8-15-10 First visit to St. Luke's and meeting Charlie

We've been getting into our groove with Julia the last couple of days. I'm feeling better every day post-surgery, and got the camera out for "wannabe photographer" newborn pictures of our sweet bear. I can't wait to do big sister/little sister pictures next week! Stay tuned for those :) Yesterday, Ted was holding Julia and she snuck her little foot out of the swaddle - it was so cute, I had to take a picture.

Today we started our morning with church and meeting Charlie Larsen. Father Doug was very kind and came to the back of the church (where we were sitting) to do a special blessing of the children - it was so sweet! I think that we all feel pretty blessed. Comparing Julia and Charlie, it was funny to see how much of a difference two inches makes in an itty bitty baby - Charlie is so much longer and leaner than Julia! Of course, we got some pictures of the families together.

When we came home, we all took a nap before the photo session started in ernest. My first shot was to take a couple pictures of all the beautiful flowers celebrating Julia's birth. We're really lucky to have so many people to celebrate her. Then it was on to the star of the show! I still want to get a cute close up of her hands, but I'm sure that will come in the next couple of days. Then the hard part - deciding what pictures to use for announcements! We'll be sure to include a sibling picture as well as close ups of our girl. Oh, what fun we'll have doing all of those!!! Madeleine comes home tomorrow, and we can't wait to see her. We miss our girl, although it sounds like she's having a blast at my parents house. Today she was playing in the sprinkler with an umbrella, and then watering the lawn chairs. :) Maybe they'll grow into chase lounges.... We are so thankful to my folks for giving us this gift of time with just Julia, and are feeling much better prepared to start "real life" tomorrow.