I'm An Aunt!

Emma Elizabeth Izzo was born last night.

She is beautiful and squishy and plump and pink and has lots of dark hair and took her good ol' time moseying into this world, though apparently she wants to greet it face-first.  She gave her mother a run for her money in labor, but she arrived safely to the relief of all family anxiously waiting by phones and computers for news.  Grandpa Paul and Grandma Mary arrived for their scheduled visit just hours later and called this afternoon to say that Florida is warm, Kim is very sleepy, Emma is sleepy, and Stephen is trying to relay to Dad how to work the complicated TV system in the living room.

Ben downloaded her picture first thing this morning and displayed it on the big monitor in the living room.  Grandma Lila made her way into the kitchen for breakfast and gave such a beautiful reaction to the picture that I really, really wish we'd set Ben's MP3 player up to record it.  She took one look and her whole face lit up and she almost squealed, "OH!!!  OH!!!!  LOOK, IT'S KIM!  And the baby is beautiful - oh, she's just the most beautiful baby I ever saw!  Look at her little mouth - oh, she's so pretty!"

We had to unplug the laptop and put it on the table so she could keep looking at the picture or she wouldn't have eaten breakfast.  She sat there and looked at it all the time she was eating and for a while afterward.  Mom and Dad sent us some more that we'll have to show her tomorrow morning - she took a nap after dinner and then it was time for bed and she wanted to watch TV, so she didn't get a chance tonight.  She did, however, call her family in Pennsylvania and spend about an hour on the phone telling her sisters about her beautiful new great-grandchild and telling them her name and how big she was (I wrote the statistics on the whiteboard for her).  So Kim, if you get a chance to read this...Grandma Lila is extremely excited about Emma-Elizabeth, as she calls her.

Today was pretty dull after yesterday's excitement, but I discovered one very special and important thing.

Today, home felt like home.

I don't know why today.  Maybe it was because Grandma walked everywhere she needed to go today and it was like she was back to the Grandma I got to know and expected to live with.  Maybe because Ben and I are gradually establishing routines that are ours.  Maybe because at bedtime I made chamomile tea for Ben and peppermint for me and we sat together peacefully propped against pillows on our bed while Grandma was all tucked into bed and watching a documentary on TV at a nice quiet volume.  It feels sort of familiar and normal finally.  I've been waiting for that feeling and I'm savoring it now that it's here.

Welcome again to the family, Emma.  I'm thrilled to be your brand-new barely-in-the-family-myself aunt.  May you have a long and blessed and joyful life and may the Lord smile when he looks at what he created in you.