Shelby is a Blessing

Shelby was blessed this past Saturday. She is such a blessing in my life for so many reasons.

The days leading up to the blessing were so busy. After the blessing we had planned to have a lunch for our family and close friends, so there was a menu to plan, food to buy, a place to secure, cleaning to be done, decorations to pick out, balloons to blow up, wardrobe to decide on and have ready; all of this on top of our regular every day tasks. By Friday evening we were nowhere near finished. Saturday morning my mother still had cleaning to do, we had the decorations to put up, balloons to blow up, and we had to be at church by the latest 11:00 am. We made it there with about 10 minutes to spare which was great cause it gave me a chance to sit and breathe...sort of. Shelby had to be dressed and every few minutes I was looking around for my invited guests - BdaB, some other friends from college, and, of course, Mocha. Most of the people turned up. When it was almost time to go down to the front there were at least 19 of us. I didn't want to be the first to walk in but Shelby was main attraction and I had her so down I went with everyone else following closely behind in single file. The pastor took Shelby and prayed for her and for us after giving the church a little preamble about myself and hubby, then when it was all done we filed back out to the foyer. I had really wanted to stay and hear the sermon but I had to leave - we still had preparations to do if we wanted the room and food to be ready when everyone got there with their empty stomachs. Of course, when I left most of my guests left with me. Hubby had to stay to videotape the rest of the service.

When we got to the place we immediately started blowing up balloons and putting out peanuts. My newfound family was there to help which made things go a lot faster. By the time church was done hubby came home with Shelby and the food was almost ready. We ate, we talked, we laughed, we had a great time. Some friends didn't make it...I was disappointed about that but that's life sometimes.Regardless, overall it was a wonderful day.
Of course, the cake. It was vanilla cake with raspberry filling and whipped topping.
The colors were pink, purple, and white.

Here is a pic of the food when it was almost done. There was oxtail, fish, veggie meat, bbq chicken, salad, potato salad, and rice and peas.

Reponse to 'Anon' Comment

In response to nyabg's 'anon' comment on The Best of Times, The Worst of Times.

...i couldn't leave your 2 brothers home alone... Man, I would have said they're coming with! ;-)
It wasn't a big deal. I knew I had hours before Shelby would arrive, so why disrupt the whole household. It would have made everything so complicated.

And you'd never had unrelievable pain in your life before? wow! You just went straight for the biggest imaginable pain.
Uh, yeah, cause it pretty much was.

Did you ever wonder (i'm sure you must have) what Sid must've been thinking seein 'Mommy' in pain and acting strange? Did he ever comment or you explain to him?
I did wonder. I looked at him through the sideview mirror. He was watching me. I don't think I explained in detail but I'm pretty sure I told him my stomach was hurting cause the baby was coming.

Again, lol at the image of you, 'wheeling' youself into the hospital and then nurses asking you to sign things! Glad i live up here! Then all i'd have to do, is hand over my health card (if that).
We have health cards here too. And, as a matter of fact, they had me on file from the last time I was there giving birth to Sid. But I still had to resign waivers and stuff like that.

So i guess you're all healed now?
When you made this comment I'm sure I was healed by then, but there's no doubt that I'm all healed now!

And I'd like to hear about your hospital roomies too. How long did you stay?
My roomies, yeah, they were special. I had the bed by the window which was fine by me. (It seems so long ago now, I should have remembered to respond sooner cause now I hardly remember anything!) I do remember that my roomies came and took over the rest of the room. The curtains were up between our beds but that was about it. That meant that everytime I had to use the bathroom I had to walk in front of them (and whoever happened to be visiting) cause they didn't close the curtain at the foot of their bed. They also didn't close the curtain on the other side of their bed where the sink was, so everytime I came out of the bathroom to wash my hands I was again in their 'area'. They weren't considerate that way. Also, the husband stayed very late at night - as late as he could hide from security. I was glad when the nurse who checked on the lady went and told security he was in there and they told him to leave. When you're in a semi-private room you're supposed to consider the privacy and feelings of your roommate. They didn't. They were trying to get a private room but they were all full so each day they were supposed to leave they couldn't. One time I heard the lady say they may as well stay cause it wasn't so bad staying with me! Of course it wasn't bad staying with me cause I was the one staying with them!! Anyway, I liked being in the hospital and being waited on, but the inconsiderate roommates were trying. I had Shelby Monday morning and I was out by Wednesday midday.

Shelby Laughing

This is the first time I've heard Shelby laugh so much.

Shelby is a grabber. Whatever she can get her hands on will stay in her grasp. She particularly likes to hang on to my hair.

More and More Pix

Uncle BdaB and Fam bought this gift for Shelby. See how intently she's watching it! (Taken yesterday)
She's starting to learn how to hold her bottle. (Taken yesterday)
This is an upside-down view of Shelb. (Taken today)

Reflux

Shelb has some serious reflux. She must spit up at least half of her food. The doctor says that since she's gaining weight he's not worried about it but we could try gripe water if we want. That was a month ago. I just got some this past weekend and gave some to Shelb Sunday night. She almost choked on it! It's more syrupy than she's used to I guess. And since the other bottles are, um, asleep in the grave we bought her some new fancy shmancy bottles called Dr. Brown's which supposedly reduce the amount of air she takes in. She's still spitting up but we're watching to see if the colic is reduced. At least the gripe water brings up the excess air which seems to help.
Here is a pic of Shelb. She's lying next to my leg as I type this post.

This is some of us walking to the truck on Monday morning after being smoked out of our home the night before. We stayed at hubby's mom's house.
Hubby's mom needed a ride so I sat in the back seat between Sid and Shelb. This is the view of Shelb from my seat next to her.

Its Called Improvisation

Sunday morning we all went to church for a funeral (again). Hubby was asked to video tape so the rest of us tagged along (we're friends of one of the deceased's sons so it wasn't like we were rubbernecking). While we were there wouldn't you know that Shelb did a load. I took her into one of the back rooms to change her only to find that there weren't any diapers left in her bag. I happened to have a safety pin holding part of my skirt together where the button uesd to be and she had a couple of large burp cloths that double as cloth diapers. I wrapped that girl up and covered the pin in case it came loose (plus I had it facing outward so if it popped open it would stick her, only the person holding her if at all). Then I found a plastic bag that had the mini DV tapes that I bought to tape the service, ripped two holes in the bottom, and tied it on to her. I took a pic of the final product but somehow I didn't save it in my phone. :( That was supposed to be my Sunday pic.

Sad Face While Awake

Pic taken by sister Alex.

Daddy's Girls (Almost)

Here is Shelb and Alex - daddy's two youngest girls.

Cloudy Day

Usually Shelb is my Morning Sunshine. Not so this morning!

At the Airport

Yesterday Shelb and Sid and me and hubby took grandma (my mother) to the airport. She left for Jamaica. She was nervous about the turbulence and esp the air pockets but she made it with little of the first and none of the second. Anywho, here are pix of them kids seeing her off!
Sid and Grandma
Shelb and Grandma
Shelb waiting in line

More of Today - Eating Lunch

Daddy just had to be in the picture!

Beginning of Something Great?

Here are more pictures (hopefully the beginning of more and more and even more pictures)!

This picture was taken Dec 5 when my sister asked me to take one and send it to her phone.


Here is a collage of this morning's pictures. See, here she is pushing herself up off the bed.

Her Life

Shelby's life is just not that interesting. It would be nice to chronicle "major" events daily but I won't make any promises. I will at least try to take pictures every few days with even my cell phone. I would take one now but she's not here, she's on the road with her father.

My Sunshine

What a pleasant baby Shelby is first thing in the morning! And she's talking so much more - it seems so sudden, this drastic increase in cooing. I would tape it but you never know when she's going to start/stop.

Today I gave her my finger and she opened her hand and wrapped her fingers around mine! Coincidence? I think not! :)

Pix From a Few Days Ago

Yesterday's Pix

Have To Get Her Started Early