Milly was up at 7:10 this morning.  I let her babble to herself for a while and finally got her out of bed at 7:30.  Still didn’t feed her until 8:00 though.  She’s been getting up earlier here at the Mercer house, but I don’t know if it’s because she’s in a different place or because we’re sleeping in the same room with her and just notice it more.

Last night Karen and Amanda noticed an issue riding in Karen’s van, so Phil took it to a shop this morning.  Amanda had to pick up a few things from a grocery store, so she went ahead and picked her dad up while she was out.

The Pickens crew, Phil’s sister’s family, arrived around 11:30 I think.  It was their first chance to meet Milly, though Ona and Peter, Amanda’s aunt and uncle, had visited us in Wilmington the week before Milly was due.  Around 1:00 some more of Phil’s side of the family trickled in.  Apparently most of them didn’t know we’d had a baby.

Renee Tripp stopped by for a little bit to chat with Amanda and meet Milly.  I should have hung out in the kitchen while they were talking more- Renee’s cool peeps.

We all ate lunch and hung out a bit.  I was really impressed with Jessica and Wesley, younger second cousins of Amanda’s.  They seem like some really smart kids.  Another second cousin, Abby, is pregnant with her third kid.  They’ve got two boys and are finally having a girl.

We watched a bit of football, too.  NC State beat Carolina, which was great, but Duke lost to Wake Forest, ending their season and Thad Lewis’ career at Duke.

Everyone was gone by around 4:30 or 5:00.  Amanda and I had planned to leave too, but neither of us felt like packing, driving an hour and unpacking so we stuck around one more night.  Amanda, Karen, Michael and Jenn spent most of the evening watching a What Not to Wear marathon in the sun room.  Phil and I watched Forest Gump in the living room.  Well, it was on while he dozed and I edited pictures.

Zach Dotsey