Nathan's big first day

When you're born at 1:48 in the morning, you can fit a lot into your first day! After we all slept for three hours or so, it was time to get up for the day! What fun for Matt and me to spend some quiet moments with our youngest little cutie!

Big Brothers Ian and Ryan came to meet Nathan around 8:30, on their way to church with Uncle Jon and Aunt Chelsea. When he walked into our hospital room, Ian didn't even say hi; he just asked, "Where's Nathan!?!??" He rushed over to Nathan's crib to admire Nathan. What a proud big brother!

Of course, Ian wanted to hold Nathan right away! Even from the beginning, Ian was gentle and tender with his littlest brother.

Ryan was equally proud of and excited about his little brother, though not quite as gentle :). Ryan looked on happily, pointing out many of Nathan's features, like his eyes, nose, and mouth.

Then it was Ryan's turn to be the Big Brother baby holder. He was SO happy!

Then it was time for Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Jon to hold their newest nephew. (They had done a great job taking care of Ian and Ryan the night before and got them all ready for church in their "big brother" t-shirts. Thanks, guys!)

Then, it was time for the older boys to open the presents that Nathan had gotten for them. Somehow Nathan knew all about the electronic construction vehicles his brothers had been drooling over in Costco.

Ian and Ryan were SO excited about their new toys and loved zooming them all over the hospital room.

Time for a family picture before Jon and Chelsea took Ian and Ryan to church ...

So sweet ...

After a nice nap and lunch, we were excited to welcome some more visitors! Our friend from small group, Sarah, brought her mom and son (Owen) to meet Nathan. Owen will be a big brother in just a few months, so we thought it would be nice to invite Owen to experience seeing a momma and baby in the hospital before it was HIS momma and HIS new baby. He did a great job holding Nathan!

Soon after, our friend Aliceson came to meet Nathan! (We had just stripped Nathan down to try to wake him up to nurse. Ha!)

After dinner, Matt's co-worker and friend from school, Mark, and his wife, Kris, came to meet Nathan. They have three grown sons of their own (including one named Nathan), so we'll need to ask them for lots of advice along the way!

Around 8:30 or 9:00, Nathan got to meet his Grammy and Papa for the first time. (Kim's mom had bought a plane ticket for this day months before ... nice timing, Nathan, and good guess, Grammy! Kim's dad was able to get a last-minute plane flight on a different airline once he heard Kim was in labor. Thanks, Uncle Jon, for being the chauffeur to pick them up, and thanks, Aunt Chelsea, for single-handedly getting our big boys dinner and baths so they could come back to the hospital.) It was so fun seeing Papa and Grammy meet grandchild #6!

They've done lots of baby-holding and baby-loving over the past five years!

Ian insisted on holding his little brother again! So sweet!

Then, we were thrilled that Kim's dad was able to baptize Nathan, even while it was still his birthday! Thank you, Dad, for making the special effort to come quickly! It was special that Uncle Jon and Aunt Chelsea (two of Nathan's sponsors) were able to be there and that Uncle Jason and Aunt Amy (Nathan's other two sponsors) were able to be "present" via Skype. We are so thankful to have these four faith-filled, Christ-centered role models praying for Nathan's spiritual growth.

Papa did a nice job including Ian and Ryan in the baptism, too, by explaining things in a way they could understand. He compared baptism to washing our hands -- just water alone is not enough to clean our hands; instead, we use water AND soap. Similarly, in baptism, the water alone does not wash away our sins; instead, we use water WITH God's Word. 

We all watched with happiness and pride as Nathan became one of God's own children. What a miracle ... and what a privilege that God calls us to be part of His family and gives us His promises of forgiveness and eternal life!

We all sang "I Was Baptized, Happy Day!" together after Papa baptized Nathan in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What a wonderful, busy, eventful first day! :) We're excited to spend many, many more days with you, sweet Nathan!

Welcome, Nathan Paul!

Early on Saturday, November 15, Kim started having some contractions that made her wonder, "Could THIS be the day that we meet our newest son?!?" We texted Jon & Chelsea, asking them to be on stand-by to watch our boys. But, though the contractions continued the entire day, the contractions didn't get closer together or fall at regular intervals ... so we just waited at home. Since Kim was induced with Ian and Ryan, Kim kept wondering if she would know if or when it was time to go to the hospital. Finally, late Saturday afternoon, we called Jon and Chelsea to ask them if they would mind coming over to play some games with us after the boys went to bed and then plan to spend the night in case we'd have to go to the hospital quickly. Thankfully, they agreed ... By the time they arrived around 7:30 p.m., Kim's contractions were much more intense and regular. In fact, just moments after Jon & Chelsea walked in the door, we headed out for the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 8:00. After getting checked by the triage nurse and finding out Kim was already dilated to 6 cm, Kim was in a delivery room between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m.

The labor progressed smoothly, and Kim got an epidural around 11:00 p.m. The anesthesiologist did a "60% epidural," which meant that Kim was actually able to move her legs around while not feeling any pain ... perfect! Interestingly, Kim's contractions got much more intense but never got much closer together than 5 minutes apart. After just four or five big pushes, Nathan Paul arrived at 1:48 a.m. on Sunday, November 16. He gave a strong, healthy cry right away.

Seeing our sweet boy for the first time brought tears to our eyes and joy to our hearts! We thanked our amazing Creator-God for blessing us so abundantly through this new little one and for granting Kim a smooth, easy delivery!

Matt was able to cut Nathan's umbilical cord. (Thankfully, our friendly, sweet nurse was a million times better at her nursing job than at photography.) :)

What a handsome boy!

Here was our fabulous "delivery crew." Dr. Berryhill (2nd from left) delivered Nathan. Though he's not our regular OB, we thought he was just fantastic, as was our dear nurse, Jennyfer (far right).

We were surprised that Nathan weighed in at 8 lb., 14 oz. after our ultrasound tech and OB guessed he'd be just 8 lb.

Nurse Stacey was Nathan's nurse. She measured him (he was 21 inches long)

and monitored his temperature for a while.

Daddy Matt lovingly looked on. :)

Soon afterward, it was time for all of Nathan's pretty brown hair to be washed

and for him to receive his first sponge bath. He wasn't a huge fan.

Here's our handsome boy, all clean! :)

What a blessing for these proud parents to cuddle our new, mellow, adorable baby!

Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of sweet baby Nathan!

2 1/2 weeks and counting ...

It's hard to believe that we're down to only two weeks or so until we hold our precious baby!

At our appointment last week, we had an ultrasound. At 36 weeks, Nathan was measuring 6 lb. 12 oz. (much smaller than Ryan was at the same point and slightly smaller than Ian was). So, Nathan may well be our smallest baby yet! We're okay with that! :)  Nathan was head down and was measuring exactly (to the day) what he should be measuring.

None of the ultrasound pictures was super clear; he's sort of squished at this point. But the ultrasound tech WAS able to confirm that he IS still a boy! :)

We're mainly feeling ready. We have the pack 'n' play set up in our room and all of the clothes washed and put away. One of our final tasks is to put the new car seats in the backseat so we can fit three kids across our Honda Accord. We'd like it if he would wait another 1.5 weeks to be born so that my mom will be here. If he comes early though, we're grateful that Jon and Chelsea and a few friends are willing to help us out.

I am still feeling alright but am feeling much more tired and achy at this point. I'm having an increasing amount of uncomfortable Braxton Hicks contractions.  At our appointment a few days ago, I was 70% effaced and 3 cm dilated. So, we're making progress!

We're very excited to meet Nathan soon!

Livng close to family!

 We love having family living close to us! Jon & Chelsea have now been in the Houston area for almost five months. It's been really fun to help them get settled, to watch them interact with Ian and Ryan so often, and to celebrate their new addition on the way ...

Recently, we were excited to help take their gender reveal pictures.

 Were we ever excited to find out that God is sending them a BOY! :) We love boys. :)

 We rarely take pictures of our regular "hang out" times. But, we usually spend at least some time with them every week. Usually, Jon and Chelsea come over to our house for lunch after church on Sundays (after we sit together in church!). This past Sunday, Ian wanted to read Uncle Jon and Aunt Chelsea his "home readers" for kindergarten. He made them sign a paper three times, just like Matt or I have to after hearing Ian read the book three times.

 By the time Ian read to Aunt Chelsea, he was getting pretty silly. He was holding the book upside down and reading the words backwards so the story didn't make sense. Thankfully, Chelsea has a good sense of humor. :)

We love you guys!