Welcome Home Emily Sophia

Emily Sophia, born 3:13 am, 8/19/11, at 7 pounds.

I mentioned yesterday we welcomed our newest niece, Emily Sophia, into the world this weekend. My older and only sister, Teller, has two other little ones - Virginia Elizabeth, 2 1/2 and George Benjamin, 12 months. If you've done the math, yes that will make 3 under the age of 3 and Irish twins (2 within 1 year). She obviously doesn't waste any time, but if anyone has the energy to do it, it's her. We have one other niece on Tim's side from his younger and only brother.


Teller's first two deliveries went completely by the book and they were excited to go in last Thursday night to deliver the third as her contractions alerted them it was time. Without getting into too many details (maybe a future post), there were a few unexpected complications once she was in full labor and my sister ended up delivering by emergency C-section, landing herself in the SICU and baby Sophia in the NICU.

After 4 very long and stressful days, we are more than elated to say both my sister and the baby have made full recoveries and were discharged from the hospital to come home last night.

Once we knew things were beginning the stabilize all around, the normal talk of who the baby looks like and commenting on her features ensued. We all decided the shape of her head and hairline came straight from her daddy though we were excited that we might finally have a little brunette amongst her two older blonde siblings, which came from her mommy's side. She's also got the most adorable little Mohawk where her hair comes together at the top. While Teller wasn't thrilled about have the C-section, we all laughed at what a difference it made it terms of that typical "cone shaped" head you saw at first in her other deliveries.

My sister and her husband with Sophia.

Teller has a long few weeks ahead of her, but both grandmothers are in town helping out along the way. I'm looking forward going over later tonight to snap some photos of Virginia and Benjamin with the new baby and keep them entertained for a while.

Because visitation through this point was limited to immediate family, Tim was home cooking up a huge chicken dinner from scratch with some homemade potato salad while I was over at the hospital throughout the weekend that I'll take with me tonight. With all the dishes pouring in, they should be fine on food for a few weeks - it's amazing.

Thanks to all for sharing our joy in both welcoming a new baby into our family and the swift recoveries Sophia and her mother both made throughout the whole experience. It's times like these we remember how precious life is and not to take the ones we love for granted.

Side note: If anyone is wondering, my mother's grandmother name is "Gran" and the kids' dad's mother is called "Nonnie." I'm always interested in what nicknames are chosen for different grandparents and why - it's so fascinating. In our case, my mother was able to choose her nickname. I remember as a child actually thinking my grandparents' real names were "Granny" and "Nanny." I also get so tickled hearing my niece call my own mother her "Gran" with such certainty. Tim used to call his mom's mom "Granny" and his dad's mom "Nagymama" - the latter is the Hungarian word for grandmother. Tim's Hungarian roots come from his dad's side while mine come from my mother's side.

We'd love to know what nicknames you have for grandparents in your family along with the stories behind them if you know them.