A Homecoming, Introductions, and a Birth

Okay blog-readers, brace yourselves for an onslaught of photos because I was up until midnight last night just trying to get these loaded into a post and then couldn't finish because I was exhausted and the formatting was all off so I just gave up for the night.  But I know there are a number of people out there who would like to see this pics so forgive me for the excessive images.

Last Friday, August 19, Clara turned 3 months old!  I still want to do a post about her 3-month-oldness but I am behind for reasons that will soon be apparent.  We got up early Friday morning and Paul drove us to the airport where I had to pay $50 extra because my one bag was way over the weight limit.  I was a little intimidated to be flying by myself with Claradactyl, but turns out when you have a daughter as darling as Clara and with that much hair, pretty much every person in the airport from other passengers to flight attendants to security screeners will offer to help you in any way they possibly can.  Checking in was easy-peasy, security was a breeze, and the flight itself was a piece-o-cake (Clarabelle snoozed the entire time except for a quick layover in Reno when she giggled and grinned at all the other passengers as they disembarked, which caused a major traffic jam in the aisleway, and we stayed seated for the second leg to Salt Lake). 

When we got to the airport, there were some pretty excited grandparents waiting to see our little Clara-girl.

We had two hours to kill before Jessica's flight got in, so we went to a nearby office park and found a picnic table where we ate sandwiches from Kneaders (my favorite sandwich place in the whole world) that my mom had brought.  Clara slept some more.

When we got back to the airport, my mom fed Clara a bottle while we waited for my very pregnant (at the time) sister Jennie to show up with her family.

Jennie and Ryan showed up with their little girl Emma just a little before Jessica's flight (which was delayed) arrived.  This was the first time Clara got to meet her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin.

Emma (the little carrot-top) was a bit unsure about our wee Clara to start out, but she warmed up to her really fast.

Clara FINALLY got to meet one of the aunts I have been telling her all about for months now.

When Emma warms up to someone, she REALLY warms up to them.  It wasn't long before she was kissing Clara and hugging her as much as she could.  It was darling.

Here is a photo of the entire group.  There was one other family there waiting for a missionary to come home from Uruguay as well, so we took turns snapping pictures for each other.

I love my dad in this photo.  He seriously cracks me up.  It reminds me of that movie, "Say Anything," from the 80's with John Cusack.  My poor sister Jennie had been told by her doctor that she was NOT to go to the airport because it was more than an hour away from the hospital and she was already dilated to a 4 and 100% effaced at this point, but she was determined not to miss the reunion with Jessica or meeting Clara.  Jennie even came to stay at my parents house Friday night but had to leave at 4:30 in the a.m. when her contractions were 5 minutes apart.  They made it to the hospital just fine and baby Lily was born at 12:32 p.m. on Saturday (about 22 hours after this photo was taken).  Lily, thank you for waiting.  Jennie, thank you for being so awesome.  Seriously, I can't tell you how much it meant to me to see you BEFORE Lily was born and to be there to hold her within hours of her birth.

Cousin-Love.

And then Jessica was there!  18 months of missing this girl and it was so good to see her coming down the escalator.  We all love her so much.  She is seriously the funnest person.

I let my mom have the first hug.  Because it is her birthday month and she is the mom after all.

I would say that my dad is more than a little proud of this girl.

Clara REALLY got to meet her Aunt Jessica once we got home and Jess changed into comfy clothes and could have some quality time with her newest niece.

We have a super cute family.  I'm just sayin'...

My aunts Renita and Judy came over with my grandparents, Lewis and Vivian, later in the afternoon to see Jessica and to meet Clara.  I love these girls too!

My grandma (Clara's great-grandma Vivian) recently had knee surgery and is also struggling with Alzheimer's.  But she kept exclaiming about that "cute baby" with "all that hair"!

Wow, and all that was just FRIDAY! 

On Saturday, I woke up expecting to go get pedicures with Jennie (her belated birthday present) only to find that she and Ryan had skedaddled early that morning.  Instead, we hung out on pins and needles all morning until we received word that Lily Katherine Horne was born.  She was 19 inches long and weighed 7 lbs, 4 ounces.  She has a good amount of blond hair, a long pink tongue, and perfect little feet.  I think that she looks like me in my baby pictures but so far no one has corroborated that.

Sorry for the blurriness of some of these photos.  All I had was my iPhone.  I had brought the nice camera but was so excited that I left it in the car when we got to the hospital.  Lily was just a few hours old here and she is SO precious.  Clara is HUGE by comparison, which is freaky because she was this same size just 3 months ago.

Grandpa Russ and Grandma Cici with their granddaughters, Emma (21 months), Clara (3 months), and Lily (6 hours).

Sunday we got all dressed up and went to church. 

Emma and Clara played together afterwards.  This is one of my very favorite outfits of Clara's - it was a gift from one of Kayli's relatives that was given to us when Clara was born. 

My mom enjoys having "concerts" with Clara using this little toy that I bought before Clara was born.  I had it with me in Texas when my mom was staying with me right after Clara's birth and they would have concerts while I was out grabbing dinner or getting ready in the mornings.  Clara is fascinated by the music and the flashing lights.

I love this photo of me with my niece Emma.  This girl is a riot.  She was so brave to stay with her grandparents and aunts for almost 4 days while her mama and daddy were busy in the hospital bringing her baby sister into the world.  Each night me, Jessica, and my mom would sing Emma to sleep while she bravely swallowed tears (seriously, she would frown and chew her little lips in an effort not to cry).  Each morning Emma would wake up with the mantra "mama! daddy! home! YAY!" and we would say "soon, Emma, soon."  She did awesome and we had a lot of fun together during these days.

Sunday afternoon, Clara and I went to Alpine to have dinner with Paul's family.  Clara got to meet great-grandpa and grandma Robertson.

She also got to reconnect with her cousin Colton, who she met at Huntington Lake this summer when she was 5 weeks old.

This was one of the busiest, craziest weekends I have experienced in a LONG time.  We have had so much fun, only Clara and I are missing Paul SO MUCH.  We really wish that he could be out here with us.  But we have been skyping at night and texting photos and videos back and forth to each other in the meantime. 

Whew, that was a marathon blog post.  Now, time for bed!