Media showing Lily

These are from the hospital:


Our nurses Deb and Coleen. They did a good job.
Aubri before it got hard. The smile did regress slightly.

This is Lily straight from the womb. Caution: she has not been cleaned much at this point. She was alert and quite happy.


After Lily's bath, the nurse combed her hair.

Home

Aubri and Lily were released from the hospital Tuesday evening. We are thankful to be home. The hospital had too much going on to be able to sleep. Plus, the only two times Lily was sleeping well the nurses woke her up to check vitals. I was not pleased. Hopefully rest will come better at home. At least now one of us can sleep at a time. Lily so far sleeps better during the day and wants to be held all the time. Hopefully she is open to change.

The hospital website has a couple pictures and the official info.

For a hospital in a community with a population around 1000, it was active. We were the first of 4 babies in about 24 hours. Our doctor said Aubri did the best of the four mothers during labor. He said she gets "an A." Lily and I are very proud of her.

One sad situation helped to put our frustration over sleep in perspective. The baby girl born after Lily had to be careflighted to a bigger hospital. Since it was known there was a minister at the hospital, I did an emergency baptism. It was devastating, yet profound to see the love and sadness displayed on the parents' faces during the baptism. Thankfully, that little girl on oxygen received the richness of God's grace in Holy Baptism. Despite baptizing her, I don't know the family's last name nor the baby's status. It only further inculcates the depth of the Lord's goodness to us.

This was typed with one hand, with a 7lb hairy bundle holding on in the other.

Baby!

Aubri was induced Monday morning and delivered a healthy girl at 3:59pm on Monday, July 28th. Lily Ruth Hale weighed 7 pounds 2.5 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.

After lily's bath, her hair was evident.


Her first diaper.


One happy family.

40 Weeks.

Well, July 26th has come and almost gone and no baby. She's still got a few hours to arrive "on time" but we're not crossing our fingers, there's beer to brew, clothes to wash and pizza to eat before she gets here.
Alas, I've developed a nice bladder infection (maybe that's more than anyone wants to know) and we're scheduled for an induction on Monday morning at 7am. I have mixed feelings about that, but I must say it feels nice to have an end in sight. We're very anxious to meet this little girl. So stay tuned, in our next post baby should look much cuter than she does here!

More on the garden.

Well, no baby Hale yet, but we have lots of baby peppers and watermelon in our garden. Our corn is getting tall and putting on pretty well despite the set back a few weeks ago. We're sick of lettuce and decided not to cut anymore.

We were beginning to wonder if we'd see any of our California Wonders. They're finally starting to show up!

Our onions are ready to be picked. Here are some of our Big Daddies.

And our cute little watermelons! We stopped counting after 10, they're popping up everywhere now.

Some are getting big. They're vining out all over the garden!

The tomatoes are still green up here. We have tons of them, but will have to wait a while longer for the pickins'. Anyone have any good salsa recipes??

Happy Birthday Aubri!

Yesterday was my XXst birthday. Our neighbors, the Munderlohs, took us out to eat at the town pub and made me a chocolate cake! Mama sent a package of goodies, including these dark chocolate m&ms! Yum! For supper we had "birthday pizza" at an after rehearsal dinner for a wedding Phil is doing today. I was just happy to not have to cook!

The Munderlohs and their granddaughter Makala came over for the surprise lunch downtown!

This is the card my sweet husband made me.

I'm still creeped out when I look at our faces, but I love my dress! It's a bit see through, but so glamorous with the "off one shoulder" design! Also note how tall Phil is, at least I think that's Phil, his head seems a little small and he's shaved his beard.

Life was quite different now than this time last year! I'm really looking forward to the changes this year will bring.

Slaw.

While I'm waiting for this baby to come I decided to use a head of cabbage the best way I know how, by making my aunt Sylvia's Cole Slaw, the best I or you will ever have. She sent the "recipe" to me, more a list of ingredients, they don't really use recipes in the South, and I took the challenge. I will tell you, this slaw was delicious and so so close to hers, I was very proud. This is now a Hale family favorite passed down to generations to come.