The It's Been One Week Since You Looked At Me Edition

Gracie is one week old...yay!!! This have been for the most part smooth. A few bumps in the road, but nothing we couldn't handle. Tim, Les, Leah and Quinn hurried over on Friday night to see the new member of the clan. I'm still not sure what they thought exactly- Quinn is still miffed I think that we didn't name the baby Darth Vader..but I told him maybe the next one. Since I was asked to explain Gracie's name on my livejournal I'll share it here as well. The origin really is fairly simple. I've always wanted to name my first girl Grace, mostly because my favorite ball-player was Mark Grace of the Cubs (#17..first baseman..the boys at home know)- in the decade of the 90s he had more hits and more doubles than ANY player in baseball!!! Also, I was infatuated with Gracie Allen as a kid- I loved watching old Burns & Allen shows late at night on TV). I knew Grace wouldn't be as great first name because of the sound but it would make a great middle name, so we set about finding a name that fit. I've also always loved the name Virginia because it is where I grew up and has so much history (something I love dearly). Plus they sounded good together. My wife loved them as well. So we'll call her Gracie. Her mommy will occasionally call her Ginny, and Grandma Wendy calls her Victoria (?!?) But then we correct her, "No Mom..it's VIRGINIA" and we move on :) My parents, sister, and niece came up on Saturday evening to stay with us this week. They had planned the trip long ago, and Gracie's late arrival made things a little touch and go at first. But luckily they've helped a great deal, especially Esther, my baby sister, who did everything from laundry to cooking to maowing the lawn this week. Tina, my 15-month old niece has taken an instant shine to Gracie, well...after getting over the jealousy of having to share her Grandpa. When she walks into the room she instantly starts saying "baby...baby...baby". So we've just been learning to get along with each other this week. Shell and Gracie have been bonding and sleeping. Gracie has been eating well and growing. I've been changing diapers, kissing my girls, and bringing them flowers...12 long stemmed red roses for Shell and one pink one for Virginia. It's been tiring sure, but it's been great as well. I love both my girls. I cherish them. I'll protect them. They brighten my world. Heck, I think it's been too long since I've given them some kisses... So I should probably go for now...but I'll leave you with just a few more photos that I really love... Cheers