Hospital Photos

Here are some photos from the hospital.  A very few.  Of the hundreds (probably) that everyone took!

The new grandfather, "Papa C"!

Louisa on Greg's knee

The hat (along with the hospital bracelets) is her first article of clothing.

A proud, new grandmother, Yaya!

Greg's aunt Denise handed off beautiful pink roses she bought and picked up her grand-neice.

KJ putting Louisa in the car seat.  Full disclosure, it took Greg a minute to start the car.  What an overwhelming feeling to drive a baby home from the hospital!

But so worth it.

Letter to My Maternal Grandparents

Letter to My Maternal Grandparents

Dear Mamée and Pepé,

I am writing to you today from New Britain, where, every time I pass through, I always remember Nana, visiting your mother, Pepé, with you, Mamée, hanging out in her apartment in the old school house, drinking ginger ale and watching her water the plants.  The room I am in now is not too much smaller—a hospital room where my wife KJ just gave birth to your first great-grandchild, Mom’s first grandchild, and KJ’s and my first child—a beautiful baby daughter!

Your great-granddaughter Louisa Maire Hill was born this evening at 6:09pm.  She is 19.5” and weighs 7lbs 8oz.

It is important to me that you both know that I am thinking of you as KJ and I celebrate this incredible life event, and about the relatively brief but crucial and memorable times I shared with you.  And I want you both to know how special those times were.

Today is an incredible, inspiring day, a gift in itself in which I have received this wonderful gift of fatherhood.  But in addition to being filled with excitement, anticipation and a healthy dose of worry, I am appreciating the intermittent pangs of sadness that I feel knowing you could not be here with us today.

I know that neither of you met KJ, but of course you would have loved her.  We were in the same class at Dartmouth, so we knew of each other, but we didn’t really meet and start dating until December 2006, four and a half years after we graduated.  Since then, we have both earned additional degrees at Dartmouth.  I earned my creative writing masters this spring, and KJ graduated from Dartmouth Medical School in 2010, just shy of the one-year anniversary of our wedding, which was held outdoors in Hanover, NH in a beautiful corner of the Dartmouth campus.  KJ is now an OB-GYN resident here in Connecticut.  She is a wonderful doctor, and clearly she is loved by her co-workers, given how many of them came in today to wish her well before the delivery.  She is a hard worker, Pepé, as I remember you were.  And Mamée, you will be pleased to know that KJ, like both of her parents, plays the piano and is an accomplished musician.

Thank you, Mamée and Pepé, for the love you have given your family, your guidance, your love and support.  We would be nothing without you.  I can’t wait to tell Louisa, as she grows up in our family, all about her wonderful great-grandparents Maureen and Stuart Dery!

Love,

Greg

Letter to My Paternal Grandparents

Letters to My Paternal Grandparents

Dear Grammy and Papa,

The early fog lifted quickly over New Britain this cool morning, and after a day that seemed both busy and slow, I have a moment to write to you the great news that KJ gave birth today!  This makes great-grandchild number ten for you (after Justin, Blakeslee, Isabelle, Joseph, Mark, Mason, Sophia, Madeleine and Maximillion), and the fifth girl, but of course this is the first grandchild for my father, who is very excited—almost as excited as I am!

Your great-granddaughter Louisa Marie Hill was born this evening at 6:09pm.  She is 19.5” and weighs 7lbs 8oz.

I want you both to know that I am thinking of you as KJ and I celebrate this incredible life event, and about the life lessons you imparted to me and about how important you both are to this whole process for us!

In this day full of excitement and joy I reserved a little corner of sadness because I know you could not be here today.  Gram, you never got to meet KJ, but of course you would have loved to meet her.  You both share a highly accomplished musical background.  She’s a great problem solver like you are, and she’s looking forward to being a loving mother just as you were to my dad.  I remember you always said, half-joking, that you wanted me to be a doctor so I could take care of you.  Well I didn’t end up becoming a doctor, but I did end up marrying one!  KJ is a wonderful OB-GYN resident here in Connecticut, so she takes care of mothers and not really older patients, but you would have had a great time asking her all sorts of medical questions that she knows the answers to.

And Papa, you never got to see KJ pregnant, but I can picture the fun you would have had with her, the jokes and maybe the pranks you could have shared!  Our daughter had been swimming in KJ’s belly these past nine months, and I think about you and all the swimming you did at Grapetree Beach.  I hope she’ll grow up to be a “champ-een” swimmer like her great-grandfather.

Thank you, Grammy and Papa, for everything you have given your family, your guidance, your love and support.  We couldn’t have gotten here without you.  I can’t wait to tell Louisa, as she grows up in our family, all about her wonderful great-grandparents Joe and Thelma Hill!

Love,

Greg

Explanation

This blog, named after our last name and a phrase from our undergraduate alma mater ("They have the Still North in their hearts | The hill winds in their veins..."), I hope will serve as a periodic log of our lives as we begin and raise our family.  I hope our relatives will use this blog as a reference to keep abreast of our activities.  Specifically, we plan to use this as a source of photos and videos of our child, which, let's admit, is really what everyone in our family wants to see.

This blog is not intended for public consumption outside of our family and close friends.  We realize this blog may be publicly accessible.  And we know we're not celebrities worth following.  But thank you for respecting the privacy of our family.

With love and high hopes,
Greg & KJ