More Grady

Still Mark here posting. Liz's wit and wisdom is consumed caring for Liam and Grady, so you'll have to drown your sorrow in pics of the fam.

We'll begin where we left off, on Sunday. Thanks to my aunts Lee Ann (my mom's sister) and Jeanie (my dad's sister) for some of these photos.

Liam gets ready to great his brother. . .
Thanks to Lee Ann for making the shirt.


The reigning Kentucky World Language Association Lifetime Achievement winner (I call her "mom") greets her new petit-fils.
That's my great aunt Anne over her shoulder. . .

The matriarch of the Amick family (she'd not be happy if I divulged her age, but I think she looks damn good for being born during the Woodrow Wilson administration) meets Grady. . .


Liam's new passion is kissing his baby brother. . .


It's my new hobby, too. . .


Maybe it's because we were in Indiana, but they somehow didn't have a policy prohibiting this many Amick men in a public space. . .


The very blessed and happy family. . .


Grady comes home!


This was Thursday sleeping on the couch. . .

Liz noticed his widow's peak. We don't know whose genes (or Jeans and Jeannes) are responsible, but we think it's cute. . .

That's it for now. Grady's been under the lights today getting rid of jaundice. We hope he should be well on his way to kicking out the bilirubin by Friday!

Liam's excited to be a cow again tomorrow night and go Trick or Treating.

Grady Robert Amick!!

At 10:29 am, Grady Robert Amick entered the world! We were fortunate to be able to follow our birth plan, and with the help of our invaluable doula, Susan Linville, naturally deliver a healthy 8 lb 11.6 oz, 22 inch beautiful baby boy!

Liz was amazing, inspiring, strong, humbling, heroic, determined and a mariad more adjectives I am too tired and/or insufficiently poetic to summon at the moment. (Mark is writing this post since Liz in the hospital). The following pictures are in chronoligical order.

A special thanks to my parents for getting Liam early this morning and keeping him occupied all day. It was a huge rleief knowing he was happily distracted.

I've omitted the awesome picture of the "Tree of Life" in the placenta but am happy to share it if y'all want to email.

Here goes:

Liz pulls Grady out herself (a big Thank You to our midwife, Beth!!) and immediately gets some skin-to-skin time. . .

The proud parents. . .

The post-delivery period was a wonderful time for us. Liz and I got almost two hours to spend with Grady before he was taken to the nursery. She spend it snuggling with him and bonding. . .

Grady in the nursery. Note the horizontal scar on his left gun. (that's right, I said it) The nurse thinks he must have scratched himself in utero and it's healed now. . .

Giving Grady his first bath. Liz and I both acknowledged how it was not nearly as nerve-wracking as Liam's first bath. Thanks to Alice in the nursery for her guidance and tlc. . .

Liam meets his baby brother!

Liam was nuts for Grady! He wanted to hold him and touch him. Liam was very gentle and loving. He's going to be a great big bro. . .

Are there words to describe this? Would they even be necessary?

More pics will be posted tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who sent messages of love and happiness to us today. We love you, too!

Things I'm doing to try to forget that I'm past due

I have been playing mind games with myself, starting projects that I figure I can't finish if I go into labor, hoping that it will be the case! But it's not working.

On Monday, I decided that I should make hummus, so I soaked beans overnight to prepare on Tuesday. We've now been eating hummus all week. Same with pumpkin seeds, which I also left to dry out on Monday evening.

Yesterday, I decided to organize Liam's closet. I pulled out all of his crap and had it laying around all over his room, assuming that my water would break and I'd have this huge mess to come home to with a newborn. His closet now looks like it belongs in "Real Simple".

Today I'll finally unpack Liam's old baby swing and bouncy seat and begin to assemble for new baby, which I'm sure will jinx me for another few days.

The most frustrating part of all of this? Every time I start one of these projects and get moving, I start having contractions. And then once I'm finished...they stop!

On the bright side, I have been getting a lot of things done, and Liam and I have gotten to hang out a bunch...and the baby is still moving around and seems to just be perfectly comfortable staying inside. It has gotten a little colder here this week! I'm sure he'll come when he's ready. Babies have a way of doing that.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we visited our favorite family fun place, Huber Orchard. Instead of picking apples, strawberries, and other fruits, we picked pumpkins. Sara, Craig, and Connor joined us, and we had a grand ol' time on the farm.

It got cold here last night, so Liam had a chance to wear some of his cool weather gear.





Mark and Liam on the tractor out to the pumpkin patch...

Tough guy picks his pumpkin...

The Kinslows...

Connor and Liam try to pose for a photo...

And enjoy eating ice cream once we finished picking out pumpkins.

And still no baby!

Holy Cow!

Liam and Henry went to the Louisville Zoo yesterday for the World's Largest Halloween Party (whether or not that's true is still up for debate). Liam really dug his cow costume and was happy to say "Mooooo!" whenever prompted. He also loved Henry's gorilla costume.



But the best part of the costume was the tail, no doubt! We look forward to Halloween and another chance to wear our cute cow costume!

On the baby front, still no baby! We'll keep everyone posted.

Doughnuts

The last two Fridays Liam has woken up at 6:30 instead of the usual 7:30-8. I hope this isn't a new habit...I think he's telecommunicating with his little brother about depriving me of sleep so I'm ready to handle a newborn again! Anyway, usually Mark takes the bus to school, but the last two Fridays, we have driven him and stopped on the way at our favorite bakery, Plehn's, for a doughnut (really for an apple fritter. They have the world's best apple fritters!)

When I asked Liam what kind of doughnut he wanted this morning, he said, "big!".



With Daddy...


And showing off his "big" doughnut for the camera with Mommy.