A New Blast of Young Hale True

Reading. The Natural Snack.

Hale took a train to visit Eleanor

Hale got a fever, which we kinda figured wasn't a big deal, but on account of he's a preemie, they asked us to bring him into the ER so they could have a look-see. 

He was fine. It was a long night, and he got a lot of pretty unpleasant stuff done to him that he hated, loudly, but he was fine. Didn't even have to give him antibiotics. Just a little spot of Tylenol drops is all. 

They do a good job over there at Group Health, even in the middle of the night. 

Amy's namesake niece, Amy, holding Hale for the first time. This was actually taken before the hospital picture above...

...as was this one of Hale with Chris--right before Hale infected the whole family with the Crud he had. 

Congrats are in order for Chris, by the way, as he just graduated with his GED. Congratulations Chris!

You might not be able to see Amy in the rearview, but she's there, and this is another family portrait. Three. It's a magic number.

Put up yer dukes.

Seattle Center visit. Feeding Hale under a tree. 

Hale's wearing an outfit here that I wore when I was christened, sometime in 1967. Pretty dang cute. 

As our life gets more and more like our life, and less and less like some crazy amusement park ride, for whatever reason it's become harder to keep on top of Hale's blog.

We are enjoying him so much, as we learn more and more every day who this kid is. Hale is a sweet, sweet boy. Since he started smiling a couple weeks ago, he pretty much hasn't stopped, and every little grin and giggle is thrilling.

He's making it pretty easy on us in the eating and sleeping departments as well. He is still as content to eat from the bottle as he is from the boob, which is of course hugely convenient--it means Amy can do things from time to time, that Hale gets to bond with his dad over a shared joy (eating) and that his grandmothers can feed him too. Great stuff. Huge blessing.

Sleeping is coming easier as we get better at reading Hale's cues. It's not unusual for him to sleep four hours at a whack, and the getting up to feed and putting back down are pretty chill exercises as well. I guess we're all getting used to each other a bit, finding rhythms and stuff. Feels good.

(Of course, as soon as we start bragging about how not-all-that-bad it's going, he'll bust out a night of three hours' crying before bed, followed by a series of 45 minute naps through the night, just to teach us about parental hubris.)

Grandma Smackdown (or, for Hale's older readers: Dueling Gandmas). 

Hale seems to like both of these ladies real good. Can't imagine why! I mean, apart from all the singing and cooing and rocking and humming and cuddling and endless patience with the crying and the steady practiced hands and the timeless perspective and all... what's there to like about a grandma? 

Hale went for his first visit to his paternal grandparents' place, up in Skagit county. The neighbors, good family friends, turned out in force. 

Callie made us and Hale a super cute scrapbook of the pictures we've taken to date. It was a surprise, and was about the sweetest thing in the whole freaking world. Thanks Callie! What an amazing gift.

There are six kids in this family and they're all kind and open and interested. And curious about Hale.