Shelley, John, and the kids, who have been living in Bolivia and recently vacationing in Italy, took a detour home and arrived here at 2 A.M. this morning. Our family goes all out when it comes to welcoming a new baby into the family. Actually, our family also goes all out when it comes to caring for a sick person in the family.
The last two trips for Shelley and hers were to help care for Dennis and then David when they were dying. Shelley is a nurse by trade and was invaluable when it came to caring for them. The trips home were terribly difficult for her emotionally, though, and she said at the time that she hoped the next trip would be on a happier tone. And it is! They travelled for 24 hours to see our new baby, Nolan.
Kim, Cindy, and their families were kept in the dark about Shelley's plans to be here so we had lots of fun this morning surprising them...actually, Cindy went to work so her surprise is yet to come.
I phoned the girls this morning and said I'd hurt my arm and it might be broken so could they come over to the house. I called Cindy first, saying I didn't want to bother Kim because she'd be wanting to go to the hospital to see Nolan. I then phoned Kim, told her my sad story, and asked her to come to the house. Cindy was on her way to work, phoned Kim herself and was told not to worry about it because Kim would look after things.
It was pouring rain when Kim pulled up to the house so she sent Matt in to get me. I told him to call Kim in, too, and I could hear her squawking all the way in. They walked in the front door, Kim still squawking about how I'd have to go to the hospital for ex-rays. They looked into the livingroom where Shelley, John, Lisette, Nicole, and Jake sat grinning on the sofa. Surprise!!!!
There was a lot of hooting, laughing, hugging, and kissing. Kim was so pleased they'd made the effort to see little Nolan. Then we conned Nicholas into stopping by before he headed to the hospital and had the fun of surprising him, too. It's a good thing he has a strong heart after all the momentous occasions he's been through in just over 24 hours.
The surprises didn't stop there. We all piled into 2 cars and drove to Cindy's work. Shelley and her family waited outside while Kim, Matt and I went in to ask Cindy to come outside for a minute to see what we'd bought the baby. Out she came, walked right into Shelley and there were more hugs and kisses. We all had lunch together before driving to Kyle's work to surprise him. Then off to surprise Aeron. And that's where we had the most impact because Aeron was so shocked that she cried her little heart out. I'm starting to think that surprise visits might not always be pleasant for the people we surprise and we might have to rethink whether our fun is worth the reaction.
Most of us went on to the hospital to see the baby after lunch and he's just as precious as before. There were really too many of us crowding into the room and I'm sure the nurses will be happy to see Natasha go home. Sometimes we can be a little too boisterous but it's all done with love in our hearts.
Our family is based on love and each one of us is so lucky to be part of it.
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