Now the fun begins!

I have been waiting for Chris to announce the arrival of little Ruby on the blogosphere, and now that she has I can blog about our visit to meet the little bundle. Despite Doug's pleas to scoop the announcement, or some such phrase that I've never heard before, I thought the announcement should come from Ruby's own parents. But now you can expect to see photos of the little bean whenever I take them, which hopefully will be often. She's quite the looker and the cameras won't be able to avoid her.

Last weekend my mom and brother were visiting, and after all the yardwork and car stuff were done on Saturday we sat down to a tasty pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner. The phone rang as we were eating, and while we have three phones in the house none of them are ever on their carriage, so Doug had to run around and try to find one. He missed the call, but finally found one, and saw that the call was from boy Chris. Girl and boy Chris have been busy trying to prepare for their daughter these past nine months, and it is very rare that we get a call from boy Chris - I knew immediately that girl Chris was either in labor or had given birth. Doug was finally able to reach boy Chris, and of course, when Doug excitedly said, "Congratulations!", I knew - again - immediately that labor was over and the baby was born. Wouldn't get more details until Doug was off the phone, but all I needed to know was that the baby had arrived and everyone was well, which I could gather from the bits of conversation I was trying to overhear. As it just so happened, my mother, brother, Doug, and I were planning a trip to Freeport the next day, so Doug asked boy Chris if they would mind if we popped in while in their state to congratulate the happy family in person, and, of course to meet little Ruby. Luckily boy and girl Chris were amenable (thanks, guys, for being so willing to see people right after the birth!), and so after our short jaunt to Freeport we stopped by the hospital to meet Ruby.

Look at the happy new family! Boy Chris looks so much more exhausted than girl Chris, and little Ruby looks tired herself (that's a giant yawn for such a little girl!), but they both seemed in pretty good spirits despite the birth that didn't go as planned. Doug and I both got to hold little Ruby, and when you hold a baby only a day old, and so cute and warm, how can you do anything but love her? Doug was the frist to hold the little bundle: and I went next: She was swaddled so well (good job, Chris and Chris!) that we couldn't really see any more of her other than her little round face and mitten hands, until we passed her back to her eager dad and exposed a tiny baby foot in the process. Just think, someday that foot may climb Mt. Everest, or may slip into a dancing show and dance across a Broadway stage. There's no telling what those little feet will do someday, and it must be so exciting for Chris and Chris to think about all the wonderful things their daughter will do one day. For now, though, I have no doubt Chris and Chris just want to keep Ruby close, bundle her up like a human burrito and never put her down. Boy Chris is already a pro at that, and he's only going to get better. Little Ruby is very lucky indeed.