Five days old

The cute bunny footed fleece outfit from Grandpa W. It's a favorite around here!

I just love her toes!

This was the "moment" my friends have been telling me would come.
The moment I would realize that my little Z was no longer a baby.

The hard working grandmother, taking a Juju break. She's been thrown into the life of caring for a toddler, cooking meals, cleaning, and laundry. I think we've thoroughly exhausted her, but you'd never know it!

I'm finding it hard to update this and nap when the kids nap too. Juju still sleeps a ton which is great. We had our first doctor appt. today and Juju was 7 lb. 10 oz which was how big Z was when he was born. I have lots to share, keep checking back for little bits and pics when you get a chance!

One quick story of "the night" that still makes me laugh. By the time I got to the hospital it was around 1am and I was still in early enough labor that I could talk and laugh in between contractions (then 3 minutes apart). They made us "check in" when we got there and the lady asked me all sorts of questions and had me sign some paperwork in my hormonal stupor. She had just asked me if I was married and I affirmed I was, when she asked who Ben was. I found the question so ridiculous, I couldn't help myself and answered slightly incredulously, "Umm, my lover?" Of course, I found my answer much funnier than she did and laughed till I cried. Just about then my mother-in-law shows up, probably wondering if I had gotten her out of bed for nothing. For the record, Ben felt the need to tell the lady he was indeed my husband. Which I also found hilarious. The woman never cracked a smile...which made the whole thing even funnier.

The Prompt Arrival

Introducing....baby Juju! Well, that's what we'll be referring to her as on the world wide web.
Born at 4:45am on Friday, September 26th, 2008. Yes, on her due date! She was 7 lbs 8 oz and 20.5" long. She is the spitting image of her brother when he was born!

She has lots of hair...well, in the back anyways.

I plan to send out name details soon for those that haven't heard already. I also plan to jump on-line and share more about the experience whenever I have the time and energy. We were released a day early from the hospital and so have been home since Saturday afternoon.

We're praising God for this perfect blessing and for how well our first blessing is handling the changes so far. We're also VERY thankful to have a good sleeper so far. Z never slept this much even at two days old. Thank you all for your prayers, words of encouragement and love.

Savoring every minute together

First off, my apologies! I should have been upfront last week that I was recalling the Power Balls recipe from memory, which evidently is not a reliable source at all right now! I made the necessary amendments to the recipe below, please forgive me if you tried it already. What's super funny, is I made them according to my faulty memory and they weren't all that bad, just gooier than usual. I don't think you can screw up Power Balls. Everything in them is yummy and you can't even burn them. I also added one tiny thing to the rhubarb recipe that I did in practice but wasn't on the recipe I copied down. I nuked the rhubarb for quite a while before baking it, so it was sure to be cooked through when the topping was done. OK, no more corrections for now.

I've been so very emotional this past week anticipating this baby's arrival. I've been soaking up every minute with Z as though it's our last few days together. I cried while Ben was trying to share an interesting part of his book with me because I wondered when the next time would be that we'd get to stay up and talk like that. The first year of Z's life was the hardest in our marriage and part of me fears we're in for another tough year, but I'm praying it won't be as bad. We'll be sleep deprived again, surely, but hopefully we'll be a little more seasoned as new parents.

The following collection of pictures were taken since last Thursday of our special time with Z before he becomes a big brother.

Mass producing chocolate chip cookies with Mommy

At the county fair with Daddy...

..."Poopy!"

"Hewhoa? Segobadoo manna gow. By-ee" Which is translated as,
"Yeah, Mom? We're on our way home, so go ahead and start dinner, would ya?"

My mom arrived last night from Germany and is already anticipating taking over Z's care. She's asked for reminders on how to collapse our stroller, how to get to different places, for Z's schedule and details on how to put him down for naps. We're even meal planning and she's only been here a few hours. Finally, her jet lag kicked in and she's napping now. What a blessing to have her here in our time of need!

For those interested in my philosophical ramblings I finally updated Zerbik last week. I'm not sure when I'll post on any website next, if it takes me a bit, you'll know why! Make sure I have your e-mail and/or snail mail address if you want to know our baby's name. E-mail me: beccawigton [at] tusco [dot] net. Thanks for your prayers!