long weekend

our "weekend" started on thursday night. i spent most of my thursday daytime packing up the rest of my clothes, and getting our laundry sorted. then around noon, mike came home and we went downtown to grab some mediterranean food for lunch (not very good...when did chicken shwarma wraps come served on a whole wheat tortilla?!?) we then came home and packed up his car with boxes to take to my aunt's house. in the heat, of course. finally after the quick unload, we made it down to dave and loretta's house by 4 in the afternoon. we then spent the next 2 days with 3 kids, and 1 on the way.

things went well with daniel, sammy and annie. we hung out, played in the front yard, had pizza for dinner, and after mom and dad left for the hospital, we went to the park. i think everyone had a good time. after a bath, we did the bedtime rituals with annie, which include watching bunnytown in dave and loretta's room with a blanket and her sippy cup of milk, then being transferred to her crib for the rest of there sleep. some photos from our day.







the next morning, mike made breakfast and the kids played and watched tv. daniel slept...for about 11 hours, through breakfast and almost into lunch. it was too hot outside to be outside too long, so most of the day was spent in the air conditioned house. we got updates from the hospital a couple times. at about 9am, loretta still hadn't dilated at all with the cervadil insertion the previous night, about an hour or so later they started to pitocin and the doctor broke her water and loretta got her epidural. about noon thirty dave called to say baby was coming, so we got everyone ready and got to the hospital. i had sent mike to the store for some laundry detergent and for sandwiches. i knew as soon as he left dave would call. so, mike rushed home and we got everyone loaded into the car and to the hospital. the baby had already arrived when we got there, and we met up with jeanette and stephanie.





cara jessica surprised everyone by being a girl. and she is just so adorable. annie got to wear her "big sister" shirt. daniel and samantha handled the new baby like old pros. it was exciting and amazing. loretta was doing well, just a little stress about some bleeding, but she was recovering well.

that night mike made spaghetti and gnochi for dinner, and afterwards we let annie swim naked in the mini-pool in the front yard. that was good enough for a bath that night too. i was pretty exhausted, so i went to sleep pretty early.

mike and i were glad when monika arrived on saturday afternoon to relieve us of our kid duty. we went from zero to three kids in a weekend. they were good, and samantha was such a great help. thank goodness they are all pretty self-sufficient at this age, and can have fun. we went back to the hospital to visit cara and the family, then went to home to get a handle on the packing. yikes, still so much more to do!