Tennessee Xmas - Celebrations

Homecoming

Around noon time on Christmas Eve, Matt brings Christine and Cody home from the hospital. We are all happy everyone made it home for the holidays.

Christmas Day

Relatives and friends come to see the new baby Cody and for celebrations

Three generations of Flowers PaPaw, Brooklyn, Cody, and Matt

Matt's brother Wayne

Matt's brother Joey with Brooklyn

A Redneck Christmas

Hey this is Tennessee where the state sport is huntin' (g is silent) and the state color is "Forest Camo."  Little did I realize before this trip that there are so many varieties of camouflage.

Deer, do you think these go with my hair

Frankly Scarlett, I don't give a damn!

The women folk generally get kitchen and child care related presents.

Brooklyn's kitchen Uh.. there are lots of small parts to step on

Baby dolls pile up

Ah great - an artist easel. MaMaw approves.

A new fancy coffee maker

A slow cooker ... better to cook venison in

Ahhh chocolate - now that's a gift I can use

The men folk generally get huntin' and work related gifts.

New water proof camo boots

A plastic deer skull for taxidermy

A new welding jacket for PaPaw

Welllll.... girls can be taught to fish and hunt.

A toy huntin' bow

Complete with plastic deer to shoot

and a Redneck RV tent

Christmas dinner consists of deep fried wild turkey (raised by Matt and PaPaw from eggs), Corralitos ham, and all the fixin's (g is again silent) supplied by one of those California women. Yup, at least some of them can cook. MaMaw Marti you kin come back anytime.

Slicing turkey

Whew - we missed this holiday Hey - we're "Heritage" hens

Day after Christmas

No presents left under the tree

Brooklyn plays with the boxes rather than her new toys

Time to git a packin' (silent g) and head back home to California and Corralitos.  MaMaw Judy from Florida will be takin' over the grandma shift in a few days. May angels watch over y'all until we can return for the Spring bloom in the Smokies.

Tennessee Xmas - Cody Arrives

Christine's due date of December 20th comes and goes without much excitement.  A visit to the midwife confirms she is ripe and ready (or as Matt says "locked and loaded"), but only just beginning to dilate. After making another appointment in two days for an OB at UT Medical Center, we return home to bake cookies to drown our disappointment in chocolate.

Yummm - Toll House chocolate chip cookies Grandma made from scratch

May I have another cookie? Pleeeease MaMaw?

Thursday morning, we're up before the dawn for an early appointment at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, which is a 45 minute drive on the other side of Knoxville.

Winter dawn in TN

Ahhh... we made it in time

We sign in and wait for an ultra-sound.

Babies and weddings for reading? Well there is a long tradition of shotgun weddings

Humm -baby looks good, but... your fluid's running a little low

Next, we wait for over an hour for the doctor who's scheduled to deliver Cody, but she's running rate due to another delivery in progress.

Christine talks to Brooklyn during the long wait

Brooklyn practices being a doctor on MaMaw

The news from the doctor isn't completely positive. She wants Christine to check into the hospital within the next few hours to be induced as it's time for Cody to get a move on. We treat ourselves to a nice lunch to give Matt some time to wind up at work.  He'll take Christine to the hospital, while I take care of Brooklyn at home.

Matt gets car seat ready for Cody

and then hugs Brooklyn good-bye for the birth

Actually, nature has taken it's course and no inducing is necessary.  Cody comes on his own and is born at 4:26am the next day via natural child birth. No drugs - Wow way to go Christine!

Yipeee!! Cody's finally here

He looks like a keeper

Matt comes home a few hours later and we change shifts.

Ack! That truck is sure bigger than my Prius Sure hope I can drive it to the hospital & back w/o a scratch

After giving birth, Christine is exhausted, but also happy and HUNGRY.

I practice holding Cody, who's only a few hours old.

Uhhhh - am I doing this right?

Hey - I think I'm getting the hang of being a Grandmother

Christine's visited by a number of nurses and other specialists.

Birth Certificate draft check

First try at breast feeding as nurse coaches on the side

Mmmmm... that was good. More?

That evening, we all return for a family visit.

Proud papa

At first, Brooklyn's not too sure about her new brother

Brooklyn soon warms up to her new baby brother.  Looks like bonding is going smoothly.
We are all exhausted after a long day. We turn down the lights for mother and baby to nap and return home for a much needed night's rest.

Night light behind bed

Mother and baby nap

Welcome to the world Baby Cody James Flowers. May you always put your best foot forward.

born December 23, 2011 4:26am  - 7 lbs 10 oz