We had a happenin' weekend. For weeks prior, we didn't know if this was going to be the case because we had to find out if D could get Monday the third off before we made any final plans. As it turned out, he asked his resident if he could have it off because his sister was going to be induced Sunday night and he said yes. 
Very cool, we had a four-day weekend to look forward to! We ended up leaving Saturday morning around 11am and didn't get to CT until 5pm - YUK. D had to do post-call at the hospital so we couldn't do our usual 4am departure time. Oh well, we made it there safe and sound.We were invited to dinner at his parents' house so we got to meet our two-month old niece Olyvia and we also got to see Sara, his sister, the day before she was due. We were all excited about the pending birth and couldn't wait to meet little Ariana. She was born on Monday morning and we were there Monday afternoon to see her at the hospital. HOW CUTE is she?!?! I'm told 8 lbs. 4 oz. isn't a tiny baby, but she sure felt tiny when I was holding her. I really wanted to see her with her eyes open and didn't get a chance to, but who could blame her.... she was still the cutest little baby.
In between visiting our nieces, we had time to go out to breakfast, get some yummy water ice at Rita's, go out to lunch in Hartford with my auntie, and go food shopping with Dad to prepare for our Fourth of July Picnic. Okay, so I did those last two things without David, but that was because he was hanging out with Ryan at some boring place called The Mac Store and doing other such stuff.
When Tuesday finally came around, we were all ready with the picnic stuff: food, atmosphere, guests. The weather was perfect, the company was entertaining, and the food was DELicious. Olyvia was quite a hit at the party. She was passed around to just about everyone there and she was just taking it all in. Everyone loved holding her and I kept getting reminders about how there hasn't been a baby in the house for a while. Just a reminder to those people, no we won't be "popping them out" in the near future, to use the eloquent words of my dear friend Keegan. We had such a nice time visiting with everyone. D was even brave enough to get in the pool with my crazy cousins. Olyvia enjoyed watching all this action, my left arm can tell you how much she enjoyed watching them because it had to hold her for a good half hour in a certain spot so she could see everything! Too cute.
Then the inevitable came and we had to leave. We were dreading the ride back because of the ride up. However we made it home in 4 hours and 10 minutes, including stops for food, gas, and a fireworks show. Around 9:30pm, we started getting a huge welcome home celebration--fireworks were going off all around us until we got to our apartment. We stopped in Bucks County, the county directly north of Philly, when we saw a fireworks display going on right off the main road. We wedged our car in between some others, got out a blanket, took Dougie out with us, acted like we belonged, and sat for what we soon found out was the grand finale. Some of the people told us that we had to get there about 45 minutes earlier for the full show. Little did they know that we couldn't, we were still in North Jersey.
Overall it was an incredibly memorable weekend, especially getting the chance to see Ariana only hours after she was born and seeing D hold her. I've never seen him hold a baby before. He assures me that it felt natural, but he likes it being just us right now. Yes, I would have to agree with him: it felt natural, but us is nice.
by Anonymous , on July 12, 2006 9:34 AM
Hey guys! It was great seeing you both and spending time with your family at the picnic. Olyvia really enjoyed your family. They are great with children. They can babysit Olyvia anytime they want, next time we're in CT. Looking forward to reading more of your blog.
Steve, Eden and Olyvia