Our New Baby Boy!

After what was starting to feel like a very long wait, we finally welcomed A. and D.'s little sibling this week! God blessed us with a very healthy baby boy, who will share Daddy's name. His birthday means we get to celebrate his, Daddy's and D's in the span of a week, and hopefully he'll never have to go to school on his birthday, either. :)

The short version of the birth story - I had taken the girls swimming in the afternoon, and Daddy actually made it home early to start dinner. We walked in from swimming at 5:10 p.m. and were eating by about 5:30. I'd felt a couple contractions in that time, and by the time we were ready to leave the table at about 6:30 I knew it was for real as they were about 7 minutes apart. While Daddy bathed the girls, I hopped in the shower and within the next hour, they were down to about 3 minutes apart and pretty strong. So I told him to start hurrying up with the bedtime routine so we could leave for the hospital. Got our kid-watcher here at 8:15, left at 8:20. Pulled into the hospital parking lot at 8:45. Made it up the elevator by 8:50. Water broke before going into the triage room. Went from the triage room into a L&D room on a quiet night, and little J. made his appearance at 9:13 p.m. I know lots of women have labors that are shorter than 4 hours, but I don't know how it could have gone much faster than that. I'm glad it was at night so we didn't have to fight traffic, or else we really might not have made it! It was awesome to go through the whole thing with a husband, and we were blessed with a couple great nurses and a nice doctor who were really accommodating to our wishes for the few minutes they had with us. Our first (maybe last) Japan baby! We couldn't have asked for a more wonderful way for him to come. 

The girls are absolutely in love with him. They both came into the hospital room with their arms up, D. saying, "Baby! Baby! I hold baby!", then fighting over who got to hold him first. They've been kissing and touching him every chance they get. I can't wait to see them with him over the coming years. They really are going to be great big sisters. 

D. went for the baby hat right away. 

I think he has A's newborn face here. 

His eyes are kind of grayish right now. 

He hasn't held his own newborn in 4 1/2 years. It'll be so nice to get to do these first few months together again. 

All ready to head home and start life together.