Bringing in pumpkin donuts to work for my birthday has become a tradition. In fact, a couple of weeks before people start asking to make sure I'm bringing them in. One co-worker, who had asked about the donuts, had a C-section scheduled for next Tuesday. In getting everything set for maternity leave she commented that she has to wait at least through Wednesday so she can have a pumpkin donut. Funny thing--she went into labor yesterday morning. She ended up having the baby at 11:35 and about 2:15 three of us took a couple of donuts over to Zeeland Hospital for her. I wanted to leave them at the desk, but the nurse checked with her and said to go on in. She was holding the baby alone in her room, and I realized I'd never seen a baby less than 3 hours out of the womb. I just stood there amazed at the thought of three hours before she was in the safety and protection of her mother’s stomach and now she is in the big world.

That made me start thinking about how young of baby I’ve seen. I believe Mary Lee is the youngest I’ve seen or held. If my memory is correct she was born on a Wednesday. Mom was already at Ann’s for the days prior to ML’s birth, and Dad and I drove over on Thursday. Ann and Mary Lee came home on Friday, and my parents and I took Andrew back to AL for a couple of weeks. Mary Lee was about the sweetest baby just to hold.

Thinking about it made me think about the first time I saw each of the kids. Andrew was about six weeks old when I first saw him. I remember walking in my parents’ house at Christmas vacation to hear a crying baby. Lauren was about two or three weeks old. I walked in and thought she was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen. As my Grandma K. said there’s never been an ugly Klopfenstein baby, but Lauren was beautiful. Lindsey must have been 2-3 month old as I think I was at their house in July. She had such big eyes. John Michael was about a month old, and despite his mother saying he never cried he woke up from his nap as soon as she walked out the door and cried until she returned. I was so embarrassed calling Molly 30 minutes after she left for what was going to be a few hours out of the house to tell her that I couldn’t get her son quiet. Based on her suggestion he and I walked outside for almost two hours until she returned as he was pretty quiet outside. Jeffrey I saw at three months. He would be so relaxed in my arms swinging on my parents’ front porch.