Bringing Home Baby

Our sweet baby boy arrived at 6:30 PM on January 26th, 2012. Hank Michael weighed 9 pounds, 13 oz and was 20.7 inches long.  From the moment we met, he has been the sweetest, most cuddly and most handsome little baby I've ever known. Although, I guess I am a bit partial. :-)

Big sister, Josie, smiled and laughed when she met her baby brother for the first time. For the past 9 months, I was wondering what their meeting would be like. And it was sweeter and more special than I could have imagined. Especially since she was in denial that we were in fact having a baby brother up until the day he arrived. I would say, "Josie, we're going to hold our baby brother soon." Josie would look up from whatever she was doing, smile and calmly reply, "No Mama, we're not." Either that girl was playing it cool or really, she had no idea what was about to happen.

But whatever the case, they are off to a good start. She adores him. And despite the extreme loudness in Josie's voice (she knows only one volume of speech) and my fear of her always waking Hank up, her voice actually seems to relax him.

And thanks to our generous families, we came home to a refrigerator full of food and a delicious meal warming in the oven. What a great homecoming!

The first two weeks at home have been very special. For me, things are different with the second baby. I think it's because I'm more relaxed and I know that these "newborn days" will only last a short while. Also, I'm learning a lot about the differences between boys and girls. I've learned that it's ok to say "penis" (especially when talking to the doctor) because that's what it is actually called. Right? I'm just not used to saying that word out loud so much. At his doctor's appointment, I kept calling it his "little thingy" and finally realized how silly that sounded. So I made a point to just....say...it. And speaking of penises, I've learned that it needs to point down when changing his diaper, otherwise when he pees, he'll soak his entire outfit and leave his diaper completely dry. So much to learn with all of this boy business!!! I'm such an amateur! Anyway, many more lessons to be learned I'm sure. Many more pictures and stories to come.