It's a nephew!!

We have a new nephew!!! He was born Friday evening and weighed 7lb 7oz. Mommy and baby are doing great and expect to be going home tomorrow. How do you like all that hair?? He has more hair than his Daddy, quite literally.

Of course there are some difficult feelings that go along with this, but I'm doing ok with it. There are a lot of factors that make those hurts manageable. Just the fact that this is the second time around takes the edge off. It also makes it easier to know some of the tough things his parents went through to get to this point. And it was some kind of weird relief that it was another boy. I'm not sure why, but I think it would be much harder to smile through it if it was a girl. I think it helps to know that even though our child won't be the first grandchild (which would be the normal order of the universe - I am the oldest in the family), she will probably be the first granddaughter.

The biggest mood-lifter through all this has been seeing things through the eyes of the proud big brother. He stayed with us all weekend while his Mom and Dad were at the hospital, and he kept us on our toes and laughing out loud the whole time. He had a great time helping Cory plant a tree and check on the garden. He picked up his first worm - a very important milestone in any little boy's life!

We were just awed and amazed to watch how much he's growing up. He has been learning to tell time at daycare and totally impressed us with his ability to tell time from either a digital or analog clock. He rounds everything to the half hour, so the time always ends in "a-clock" or "furty", but that's still pretty good for a four-year-old.

He's at that very entertaining age where you just never know what is going to come out of his mouth next but you can bet that it will make you laugh (sometimes even when you probably shouldn't!). When he got to see his Mom today, he was really excited and was talking really loud. We were sitting in the hospital coffee shop and people sitting around us seemed to be getting a kick out of him, too. Totally out of the blue, he asked "Mommy, did the hospital man give you a haircut?" She said "No, I didn't get a haircut" and he said "Then why does your hair look all sloppy like mine?" We just about pee'd ourselves laughing.

I'm completely exhausted and there are toys all over my floor, but some part of my soul feels refreshed and taken care of after this weekend.