They came home; we returned home.

The sun came out in State College today. I snapped a few snow pictures this morning for Tracey down in Alabama, who likes to look at it, but not be in it!! I'm with you, Tracey. I'd rather just look at it too.

Dick and I spent the morning getting more things done around Anthony and Lori's house in preparation for Lori and Austin's home coming. Dick set up Austin's little bed and attached it to their bed, right where they want him. We put clean sheets on their bed....

...complete with a piece of chocolate on Lori's pillow!

The last thing I did was use the too-ripe bananas to make banana muffins. The aroma filled the house with a lovely "it's-good-to-be-home" smell!

Then we waited and waited and waited and at last I saw that white Jeep and shouted, "Here they are!" I ran out the front door, looked into the back seat of the jeep, and saw......

.... this precious sight - as snug as a bug in a rug!

Ahhh - holding him at last!

In the time between their arrival home and our departure for home, we got to see him with his eyes open more than any other time. I was so delighted when he looked up at me.

Once when he got fussy and Dick was walking him around, he was looking out over his shoulder. Looks like he's playing peek-a-boo!

He looks so much like Anthony here! Those eyes!!

Right before we left, Lori was holding him and he just lay there in her arms so peacefully and wide awake.

The charm continued, and I just did not want to leave for home!! At one point I thought he was going to break into a smile when Lori was talking to him!

But then he got tired and broke into a big yawn instead!

I realize I did not get any picture of Anthony today. He had gone on a quick shopping trip for some necessities and we left for home before he returned. So we left Lori at home alone with her little treasure. How many times did I hear her say, "I just can't believe he's mine." Doctors did not think Lori would be able to conceive a child, especially not by natural means. But the doctors were wrong, PRAISE GOD! Thank you, Heavenly Father, for hearing the cries of our hearts!

As we left State College, we had a good view of the ski slopes nearby.

We found out that they actually had snow here in our area today. I wonder if I'll have a delay tomorrow morning. It's so hard for me to get back in the mood for "real life" now! I could get into being an itinerate grandma - just making my rounds visiting my grandchildren!

Austin's second day

Today Dick and I stayed here at Anthony and Lori's house and did some things for them. Dick worked on a stairway project that he did not have time to finish when he was here earlier in the week. I cooked several meals for their freezer. The entire day it was snowing lightly. The view from Lori's kitchen window was so lovely and peaceful, and I was completely enjoying myself. Besides, working in her lovely kitchen wasn't half bad either!

This evening we went to the hospital for our "Austin fix!" We think he has his days and nights mixed up, because he slept so much yesterday, was more wakeful last night, and slept all day today! So for well over an hour this evening I held him and gazed at his precious little face.

But he was completely unaware of me!

Later he woke up, obviously ready for Mommy. But first, Daddy and Grandpa had some guy time with him. This photo shows the cycle of life - first you have no beard, then you have a dark beard, and finally a gray one!

Forget the guy time! He wanted his mommy!

More sweet photos

Lori is very eager to come home tomorrow.

Those eyes!

One thing we all agree on already - he has those familiarly shaped eyes like his daddy's (on the left) and his grandpa Stauffer's and his Aunt Lisa's and his cousin Sophie's and his great grandma Stauffer's and his great uncle Fred's and his great uncle Steve's. Those eyes are a very strong family feature and he apparently could not escape them. But that adorable nose - hmmm. I think I need a baby picture of Lori. She said her mom will definitely cry when she gets to see him, because he looks so much like her baby pictures.

Lisa and Jeremy can hardly stand being so far away right now and not being able to see him right away. But now they know how we Pennsylvanians were feeling four years ago after Sophie was born. George said that Sophie is telling people she has a new baby brother cousin, ha, ha, ha! And she's making all kinds of gifts and crafts for him already!

Everything is white here in State College. The deck railing looks like it has four inches of snow on it and the snow continues to fall. Oh me, next thing we'll get snowed in up here!!

An evening with Austin

Dick and I arrived at the hospital around 5 PM and eagerly made our way to the 4th floor. We could not hold back the tears when we saw this beautiful little boy. (These pictures are clickable for full enjoyment!)

WE just couldn't get enough of looking at him and holding him. He's so tiny and perfect.

Here's Lori, as beautiful as ever, overwhelmed with delight over her precious son, and very, very sleepy!

Anthony, the proud papa, can't get enough of his son either. Here Austin was sucking on Daddy's finger.

Family of three.

What a lo-o-o-o-ng day!

First of all, a couple of pictures. There are more here, as well as a beautiful video that you just can't watch without tears.

Lori gets a close-up look at the little passenger she's been carrying around the past nine months.

Introducing Austin Mitchell Stauffer, born today at 12:40 AM. I have not heard yet what he weighed. But, according to Anthony, he is the most perfect baby there ever was!

So, as many of you know, Anthony kept the world up-to-date on the day's events yesterday via his iphone and Austin's website. I first knew something was going on when I got a text message from Lori around 6 AM saying that her water had broken and they were getting ready to go to the hospital.

Thankgoodness, because Austin's website does not have a blogger address, (blogs are blocked on our school's computer network) I was able to access it from the computer in my classroom. Also thank goodness, we had just a half day of school yesterday, so my teaching load was much lighter than a normal Friday. When I got home from doing some errands later in the afternoon and Dick got home from a job interview, we expected to soon leave for the regular trip to Reading to pick up Destiny. (How could we be away from the computer that long???) However, we were surprised to get a phone call from Destiny's mommy saying that they had other plans, and Destiny would not be coming to our place this weekend.

Thus started the longest evening of my life! I made a lot of phone calls to arrange for us to be able to be absent from church Sunday morning. I got most of my regular Saturday work finished - the bookwork, the bills, the laundry, the music preparation for the worship team - all the while keeping an eye on that website. As the evening got late and Lori's labor was getting tough I was sitting here praying, Dick and I prayed together, I was on the phone several times with Lisa and Jeremy, once with Anthony, hitting that refresh button every minute! January 16th passed and still there was no baby! When I hit "refresh" at around 12:50 AM and there were pictures of a baby I just fell to pieces. I called Lisa and Jeremy, and got Dick out of bed to come look. Later I talked with Anthony again for a while, and finally went to bed at 2 AM. But I could hardly go to sleep! Around 5 AM I woke up and had to come check the website to see if there were any more pictures. There was that adorable video! Then I went back to bed till nearly 8:00.

After a scheduled appointment at 1;30 this afternoon with my dad and several of my siblings (which I will definitely write more about later - we're visiting our childhood home) Dick and I will be heading to State College until Monday. I have off school for Martin Luther King Day. I was so hoping Austin would be born by this weekend, and he listened to Grandma already, ha, ha, ha!!

He's here!

HE'S HE-E-E-E-E-R-R-R-R-R-E!!!!! CHECK HIM OUT HERE!

Is this the day?

There may be some action today. You might want to check that new website I mentioned the other day. Pray!! How am I going to teach today??

Technology issues

Boy, how about that plane that landed in the Hudson today? What an amazing ending to such a scary event, praise God!! That crew should get extra special hero status, that's for sure.

One of the commenters to my previous post suggested that I set the timer on the TV when I have to go to sleep with it on (in order to keep from hearing the things that go bump in the night.) My answer to that was that I don't know how to do that, since remotes and I are not on friendly terms. I have a long history with remotes. I think I've told these stories before, but I'm too lazy to look back over my three years' worth of posts to check, so if you heard these before, just move on to your next blog!

Back in the 1989, when we got our first VCR with a remote, I had little use for the remote. It was much easier for me to adjust things right on the VCR itself. At about the same time our kids were beginning to need calculators for math class in school. As I would clean up around the house during the day I would become annoyed that someone was ALWAYS leaving his/her calculator lying out in the family room. Again and again I would put it into a drawer where we kept paper, pens, etc. One evening I heard Anthony saying loudly, "HERE'S the remote! Who keeps putting it into this drawer all the time???" Oh me. I had to admit that it was I, that I had not known it was a remote control, I thought it was a calculator!

Some years later Anthony gave me a boom box for my kitchen, complete with a remote control. About that time I also got my first cell phone. Again I avoided using the remote control. But one morning I decided to try it. I picked up the remote and aimed it at the boom box, and what do you know, the radio came on! I was so pleased with myself. Behind me Dick was sitting at the kitchen table. He said, "You didn't turn it on." I said, "Yes, I did! I used the remote!" He said, "No you didn't. I have the remote and I turned it on. You were holding your cell phone!" Can you believe it?? There I stood, pointing my cell phone at that boom box, thinking I had turned it on.

I've come a long way since then in my relationship with technology, and I regularly use remote controls, but I must admit I've never figured out the TV timer. That's Dick's job around here!

Glad to have my hubby back home

Well, I got my hubby back this evening and I'm glad. My hat is off to you women who live alone, and I mean that sincerely. I had to keep the TV on each night when I went to sleep to make sure I couldn't hear any funny noises. Both nights I woke up at some point and turned it off and was able to go right back to sleep, thank goodness.

On Monday morning, as Dick drove to State College, the trees were glistening with ice. Here are some pictures he snapped. They'll look better if you click on them.

One of his projects for Anthony was reinforcing the stairway to the basement. I think Lori took this picture standing at the top of the stairs (I see her feet!) The top stair was removed, apparently, and you could see Dick underneath.

This evening we went to a 50th birthday party for our friend Kati from church. Kati's a Texan, but she's been living here in Lancaster County, PA for a number of years, and I'm so glad. She's tons of fun and has an awesome voice. Here she is with her youngest son Richard.

The deep, deep freeze is supposed to be coming to us these next two days. I was just remembering that in the late 1990's or early 2000's we had such cold weather that a state of emergency was declared and schools were closed for two days. Does anyone else remember that? I'm thinking Lisa was home, which means it would have had to have been 1998, the year between her college graduation and wedding.

Ice skating memories; a new blog

Ummm. I'm sitting here eating some homemade vegetable soup that I made after school today. I'm sorry to brag, but I make some mighty good vegetable soup. It's just the perfect food for a cold winter evening. The worst is yet to come, they are saying.

It reminds me of the last time I ever went ice skating. Let me preface that by saying that Dick and I grew up ice skating on farm ponds. In my teen years our family lived almost right next to the big White Oak dam, a very popular ice skating venue in those days. During cold snaps we would be skating almost every evening, freezing our hands and feet, then coming home to basins of water to thaw them out and hot chocolate to drink.

So of course Dick and I introduced our children to ice skating at a young age. One year we missed the chance to go, because our schedule was full when the ice was hard, and suddenly warm weather arrived and the ice was gone. Dick could hardly stand it. He and his brothers were die-hard ice hockey players and it was unheard of to go a whole winter without ice skating. So the next winter we were NOT going to miss our chance. A prolonged cold snap came and one evening he declared that we had to go skating, because we were not going to miss it this year.

So we went. The kids were probably 3, 6, and 9 years of age. Jeremy didn't have skates yet, but he loved running around on the ice in his boots. Anthony tried to get some action in the ice hockey game. Lisa and I skated around the periphery of the farm pond with the other non hockey players, but it was just unbearably cold. This particular farm had a shed with a heater in it for people to change in and out of their skates. But even that heater did nothing against the bitter cold. Finally we just couldn't stand another minute of it. I told Dick that Lisa and I and Jeremy were going to the van to get warm and we would wait there till he and Anthony were finished playing. Jeremy screamed and cried, because he did not want to go to the van, but I obviously couldn't leave a 3-year-old in the care of a hockey player.

So up through the meadow we went to the van. I turned it on to get some heat. But oh my. I had had cold hands and feet many times before, but this was the worst ever. The pain as they warmed up was so unbearable, Lisa and I were both crying. Eventually (not nearly soon enough) Dick and Anthony came to the van and we went home. As we walked into the house we checked the thermometer on the porch post. It was FOUR DEGREES!!!

I am convinced I got frostbite that night. To this day my index finger turns white and numb whenever my hands get cold. I have most certainly never had any desire to go ice skating since then. And now you know why Lisa has no desire to live in PA! But at least we didn't miss ice skating that year!! We'll never let Dick live that down!

Anthony just cracks me up. He created a new website yesterday. Please go here first and then go to the new website from there.

Solitude

I'm having some major solitude. Dick went up to Anthony and Lori's for a few days to do some small projects for them. I had a productive day at school, staff meeting afterward, and then to the gym. This evening I worked on a song on the computer for Middle School Chorus and at the same time watched "24" for the first time. And now my eyes are struggling to stay open, so goodnight.

Uneventful weekend

Nothing too exciting this weekend. I didn't even take any pictures all weekend long. Destiny was here, as usual, and we took her back home this evening. Actually the most fun thing was posting the announcement of my niece's baby and getting all your reactions! Some of you obviously expect that I'll be posting updates of Lori's labor. I doubt it. I cannot access my blog from school, so you'll just have to wait till he arrives to find out!! I can't access my home email from school either, and it just occurred to me last week to make sure Anthony has my school email address, because I WANT A PICTURE ASAP!! Of course, he could just send it to my phone. I didn't have a camera phone back when Sophie was born. Oh, I do love technology! Actually, Lori just reminded me that their baby might not look that different from Jill's at first. Apparently dark skinned babies are actually pink when they're first born. Oh, the suspense of waiting for this little guy is killing me! (Not really.)

We're heading into a week which, the weather man says, will be marked by how cold it is. Oh, I can hardly wait. (Again, not really!)

Baby boy arrived

You say he doesn't look quite like you thought he might? Ha, ha, ha!! That's because...




...he's not Anthony and Lori's baby. He belongs to my niece Jill and her husband Travis out in Idaho! Little Jarrett was born to them early this morning.

Here's my sister Barb, proud grandma for the first time,

and proud grandpa John. Barb and John should feel quite at home with him. He looks just like their babies did.

Bet I got your attention when you read my blog title, didn't I??!!