Tuesday, December 27, 2011

My tiny little red-headed Christmas present

Here, in her Christmas finery, is my tiny, red-headed Christmas present, Kaelynn Mae Moseley, my newborn niece that I had the unspeakable pleasure of spending the past weekend with.





Since she is exclusively nursing and my SIL is feeding on demand and co-sleeping, there wasn't a lot of time for others to hold Kaelynn, but I did get to hold her a couple times and yesterday got to hold her while she slept for more than an hour. The faces she made in her sleep made me wonder what that pretty little head was dreaming about. Sometimes she almost smiled, sometimes it looked like she was almost going to cry.



Kaelynn's lungs are strong. She detests her diaper being changed and is not a fan of being in her car seat. It broke my heart to be in the back seat of the car with her on the way to church, having her cry her eyes out and not being able to soothe her. It gave me a fraction of what a parent must feel when they are unable to soothe their child's pain. I would have done anything in those moments to make her tears go away.



My bro and SIL are doing great as first time sleep-deprived parents and even hosted Christmas dinner for the extended family. I enjoyed seeing my brother be a baby-wearing Daddy yesterday as we walked to Starbucks with Kaelynn strapped to his chest.



Most of the pictures are on my Mom's camera, that's why there are only 2 here, but you can see what a beauty she is, and hopefully you can get a sense of how perfectly happy I was holding her in the second picture.



I hope you had a wonderful Christmas - I did. For beyond a newborn niece, the ultimate Christmas gift was a newborn King of Kings that came in human form to be Emmanuel, God With Us, to one day grow up to die in our place in order to take our sins away. All praise to Him!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

What I can't wait to do...



...is to hold this precious one. Granny texted me this pic of Daddy holding K this morning. Love that her little cheeks are getting chubby just like they should be!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Countdown to Kaelynn

Excel has calculated I have 2.99 days remaining until I can see (in person) and hold my newborn niece Kaelynn. I admit I am jealous of Granny and Granddad (aka my Mom & Dad) - they are on their way right now and I don't leave until Saturday morning...but I'm thankful for the time I do get.

I can't wait to feel the lightweightedness of her little warm body and gaze into her eyes, or, since she'll probably be sleeping, gaze at her tiny eyelids and likely (since they're light-colored) invisible eyelashes. I can't wait to feel her tiny fingers and hold her hands in mine. I can't wait to kiss her super soft head. I can't wait to stare at her over and over, memorizing her little features.

Most of all, I can't wait to tell her how much I love her!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Kaelynn

Baby girl's cultures were negative for bacteria yesterday (praise the Lord and thanks for your prayers) so her Daddy (my brother) thought they would be able to go home. My SIL had a headache still from the epidural so they were to talk to the anesthesiologist about that, but her fever was gone and she was feeling better overall.

Kaelynn has beautiful red hair. Since I'm not sure how private they want to be with pictures, I need to ask them before I post any of her--but believe me when I tell you it's a pretty shade of red, just like Mommy's. Granny, aka Kaelynn's paternal grandmother (aka my Mom) has always wanted a red-headed baby and now she has one. She had red hair before hers turned white. Kaelynn's other grandma had red hair before hers went gray/white. Daddy's beard even grows a little red sometimes too, though his hair on his head and arms, etc. is dark brown. So the "odds" were favorable she would have red hair and we're thrilled she does.

Obviously far more important than red hair is that even after such a long delivery process and the risk of severe infection or worse, she is healthy and so is Mommy and we're praising the Lord for that. Kaelynn's Daddy isn't exactly the world's best communicator (I say that in love) so I don't know for sure, but we think they are home from the hospital now. I can't wait to see them in 23 days! :)