overnight I had the help of Ann Marie- both nurses were awesome!)  And my doctor, Dr. Shin.

The girls have been anticipating Caleb's birth for several months and were excited to finally get to meet him.  This is the first time Lexi held him.  I love the look of pure joy on her face.

Grandma & Aunt Allie were some of our visitors in the hospital as well.

And now, we're home.  And the girls cannot get enough of him.  Which is wonderful, of course.  Grandma Susan is here to help this week and Grandma Cope is coming soon to help as well.

We are enjoying getting acquainted with the newest member of our family and we are all pretty smitten with him.  We chose to name him Caleb because we like the name, but also for the Old Testament figure Caleb who was one of the twelve spies that Moses sent into the land of Canaan.  Only he & Joshua returned saying that God would deliver Canaan into the hands of the Isrealites.  Because of this faith, the only adult Isrealites allowed to enter Canaan after forty years of wandering in the wilderness were Caleb & Jacob.  We love that story of faith and righteousness.  His middle name is Austin, which is also Matt's middle name because I wanted him to share a name with his father, who is also a faithful and righteous man.

Hats Off! It's Independence Day!

All of our plans lately are very day-to-day since the baby is 9 days overdue as I blog this.  So we didn't plan anything huge to do on the fourth of July.  Well, I planned to have a baby, but the universe did not agree with my plans.  Grandma came and picked up the girls on Sunday night and took them back to her place to spend the night.  Then on the Fourth, Matt&I took the train up to her house.  We spent some time at the pool cooling off (where Alexis learned how to do a real cannonball & Ella spent time holding onto the edge), watched the Yankees game & ate some delicious hamburgers & potato casserole prepared by Grandma.  It was a relaxing day.  While driving home that evening we were able to see some of the Macy's fireworks from the West Side Highway, so we exited and drove to a section of Riverside Dr in our area that juts out over the water a bit.  We double-parked and watched the fireworks until a cop came and asked us to move.  I don't know why I've never thought of finding a spot in our neighborhood to watch the fireworks... maybe next year we'll make an event of it.

God Bless America!

The pool is located on Pepsi property- isn't the estate beautiful with so many trees?  And a volleyball net! And tennis courts.  I took this photo after most of the other guests had gone home- doesn't it seem like it's our own personal pool? Hee hee. 

My Grandfather, John Elliott

Father's Day weekend also brought the celebration of my grandfather's 85th birthday. Several months ago, my grandmother thought up the idea of trying to get as many of the family members together to celebrate Pop-pop as possible. In the end, it turned out that everyone was able to make it! Except for my one cousin who is serving a mission. But all his children, grandchildren (& spouses) and great-grandchildren were able to be there making it a (too short!) family reunion. AND it was all a surprise... he had no idea anyone other than his children (my mother & her siblings) would be there for his birthday. So as each member arrived, he was surprised and surprised again and again. It's so fun to be on the knowing end of a surprise, doncha think?

The weather was beautiful. The company was wonderful and it was so great to come together to show our father/grandfather/great-grandfather how much we appreciate what he has done with his life and how he has loved us.

Here are all the girls (except my cousin Liz)

Baby Elliott- isn't that face adorable?!  This was the first chance we've had to meet him and we all fell in love with him.

The first day was spent at the house on Lake Seneca.  Steve got right down to business...hoping to catch some fish.

Lots of time spent on the dock- the water was pretty frigid, though- definitely too cold for swimming.  Although some of the crazy kids decided to jump off the boathouse roof into the water.  They got out pretty quickly.

Ella playing Peek-A-Boo with Elliott- practicing for her big sister duties

"Aunt" Hailey & Ella

Here I am, 9 days before baby's due date (and 4 hours from my doctor & hospital)- cooking up some food for the gang.

Aunt Barbara prepped a wonderful scavenger hunt that led us on a tour through Pop-pop's life and touched on important aspects of his life.  She created a puzzle that had photos of many important times in his life that were all put together to create the last 85 years.... photos of each piece follow:

His childhood in Brooklyn, NY and his service in the United States Marine Corps.  He was one of the survivors of the Battle of Iwo Jima during WWII.   

This was his Marine-issued coat.

Marriage & Fatherhood.  Married now for over 60 years to my amazing grandmother and father to three wonderful & successful children.  

One of the elegant photos of their wedding day.

Architect & contractor.  He designed and built, including instructing his family (wife and three young children), the family summer home, Longview, in Orange County, NY.  This home eventually became their full time home after his retirement and holds many many happy memories for all of us.

Wood Craftsman- one of his talents & hobbies.  Throughout my life he has constructed many items with his own two hands for me: a rocking chair, a rocking horse, a dollhouse and furniture, bookcases, benches for my dining table, a cradle for my babies, little chairs for the kids, a coat rack, bedside tables (which Matt helped him with), cutting boards, and Christmas decorations just to name a few.  Much of my home is furnished by the work of his hands.  

Grandfather & Great-grandfather.  He has 7 grandchildren and (almost) 4 great-grandchildren.

A Man of Faith. He has always been a man of faith.  He loves the scriptures and I was able to sit in on many of his gospel lessons- always interesting!  He is a good teacher and has shared his faith with our family both through words and example.

Prepping the birthday cake for the birthday boy

Opening our gift of "vintage" candy from his childhood.  Ella and I ventured down to Economy Candy to find some candy that used to be popular when my grandfather was young.

My uncle and sister dreamt up a wonderful idea for my gardening-loving grandfather.  They decided to dig a rose garden in his yard and have one rose bush for each grandchild & great-grandchild- 11 bushes in all.  They spent several hours digging and prepping the plot.  Then, on his birthday when we were all together, we each planted our bush.  I didn't actually plant mine since I'm in a state where bending is challenging.... so Uncle Bruce did it for me.

The Rose Garden Masterminds: Uncle Bruce and Laura

Pop-Pop made stakes for each of the plants with all of our names.

Lexi finds a frog!

And some family photos:

It was an awesome and happy weekend! We are a family that gets along really well and it's always wonderful when we are all able to be gather together. We missed Liz alot. And we wish it had been more than 2 days of family fun. But we are so grateful for the mini-reunion that it was for the efforts of everyone to be there.

"The more we get together the happier we'll be!"