Lucy and "Turtle"

Lucy still calls Griffin by his sister-given nickname (Turtle) most of the time. Overall, she has been exceptionally sweet to her little blubbery brother. (she was a bit confused when we brought him back from the hospital, since she believed we were simply visiting him there) This is a favorite photo from the first night we were all together at home.

Lucy Speaks

I recorded this in mid-January, around the same time Lucy was getting pretty excited about the new baby's imminent arrival.

Griffin Howe Targum

Sorry for the delay - but we've been busy.

Griffin Howe Targum was born Thursday, February 10, 2011, weighing in at 9 pounds 4 ounces and measuring 22.5 inches tall. Barbara was a superstar.

Here's the play-by-play:

9:30pm: Watching terrific Valentine's Day episode of Modern Family on the Tivo
10:00pm: Started watching the pilot for the awful new Matthew Perry show that follows Modern Family
10:07pm: Stop watching the show in disgust
10:08pm: Barbara notes that her cramps might actually be mild contractions
10:10pm: I decide it might be time to pack an overnight bag - just in case
10:12pm: Barbara decides that she is definitely having contractions, and starts timing them
10:17pm: Hey - look at that - the contractions are about 6 minutes apart. Barbara calls the OB's answering service. I start hurrying with the packing.
10:18pm: Freak out, just a little bit.
10:22pm: "Elliot - I think my water just broke."
10:23pm: "Yup. My water definitely broke."
10:24pm: OB says it is time to head over to the hospital.
10:25-11:30pm: Somehow, our friend Nick Rosenberg shows up to watch Lucy while my parents drive in from the South End. We get in the car, remarkably calm and organized, and show up at a busy labor and delivery. After waiting a moment for our room to be cleaned, we head in.
11:30pm: We enter our hospital room. I put on some New Age music and Barbara is entering a relaxed state for her drug-free HypnoBirthing. Some miraculous things occur.
12:58am: Griffin is born! Barbara holds her baby boy for the first time and I cut the cord. We're thrilled, our eyes filled with tears of joy. Griffin seems a bit surprised.

We stayed in the hospital until Saturday afternoon, then headed home to enjoy being a new family of four.

Here are a few photos from his first few hours.

What a Lot of Snow!

I'm 39 weeks pregnant today, and with significant snow storms hitting the Boston area at least once a week, it's feeling increasingly likely that Turtle is going to be born in a snow storm just like Lucy!

This is what our back porch looks like this morning:

And here's a shot of Elliot and Lucy from an earlier storm enjoying some fluffy snow:

We're home again today, though the sleet/freezing rain mix outside is less conducive to nice outside time and photogenic smiles.

Lucy Embraces Hair Accessories

Lucy went through a long spell where she didn't want anything in her hair: elastics, barrettes, headbands were all yanked out within seconds. But Grammy gave her some adorable pink flower barrettes for Christmas, and Lucy specifically asked to wear them to school this morning. Here she is sporting her purple "sparkle shirt" and the new barrettes:

Grammy and the Three Bears

What happened to November? It flew by! I had a weekend in Los Angeles visiting Stephanie, and then Elliot went to Nice, France for six days for work. Before we knew it, Thanksgiving had come and gone, and now it's going to be December in two days! Yikes. Did I mention that I'm almost seven months pregnant too? Time to start slowing down...

Grammy came out to stay with us during Elliot's trip to give me a hand and spend some quality time with Lucy. I'd get home every day to a very happy and enthusiastic Lucy - and even though she'd spent all day with Grammy already, there was usually a very loud request that Grammy read her a bedtime story, not Mommy. It was very sweet.

Grammy taught Lucy the Goldilocks story, with incredible props, and Saba caught it on film when he and Eema visited one afternoon. The video (below) is over 8 minutes long, so if you're not up for the whole thing, here's a nice photo capturing the scene:

And for you die-hard blog fans, here's the whole shebang, complete with a cameo of Eema's nail polish:

Thanks again to Grammy for coming to lend a helping hand during our busy November!!

"It's my leaf bed!"

Fallen leaves are a whole lot more fun when you are not required to rake the yard.