Baby Shower

My nice friends Heather and Nicki gave me a beautiful baby shower on December 13th. It was so much fun and there were so many great people there! It was nice to feel the love and support everyone offered me just days before going to have baby Rachel. I couldn't think of a more fun way to celebrate my birthday! Heather's mom Pat made yummy cakes and everyone sang to me. We ate a delicious brunch which is my favorite meal! I have really great and thoughtful friends!

The party

I got this present two days later

She is really cute and fun

Toni Hart gave me this lamb and Rachel means lamb. Then there is "Mary had a little lamb." Hence the expression of wanting to cry.

Projects

Having Murray home is great for a lot of reasons! One of my favorite things about Murray being home is how many projects get accomplished! Murray has been home for 2 weeks and I am amazed by what he has done! He put together a bassinet, high chair, swing, play kitchen, put up a chair rail in the dining room/kitchen and painted it, hung a big mirror in the bathroom, mounted a tv in the toy room and framed some storage bays in the guest room. Right now he is putting together doors for the storage bays with our neighbor Ben. They are difficult to explain but when they are complete we will post pictures. I am looking forward to putting boxes in the storage space and closing the pretty doors that will hide them.

Toy Room
Chair rail for kitchen

Bassinet, thank you mom!

Nativity

10 days before Christmas we had some mystery visitors ring our doorbell, run and leave us a piece of this nativity, a scripture and yummy treat. They did this every day up until Christmas Eve. Although we tried to catch them, they were just too fast for us! We looked forward to the sound at the door each night. Mary loved bringing the present in and opening it up. She would unwrap the piece of the nativity and we would watch the set grow with each addition. We enjoyed the yummy treats too! It was really a lot of fun! Then on Christmas Eve I ran to the door and there was the Crouch Family singing "Joy to the World" with the last and most important piece baby Jesus. They had beautiful voices and also sang "Silent Night." I couldn't help but cry. They really made the season special for us!

The Nativity from the Crouch Family


The Nativity Calendar I finished the last day in Novemeber. Gail gave me everything to make it. Mary loved pulling out a piece each day!

Last Christmas Kevin and Gail gave Mary this Fisher Price Nativity. It is super cute and Mary loved playing with it!

Christmas Morning

Murray and I were looking forward to Mary's reaction Christmas morning! We were awake before her which rarely if ever happens. She is our alarm clock! At the first sound from her room we went in to tell her Santa had come.

When she came out and saw her kitchen she said "Oh wow". She opened her presents under the tree, each with an enthusiastic "Oh wow" wanting to stop and play with each of them. She would pull off a piece of paper and hand it to me, it took awhile to unwrap all of the gifts but she completely loved it. We are grateful for wonderful and generous grandparents. Mary LOVES her gifts!

The next morning Mary ran straight to the Christmas tree and said "Where's presents?" We really had a nice Christmas morning. It was so much fun to watch Mary enjoy opening her gifts. I am excited to play with her new toys and books.

Let the fun begin

Baby Rachel eventually woke up. Mary happily obliged helping her open presents

Daddy and the girls

Mary with her presents

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with our friends the Sorenson's. There was lots of good food and good company. Mary had a ball playing with Brenna who she hadn't seen in a long time. We were so happy they had us over!

Christmas Eve I got to doll the girls up

I love how sweet Mary is with Rachel

Mary and Brenna

Tara gave Mary a present to open

Murray got Mary's kitchen out of the attic to assemble. He got wedged between it and the wall, very funny!

Putting the kitchen together. Murr said it was "intense".

After Santa's work was finished

Santa

We have been reading, talking and singing about Santa a lot this month. Mary can sing some of the words to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Murray was so great to take Mary to go see Santa while Rachel and I took it easy at home. Murray explained what was going to happen while they waited in line to see him and they watched the other children sit on his lap. Mary screamed last year and I didn't think she would go for it this year but she did! She wouldn't look up and was feeling really shy, but she sat in his lap, wow!

Christmas Letter

December 2008

Happy Holidays Friends and Family!

Looking back on 2008 our family had a wonderful year! We took a family trip to New Orleans this summer and also spent some time in California with family and friends. At home we liked visiting the Memphis zoo, having picnics by the Mississippi River and walking around downtown Memphis. We especially enjoyed the friends and family who came to visit us!

This month we were blessed with another beautiful daughter, Rachel. Her chubby cheeks bring us a lot of smiles! She is sleeping and eating well and only cries occasionally. She is the most wonderful Christmas gift our family could have received!

Mary has grown and learned so much this year. She will celebrate her second birthday next month. She really enjoys talking, reading books, playing with friends and being near her baby sister. Mary is great at learning new words, naming letters, recognizing colors and singing songs. Her memory amazes us and is usually better than ours! She is especially good with people’s names. She remembers the names of neighbors, friends, family and characters in books and movies. At church she yells out the names of everyone she knows. Mary has tons of personality and is a joy!

Murray finished his first year and a half of optometry school, only 2 ½ years to go! He enjoys learning about the human eye and vision. He received two awards this year at convocation. We are proud of how well he is doing and how hard he works. He is still a scout leader for the 11 year old boys and had fun taking them on a campout. He does home improvements whenever he can and has finished projects like painting rooms, refinishing kitchen chairs and barstools, and adding closet shelves. His big project this summer was adding a bedroom upstairs, which included hiring contractors and doing some of the work himself. The room became a guest room and my sewing/project room, which gave Mary a toy room downstairs, so wonderful!

I had a fun year being home with Mary and expecting Rachel. Mary is endlessly entertaining and I am so happy to spend my days with her! I tried new things this year like tending a baby in our home, visiting an orchard to pick peaches and apples, canning peaches and making bread. I also learned a lot with several sewing projects. I organized a moms group with three activities a week. Some of our activities included making pizza at a pizzeria, visiting a fire station, weekly park days, picking apples, library story time, swimming and a Halloween costume party. I had fun serving as a secretary for the primary children at church - it was such a great place to be!

There is much to be grateful for and we feel abundantly blessed. We hope you all are doing well and we wish you a very happy holiday season!

Love,
Margaret, Murray, Mary and Rachel Pratt

First Family Outing

We got the girls bundled up and went on a car ride through the Christmas lights in Central Park. We watched for signs telling us to turn our car radio to certain stations to hear music correlating with the lights. There were so many fun displays. Mary enjoyed looking at all of them and talking about what we saw. Rachel pretty much ate the entire time as we crawled at 5 mph. This is difficult to read but it says "Happy Holidays From Southaven"

The girls and Grandma in the car

Big Sister

Mary got to hold Rachel for the first time yesterday. We were a little concerned how gentle she would be with her. Mary was wonderful! She held very still and was so careful with baby Rachel. You could tell that Mary knew holding Rachel was important and special. She is a great big sister! Mary loves Rachel and is interested in her but also gives her space.

This morning after Mary finished breakfast she asked for playdoh and Grandma. Grandma played with Mary a lot while she was here. I managed to tell her that Grandma went back to California without crying. That was progress for me!

Mary holding Rachel for the first time

Sweet girls

Mary, Rachel and the triplets

Mommy, Daddy, Rachel and Mary

We Love Grandma!

We are so happy Grandma came to visit! Gail came on Sunday and has been here for a week. Mary just loves Grandma and so do we! It was nice knowing she was with Mary while Murray and I were at the hospital. Bringing Mary to the hospital in the pack and play wasn't ideal. We really appreciate the nice friends who were willing to tend Mary as well!

Grandma and Mary have played all sorts of games, sung songs, read books and tried new things. Mary's favorite game is probably singing the "dee da lee dum da dee" and bouncing around. Grandma also has Mary eating more with the new "eat it all gone" game. I learn so much from Gail and appreciate her SO MUCH!

She made a delicious Sunday dinner (roast, potatoes, gravy, corn etc). I got to watch and learn how to make a roast. Murray is so happy! I am happy to have learned how to make meat other than ground beef and chicken!

Rachel and Grandma before bed

Mary loving Grandma

Multi-tasking! Grandma is bouncing Mary on her leg and holding Rachel.

Grandma and the girls

Thank you Grandma!

Princess Pratt

Murray made this great announcment for baby Rachel. I love it and think it turned out great!

Rachel Jane Pratt

Rachel Jane Pratt was born yesterday, December 15th, at 12:25pm!
She weighed 9 pounds and 4 ounces!
She is a beautiful and chubby girl.
Both Rachel and Margaret are healthy and happy.

More details: Margaret had a scheduled induction yesterday, so Grandma Gail stayed home with Mary, while Margaret and I went to the hospital at 6:00am. We got settled and the induction started at about 7:15am. Once her doctor came and broke her water around 8:00am, her contractions got really strong and painful. The epidural came soon after and eased the pain enough that Margaret was even able to get a short nap. She woke up around 11:30am to some discomfort and asked the nurse to check how she was progressing. We were all shocked when the nurse said she was completely progressed. The nurse hurried to call the doctor, who was away from the hospital - but luckily the doctor made it there within 10 minutes. They prepared everything and then Margaret started pushing. I could tell that is was really difficult, painful and tiring, but Margaret did so well. After only 15 or 20 minutes of pushing, we had a beautiful big girl.



The doctor and nurses all talked about how big she was. In fact, was found out that she was the talk of the nursery, being the biggest baby there.


I was really impressed with the miracle of the whole experience. It was amazing to be there with Margaret and see Rachel's first few breaths. Margaret was exhausted but so happy and glowing for the rest of the day.

We enjoyed our time together in the hospital and were so excited when Mary came to visit us. We gave Mary a big sister t-shirt, which she proudly wore. Mary loved to point and say "baby way-cho" and "baby sis-tow". We love our little family of four.

Things were going so well today that we decided to leave the hospital and come home, so that's where we are now. Margaret is recovering well and trying hard to take it easy.

We hope you enjoy the pictures. Rachel is so beautiful and a perfect baby. We love her!

Just after the delivery

Rachel Jane - look at those cheeks!

Just before leaving the hospital.

Beautiful girl

Our family

Happy Birthday Margaret!

Margaret had her 26th birthday yesterday and I have to say that she had quite the day! First of all, she is nine months pregnant. If it were me, I would have chosen to stay at home all day and sleep, eat and watch movies. But not Margaret, here are some things she did:

A friend threw her a baby shower, and it just so happened that her birthday was the only day that worked out. So they celebrated for the baby and Margaret at the same time.

Margaret's mom gave her money to get a manicure and pedicure, and I think she really enjoyed it.

A friend watched Mary in the evening so Margaret and I could go on a date. I told Margaret we could do anything she wanted. I guess I shouldn't have given her that much freedom, because this is what she chose to do: go shopping for groceries, thank you presents and christmas cards, pick up pictures from Sam's club and stop for a quick bite to eat at Chick-fil-A. She seemed to enjoy running errands and was amazed how fast and easy it was without a toddler. I enjoyed spending the time with Margaret, so it didn't matter what we were doing.


Towards the end of the evening, Margaret started having contractions, and they were pretty much every 15 minutes. We thought we would be going to the hospital in the middle of the night, but they stopped.

But Margaret really wanted to have a clean house if we did go to the hospital, so she cleaned the bathrooms and scrubbed the shower before going to bed. I tried to help, but she insisted. Nine months pregnant, on her birthday, while having contractions, scrubbing the shower - something is very wrong with this picture.

Anyone would have been amazed to see her running around with all the energy in the world. I have a really hard time keeping up with her, but I still enjoy the chase.
I love you Margaret! Happy Birthday!

Sewing Projects

I recently made a nursing cover and sling. I worked on them with my friend Kristi who shared her patterns and knowledge with me. We are expecting little girls within a month of eachother. We are excited to try out our new slings and nursing covers soon! Nine days or less I'm hoping!

Front view

There is some plastic boning (plastic handle on a bucket) to hold the fabric out so I can look down at baby.

A piece of washcloth on one inside corner and a pocket for nursing pads or whatever on the other inside corner.

Baby sling. I don't think our little girl will be as tiny as this cabbage patch doll!

Kristi and I with our baby bellies.