Sierra Lauren

Not too long after finishing last week’s column we received the call that the doctor was sending Jill and Billy to the hospital to get our little granddaughter. Shortly after 2 p.m., Sierra Lauren entered the world with a shout and a smile for her parents.
The bright-eyed bundle of joy weighed in at six pounds, three ounces, 20 inches long and just enough fine, brown hair to cover her tiny head.
Now I know that most grandparents go senile about the time the first grandchild arrives, but Rick and I have vowed not to let that happen. How can one tiny baby turn a seemingly normal, mature couple upside down in a matter of days? I really doubt that our lives change much at all.
It is true that we have waited impatiently for her to get here, as has been attested by my columns on more than one occasion. But really, she is just a baby.
Shortly after she was born the nurses allowed us to see her. She was less than one hour old as we photographed her for the first time. She actually smiled in one of the pictures. I strolled down the hall way with two cameras around my neck and a huge tote bag of anything I could think of that Jill or Billy might need. One of the nurses commented that I looked like a tourist—or a new grandmother.
We took pictures of her with her parents, her other grandparents, with us. We photographed her getting her first bath.
It is amazing how smart she is already. One of our friends said that intelligence skips a generation; since Rick and I are of above average intelligence it is only normal that Sierra will be also.
I was holding her the day after she was born and she was already recognizing voices and her name. I know they say babies can’t focus their eyes at that age, but it is obvious that Sierra can. She also knows her name. She smiles, even in her sleep, when she hears me coo it to her as I kiss her tiny face. Several of the nurses commented that she was perhaps the most beautiful baby they had ever seen.
We have already purchased an extra bassinette, changing table and high chair to keep at our house when she visits, so we can take those things along on trips. I’m thinking of getting another car seat so we won’t have to take the one in and out of the car.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out how I can work my other full time job from Sierra’s house…I think her parents may need a Nanny and who could be better than a blood relative? Like perhaps, a grandmother?
Rick has been thinking the same thing, I think. I heard him talking to one of the guys at work about taking early retirement, but he has 15 years before he can collect Social Security. Too bad for him. I can make money writing and staying at Billy and Jill’s during the day. He can’t. Oh well, I can document everything she does on the digital camera. So far we have 186 pictures in the Sierra Lauren album.
And so you see, life is really pretty normal at our house. By the time you read this column, she will be nearly two weeks old and I’m sure, the smartest and most beautiful baby in town.
Life is good.