Poser

Everyone wants to know how the cats are reacting to Eamon. Donut is indifferent, Smoke is freaked, Marco is highly curious, and Bernie doesn't know what to think:

We've received many generous gifts for Eamon's care and feeding, but I did get one that just cracked me up (others may appear later... and thank you all for your generosity). Patty and Bart found a pfd for him... it's 8-30 lbs, but it looks like it'll be a little bit before it fits.

And Brad and Dawn provided a selection of bathing and diapering goods, and there's little out there that's as cute as a baby in a hooded towel.

The doctor correctly pointed out that Eamon loves to pose. Given his grumpy old man looks, most of his poses come as some variation of "mob boss". But we wanted to share a few favorites.

JELLYFISH:

REBEL:

THINKER:

Welcome Eamon to the world

Eamon decided to show up on the 1-27-09 at 6:42pm. Just in time that Laura missed dinner. Seems to be a trend in her family (or karma exists, take it as you like). We got Subway a few hours later.

He weighed in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and 19.25 inches. Well below the 9 pounds that the ultrasound was predicting...

For those of you who want details: We decided to induce labor since the kid was overdue and predicted to be big. Laura had not been able to sleep for the last week and she kept having false labor pains and back labor (if you don't know what it means, you probably don't want to... google it). They started the induction at 10pm on the 26th. An epidural was added at 10am on the 27th (Laura thanks Bob L. for the use of the word "proactive" :) ). At 3pm we were at only 5cm dilated and at 5:30pm we were suddenly at 10cm. The pushing stage lasted less than an hour (Yay!) The doctor wanted to know when we'd had the previous 3 kids....).

We were happy with the west facing birthing room. Nice mountain views and a Minnesota sunny day (gorgeously sunny and a low of -7 :) ). And all the labor nurses wear purple scrubs, so Eamon came into a world full of Vikings fans.

He is a big fan of bath time. As you can see.

Eamon has a full head of hair for the moment, no apparent birthmarks of any kind and 10 fingers and 10 toes -- and some very sharp fingernails. His eyes started out brown, quickly went to blue/hazel....we'll see. We do get to see a lot of his eyes- he's pretty alert, and was especially alert about 3 last night. Tonight should be fun.

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes, and we'll have more updates soon!

Getting Ready?

We're slowly getting everything together for the newest addition. Thanks to all of you who contributed for the latest baby shower. In appreciation, I give you my favorite picture from the night:
Doesn't he look all ready??

And, since, I've gushed repeatedly here... we have another new addition:

The microwave is the last survivor... But it still works. Very excited to have a real dishwasher.. now does anyone know if the "sanitizing wash" qualifies for sanitizing bottles?

I hope everyone had a great holiday!!