All encompassing few days...

The last few days have been really crazy for Ryan and I. We’ve dealt with stressful work and business ventures, life and death since last Thursday.

Our newest niece has arrived. Kaitlyn Denise was born around 4 a.m. on Thursday, May 1^st. She wasn’t very punctual as she wasn’t supposed to come until May 10^th. She tipped the scale at a whopping 5 pounds 1 ounce and is 19 inches long.

Meanwhile, Ryan and I spent Thursday in Cambridge, Minnesota getting his fire engine inspected. It was a pretty intense inspection that lasted four hours. They’re requiring him to make a few changes and provided some recommendations to get more points, which would increase his odds of being called out to a fire. Once we get all of the changes made and the paper work sent in he can be called out at any time. He will likely be sent to fires in the Midwest region so he probably won’t get to go rescue Jazz and Jack should the fires in California get worse. But it all depends on how severe the fire season becomes. He’s probably the only person in the world who gets excited when they smoke billowing off tree tops on the news.

Friday we had yet another long day. We attended Ryan’s grandpa’s funeral. He passed away after having a brain aneurism a couple weeks ago. Grandpa Schlater was 83 years old. Just a couple months ago I was able to sit down with him at Easter to ask him questions and write down his story for my family history project. (Instead of a New Year’s resolution I devised a project to work on this year. I’m interviewing my grandparents and Ryan’s grandparents and documenting their stories.) After this week I’ve realized just how important my project is and how much I’m looking forward to it.

As soon as we got home from the funeral I packed a bag and sped off to Cedar Rapids to meet my new niece. I framed a few of the pregnancy photos I’d taken for them and wrapped them in the crocheted blanket I made. Kaitlyn takes after her mom; she’s so petite even newborn clothes and diapers are way too big for her. Everyone was trying to figure out who she looks like. I always hate that…mostly because I can never tell. They got to go home on Saturday. Minus a little jaundice Kaitlyn’s doing great. Laura too for that matter. I’m amazed at how well she had recuperated in the last few days, especially considering she’s probably only slept a handful of hours since Kaitlyn was born.

As for me, I took a nap when I got home on Sunday before taking advantage of the gorgeous day.