A new life

There are no words that can capture the emotions of how you feel when you get a call saying that someone you love is in labor and about to bring a new life into the world. There is the excitement, anticipation - wondering if the baby will be a boy or girl. And there is also concern that everything will be ok. We received such a call on Saturday from my mom and dad telling us that Erin was going to have a c-section and we would be welcoming baby LaRose into the world within the hour. We were excited and nervous, especially since Erin was delivering the baby 7 weeks early. We said some prayers that everything would go well and that baby LaRose would be a strong and healthy baby.

And then the pure joy and happiness when we received the call saying that Nolan James was born weighing 5 lbs, 9 oz. and was doing very well. Erin said he came out screaming which I'm sure was the most beautiful sound she and Ryan could ever want to hear. And since then Nolan continues to do amazingly well... so far he has been breathing perfect and as of yesterday was being fed through a tube but was doing well with it.

Erin and Ryan will have to leave the hospital without little Nolan, which I'm sure will be very hard for them. But they know that he is in the best hands with the nurses and doctors at the hospital. Thank God for the miracles of modern medicine that can help little Nolan grow big and strong.

We are blessed to welcome Nolan James and thank God for the miracle of new life.

Catch-up

I was looking back at my previous blog posts and noticed the one when I pronounced Abigail was sleeping through the night at 4 months old. All in all, she is still a great sleeper. But it reminds me that just when you think you have a schedule or have figured out what your baby likes, they like to keep you on your toes! We have certainly gone through phases with Abigail's sleeping patterns... she did sleep from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. the last two nights and we hope that trend will continue. However three nights ago was a different story.

She had been waking up at night and we had been feeding her a bottle and she would go right back to sleep. Well, I didn't want her to get in that habit so I declared three nights ago that we weren't going to feed her if she woke up at night. We would check in on her, close the doors, put in our ear plugs and let her cry. Yes, we are one of those horrible parents who believe in "cry-it-out". Anyway, she started crying around 1:00 a.m. Every few minutes I would check on her and settle her down. Then awhile later, Abigail woke up Grace so Grace started crying because she "couldn't sleep". So I settled Grace down and decided I would rock Abigail to sleep. As I'm rocking her and see her eyes start closing, Grace starts in again with the crying. This wakes up Abigail. At this point, I put Abigail down and go into our bedroom... Bruno listened to my advice to put the ear plugs in away and is sleeping soundly. I announced to him that both kids were crying - so he got up, rocked Abigail to sleep and I took care of Grace. Ahhh... finally back to sleep!

Another exciting event that I forgot to post about... last month, Bruno was invited to the Congressional picnic at the White House. As you will see by the picture, he had a great time schmoozing with the big wigs!

We had a great time in MA for the 4th of July. Apparently the weather in June had been horrible with something like 24 out of 27 days of rain. But the skies cleared for us and we had a fabulous time seeing Bruno's mom and dad, grandma, sister and brother-in-law and of course, our adorable niece! Ava and Abigail had fun together - they are both crawling now! Grace had a great time running around the Freitas' back yard and splashing in the pool!

That's all for now... we are just enjoying the summer and looking forward to our upcoming trips to Massachusetts for my aunt Mary and Uncle Bob's 50th wedding anniversary and to Michigan for our annual August vacation!