Aunt Margaret

First I had an Aunt Margaret...now I am one.

On Thursday night (which was Feb 25) Nathan answered a phone call from his mother saying that his sister was going to labor and my mother-in-law wanted one of us to drive her to the hospital because she didn't think she could focus enough to drive and my father-in-law was unavailable.

Neither of us were busy that night so we both went.  We arrived at the hospital at roughly 7:00 and Nathan was good enough to run out to Jimmy John's across the street and the three of us some dinner.  Janelle's mother-in-law had not yet arrived by the time Nathan got back and Pam, who is a friend of hers, knew she would want to be there.  Pam called Lynne and let her know what was going on and Lynne drove up to the hosptial, getting there at just about 8:00.

For the next couple of hours we all sat in the waiting room partially watching the Olympics on the TV and too excited to read the books we had brought.  We told stories, Pam and Lynne talked about when Nathan (Janelle's husband) and Janelle were young.  And Nathan (my husband) and I told our stories about childhood.

It seemed like every couple of minutes someone would come out of the maternity ward and we would all get excited but for hours none of them were Nathan.  Finally, at just before 10:30 he came into the room and told us he had a daughter.

She was born just after 9:00 and they named her Sophia Violet.  We stayed out in the waiting room a little longer, giving Janelle and Sophia time to nurse, then Nathan came back to get us.

She was still crying quite a bit, but I was the first one to hold her.  She is perfect and pink with a full head of dark hair.  We stayed there for about an hour, passing her around and asking Janelle how she felt.  We actually did get Nathan (my husband) to hold the baby.  He sat down in a chair and his mother set her in his arms and you know...he's the only person she did not cry for.

The next day I called Nathan after work and let him know I was going to be stopping back by the hospital and he said he'd meet me there.  When I arrived my in-laws were already there and Sophia was very quiet and calm.  I held her for quite some time as she slept.  Then Nathan arrived and she actually woke up and looked around when he held her.

Initially I called myself "Auntie Margaret" but I think I'm going to drop the "ie" and just go with aunt.  I can't wait to get to know my niece.

Lent

Every year I make Lenten resolutions and begin the season with the best of intentions.  And every year, not long into our 40 days, I start forgetting things.  It seems the first thing I always forget is that I'm not supposed to eat meat on Fridays and a slice of pepperoni pizza or a ham sandwich slips its way into my lunch or meal time out of habit. 

Then my resolutions start to fall by the wayside, not because I didn't mean them when I made them, just because I can be inattentive sometimes.

But this year, I'm trying harder, this year so far I remembered just in time that I couldn't bring a leftover ham sandwich to work today and I'm doing my best to keep my resolutions at the front of my mind.  I hope to do better.