We made it

We left Cleveland on Thursday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Stephanie went to her post-op follow-up appointment with her doctor - and everything went well. Picking up the midgets from school was a little tough since most of the teachers had to say good-bye to the girls.

We decided to drive straight through after we got so far in very good time, despite rain through most of Ohio. We weighed the fact that the midgets were sleeping pretty good in van (don't let the sweet pics fool you, they were still restless). Even with stopping several times, including an hour or so for dinner, we made it just about 12 hours.

We made it here (G'town) early in the morning - at about 2am ET/1am CT. Yet, he girls still woke up at 6:15am, which made Friday a rough day. Mommy and daddy were in a foggy haze. We scrambled around trying to get things in working order (some groceries, laundry, cleaning supplies {the movers WON'T move them}, etc).

I'm getting a little concerned, though. Nearly every place we've gone, people are 'shocked' that we have three little ones, and all girls on top of it. You'd think we had quintuplets by the reactions we've gotten. Its kind of comical to watch people's reaction to the three of them, but maybe they know something we don't...

Anyhow, we're finally all here and its nice to sleep in our own bed (even if it is just in a few hour shifts).

A Visit To Uncle Bob's

Today was Gracie's one week doctor's appointment. She checked out "A-OK" and she's essentially back to her birth weight. As an aside, we are sad to leave the wonderful care of Dr. Abrahamson and his staff. They have been wonderful from Sophia's first visit through Grace's. Hopefully we will be able to find such good care in Memphis.

After the appointment, we picked up mommy and the big sisters, so that Gracie could meet Uncle Bob for lunch. Bob is among Stephanie's (and Sophia's!) best and dearest friends.

Thankfully Bob is tech-savvy. He took some pictures and emailed them over to us. We had a good lunch and then visited with Bob for a brief while (before the wheels fell off the cart - this time it was Julia, who had a full scale "binky attack" as soon as we left).

Sophia summed it up best when we pulled out of Bob's driveway, "I love Bob, but we'll see him soon." While we will miss Bob very much, we know that we will see him again soon - and that he can come visit us in Memphis.

Getting Out

The weather in Cleveland on Saturday afternoon was incredible - sunny and 80+. Since mommy was feeling up to it and the natives definitely needed to run off some energy, we headed out to spend some time enjoying the day.

For those in the clan, you might recognize this day as a small tribute to Papou (sans the trip Westside Market, which he did most every Saturday). We started by going down to the Metroparks to feed the ducks on the Rocky River at Eddie's boat dock. Given the time of day and how warm it was, there weren't a lot of duck - maybe 5. Nonetheless, we had a loaf of bread to feed the duckies. A whole gaggle of geese snuck up behind us to crash the party, which chased off the ducks.

We then drove to Lakewood Park to play and run off some of the energy. We started on the bouncy animals (I likey!) and the swings. Can't skip the slide, sooooooo we ran over there too - big sister Sophia is a big fan of the 'twisty' slide. Lastly, we went down the smaller slide for Julia.

Of course, no trip to the park is complete without ICE CREAM, so we headed over to Dairy Queen for a quickie cone - as Yiayia would say, a "micro ho-nocky". Mmmmm, ice cream.....

However, no real tribute to Papou is possible without buying a TV. Yiayia has a small TV/VHS combo in the family room area. It is nice because it fit nicely on a small stand in the corner. It certainly served its purpose, especially when Yiayia had the girls over. But, its just a little too small. So, Sophia and daddy went to procure a suitable TV to watch Dora and Boots. Thankfully Wal-Mart had a great flatpanel 20" LCD/DVD on sale, which fits perfectly on the same stand. (You shop a Wal-Mart too, you just won't admit it, so stop).

We topped off the tribute with a dinner of pork chops and french fries Papou-style, although no cole slaw (sorry Pop, we were out of cabbage). It truly was a great family day.

Being Cute

Julia is doing her best to be as cute as humanly possible. Here she is "bringing" Gracie's spitty cloth to daddy. She has obviously become more comfortable with having Gracie around. She has taken to repeating "our Gracie, our Gracie" several hundred times until mommy or daddy acknowledges that she is, in fact, our Gracie.

The Natives

With a new inhabitant, the "natives" are a little restless. This is what confronted me at the backdoor when I was bring everything out of the van yesterday.

Notice the cute little nose pushed against the glass. Any expert in native behaviors will tell you that is a classic sign of marking your territory, as in "see those smudge marks? They're MINE! And if you want me to share my sippy cup with you , you'd better back it up or I'll open up a can o' whoop@ss on you too!"

Meanwhile, Gracie is humming right along - literally and figuratively. She has a soft hum when she sleeps, just like Mommy. Of course, she's sleeping a lot since she's brand new. The good news is that she falls right back to sleep when she feeds at night (I don't believe in jinxes).

Mommy is on the mend. She's feeling better by the day, but it is still major surgery. She goes to see the doctor for her follow up visit next Thursday, after which we'll probably begin the 10+ hour trekk to Memphis.

With the impending departure less than a week away, Mommy is getting a little sentimental for Cleveland (as in: I can't believe its gonna finally happen, at some points it seemed like it never would). I, on the other hand, have had nearly 8 months of lonely dinners in Memphis to diffuse any thoughts of extending our stay more than necessary. The one exception is the Indians. While I will be able to watch the playoff games on TV in Memphis, I won't be able to listen to Tom Hamilton calling the game on the radio. Nor can I go to game if Rob calls with an extra ticket....

The Girls are Home!!!!

We were finally able to spring the girls from the hospital today. Gracie is starting to eat like a champ. Mommy also starting to feel a lot better, although better is a relative description given everything she's been through. They took out her staples and she has been getting around much better. The tough part will be trying to follow doctor's orders not to pick up the other two midgets.

The big sisters are helping in their own ways. Sophia truly has been trying to help, while Julia has just been trying to pawn off her binky to Gracie. She keeps running over to Gracie and yelling "Binky, binky!". I suppose its because its what makes her feel good, so she figures that Gracie would want to at least try it. So far no luck - she's not even interested - all of which has Julia puzzled. "If she's my sister, how can she not take to the binky like a duck to water?" Whether Gracie will or not remains to be seen.

Anyhow, it is nice to have the girls home, even if its just a temporary home. For those paying for the premium service: yiayia is on her way to Italy. She's probably half way there by now. She needs the break from work, although she'd never tell anyone that. Night, night...

The New Baby

Friends, Romans, and Countrymen....lend me your - binky? That's right, its time to start lending your binky and your Yiayia. When you're just a year and half, that's a TALL ORDER (just ask Julia).

Anyhow, I decided to create a blog so that you can follow the comings-and-goings of the growing Skor Fam.

Yesterday was obviously a HUGE day. Grace Theano was born at 12:36pm...7lbs 2oz, 21" long. Mom and baby are doing great. Hopefully we'll get to spring them both on Thursday AM.

Big sisters, Sophia and Julia, came to visit. Sophia was great with her new little sister, but Julia was a little freaked out that Mommy and Yiayia were holding someone else. While we're talking about Yiayia, she was surprised that we decided on Theano for the middle name.

I'll do my best to post regularly. Stay tuned, this is gonna be fun!!!!!