As many of you know, my grand-daughter Ellie plays a big part in my life, even though she lives in Puerto Rico. We visit them when we can, and are always ready to help out with airline tickets If they have a chance to fly to New Mexico.
Stephanie and Ellie flew in on January 20th. this visit had a particular purpose. Stephanie was nearing her due date, and for a lot of reasons had decided she wanted to deliver Ellie’s new baby brother in New Mexico. Francisco Alexander Izaguirre was “due” on February 14th, 2008. Joe was scheduled to join us in New Mexico as the date got closer. On January 25th we travelled the 60 mile route into the northern part of Albuquerque so Stephanie & Barb could meet the mid-wife and see if things were a good match. Ellie and I were the odd ones out, and got in the car to kill a few hours.
We first went to WalMart to find knee high socks for the cowboy boots I had bought for Ellie at the San Ysidro feed store back in the Jemez. Ellie is at the 75th percentile in height and the 25th percentile in weight, and finding clothes that fit is always a challenge. The first thing I discovered is that walking around the store with a little live wire like Ellie is a great way to get offers of assistance from all the ladies who know their way around a WalMart. Ellie’s knowledge of both English and Spanish came in handy as well. With our new socks in hand we got back in the car and drove around while waiting for the cell phone to call us back to the mid-wife.
Ellie and I have a habit of creating our own personal songs, and we came up with a couple of good ones while driving around. Ellie has two dogs, Toby and one she calls Bastien. (She still can’t say Sebastien, and the dog doesn’t care). The hit of the evening was a “naughty little song’ to the tune of Jingle Bells. It pretty much goes like this: “Jingle bells, Toby smells, Bastien ran away...” There were supposed to be more words, but that first chorus turned out to be so hysterically funny that we both agreed that any additional words would do nothing but detract from a wonderful song.
We were finally called back to the mid-wife’s house-everything was great, and plans were made to come back in a week. But, Francisco had his own plans. Stephanie began to feel what might be labor pains during dinner. We drove back to the Jemez as these pains progressed. Late that night Barb and Stephanie left Ellie and I in the Jemez, and headed back to the mid-wife. They made it to the mid-wife’s house, but never got as far as the hospital. Baby Francisco was born in the mid-wife’s house in the early morning hours of January 26th. He weighed 7lbs 12 oz. When Ellie woke up on the 26th she was not happy to hear that we (particularly she) had been ditched from the whole birth thing. But, Stephanie made a quick recovery, and came home with the new baby that same afternoon. Steph had such a good experience that the mid-wife and her husband are going to have a wonderful trip to Puerto rico and stay with Steph. and Joe.
Joe flew in the next day, and we all stayed together until February 14th. Barb and I gave them the house, and stayed in our little guest house (which I can heartily recommend, even in the dead of winter). We had a lot of snow, and a lot of fun. I put up several pictures on my little blog, and they can be seen by clicking on the hyper link below. As they say, babies are a nice way to start people. And a grand-daughter can make your world go round!
Stephanie and Ellie flew in on January 20th. this visit had a particular purpose. Stephanie was nearing her due date, and for a lot of reasons had decided she wanted to deliver Ellie’s new baby brother in New Mexico. Francisco Alexander Izaguirre was “due” on February 14th, 2008. Joe was scheduled to join us in New Mexico as the date got closer. On January 25th we travelled the 60 mile route into the northern part of Albuquerque so Stephanie & Barb could meet the mid-wife and see if things were a good match. Ellie and I were the odd ones out, and got in the car to kill a few hours.
We first went to WalMart to find knee high socks for the cowboy boots I had bought for Ellie at the San Ysidro feed store back in the Jemez. Ellie is at the 75th percentile in height and the 25th percentile in weight, and finding clothes that fit is always a challenge. The first thing I discovered is that walking around the store with a little live wire like Ellie is a great way to get offers of assistance from all the ladies who know their way around a WalMart. Ellie’s knowledge of both English and Spanish came in handy as well. With our new socks in hand we got back in the car and drove around while waiting for the cell phone to call us back to the mid-wife.
Ellie and I have a habit of creating our own personal songs, and we came up with a couple of good ones while driving around. Ellie has two dogs, Toby and one she calls Bastien. (She still can’t say Sebastien, and the dog doesn’t care). The hit of the evening was a “naughty little song’ to the tune of Jingle Bells. It pretty much goes like this: “Jingle bells, Toby smells, Bastien ran away...” There were supposed to be more words, but that first chorus turned out to be so hysterically funny that we both agreed that any additional words would do nothing but detract from a wonderful song.
We were finally called back to the mid-wife’s house-everything was great, and plans were made to come back in a week. But, Francisco had his own plans. Stephanie began to feel what might be labor pains during dinner. We drove back to the Jemez as these pains progressed. Late that night Barb and Stephanie left Ellie and I in the Jemez, and headed back to the mid-wife. They made it to the mid-wife’s house, but never got as far as the hospital. Baby Francisco was born in the mid-wife’s house in the early morning hours of January 26th. He weighed 7lbs 12 oz. When Ellie woke up on the 26th she was not happy to hear that we (particularly she) had been ditched from the whole birth thing. But, Stephanie made a quick recovery, and came home with the new baby that same afternoon. Steph had such a good experience that the mid-wife and her husband are going to have a wonderful trip to Puerto rico and stay with Steph. and Joe.
Joe flew in the next day, and we all stayed together until February 14th. Barb and I gave them the house, and stayed in our little guest house (which I can heartily recommend, even in the dead of winter). We had a lot of snow, and a lot of fun. I put up several pictures on my little blog, and they can be seen by clicking on the hyper link below. As they say, babies are a nice way to start people. And a grand-daughter can make your world go round!
