Thanks for all the kind wishes & welcomes for Laurel!

We're all doing fine, just moving slow. Laurel's jaundice is disappearing -- current hurdle is getting her through poops. She just wails her head off like, "What is happening to me?!?!?!" Poor little thing. I'm also doing fine. Well, I wasn't on Wednesday night. I felt great in the morning & started doing laundry & what not, only to practically give birth again to a blood clot nobody wants to hear about. So back to resting and creeping around the toy-strewn house.

Edyn's gotten to be such a big girl since we brought Laurel home. She delights in walking down the stairs (instead of crawling backward, feet first), taking her own plates and cups to the sink, fetching diapers, etc., and taking up her baby dolls to mimick my motions with Laurel. Zooey is back in school 5 mornings a week and seems to need the "down time" there! My husband's last day at the old job was Wednesday. Yesterday, he had a meeting with a recording studio in Omaha about getting some contract work from them...which will hopefully enable us to pay off all the equipment we just bought within the first quarter, well before the interest starts to accrue on it, thanks be to God. Today, he's home with us all afternoon and Zooey is playing at a friend's house, so I have two hands free to type!

About the name...

I really like it, too, and thanks for all the positive comments. Laurel is a bit of a compromise between my husband and I. My husband has pushed for "Victoria" for all three pregnancies, but for reasons too long to go into, I just couldn't agree. My primary choice was Flora, which he doesn't like for a long list of reasons. Well, "Laurel" is the symbol for victory, and it sounds a lot like Flora, so there you go.

Christine is after a friend of mine, who is about the most gracious, loving, generous, intelligent and beautiful person I know IRL.

We also note that there are saints with similar or identical names for Laurel to aspire after.

Thanks again for all the wonderful & prayerful support. I'll be back in touch when I can...

--Sparki