Hannah

So here is my baby. I'm returning to work tomorrow and am sad to be leaving her. Brian pointed out that even though I had 3 months with Maddie I worked a far busier schedule. Still, it is hard. For those of you who don't know, I had a very rare tumor removed at the time of Hannah's birth. The majority of my maternity leave was thus spent going from doctors office to doctors office, getting second opinions, anxiously awaiting lab results, undergoing CT scans... For anyone who has gone through something similar I would not wish it on my worst enemy. Suffice it to say though that all is well. Labs are normal, the CT scan was negative, and the tumor is now a thing of the past. As one of my physicians put it, "Although anxiety provoking, over time this will fade into the background of your life". Still, I wish I could have my time back with Hannah, those quiet, reflective moments you are supposed to have with your baby.

I'm a planner and have always had an eye toward the future - but to a fault. This has been a learning experience and will continue to be, I'm sure. Nothing changes overnight. But, I really understand the importance of living in the Now. I have the most amazing friends and family. I hope you know how much you are all appreciated. Brian - you are my rock. Your sense of humor will get us through anything :)

On a lighter note, I contemplated putting Hannah's feet on the Halloween post. Check those babies out! They are scary - even bigger than Maddie's when she was born.

Auntie E visits!!

Halloween Continued

Also among the missing: my dad, Jess, Butch, Lois, David, Erika, and Ken and Christina. I must say Ken and Christina are a convincing Hermione and Mr. Harry Potter. I did a double take when they came up onto the porch. It was a lot of fun guys. I hope we can do it again next year. Thanks for all your efforts.

Halloween

So Brian and I decided to have an open house on Halloween so our families and neighbors could hang out and see the trick or treaters, including Maddie who was dressed as a frog, and Ella who was a princess. Phoebe is shown here as a ladybug.

Paul finally felt confident enough to hold Hannah. In his defense there is a BIG difference between 6 and 10 lbs. Poor Brian had a crazy day. He drove up to Rockland, ME to get our new renters situated and drove back the same day. He returned home sporting the mullet you see here. There were lots of other people at the party but we were all having so much fun that we forgot to make better use of the camera. Jane brought her amazing apple pie and my mom made a spider cake.