meeting the family

donovan has not met the entire family yet, but he has met some pretty important people. from the first few hours of entering the world he started meeting everyone beginning with the my side of the family. his grandparents on that side welcomed him as their first grandchild...and great grandchild. he also met his auntie lisa and uncle gordon within those first few days. we were so proud to be able to show him off so quickly, and to be able to introduce a first grandchild into the family. my mother has not yet chosen a name for herself so we refer to her as mrs. orr until the decision has been made....so mrs. orr came home with us from the hospital.....thank goodness. i was expecting to want to be alone with dan and donovan when being discharged from the hospital, but after a long hospital stay and a c-section i was so grateful to have my mom home with me. she stayed with us a week and helped us with night feedings, cooking, cleaning, holding, changing and helping to calm me when i found myself getting overwhelmed. when i became a mother i realized i see my mother in a whole new light. being a mother is hard and wonderful and intense and now i know what that feels like.


ten days into donovan's life, pops and bammy made a trip all the way from florida to meet their 14th grandchild. being the 14th in the family seems the excitement would be ho hum by now, but i was amazed at how much it felt like we were introducing their first grandchild as well.....obviously being a grandparent....again...... never gets old. pops and bammy came prepared to relieve us in anyway they could....cooking, cleaning, feeding, diaper changing, and babysitting while dan and i got to take a few walks together. we also got another visit from pops and bammy when donovan was 6 weeks old. yet again they came prepared to feed, diaper change, and babysit while dan and i got to go have a dinner together.



grandpa and grandma murphy came to visit when donovan was 3 weeks old. this week was when donovan decided to "wake up"....to put a positive spin on it. donovan was diagnosed that week with reflux and a milk allergy which obviously made him very uncomfortable. there was a lot of screaming that week, and the grandparents were troopers to help get us through. just in time for the grandparents to leave donovan began feeling better so we were able to get a few shots of him smiling.


brian, donovan's oldest cousin on dan's side, made an impromptu stop on his way back to ny. he was a trooper to hold the little guy while i got some pictures, and to put up with some morning fussiness. i think he is a natural!



this past weekend we made a trip with donovan to greensboro to meet the orr side of the family. due to weather this past christmas we were not able to get together so this was our christmas in june! donovan got to meet his great grandparents which is way cool to have great grandparents on both sides! he also met his great aunts and uncles, scott and susan and judy and terry, and cousins...hannah, jonathan, noah, john, ellen, molly, riley, and he was most excited about cousin benjamin who is 4 months old. they made plans to be more mobile next time they see each other.


dan and i are so lucky to have so many people in our lives to help welcome donovan...as well as to help us to adjust to parenthood. so thank you to you all......and we look forward to showing off donovan to the rest of the family very soon!