Oklahoma Moments

My July trip to Oklahoma was certainly initiated by and centered around the birth of my grandson. I stayed there twice as long as Frank (July 11-29 for me, July 15-24 for Frank) because I went out there five days before Frank in case that big baby should decide to come early, before his July 19th due date, and left five days after Frank to continue to help out after the baby was born. Frank and I had agreed that we did not want to leave Alex unvisited three weekends in a row so Frank was away only one weekend. I must admit, Frank had the better timing, arriving on Wednesday July 15th, Robin's final day at work before starting maternity leave, and just hours before Robin's contractions began. I had a quick post July 24th about Isaiah's birth mid-morning on July 16th, but here are a few more pictures and information about some other memorable moments during the Oklahoma trip.

Before Isaiah's Arrival:
Robin was still feeling nauseous and tired, not to mention big. Here she is a day or two before giving birth to 9 lb 1 oz Isaiah.

I helped her and Jeremy out at home by pre-washing baby clothes, grocery shopping, and fixing meals. Autumn was particularly fond of my spaghetti and sausage. She even was able to forego her typical chicken nuggets in preference for it. Score, Grandma!

Autumn is into trains and she and her daddy built a pretty large involved wooden track layout for her Chuggington engines and cars.

Hospital Days:
The excitement of the final moments of birth were followed by a few tense seconds of silence where I could see Isaiah looking around but before he had yet to let out a wail in the delivery room. His eventual cry, though a bit delayed, was very strong once begun.

Soon after he cried out he was placed on Robin with Jeremy looking on.

His cry now becomes very high pitched and piercing if he is not answered very soon. I claim he sounds like the cry of a seagull at the beach and lovingly refer to him as Isaiah Livingston Seagull.

I googled the name Isaiah and found this cool graphic image for it.

Frank and I went home in the early afternoon on the day of his birth. We picked up Autumn from daycare, got her a happy meal complete with Minion toy, and took her to the hospital to meet her little brother.

That evening I got to hold Isaiah for the first time since his birth.

That first night after Isaiah's birth, I stayed overnight at the hospital with Robin so Jeremy could go home with Frank to catch up on some rest and be with Autumn so she would not be missing both her mom and dad. Autumn placed her new Minion toy from her McDonald's Happy Meal in the Pack and Play for Isaiah for when he came home.

The day after his birth Jeremy helped in the nursery giving Isaiah his bath ...

... while Autumn watched through the window held up in Grandpa's arms.

 That evening Frank, too, had the opportunity to hold Isaiah.

That second night, it was Jeremy who stayed at the hospital with Robin. Frank, Autumn, and I went back to the house Friday night to find a congratulatory present had arrived from Jeremy's work colleagues.

Coming Home From Hospital:
Robin, Jeremy, and Isaiah all came home on Saturday. Robin bounced back so quickly after the birth I was very impressed. She was so very, very thrilled to no longer be nauseous that all other bumps, bruises, and stitches were trivial by comparison.  The congregation of their church was pleasantly surprised to see them attending church services on Sunday with three-day-old Isaiah. Their church friends were great, bringing in meals on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Other days I cooked or re-heated leftovers. I tried to make Autumn feel a bit special. Here is a plate I made up for her one night. We learned she loves raspberries.

 

Frank and Jeremy did a few yard projects, window blind repairs, garage door repair, and other household miscellaneous tasks that had been on hiatus until the birth. They took Autumn to the Oklahoma State Firefighters Museum one day to keep a bit of calm in the house and to make her feel a bit special. Frank left for the airport on a Friday shortly after noon. Isaiah was just over a week old. Just before 10:00 am he and Jeremy went to Home Depot to get supplies and installed a cat door out to the sun porch. On the far side is their cat Elliott, curious and trying to figure out how to use this new contraption. His sister Emily, not in the photo was much quicker at figuring it all out. She was in and out it by that evening. It took Elliott until the next day.

We had a small adventure one day going out with Autumn. A katydid had alighted on the side door of their car.

Although her expression would indicate other wise, Autumn was quite fascinated by the rather large colorful insect with widespread antennae. The bug was pretty much at her eye level and she got her nose quite close.

Perhaps the Bugs 'R Us quilt I made should have gone to her, instead of to her little brother. I can happily report that at 10-days-old he has already rolled from tummy to back on this quilt surprising both himself and an audience of his family and grandmother. We texted Frank a video clip of the event since he was already back in California. As of this post, I have not heard back if Isaiah has yet repeated the feat.

On the Monday before I left, we made a trip to the mall with 11-day-old Isaiah to get an outfit in royal blue for his newborn photo shoot. At the same time that Robin and Jeremy were in Eddie Bauer's I was in an adjacent store, Francesca's. I was bemused that Robin and I both bought items in such a similar color scheme – mine a scarf, hers a blouse – at approximately the same time unbeknownst to each other.

On the Tuesday before I left, Robin and I went with Isaiah to a quilt store. I have a post about that for July 29th in my Diane Loves2Quilt blog.

Back to California:
I left on Wednesday, with Isaiah one day shy of two weeks old, a bit teary-eyed to be parting with Robin, Jeremy, and especially the kids. It is not often you get to hold such a cuddly new life and be entertained by such an adorable, energetic 2½ year old ball of fire. I will miss this happy family. It is always hard "going without knowing" when I will be seeing them all again. But past experience so far has been that it will not be very long.

Frank texted me this picture of our kitchen sink and told me he'd decided it was time to load and run the dishwasher before I got home. My tears were really for the grandkids. Honest! Not the dirty dishes.