Meeting Hailey

It was a day that reminded me of the cycle of life.

Dawn. Long drive ahead. Lots of coffee. Mom and I had two goals yesterday: to change the flowers at dad's crypt and to meet Hailey.

Mom felt so much better after cleaning dad's area and arranging new flowers in his vase. She chatted with him. From there, Shelley and Russ and the new baby were only about 30-minutes away.

Memories of the first weeks of bringing a baby home came flooding back to me while hanging out with our new baby in the family. Shelley and Russ looked exhausted three-weeks after Hailey was born. We phoned when we hit their town and asked what they wanted: Starbucks and pastries. Yup. Exhaustion mode.

When we first met Hailey, I was surprised how tiny she was. It had been a long time since I had seen a newborn baby. But, the smell. The glorious smell of a baby! It filled my nostrils and I was in heaven! She was one cutie who seemed to have a very strong personality already, which I loved. She made fantastic noises and tried to talk with her great-grandma. My mom was filled with love. It was magical to watch as they bonded.

When they opened our gift and read the note, there were tears all around. Shelley got it.

The bit of scary news was she is going to need a quick laser surgery as she is lip and tongue tied. Having just watched the Little People, Big World episode where their granddaughter had to have the same procedure, I felt I knew a bit about it. Shelley had seen it as well and it made her feel more confident about facing it in the near future.

We stayed just over an hour, a bit longer than planned. They looked like they needed a nap while the baby was snoozing. Russ returns to work today and Shelley is going to miss him. Life has changed and they are handling it well. Those first three months are tough!