Congratulations, Aunt Grace, Uncle Mark,
and the rest of our collective family – it’s a girl!
Welcome to the family, Faith Anne Everett!
Faith was born at five twenty-two in the
morning; weighed in at eight pounds, two ounces; and arrived with a
Magi-powered mental blast that was very impressive for such a sweet, adorable
little bundle of joy. I’ll add that part
of our perception of that was due to fatigue, and Faith isn’t as strong as
other Magi kids like Naomi and Brianna; but she is still a very strong Magi –
something quite interesting when you consider that she’s descended from a
mother and grandfather that each did not inherit the Magi abilities. We do know that happens now and then, but
this makes twice with one non-Magi mother; so Caleb and Faith will be worth
keeping an eye on as they grow up.
She is adorable, and while I didn’t get to
spend much time with her; we did have a fun little cuddle. I didn’t try any mental connection of any
kind with her so that she didn’t get overwhelmed by that, but Aunt Leanne
helped Caleb with an empathic link with his new sister; and that’s part of the
new program Mom has worked up that she is sure will help Magi siblings to have
a better relationship with each other.
That, by the way, is something that she thinks that Dad and Aunt Leanne
did on their own without knowing it at the time; and she thinks that there is a
connection between that kind of bonding or lack of it when looking at other
sibling relationships that we know of from around town.
That’s getting this update a bit off-track;
so let’s get back to the story.
The last hour or so of Aunt Grace’s labor
was tough for her, for Faith, and for those of us helping out with either the
physical or mental needs of the delivery.
Faith was stressed out for quite a while after she was with us in the ‘real’
world; so I needed to keep my wards up for more than an hour before she was
ready to settle down and get some sleep.
By then, it was time to get kids fed; I needed to go home and get ready
for cheerleading practice; and I eventually made it to the school in time for
that – after one more quick stop at the clinic to make sure that everything was
still okay there. The parents had some
grandparent support by then, so I wasn’t needed for babysitting; but that was a
job I helped out with a lot today once I was done with cheerleading at noon.
My cheerleading practice was a bit too
easy, and while that makes Jenny a very popular Captain; our work ethic is
definitely a bit light this year so far.
I won’t complain about that today, since I was tired and didn’t really
feel all that motivated to push hard all day; but practicing like this will
affect our cheerleading a bit – if only with how detailed we can make our
sideline and half-time routines. Maybe
we need to do that when keeping up with marching band too, but I’ll keep you
posted on how that’s going for us; and I hope we’ll still do our part to
entertain the spectators at all of the games!
Jenny wrapped up our practice by a
quarter-to-twelve; so I had time to get home and help Mom with making lunch for
a small gang of parents, grandparents, and kids. We hosted both the lunch and dinner meals
today for the family and some friends; so I did a fair bit of cooking and cleaning
to go along with my afternoon and evening babysitting gigs. I had some help for all of that work; though
the doctors and nurse in the family were busy all day at the med center; and
the parents were either working too; busy with a new baby; or helping Uncle
Mark and Aunt Grace. I had some
grandparent support in the afternoon; Rowen joined us for a couple of hours at
the park followed by a swim in the river and ice cream snack break; and Michael
was with me from the time he was finished his baseball practice until he went
home at ten o’clock so that he could get some sleep and be ready for football
again in the morning.
He helped out with kid control while I was
busy in the kitchen with Mom and the other dinner-cooking volunteers; we had a
gang of kids with us by the river while we all ate that meal; and then we were
both on clean-up duty while the parents and grandparents kept up with the kids
for a while. After that, we had another
trip to the park for some more playground action; one more, fairly short swim;
and then a communal bedtime snack at nine o’clock before parents, aunts,
uncles, and grandparents took kids home for the night. The kid exchange included Caleb, Leah, and
Sebastian – mostly because their parents were wiped out from a night with no
sleep; and Zack went home with Grandma and Grandpa because they’ve missed their
grandkids while they’ve been away – and possibly because he was still bouncing
off the walls while Aunt Leanne and Brianna were both ready to go home and off
to sleep.
I didn’t get to do that, but Michael and I
helped with the post-snack clean-up; we took care of getting the twins tucked
in for the night; and then we had a front-porch kind of goodnight hug and
kisses moment before Michael went home for the night. I really wanted to keep him for a sofa
sleepover, but had work to do too; and didn’t think that I’d get that done if
he stayed. It would be nice to say that
we’d be too busy having a make-out session instead, but it’s much more likely
that we’d have simply fallen asleep instead.
That would be nice too, but the work needed to be done; so that’s what I
did once I was ready for bed and tucked in with Mandy and my computer.
Exhaustion has been a problem since then,
but I still used a time phase when I had even more work than expected waiting
for me via email. I won’t bore you with
the details, but I did get everything done, and once I’ve finished this report;
it’ll be time to crash and nap until morning.
While I didn’t mention it yet, Aunt Grace
and Faith are home tonight, and while that’s mostly thanks to Uncle Adam and
Mom helping them out a bit; nobody else will know that – or find out just how
much Aunt Grace was helped with recovering from a tough delivery. I’ll keep you posted on how they’re doing,
but they are both very healthy; and we’ll have to wait and see whether Faith is
one of those good, quiet babies; or she’ll want to party all night with her
Mommy and Daddy. I hope to get to spend
some time with her over these next few weeks, but I won’t hold my breath of
that; since I am going to be very busy as we head back to school next week.
Before I go, though, I’d better mention
that Faith’s birth means that we’ll have the family home for the holiday
weekend. That’s a change in plans for
the Rice clan, but this will be their best chance to see her before
Thanksgiving, and while Violet and Chris can’t be here too; we’ll have the rest
of them here. Aunt Grace’s family will
be coming too, and I expect that Grandma Mercy and Grandpa Duncan will come
here early. I’ll keep you posted on that
too; and I expect those plans will be nailed down by sometime tomorrow –
especially since Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace will not be allowed to have a house
full of guests while dealing with their new baby. We have room at the other family houses,
though, so it won’t be a problem.
Okay, I’ve had enough fun for tonight. There is sure to be more babysitting for me
tomorrow, and with cheerleading, marching band, and teen praise team practices
too; I’ll need all of the sleep I can get.
It’s been a fun, sometimes crazy ride today; and I’m sure we’ll have
more of the same for at least the rest of this week now. That might mean I’ll be tired a lot too, but
it’ll all be fun; and I’m looking forward to everything – even if my vision is
a bit blurred right now. Getting started
on my nap will help with that little problem, though; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
