LOTSA VISITORS!!!

We are having so much fun showing Selah off to friends and family who have come through. Showing her off usually results in passing her sleeping butt around and listening to her grunt in her sleep. Finn has enjoyed playing with some old buddies and we've been really enjoying our summer as a family, with Nate only working a few hours. Life is good right now.


The Glogers come back to SB for a visit! Ruby and Finn were born just weeks apart, and so were baby Kai and Selah. We miss them!!



We used to have to stand on our heads to make Finn smile for a photo. Now we have the opposite problem. Here's our little cheeser with Ruby Joy.



Finn and Giovanna. Yes, this was somewhat staged.



Aunt Jo Jo meets Selah. Instant connection.



Cousin Wyatt and Finners on the neighborhood shark. These two kiddos had a blast together.



Now on dolphin.


Selah and her cool Tye-dye sleeper. Thanks Cynthia!



Mommy and Selah hanging out on the bed.


Special time with Daddy and the Economist.


And the smiles begin!!!

The Many Faces of Selah!

Visitors!
During this transition period of Selah's arrival, we have been fortunate enough to have Grandma and Grandpa Summy visit and then Nate's mom, "Granny Peg." Then Nate's sister Lina and her new fiancé Mark came for a quick visit. Needless to say, I don't think I've had to cook a single meal in two weeks, and the kiddos have had oodles of attention. Thanks everyone for all of your help!


Two weeks old already!


Grandpa and Grandma Summy with the kiddos.



Granny Peg and Selah.


Tia Lina and Selah


Granny Peg made this wonderful quilt for Finn with a bug theme.



And this quilt for Selah. Check it out....it's feminine without being entirely PINK!



Good times at the park with Daddy.


Our big splurge was this awesome double stroller. We LOVE it and so do the kiddos.



Our first day without houseguests. Challenging - yes - but it has been really nice to find a new routine with Finn and Selah...like rolling around in the clean laundry like Finn is doing here.

Home at Last!

After 3 nights and 4 days at the hospital, it's nice to be back in our own beds. Selah is one week old today and fitting in nicely into our little family of four now. All she does is sleep and eat. She rarely cries. I realize this might change, so I'm just enjoying it while it lasts. The last two nights, I've been able to get a couple of 6 hours stretches of sleep in a row! I love this kid!!


Thanks Cottage Hospital. We enjoyed our stay. Your nurses rock and the food wasn't half bad.



This is one of my favorites photos so far. I caught her during the 30 minutes she was awake yesterday.



Precious.




Funny dream?



There's just something about dressing a baby girl that brings me back to my cabbage patch doll days. I think my doll (Esther Gladys - remember they came complete with a name and a birth certificate) had a dress just like this one.




First home sponge bath and not happy about it. I think I actually heard her say between sobs, "I promise I won't ever get dirty!!!"




While searching for her "happy place" Selah discovered her thumb. She hasn't found it since, but I think she'd like to be reacquainted soon.


My folks have been a HUGE help during this transition. "Grandma Summy" has been here since a few days before delivery and took care of Finn while Nate and I stayed in the hospital. Now that we're home, my mom has been making large quantities of food for everyone and my dad has been sharing some much needed silly one-on-one time with big-brother Finn. Everyone has taken their turn holding the "Selah the Snoozer" as well.

At Shoreline Park




Grandma Summy and Selah



Grandpa Summy watching "The Selah Show" as she changes expressions in her sleep.




Snoozing partners.




Finn's new toddler bed! (actually just his crib with the gate removed) But he's ecstatic anyway!



And this shall be how I dismount the bed!


Finn enjoyed some time with Thomas, Ramona and paper hats today, thanks to neighbor friend, Joyce. His intense stare is pure concentration on keeping the hat from falling off. It fell off soon after, and the meltdown ensued. It's tough being two.

Here are some more new photos of our little Selah. Enjoy!





That little round hill she's snoozing on is my tummy. It will take a while for it to shrink down to normal size I think.





Special time with Daddy.





Good friend Vanessa comes to visit.


Finn and Daddy come bearing a gift for Selah!


A kiss for Mommy.

The Monleys are on the mountaintop! Monday morning Katie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl- Selah Margaret Monley. Margaret is Katie’s grandmother, Selah was the mountain in Israel where scholars went to meditate, the psalmist’s and prophet’s call to weigh carefully the words of the Lord.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Selah

And God is within our baby girl, that is obvious to us in her shock of black hair and her dark blue eyes, we’re sitting here in Santa Barbara’s Cottage Hospital wondering at the marvelous works of the Lord.

“Imagine waking up on Everest” is what the nurse said when Selah drew her first breaths from the air. She weighed in at an impressive 8lbs 15oz with a generously endowed head, the diameter of which indicates a large brain, we hope!

Along with the musical quality of Selah, we love her name for its mystery. We saw it called the most difficult word in the Bible to translate, ranging in interpretation from a lyric pause to “forever”, “weigh” and “lift up”. Websites are written about Selah by everyone from Unitarian Universalists to Hebrew Poets to the Christafari Reggae Artist “The Lion of Zion”.

We love that diverse voices seek the meaning of Selah, and that its mystery, the truth of which is ultimately known to God, is passed to us in the songbook of scripture. We wish for our daughter a mind that ceaselessly seeks truth, both in scholarship and song, and who rests ultimately in the hope that the God of Love has called her His daughter, and has given her for awhile to us to hug and kiss, has placed us on the mountaintop with her to weigh carefully the gift He has given us in this precious, precious baby girl.

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

- Psalm 46

So once again the bells are ringing down here in Santa Barbara.
The horns are sounding and the fattened calf is
glancing around nervously. We have a brand new Monley,
a brand new Summy, another branch on the woven grove
of our family trees. We thank God for Selah Margaret,
and we hope all of you get to see her soon.

With Much Love,

Nate, Katie, Finn, and Selah Monley


One last Finn squeeze before the trip to the hospital in the early morning.

One last "family of three" picture.


Things were going a little too smoothly, so the truck battery decided to die. Yes, I did have to help push...just a foot or so.


Our precious little girl arrives!!!


Daddy and daughter nap time.


Monley, table for four please! Finn had his doubts about the whole situation at first. But within an hour, he and Daddy came back from the gift shop with a helium seahorse balloon for baby Selah. A peace offering I guess. I'm confident these two kiddos will be great friends.

And look - we all fit in one bed!