Meeting the Newest Character

The kids were so excited to come and meet Bryant.  Normally, we would have them up at the hospital in the morning, they would hang out there all day playing in the waiting room or at the playground (which is a great playground by the way) and then go eat lunch and if I was close (which I'm usually not) they would hang out some more and if I wasn't (which is the case) they would head for naps and be back up long before I delivered.  But, since Zoe decided to, um "spill the beans" earlier that morning, we decided to have them wait at home and see if she let loose any more stomach contents.  Which she didn't...which leads us to believe she just ate a little too much or had a little something that didn't agree with her tummy the previous night.  So, we intended to call them when I got really close.  But close came right before naptime and baby came right near naptime. 

As Mark put it to Zoe, "you guys wouldn't have even had time to get your shoes on and he was born."

So, we opted to just have them come up right after naps.  It worked out great because they arrived right as we were getting settled in our post delivery room.

Zoe was very patient about waiting for her turn to hold Bryant.  But she definitely wanted to get her hands on him.  She is really enjoying showing him off when we have visitors at the house too!

Not quite sure about his hair!

Ace is still laying claims to the ultimate baby lover title.  He just loves holding babies!

Liam enjoyed meeting him but had to know how he came out of my tummy...yet again.  This is an ongoing conversation between us.  Now, just how do you tell a 4 year old something that is very personal and that he has the potential to repeat without lying to him.  I think I did it right but he just giggled and laughed when I told him.  So far, he hasn't repeated it to anyone (keep your fingers crossed people...for the sake of my blushing skin).

It took Josiah a second to realize that Bryant wasn't still in my tummy.  The next day, he crawled up beside Ace (who had to have first dibs) and kept whispering, "Hewwo Bwyant!"  All the while patting his head.

Ceili Rain decided he was all hers.  We think her main thought was that he was a doll.  Bryant had been very alert and finally settled into a good sleep when we got to our room.  So, he was still and had his eyes closed.  A sure sign to a 16 month old that mommy had been gone all day to get her a baby doll.

She also didn't want to share him with anyone else and squeezed him tight when we tried to tell her she was all done.  The next day, when he did stir she looked around at us.  I'm surprised she didn't flip him over to find the batteries.

We make up "labor bags" for the kids to keep them occupied on labor day.  This year, we included card games much to their delight.

Papa had the job of teaching them how to play the games though!