Baby Lucy photos

Here are a few photos of Lucy over the previous 24 hours. I wanted to post these for you in case you hadn't seen the Facebook album.

Lucy and Annette are learning how to dance with one another. So far things seem to be going pretty well. We're still working on getting Molly acclimated to her new sister, but that will come with time. Sabrina has done fairly well in my opinion. Clara has been a real strong helper and I'm starting to wonder if she will parley her desire to help as well as her confidence into becoming a doctor, nurse or someone in the healthcare profession some day. Guess we have to work on her numbers first.

Granny and Grandpops inspect Lucy Therese.

This was the first Howard baby that Grandpa saw before the bath.

Sabrina is getting some instruction from Annette while Clara is holding back Molly's hand.

A well deserved rest.

Adam and Annette Howard Family, 11/1/2011

Song for a Fifth Child

We received this song via email today and thought it was worth sharing.  It came to us from another person who is a fifth child, who originally got it from Ladies Home Journal in 1958.  It made us cry - but it was a happy cry.

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth!

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby. Babies don't keep.

[The poem by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton first appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal magazine in October,

1958.]

Baby Lucy Therese

Baby Lucy was born yesterday at 4:02 pm. She eats like a champ, sleeps very well and gives some of the biggest baby poops I've seen in a while. She has brown hair and some have argued there's a tint of red in it.

Here's her specs: 9 lbs, 2.9 oz, 21.25". She and Annette are doing well.

Later this week we hope to post photos of the other kids and they're reaction to Baby Lucy.

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Con-DISH-un-er

Clara used conditioner (with emphasis on DISH) in her hair this morning. Sorry for the fuzzy photo, but thought you might appreciate the genuine smiles.

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A beautiful fall day

This morning, Paul, Denny and I went out for muzzle loader season. It was a lot of fun being in the woods on a nice fall day.

No shots were fired at the deer.
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Fun times making sorghum cookies

We didn't make it to Wool Fest this year, but we stilled carried on the fall tradition of baking sorghum cookies. 

Which did you see first?

Which did you see first in this image? The insect or Christopher picking his nose?
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In the woods

Christopher and Clara joined me for a walk in the woods today. We went to put up the trail camera and then see what we could see. We encountered a frog, snail and a salamander (which was first thought to be a tiny snake).

Due to my recent reading of C.S. Lewis' "The Silver Chair," the salamander kind of gave me the willies.

We also spent some time on top off some rolls of hay.

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Cub Scout meeting

This is a quick snapshot of Christopher at his first den meeting. They were working on putting together the Cub Scout promise on slips of paper but were having a tough time. Someone suggested that they use the book to help and then someone else said that would be cheating. Fortunately someone who was Wood Badge trained explained to the Tigers using the book would be using your resources. And so, my boy is using his resources in this photo.

At the end of the meeting he earned his first Tiger bead which he will gladly show you.

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Hubbard update

The Hubbard has landed. After some frosting, we'll let you know how Quality Control evaluates it.
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Hubbard what?

This past weekend, we paid a visit to McGlasson Farms in Northern Boone County. We were having a fine time hanging out on the hay bails and enjoying the freshly picked pumpkins. Clara observed that one pumpkin was different than all the rest so she investigated further. After picking up the 13 lbs grayish colored gourd, she promptly dropped it.

We are now the proud owners of a giant hubbard squash. The fella at the farm says it should make 8 - 10 pies. The first batch has been cooked, sliced and is in the freezer. In this photo, Clara is happily cleaning out the seeds and such from her hubbard. We'll let you know how the pies come along.

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Coming to a farm near you

We had a great time shooting clays last Sunday afternoon. I think we're all still looking over our shoulder for mad cow #10, but we also know that Stella would protect us if necessary - or at least be a temporary diversion.

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Another photo of Clara

As promised, here's a better photo of Clara from her first day of school. 

Lessons learned

Sorry for the few posts these last several weeks.  Christopher and Clara have started school and things are beginning to pick up with Baby #5 coming into town.  I (Adam) thought I'd share a few thoughts from the past few weeks just to keep you bloggers out there up to speed. 

As you may recall, Clara and Christopher have been moved into the finished basement for their new bedroom.  Things have been pretty smooth with this, but there are still a few bumps now and again.  Recently, Christopher wasn't ready for bed yet and Clara was out of her head tired, so I took her downstairs and was trying to get her to calm down.  I placed her in her bed and in protest she threw her blanket and stuffed bear onto the floor.  She insisted that she didn't want to be downstairs alone because she was scared.  I told her there is nothing to be scared of and then proceeded to pick up her bear and blanket.  Suddenly out from underneath her blanket scurried a small spider that completely refuted my claim of nothing scary.  She freaked out again.  I killed the spider.

 

I hope the other spiders were watching and learned a lesson. If you scare my little girl, I'll kill you. 

Herd of Worms

Saw this in the restroom at MegaCavern in Louisville last week. Went on the underground zip line with Pops, Todd and Tim. Had a great time, but couldn't help share this sign with you. What's a herd of worms?

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Clara's First Day

It was raining this morning so I wasn't able to snap an appropriate "First Day of School" photo of Clara in the parking lot.  Annette took some photos at the house and snapped one of me walking Clara into school.  Annette told me Clara requested the pig tails this morning, which is highly unusual for our little girl who doesn't even want a brush through her hair.  As of 12:30 p.m. this afternoon I received a report that all went well on the first day.  I'm sure there will be more details later to share and probably even a better image, but for now this is the best that I have.

Driving to School

Christopher rides with me (Adam) in to school daily. He tells me some off the funniest stuff. I thought I'd share with you today's comment. This morning he told me he has Xray vision. He could see the cars lined up at the traffic light in front of a giant SUV directly in front of us. Also, he told me his 3rd favorite holiday is Christmas, 2nd is St Patrick's day and 1st is Halloween.

Clara starts preschool today. Photos will be posted later.
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First day of school

We insisted that the boy would ride the bus on his first day.  After looking up the schedule on the school district's website, we learned that the bus was supposed to arrive at 6:57 A.M so we prepared many mornings for an early start to the school day.  And so we worked and worked to get the routine down ... and then this morning the whole plan came crashing down.  We were ready at 6:57 a.m. at the place identified by the district's website, but unfortunately three buses passed but not the one going to St. Paul's.  So we looked for the information again on the school district's website but it had crashed (probably from several people doing the same thing that we did).  We made a game time decision and Adam drove Christopher in to school.  Upon arriving at the parking lot of St. Paul's, Christopher asked, "Dad, will you walk me in to my classroom?" 

And thus the photo. 

He did great this morning.  Can't wait to hear the stories later this afternoon.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Our boy heads to first grade tomorrow. We are trying to squeeze out every last drop of summer so I was delighted when we walked out the back door and found our first sunflowers in the "Sunflower House" have poked their heads out. I can hardly believe these beautiful yellow sunflowers, blue sky, white cloud photos are in our back yard. And look, just how proud the kids are of their crop!

Of Doors and Six Year Olds

On our way to Todd and Heather's, Annette wanted to swing thru Louisville and snap a few photos of Christopher against some doors we inadvertently discovered the last time we were in town. Here's a shot of Annette working her mojo. We'll post photos from this shoot later.
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