Welcome to the Family, Daniel!

Yesterday I got a call from Jen mid-morning saying that Mike had went home to do some errands and she "wouldn't mind" company. So, I packed up some toys, food, etc. for the Bean, and we headed into Women's & Babies' Hospital. When Jen got a call from her sister-in-law, I took Joshua down to the NICU to say hi to the nurses that had helped care for him during his first month of life. Unfortunately, none of my favorites were there at that moment - two were on vacation, one was on maternity leave, one was out to lunch, and another didn't work until the night shift. Such is life. He still smiled for all who were there, and they oohed and aahed at how cute and how big he is. We headed back to Jen's room, where I got to hold my newest nephew. He's so tiny and so big all at the same time! Mom & Jamie stopped in while we were there, and we all ate lunch together before Jamie had radiation and I took Joshua home to nap. Just as I was about to leave, my three nieces came bustling in to see their new brother. So cute! I left to give them some family time, and they finally picked a name - Daniel William McGown. Jen told me that Daniel and Joshua should be in the same class at school. Since Joshua was born just after the cutoff for starting kindergarten and Daniel was born just before the cutoff, plus we live so close to each other, they should start school together at Nitrauer Elementary, Manheim Township. Neat-o!

This morning, I took some toys out of the playroom and into the nursery so Joshua could sit beside me while I brought out the bins of his outgrown clothing to go through for Daniel. While everything was already organized by size, I went through it all again and labeled everything, organized it by sleeper/outfit/warm/hot, and had 0-3 month and 3-6 month clothing ready for my brother-in-law to pick up on their way home from the hospital. Going through it all made me a little nostalgic. I can't believe Joshua was so little that even the premie clothing was too big for him at first! Now the 12 month clothing fits him perfectly, and he sat up next to me like a big boy playing with anything he could get his hands on, including trying to grab the marker out of my hand, patting me on the arm to pay attention to him, stealing a 3-6 month sleeper I had just folded and promptly throwing up on it, picking up the edges of the lids to the clothing bins, knawing on the the bins themselves, and of course playing with the toys I had laid in front of him. He loves to touch, feel, examine and taste everything! Boys will be boys! While I don't let him have anything that will hurt him, I try to be more-calm-than-typical to let him be himself and explore the world.