Eloise's First Visitors

In addition to the loving and supportive family who have surrounded us in these first days, Eloise has been blessed with some other wonderful loving visitors.  I know that there will be more visitors excited to meet her in the days and weeks ahead, but I thought I'd go ahead and share some of these first photos.  I missed a few special folks (Sorry, Dr. Bob and Wendi and whoever else I forgot to get a photo with!), but here are a few of Eloise's first fans.  We've loved sharing her and showing her off.

Chris Norman and Ken Meyers came to the hospital to get snuggles:

So did Uncle Frank and Aunt Lala who will already love her like their own...

Katharine...

 The anesthesiologist (Dr. Dean) and surgeon (Dr. Scherer) who helped deliver Eloise came back by to get some more snuggles too.

Her sweet Aunt Trina

After we got home we were so lucky that Uncle Roshan just happened to be in town from California because he was visiting his own niece and nephew.  On his way to the airport he stopped by to meet the newest little Hardy.  (I think he was a fan!)

 And I think the "most-excited-to-hold-the-baby" prize goes to  Ella.  She's nine years on, going on 16 and maybe the sweetest big kid I know.  Thankful that both our girls will have her to look up to.  If our little Ella turns out as great as this one has, we'll be doing pretty well!

Thankful for the community of friends who love us like family!

Coming Home at Three Days Old

I find myself acutely aware of how much I'm comparing this experience of a newborn with our Clara experience and wanting to be certain that I don't constantly compare these two girls and their experiences.  Each is different and each was beautiful in its own unique ways.  But there is enormous joy in celebrating with Eloise some of the things we missed out on with Clara and being able to treasure and cherish the ordinary in a way I'm not sure we could have otherwise.  Coming home after a typical, two and half days in the hospital was one of those moments.  The hospital worker who wheeled me out to the car asked, "Is this your first?... it seems like your first.""  We explained to her, as we had many times during our hospital stay to various staff members, that it's not our first child, but it's our first time experiencing these kinds of moments.  I was grinning hard from ear to ear and tearing up as we walked through those front doors.  I'm sure she couldn't understand:  A second child that you can appreciate this fully is even better than a first.

She got all dolled up in a dress that her mama wore.

Here's that giant smile I couldn't wipe off my face.  See me, leaving the hospital, with my baby in my arms?!

Big Girl Room

We've been slowly working on Clara's big girl room since Christmas in hopes of moving her into it on her birthday (and making room for baby sister in the nursery.)  It's been an evolving project, but I'm so so happy with how it turned out.  I started with this beautiful quilt that Robert's Memaw made years ago.

I love the bright colors and just think it's so special to have something handmade by her great grandmother in her room.  We asked Clara what color she wanted her room to be and she insisted on blue, so Robert I painted it one Saturday morning in January.

Once the room was painted, I started searching for fabric for the curtains and stumbled on this which just felt perfect for Clara.  Not only did it match the blue perfectly, but it brought the outside in to her room.  She's a nature girl for sure, and I loved this subtle touch.  Mama K did the hard labor of turning them into actual curtains for us (and made some pillows too!)

 Then, to complete the nature feel without totally overdoing it, my dear friend Sarah, who is extremely talented, came up from SC to paint some wildlife in Clara's room.  You might remember that Clara was a chickadee for Halloween last year... this child really loves her some birds.  And these sweet little touches tucked in on door frames and in corners are so perfect and so dear. She might not forgive me for posting these, because she was exhausted from 12+ hours of straight painting, but here are some "in progress" shots:

Clara wanted to draw on the walls "just like Ms. Sarah."

They couldn't have turned out any better.  Now, commence oohing and ahhing at these masterpieces:

Male and female cardinals (NC State bird):

Chickadees:

A box turtle munching a strawberry:

Mommy bluebird bringing a bug to her babies:

A writing spider:

And a rufous-sided towhee:

Robert spend several months working on building Clara the shelves I wanted for her books.  I'd seen "gutter" shelves before, but Robert wanted to make them himself, from wood, and they look so good.  He loves being able to make things with his hands.  Since Papaw died, Robert has slowly been learning how to use all his woodworking tools and it's a special way of connecting with him and that past.  I love that so much of Clara's room is hand-crafted by people who love her.  The goal was to have her in her big girl room by her birthday, and we came down to the wire, but at about 9:00PM on Sunday night, Robert got those shelves hung.

And TA-DA!  Here's the (mostly) finished product.  I still need to frame a few things for the walls, but it's mostly done.

 So, here's Clara in her first night in her big girl room.  So excited!  And she stayed in her bed all night long.  (Now since then is a different story, but we're working on it....)

 Sweet dreams, my big girl!  We had so much fun making this room for you and I'm glad you love it!