Catching up: New nephew edition!
Posted on August 15, 2011 5 Comments
How has it been nearly a month since my last post?! (So long that I needed two different kinds of punctuation on that last sentence!) I don’t know where the time goes. Except, I kind of do, and I think you’ll agree that this one was well worth the work stoppage.
Introducing, my new — and FIRST — nephew, baby S!
He was born on July 24 and weighed in at just under 7 lbs. Such a sweet little guy. And though my family had spent a lot of time preparing for his arrival, we’ve also spent some time getting to know him, time that I was previously using to work on my blog.
So rest assured, I’m still here and everyone is healthy and happy as ever.
I did some cool frugal things to prep for his arrival, for instance, I knitted him a baby hat and burp cloths. I started to knit him a tiny blanket to go with the hat, but then my brother needed some help around the house because he had an unexpected pre-baby surgery, so I didn’t quite finish that project. The baby blanket gift sort of became a labor gift (no pub intended). I painted the baby’s room, painted my brother’s upstairs/downstairs hallways, helped clean and organize, and put together some furniture. It was actually kind of fun to be involved so close to his due date, in a chaotic/frenzied excitement sort of way.
Of course, I got the baby some traditional things for the baby shower; I did a little sleepy kit: pajamas/onesies, bed sheets, bed liner, etc. To go with the room I painted, which I hoped was a nice touch.
I happened to be lucky enough to be at the hospital the day baby S was born (which involved a very speedy trip from Lake Geneva to Chicago with my mother — we had been on our girls’ weekend vacation with my mom and aunt). I also happened to be lucky enough to have a camera at the hospital, and in the days following his birth I put together a photo story on Facebook that I’m really proud of, one that made my brother, my sister-in-law, and my dad all cry (I’d guess my mom, too, but she’s not on Facebook). That was probably the best gift I gave, and it didn’t cost a dime.
I’ve seen him a couple times since that first day, got to spend hours holding him. Today I got to feed him, and my brother asked me to be his Godmother, which makes me so happy. I plan to be majorly involved in this boy’s life and will help protect him, teach him, take him on adventures, and just generally be there when he needs me. He’s already growing and changing, though his skin is still too big for him, like a baby elephant, and he mostly just sleeps, poops, cries, and eats. Though, I think you can see why we all love him so much already… (pardon the cell phone quality here of baby and daddy).
Now that the baby is born and things have calmed down a bit, and since my triathlon is over I should have more time. OH WAIT A MINUTE … I never told you how my triathlon went! It was inspiring and fun and challenging and confidence-building and I finished and I absolutely loved every minute of it. Even when the swim felt like it was taking forever, even when I realized I suck at biking, and even when I had to pee so bad during the run part of the course that I started refusing fluids, I loved it. I finished very strong (for me) with a total time of 3 hours, 17 minutes, a smile on my face, and a spring in my step. This was my third triathlon, my longest distance yet, and I think I can finally call myself “a triathlete” instead of a runner who has done a triathlon or two.
So generally speaking, I have a lot to write about, mostly good things, some not so good, but hopefully all entertaining for you. Oh, but a word of warning. Over the past three weeks, I have received about 1,500 comments, about 99 percent which are spam. So I am deleting ALL of them. I was keeping up with the comments for a while, but it gets totally overwhelming so I’m going to delete all the comments awaiting approval that have come in since the last time I posted and start fresh. The good news is that if you’ve posted comments before you should be fine to post with your sign in. But if you posted recently and it didn’t get published, I’m sorry. Please know that I am fighting a losing battle with an army of crazy spammers and doing all that I can to keep the trash off my boards. I really need to come up with a better way that manual to approve comments.
I hope you’re having a happy, healthy, and fun frugal summer and can’t wait to catch up with everybody again!
Category: Life
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5 Responses to “Catching up: New nephew edition!”
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August 15th, 2011 @ 4:32 am
very cute baby
August 15th, 2011 @ 6:18 pm
Nephews are the best! Enjoy this first year! It seems like yesterday I was at the hospital meeting my nephew for the first time. His 1 year birthday is in a week, and he’s already walking and (sort of) talking. Lol, time flies!
August 15th, 2011 @ 10:22 pm
so cute!!! enjoy him!
way to go on the tri. so glad you had fun and did great!
August 17th, 2011 @ 9:02 pm
Congratulations!
And while your gifts were frugal, they were very meaningful and thoughtful — well done!
August 19th, 2011 @ 5:15 am
Oh, and I meant to say before, as well, congrats on your personal best with the triathlon!