Aaron Matthew

He's here! Aaron entered the world in a remarkably smooth way last Thursday, May 13, at exactly 8 AM. I do love a punctual baby. Amazingly a week and a half has already passed, mostly in a blur of feeding, sleeping, greeting visitors, and wishing I was sleeping. I can't complain, though--so far Aaron is an extremely laid back little dude. With his siblings he really has no choice, but it's good that he seems to have figured it out quickly. We are all completely smitten, and I am just now getting to the point where I'm willing to do something that requires me to not be holding him for more than 30 seconds. He's hard to put down. That tiny face! Those soft feet! Oh, kill me now.

We had an fantastic stroke of luck in that a friend of mine, Jason Hudson, who is also a brilliant photographer, needed to update his infant portfolio right when we were having Aaron. He was kind enough to come to the hospital and take pictures when our family met him for the first time. The results are AMAZING. We are going to his studio tomorrow to get some more shots of Aaron, and I'll hopefully get a CD of the hospital shots then. They'll be up on the blog directly after! For now, here are a few of our own:

Tick tock

I am approximately 59 hours away from giving birth. Impossible. But there it is, a clock just ticking away. I'm very excited, and a little nervous (the last time I had a c-section the spinal block paralyzed me from head to toe for 10 minutes. Not an experience I'd care to repeat.) This will probably be the last blog post I can manage for a bit, save pictures of the new little man, so I have a few random tidbits for the occasion:

- We named the baby. Hallelujah. His name is Aaron Matthew. Apparently Matt was secretly favoring that all along and holding back on me--why, I have no idea. I finally called him out and he confessed. It was at the top of my list too. It's a relief to have that decision made.

- Two of my three sisters-in-law are at my house right now. They are both teasing me pretty heavily. I forgive them both, however, because Siobhan baked me a ridiculous cake (good ridiculous) and Renee is supplying brilliant artwork for Aaron's nursery. I miss sister-in-law #3. Patty, come on over!

- Matt gave me my pre-birth pedicure. I love that man.

- Because my mother has been harrassing me for days to do it, I texted a picture of my pregnant self to my aunt Linda tonight. She called immediately, and when I said hello she jumped right in by yelling "You're HUGE!" I love you too, Linda.

- I feel sure that my hands and feet are currently producing enough heat to cook something. It is so bizarre, and highly annoying. I can melt an ice cube in my bare hand in 15 seconds.

I'm sure there are more fascinating things to share, but right now I'm tired and hot and have a tiny foot lodged in my rib, so I'm going to stop here. I only have 2 days of pregnancy left in my life, and I am determined to enjoy them. Then the real fun starts. I can't wait!