Home to Galena!!

February 11th, my actual due date, we flew home to Galena.  Evelyn was 2 1/2 weeks old.  Its always fun to check in at the airport and see which passengers on the flight are friends traveling home also.  This flight the kids were happy to see a couple of friends, Ilana and Orrick, and made sure they got to sit together on the plane.  Chris and I enjoyed visiting with friends on the flight home as well. 

Evelyn slept the entire time, not even reacting to the take off or landing.  We were all thrilled to land in Galena, and introduce the peanut to home.

Clint and Cara blowing bubbles while Chris collected the bags

We had a bit of a surprise when we got home.  The house was really cold!  About 46 degrees F. We had a friend taking care of the wood stove while we were away, and we have our fuel oil boiler that will kick on in the event the wood stove can't keep the temperatures up to match the thermostat (or in case the stove doesn't get filled).  Well, we had no idea we were out of fuel oil-oops!  I guess it was a comedy of errors, but thankfully the house wasn't cold enough that any pipes froze!  Chris was able to get a few gallons to heat the house up real quick, because although the wood stove works amazingly well to heat the house, once the whole big house is cooled off it takes a while for the stove to build up heat and have it spread to the rest of the house.  So, Evelyn and I camped out in the downstairs living room, next to the wood stove, while Chris got the boiler going and the kids ran around rediscovering everything.
We had an enormous pile of mail including a lot of boxes waiting for us.  Many of the boxes were gifts for Evelyn from all our sweet friends and family.  We're so grateful for everyone near and far helping us adjust to bringing Evelyn home.  Many of you sent baby gear that we needed, and local friends even helped out by bringing a meal so we could get settled in a little easier.  Oh, and a couple of very thoughtful friends tidied up the house before we arrived. Thank you!!
 Friends came to visit the evening we got home: Adrian and Grady, Ellie and Britta, Doug and Heidi, and the Hornfischers.  We were delighted to see friends we missed, and introduce our baby girl.

Evelyn continued to be her easy going self as we settled in.  We hadn't gotten around to assembling her crib before we rushed off to town, so we set up the pack and play the first night and the next day Chris and the boys got her crib set up in our bedroom.  We gradually got baby things set up and were able to function in a more normal way. 

Just a couple of days after we got back Chris was itching to take the boys out looking for Ptarmigan on sno go

fresh baby out of the bathtub, or in our case, fresh baby out of the little tote we bathed her in

First week home, for real home, was wonderful!  Chris helped with taking care of meals for me.  He also was 'on call' if I needed help during the day.  There was one funny situation.  I forgot all about the kids having swim practice.  The boys were playing out with friends, and Cara was visiting at the neighbor's house.  As I sat down to nurse Evelyn I remembered!  About that time Cara came bursting through the door asking if she should get ready for swim practice.  Whew! One kid accounted for.  We usually send the kids off to swim practice together and they walk on the trail behind the house, but we were out of time for that.  I called Chris who came to the rescue, rounded up the kids, had them pack their bags, and dropped them off at the pool.  Crazy times, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!