all of God's grace in one tiny face~

you guys~ he's here

our grandson is here!!!

 one month ago today, little colton james was born.

:  ))))))))))))))))))))))))

my daughter is a momma!

our son-in-law is a daddy,

 lars and i are grandparents

&

cole and eric are uncles -aka "funcles"!

*pretty much our favorite names ever.

i read a quote that said

"one day, right in the middle of an ordinary life, we were given

a miracle" and that's pretty much how this precious little boy feels to us.

our little bubbie was due on oct. 16th so we were all pretty dang surprised

by his early appearance on sept. 27th.

                                                    one month before the birth.

                                     

the evening of sept. 25th  Ad text me and said " mom, my water broke at home

and we're at the hospital"...

eeeeeeek! it was happening!

i went to bed all nervous, anxious, excited, happy, 

full of anticipation and it was hard to sleep (but i did). haha

the next day we got a couple texts from the kids saying that 

things were "progressing as expected".

: )

at about 7 p.m., one last text came that said she was

about half way there and that maybe baby would be born

around midnight.

so i stayed up till midnight, 

praying, reading, scrolling thru pinterest and instagram

and waiting for "the call".

i know it's not all about me, but hey this is my version of the birth story. ; )

i woke up a couple times during the night and checked my phone

and finally at about 4:30 a.m. i saw a text

that said that the baby had been born and was in the NICU.

well~ i sat up and just started sobbing. tears of joy and also fear because

we didn't know what was going on but I heard NICU and I was scared.

turns out baby's beginning was rough and he needed extra care

for the first several days of his life.

a. ended up having a C-section and she and chris were both worn out and worried,

but you know what else they were?

freaking amazing!

can i just repeat that?

they were freaking amazing.

the grace, gratitude and strength they showed in the week they were

in the hospital, is something

i'll never forget.

(grampa tim and i may have cried more tears than c. and a. did).
hey we can't help it, we're extra emotional!

i'm not going to completely sugar coat things.

it obviously wasn't the sweet beginning they were expecting.
the kids didn't get to hold their little love or really see his whole precious face
until the 4th day when he got off a cooling pad and a bunch of the tubes came out.
one by one though they came out and our little bubbie showed us how
remarkable and resilient babies can be.

colton had an amazing team of compassionate nurses and doctors that

cared for him and got him over the hump and ready to go home and 

we can't thank them enough. let's fast forward to day 6 when they were finally given the good
news that they were being discharged.
Woo Hoooooo~
colton had met all criteria to go home!

a. did tell me that she said to the nurses,
"you'll be by every 3 hours to check on us though right?"

things are going great now and mr. big has gained enough weight
that momma says his little legs are getting some "chub" on them. : ))
we're all pretty much in complete love and mom and dad
text photos of him to the one who's not holding him (but wants to be)
from the opposite ends of the couch.
hahaha

so here we go- with no apologies whatsoever this time-

 here's a million photos of the beginning of our little colton's life!

**************

                                      me seeing my girl for the first time after her delivery.

*i was getting over a cold so i wasn't able to go in the NICU
and see baby C. for a few days.
thank God they all took photos for me and chris even went in the
nursery and face timed with us so i could see him.

i was worried about the baby, but i was also worried about my girl.

she'd just had a major surgery, but man she was a trooper.

i never heard a single complaint from her about her recovery.

grampa meeting colton for the first time. 

he looks big here, but he really wasn't.

6lb. 8 oz. of pure love.

i love this photo. on the left are grampa tim (in front) and lars.

 on the right are uncle jake (in front) and the proud new daddy.

these 4 men are going to be a huge part of colton's life and i just love

the 4 of them surrounding him with love (and emotion). 

this is day 4 when i was finally able to go in the NICU.

all i wanted in the whole world was to see my daughter holding her sweet baby,

*someone bring us a box of kleenex already!

the two grandmas took care of kenzie, their fur baby while the kids were in the hospital

and we brought a. down to see her for a few minutes

and get the only whiff of fresh air she had in a week.

smiles all around!!!

colton already had a job chart from day 1~
: )  

a little jaundiced, and a whole lot precious.

we were moving mom from her own room to colton's room on the NICU floor here.

luckily she got to stay the extra days baby was hospitalized.

when i got this photo via text, i cried again.

homeward bound.

****************

99% of those photos were from cell phones, but of course when you are a

photographer and the brand new gram you swoop in to take newborn photos.
the rest of these are from our newborn session and there's not a lot

that needs to be said other than,
maybe this is a peak at what heaven's going to look like.

day 16

so it is with the utmost joy that i'm sharing adria, chris and colton's story.

every day is better now with this little boy in our lives.

he is our wonder boy and we feel completely blessed.

*i also want to say thank you for the outpouring of love and support

for our family and especially for

 all the prayers sent up for this little love. it comforted us

greatly and we love you.

xo,

grama b.

2 showers & 1 lucky baby~

you guys! there is a very special baby on it's way to us.

it's almost time now for my grand baby to be born and there have been lovely parties

thrown by lovely people to celebrate babies life and

help mommy and daddy gather the 1001 things

pinterest says you need to bring a child into the world these days.

: )

*I swear when I had my kids you needed:

some cloth diapers and a plastic diaper pail from pamida

6 sleepers

6 bottles in case you weren't nursing and a can of enfamil

a bottle brush

4 bibs

4 flannel receiving blankets

one heavier blanket

a few white onesies

a bassinet or crib

one car seat

& 2 pacifiers.

done. ready for baby to come!

the list now a days fills a couple pages. there are these new straw things you

"suck" mucus out of babies nose with. everyone has video monitors so you

can watch what's going on in the nursery at all times. there are special decorative grass 

mats to dry your bottles on. there's this giraffe that if your kid doesn't

have- he or she will

never get into preschool.

there are strollers that you're going to need the engineer next door to

help you figure out. (the car seat, highchair and potty chair all snap into it).

*just kidding

speaking of car seats~you new parents will be buying about 3 of

them...for all the different weights of your baby over the next few years.

you need a white noise machine, a bouncy chair that will so totally entertain your

baby that you may get a shower every few days~

you need a special little bassinet for by your bed, a pack and play for travel,

a crib for their rooms that will transition to a toddler bed~ then a single bed and

then it'll go in their dorm room. (again, I kid).

you need organic cotton "everything" - oh wait bamboo is ok too!

you need swaddle blankets to wrap your baby up in like a burrito and these 

special sleep sacks because you can no longer use blankets in babies cribs.

or pillows or stuffed animals and remember- lay baby on it's back only.

it's all just so new and different from the way us "gramas" used to do things,

but I am 100% ready to wrap up my burrito grand baby like they've told us. whatever is good
for the baby is what i want too! * thank goodness

they haven't decided rocking is bad.

i'm going to rock and cuddle and read books and sing 

my little songs in my weak voice to this baby and I

cannot wait! maybe baby won't even know for a while that
this grama can't sing.

so anywhoooo, there were these amazing parties for adri and her baby.

the first one was hosted by baby p.'s auntie brandy and auntie lacey.

when daddy's side of the family throws a party, it's a biggie.

the grandmas, aunties, cousins, cousins friend's neighbors and

the FedEx man all come. it is so lovely how they love to 

acknowledge all the special events in their family and celebrate together.

the girls had ahhh-mazing food for the shower-salads, fruit breads, chicken sand-

wiches, many kinds of bars,veggie trays, fresh fruit...oh man it was yummy!

they had a couple of really unique games for us to play and then the gifts

oh my the gifts!

Ad got soooo many precious gifts for their baby I was just blown away, but
what I really want to talk about is this cake!!!!!

i think they call these "naked cakes". auntie b. ordered the cake but then she did the decorating and

if you're on pinterest or follow martha stewart you've no doubt seen them. they are soooo my daughter's style and the girls planned their party around a woodland theme. the little garland of shiny gold discs was reminiscent of the kids wedding and it was held up by real twigs! the little woodsy animals and trees were just adorable and it perched on this cake plate was the cat's meow!

<------  brandy       lacey  ------>

how ka-ute are their shirts?

check out the Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, the adorable baby animal framed prints that were a gift from the aunties, and the prize bags lined up for games!

grandma p.       momma to be        and me!

I've gotten to know these fun relatives from bridal showers and the wedding and they

are just the best!

more of my favorite guests,  making dishing their plates look very serious.

the gift opening took a long time. there were over 30 wonderful women in that room, and we were

simply blown away by the lovely things given to a. and c. for baby p. !

ad, saying thank you to everyone...

and let's take one more look at this cute cake!

i am so grateful that my girl married into this wonderful,

caring, supportive, FUN family!!

thank you to any of you reading this for sharing this special day with us.

***************

i decided to do both these showers in one post so here goes the next one. : )

this party was just last weekend, and was hosted by two of my best friends.

mary and cheri, knowing ad's love for the outdoors and the fact that

the babies nursery is done in a woodland theme, went with that look too!

i just love how the hostesses of these two parties had no idea what the other shower

was like and there were such fun different ideas around a common theme.

cheri had been at a friend's cabin and she scoured the woods for birch bark, pine cones, acorns and pine boughs that they used to decorate the tables.

the food was so delicious and amazing at this party too. seriously, for someone who doesn't like to cook, i am so appreciative of tables full of yummy food that someone lovingly prepared for us!

there were egg bakes, warm bread and cinnamon rolls, fruit skewers, cheese and crackers, a spinach salad and for dessert? bundtinis for the win! 

<------  cheri       mary   ------>

eric's girlfriend corinne, ad and friend jess (who's preggos with her 4th baby) : )

g-ma alice and ad

a very special onesie from a very special girl, lexi, who is a ballerina with the new york city ballet.

she has a strong loyalty for her home state of mn. and wanted baby p. to have a mn. shirt!

my daughter's motto has been "i do what i want" since she was about 15, so when i saw this onesie i wasted no time putting it in my cart.

: )

this was one of the gifts ad got from her brother. it had a story too. when she was 4 days old 

i took a photo of her with a little (very little) stuffed pig and they were the same size.

he bought baby p. a stuffed piggy of it's own.

me and my girl. 

i can hardly stand how beautiful she is pregnant. it kind of makes me choke up whenever i see her.

pregnancy and birth is such an absolute miracle isn't it?

to think there's a little person growing in her beautiful round bump that

is going to be born and change our world is just

the best.

and to end, here is a pic of ad, her big brother, (who may rival me for most excited about this baby's birth) and jess.

eric wasn't really at the shower, but he dropped corinne off and came in to say hi.)

to say adria and i are grateful to all of you who came to these parties is an understatement.

to the hostesses who spent so many hours planning and cooking and setting up for these

lovely, lovely parties, we just love you.

thank you!

we just love you. 

it won't be long now and when you have so many people

(a whole village!)

who love you and can't wait to share in the joy of

a new life... 

well, it's going to be amazing.

xox, b.