28 Days = 4 weeks, but /= 1 month

Ah calendar math, you do me in all the time.

So, 28 days ago, or 4 weeks ago, at this time, I was snuggling my brand new baby Jessie, probably waiting for Rocky to return from picking up Maggie. I was probably starting to get some feeling back in my toes and talking with Nurse Nadine about getting out of bed at some point that night (though it wasn't until much later that I actually did get out of bed, after Rocky had taken Maggie to the Krieger's -- lucky Maggie got to miss what appeared to be a massacre). I was probably still a bit in shock about having gone into labor and actually having my baby that day.

Jessie is awake a lot more often. She was up for about 90 minutes last night starting at about 2 a.m. or so. She wasn't fussy, didn't want to eat, just wanted to be up. I did my best to just snuggle her and not talk or sing to her too much so she wouldn't think that is a good time for us to have some quality time together. She loves to look around. We're also working on getting her to sleep or be content to sit somewhere other than on someone. She did several stints in the packnplay today and I think she is almost ready to try the swing. It's been cloudy today, but hot, so no walk, but we've been able to get outside a few times. Hopefully the rainy weather will pass so we can go on a walk tomorrow.

Jessie will officially be 1 month old on Friday and I really need to get her birth announcements ordered. I may also ask Rocky if I can use his camera on Friday to take some proper portraits of Miss Jessie.

Maggie-isms

Maggie has not stopped being a source of wonderful smiles for us on a regular basis:

• Last night, Maggie was playing with the Wii drum stand. Rocky asked her why. She explained she needs to practice for her drum class. A little later she came downstairs crying because she hit her head with the guitar. When Rocky asked her why, she said she needs to practice for her guitar class. So Rocky asked her where these classes take place. She thought about it a bit and said "South Dakota. But it's very far away so I need to practice."
• At church yesterday, Maggie asked if my sister was in heaven. The question came out of the blue and not sure what she was thinking.
• And my new favorite: "Mom, when you give someone a hug, you give them love."

Day 26

Well, I suppose I won’t be able to talk about Jessie’s age in terms of days soon as she will be a month old on Friday!  Today, Jessie and I went for a walk at Lake Elmo.  There is not a lot of shade there, so we simply walked and when the gas got to be too much for Jessie, there wasn’t much more I could do but keep walking.  Fortunately, the rocky path seemed to help knock the gas bubbles out of her.  It was a nice morning, though leaving around 8:30 was almost too late as it was getting quite warm by the time we got home.  We did find a shady spot to change her diaper!

The park was lovely and the sky was so blue – not a single cloud to be seen.  I watched the carp jumping and a mother duck with her 4 ducklings try to avoid the carp.  Unfortunately, my cell phone does not take very good photos, so you can’t see the blue sky.  But the mother duck and her ducklings were adorable.

Day 22

I can’t believe my baby is already 22 days old!  She is so much more alert and has been awake as long as an hour at a time.  She loves to look at people, especially big sister.  She tries really hard to hold her head up.  She also has some gas issues. I’m not sure what I ate to give her such bad gas, but I’m hoping as her body grows, the gas will at least not be as painful for her.

She is a snuggler!  She sleeps well at night as long as she is touching me and is on my side of the bed – Rocky took her one night and found she calmed right down once he moved to my side of the bed.  I’m also trying to encourage her to take the pacifier.

Grandma & Grandpa Dailey’s Visit

 Grandpa Mike & Grandma Bonnie got here on the last day of Grandma Alana’s visit.  By request: I wasn’t yet cleared to drive, so I didn’t want to be home alone.  Maggie was, of course, thrilled to death to see Grandpa Mike and started begging for “Grandpa Mike games” almost immediately.  It has been wonderful to have the extra help around the house,  especially as Jessie is a snuggler much like Maggie was/is.  Here are some pictures from their visit:

Grandpa brought Maggie a “big girl” bike.  She kept Grandpa active by taking it to the park several times.

We also took a trip to the Beartooth Nature Center.

We rented a Jeep so we could all ride together. Maggie got the third row all to herself and was thrilled with her space.

Oh Hail No!

A huge storm came through Billings today.  Thunder, lightning and HAIL!  It has been a very long time since I have seen a hail storm.  I will add a video a little later.  The storm also brought a tornado that took the roof off of the Metra, tore up a McDonald’s sign and destroyed several other buildings at the corner of Main & Lake Elmo Drive.  At our house, we saw a lot of hail and rain.  We lost power briefly.  Friends of ours, the Kriegers, who live on the other side of Main Street, lost power for several hours and came over to enjoy some electricity.

The only damage we really had was to some flower pots and the garden. More pictures can be seen on my Facebook page.  Tomorrow I’ll go assess the damage a little further to see if any of the plants could make a comeback.  I am just very very thankful that we are all safe and we only lost a few plants.