Bobby likes his swing!

Here are some cute pictures and a video clip of 1-week old Bobby enjoying his swing. His eyes are very round when he is alert and awake.

Scrapbook pages for Bobby

Things are quiet here in Vancouver. Bobby is a great baby and only cries when hungry or needs a change. Molly and I are helping where we can, but Emily has Bobby's routine under control. Molly is catching up on her TV shows and I have been filling time playing with my PhotoShop making scrapbook pages for Bobby.

Meeting Bobby Howell

Molly and I took a 5+ hour flight to Seattle on Friday and then a 5+ hour shuttle to Vancouver, BC on Saturday to meet Bobby. Emily, Robert, and Bobby are doing great. It is so good to finally meet him. Emily is a natural and is handling Bobby like she is an old pro. I am so proud of her. Molly got to share her swaddle technique with Emily. Bobby is nursing and going 3-hour stretches napping between feedings -- how great is that!

Welcome Baby Bobby!

Emily and Robert finally welcomed little Bobby (7 lbs.) yesterday! Happy Birthday Bobby!

Emily had a long labor and delivered by c-section. Mother and baby are both doing well. We are blessed with another precious baby in our family. Molly and I are flying to see them this weekend -- we can't wait!

Emma's Sunday Play Date at Nana's

Emma spent the day with us today and Molly came for dinner. Emma kept very, very busy with my new toy collection! She took over a 2-hour nap. After Molly came, we dressed her in one of the smocked dresses that I made her. Molly was able to distract her while I clipped in a hair bow. She wore it for over an hour and never new it was there. See how cute she looks in her first bow!

She likes the cookie sheet and iced cookies. The cookies velcro to the sheet and the icing is attached to the cookies with velcro -- that way she can decorate the cookies and have many, many pieces to play with.

Emma's New Kitchen

Dan and I went shopping Friday and bought Emma a kitchen set at Pottery Barn Kids. Of course, it is pink! We stocked it with dishes, pots & pans, and all kinds of play food. Emma came over on Saturday to play and was very excited about her new toys at Nana's house. Up to this point, we have just had the culls and rejects that Molly has lent us. We had to step it up a notch!

Being grandparents is such a joy! We love this little baby girl and are looking forward to meeting our first grandson, Bobby, this month. Molly and I are flying to Vancouver on the 20th to meet him -- that is, assuming he arrives by then!

F is for Frog....

Emmy, I am doing some other things for Bobby's nursery walls. What do you think? About 5 similar to this framed in black (frame size 14x18 picture size 8x10) with a 3 inch wide white mat. They will be simple like this in bright primary colors. B is for Bird, T is for Turtle, G is for Grasshopper, C is for Caterpillar.... maybe you can think of some other ones good for a baby boy. Do you have wall space for 5? They will look best in a grouping. I found some frames in stock, so can have them ready when I come.

Emma's First "Official" Haircut

As you can see from the photographs on this scrapbook page, Emma was less than enthused about the haircut. The little red plane that she was sitting in didn't help one bit.

President's Day at Nana's House

Molly had to work on President's Day, so Miss Emma spent the day with us. Here are some photos from our day together. She has a new picnic basket filled with play food. She is especially fond of the 4 potato chips!

Emma Coloring

This was the first time we gave Emma crayons. She worked a while marking on most of the pages. She then occupied herself for about 15 minutes taking them out of a plastic bag, putting them back in a plastic bag, taking them out of a plastic bag, putting them back in a plastic bag .............

Bobby, October 2008 Scrapbook Page

More Fun with Photoshop

This page was fun to do. I drew the frog and scanned it in, so I'm learning to incorporate my own drawings with my photographs. And yes, Molly does know that Emma chews on Sophie's dog toys.

Bobby, December 2008

Another Page for January

February Scrapbook Page

Emma stayed with Matty and me on Tuesday of this week. Emma had been sick the day before and Molly needed some help so she could meet some work obligations during her busy season. Emma wore us out! I took these pictures of her while she was strapped in to her highchair. You can really see how her hair is growing in this photo.

Too Busy to Blog...

Sorry, Emmy. I have been crazy busy with work since the new year started. A week in Denver and a week in Philly put me way behind on everything. I am headed to Denver again on Monday and returning on Friday. Since you have warned me that I can't come to stay after Bobby is born without a finished wallhanging -- this weekend is devoted to working on the stitching I need to complete.

Matty and I babysat for Emma all day on Tuesday. She wore us out. She is on the move every minute and testing boundaries constantly. We love her personality.

I really haven't done much in the way of projecting except working on more scrapbook pages for Emma. I bought some 8x8 scrapbooks for Bobby (don't worry all blue) and will start the same for him. Did you get your cameras?

Here are a couple of pages that I completed for Emma. I started at the present and worked backwards -- completing October 2007 this evening. I used an online tool to create part of the word collage on this scrapbook page. Check it out at this web site -- http://www.wordle.net/createhttp://www.wordle.net/create

I can't wait to meet Bobby, won't be long now. I'll book my flights this weekend.

I love Jim and Sarah's blog. Sarah is so talented and her sense of humor comes through in her video clips and postings. Dan and I are both big fans!

Sophie's Favorite Things

#1 - Snuggling with Daddy

#2 - Playing with squeaky toys #3 - Playing with squeaky toys in bed with Daddy

Babysitting Emma

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to spend the day with Emma. She has so much personality now. Here are some pictures from her visit on Saturday and other photographs of her "on the move" at our home in January. She is still enjoying the hand knit hats that I made her.

Emma Loves Cats!

Here is one of Emma's scrapbook pages I made for December showing one of the stuffed animal cats that we gave her. She loves them!

Christmas 2008

I have been so busy since Christmas that I am just now getting around to posting some of our Christmas pictures. Both Dan and I took the week before Christmas and the week after as vacation this year. Emily and Robert were home during the same time frame and we had a wonderful opportunity to visit and relax. Molly was supposed to be off work the majority of this same time window -- but, one of her largest clients had important due dates and she had to work some of the days.

Here is my favorite picture of Emily at Christmas. Her baby boy, Bobby, is due mid-March and she looks great!

We attempted to scale back this Christmas, as we all have so much. The babies, Emma and Bobby, were our primary focus. Here is a shot of Emma trying out the ride-on truck toy we bought for Bobby.

No one should worry about Emma. This year she was more into the opening of the presents and the wrapping paper and boxes than the presents! I wrapped all of Emma's presents in pink and Bobby's in blue this year to make it easy to pass them out. Her is Emma with some of her presents. One of Bobby's presents was his very first hand knit "Nana" designed hat. I can't wait to see him in it.
I treated myself to an upgrade of my Photoshop software and started printing out a scrapbook for Emma. My hopes are to create at least one page per month for all of my grandchildren. Here some of the October 2008 pages: