Welcoming Ruthie

I hope our newest little blessing enjoyed her first, quiet hours at the hospital, before she went home to her busy, noisy family because, for the rest of her early childhood, she will have to nap in spite of the daily commotion that is always present in a large, home-schooling family. 

Ruthie Mae was born on Saturday, January 9th, six days past her due date, at 1:37 a.m. With her scant, light hair, deep, blue eyes, and long, slender fingers, Ruthie certainly looks like her brothers and sisters. At 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and 20 3/4 inches long, she was the smallest of the Stobel babies, although her birth weight was exactly the same as her mother's. 

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14

In this unprecedented time of a worldwide pandemic, Meagan was a bit concerned about staying in the hospital for Ruthie's birth. She most certainly did not want to be sick with the Coronavirus while she was in labor, so she was careful to avoid crowds in the weeks preceding her due date. When she and Andy finally made it to the hospital, barely an hour before Ruthie was born, they were relieved to find the staff quite unconcerned about Covid, because most of them had already had it, and they had all been vaccinated, besides. Because of that, Meagan did not have to wear a mask during labor or recovery. Andy stayed at the hospital all day Saturday, getting to know Ruthie in the hospital's solitude, before he headed home to let two-year-old Ari sleep in his own bed, while the older kids enjoyed a much-anticipated sleepover at Grandma Deb's house. Meagan claims that this most recent hospital stay was the most relaxing of any, since visitors weren't allowed, and the nurses considered her to be an experienced mother who could pretty much be left alone.

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Psalm 127:3

I wasn't there on Sunday morning, when Andy brought Meagan and Ruthie home from the hospital, but I can imagine the exuberance of her four big brothers and sisters. They were still excited late in the afternoon, when Bill and I drove out to meet Ruthie for the first time.

In fact, they really didn't want to let her out of their sight, and they weren't too eager to give up holding her, either. Meagan gently reminded the girls that they could hold their little sister throughout the day, every day, but Grandpa and Grandma needed a chance to get to know her, too.

Grandparents have the crowning glory of life: grandchildren!

Proverbs 17:6 TPT

So far, Ruthie is a calm, contented baby who hardly ever cries, maybe because she is usually being held. I think it is nearly impossible to spoil a newborn, but I suspect the time will come when the older kids will need to be encouraged to put her down, so Ruthie can learn to do things for herself. (For safety reasons, the kids aren't allowed to carry her from one place to another, or even hold her unless someone is close by to supervise.) Even when no one is holding her, it isn't unusual for Meagan to find one of the kids standing next to Ruthie's Pack 'n Play, singing to her or reading her a story. And when Meagan came out of the shower yesterday, she was a little surprised to find that seven-year-old Evie had carefully changed Ruthie's diaper, and had done a good job of it. 

I stayed with the older kids this morning while Meagan took four-day-old Ruthie to the doctor's office for her first checkup. While I was helping Tobin with his math, he informed me that he had come up with his own scale, from one to ten, to rank how much each of the kids has held Ruthie. According to him, Lydia, who holds Ruthie the most, ranks at a 7, Evie is a 5, he is a 3, and Ari is a 1. Andy started back to school today, so he will have to be content to hold Ruthie in the evenings and on the weekends for a while. Meagan claims that she only gets to hold the baby while she is nursing her.

  

Ruthie is a well-loved baby, for sure.

Since Victoria's car needed some minor repair, I picked her up from work on Monday and took her to meet her new niece. She loves babies, and would be content to sit and hold Ruthie all day.

Levi hasn't been too interested in meeting Ruthie. Since he held his other nieces and nephews when they were tiny babies, he doesn't think it will be any different holding the newest one. Like many other 17-year-old males, he is content to wait until Ruthie is an active toddler before he really gets to know her.

And so, little Ruthie completes a perfect January trifecta of nines: She was born on January ninth, Lydia will celebrate her fifth birthday on the 19th, and Tobin will be nine on January 29th. Even Grandpa Bill should be able to remember those dates!

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  Psalm 139:15-16