Hospital Visitors Part One: Family

Starting, of course, with the three BIG brothers:

Grandma Pam brought the boys to the hospital right after they got out of school, which was perfect timing - we had just been moved to our room from recovery. Clyde and Will were both especially thrilled to hold their new baby sister. 

[I love seeing these pictures because they were right out of my line of sight from my bed and seeing as how I had just barely recovered feeling in my toes, I couldn't move over to watch the introductions. Plus I was having a slight emotional meltdown since I tried to order some food right when I got into my room, but, understandably, they didn't have my chart in the system down there yet so blessedly my nurse's assistant brought me the best-tasting orange jello I've ever had and a few minutes later I was able to order dinner.]

Some more darling pictures from the boys' Sunday evening visit:

Family pictures from Friday and Sunday! (the boys visited on Saturday but I wasn't feeling stellar and lots of grandparents were there and it was a bit chaotic so we have no photographic evidence... but I did love seeing the boys for a bit each day we were there) I don't know what it is about the difference between three kids and four kids, but these pictures seriously make me think of the Duggars - look at how many wee beings there are!! I'm going to have to start one of those 'count-off' systems whenever we leave the house to make sure we're all there (you know, Clyde says "One!", Will says "Two!", etc...)

Jack was MUCH more interested in baby Carma on Sunday that he had been on previous visits, as evidenced in the picture below. Of course, his interest extended to really, really wanting to take her home, as evidenced in the next set of pictures...

When Grandma Pam and the other boys started heading out the door to go home, Jack slid off Chuck's lap and grabbed Carma, football-style, and attempted to follow, all the while saying "Bye! Bye Mom! Bye Dad!". It was seriously the most hilarious thing I've ever witnessed in my life, especially at the end when Chuck was saying, "Jana! Jana! He really won't let go!" and I had to help ungrip his strong little fingers, hahaha.

And if that last set of pictures is the most hilarious I've seen, then these two pictures are surely the sweetest:

Jack has definitely had a rough go of it, and I love that Chuck knew that our little boy just needed a snuggle right then.

And now for the all of the grandparent visits! My dad came on Saturday evening and brought me beautiful roses and Carma lots of love and admiration:

My parents now have nine grandchildren altogether, including three little granddaughters born in the last seven months: Sam and Terri's little Miko in October, Quinn and Eden's little Leila in December, and now Carma in May.

Chuck's mom and dad drove up from Elko early on Saturday to see their newest grandbaby (their eleventh!):

This was our first baby since Clyde that they were able to come and see in the hospital, so that was pretty special. They visited on Saturday and Sunday and got lots (hopefully enough!) of good cuddling time with Carma - Pops even sneaked in a nap with her, as is his habit with all of his grandbabies :).

This next one is technically a great-uncle, but we'll count it: Uncle Larry! Larry is my mom's oldest brother and has sweetly made it in to see me every time I've had a baby.

And of course, Grandma Pam! I've said it before, I'll say it again: my mom's best and favorite calling in life is as a grandmother. She's been able to spend quite a bit of time with all nine of her grandchildren over the last three or four months, and she truly delights in those relationships.

Finally, I don't know if Chuck technically counts as a 'visitor' but he was Carma's and my favorite person to have around. He had to step out a bit during the days we were there (staying with the boys while my mom worked at the temple on Saturday, meetings and part of church on Sunday, meeting up with Clyde and his field trip on Monday) but as with all of our babies, he braved the super comfortable 'guest bed' in my room every night and nearly froze to death when I insisted that the temperature be lowered to 64 the first day and a half we were there (what? I was HOT!); I generously raised it to 67 for the last couple days of our stay :). Chuck was thoughtful and protective of me and my recovery and was my advocate in all ways and was so so so good with baby Carma. In all of my anxiety of having a girl, I've always been so excited to see Chuck with a daughter and it's perfect so far.

And to end on a laugh, my favorite memory of the hospital will be how often Carma caught Chuck off guard whilst he was changing her diaper - cries of "Ahh, she's pooping again!" were frequently heard. At one point, Chuck had mused about what to call Carma instead of the 'buddy' he uses for the boys. A few minutes later Chuck went to change Carma's diaper and I heard "Lady! Hey lady, quit peeing!!" aaaaand I pretty much died laughing :).