New baby

Last month, our sixth grandchild was born and I got to spend some time with him.  My daughter, Allison, barely made it to the hospital and gave birth just 11 minutes after arriving at the hospital.  William Patrick weighed 9 1/2 lbs.

I love going and taking care of mother and baby for a week or so.  I figure that with 6 kids and 6 grandkids that I've tended as newborns, I might be getting to be somewhat of an expert.  I've had a lot of experience, but newborns are still somewhat of a mystery.  I've always felt there should be a readout on their foreheads telling you if they were hungry, tired or just gassy!  I'm not quite the expert that my mother was with 28 grandchildren, but I'm working on it.

Like my mother did for me, I take the night shift except for when the baby needs to be fed, allowing the new mother to get the sleep she needs.  Baby William was a model baby and for the 11 days I was there, I had to wake him every 3 hours (or sometimes 4 if I overslept!) for the night feedings.  There was only one time that he had trouble going back to sleep after a feeding.  He was quite the overachiever.

I got a chance one morning to have a little photo session with baby William when he was about 10 days old.

His sisters really love having a new brother.

 Even if Annabelle doesn't look like it.  She always wants to hold the baby.

The proud mother

father

and grandmother