Welcome to the World, Baby Boy!

William Nathanael Fleming

Born on June 12, 2009 at 1:45 PM

8 lbs, 10 oz.; 21 3/4"

Pratically perfect in every way!

We just wanted the easy-t0-remember birthday, so we induced on Friday. My OB, after seeing how big William was, reminded me that she offered to induce me a week earlier. A few post-delivery complications meant I had to remain in the delivery bed until the next morning, hooked up to all sorts of things--including my epidural for almost 8 hours and an IV line. All I wanted by the morning was to get things off of me!

Despite proclaiming that she would take one look at the new baby and then run away to her room, R is quite smitten with Will, partly because she had voted for "William" from the beginning (it's Olivia's little brother from the children's books). Big Ben checked him all over, pointing out his eyes, nose, arms, and mouth. Granddad got to hold his third grandbaby at the hospital instead of weeks later like with the other two.

We had visits from friends at church, including our pastor and wife, who was due with their first child on Sunday like me. She's still waiting but will deliver by Friday! Nice to have babies come in pairs like that so they can be buds.

William definiately wins the prize for best baby of our three. He's eating like a champ, sleeping well, especially at night, and has a quiet disposition so far. We've successfully eaten our dinners with both hands while the food was still warm. He has very nice coloring, lots of dark hair, and looks like Rebekah. We brought out some "first days" pictures to compare and while William looks all boy, the two are very similar. He's made a few faces here and there that are "Rebekah faces" if we ever saw one!

So, we're recooperating well, managing just fine with the extra grandparent help. I haven't washed a dish or dirty clothes in days, thanks to Mom! It's hot, hot, hot here which makes sending the kids out to play rather difficult but we're trying to keep them occupied.

Thanks for all your prayers, wishes, and congrats! I'll keep posting as much as three kids will let me!

Big-Bellied Brunette

For the Diva, since she insisted...

Here's the belly this week. The lady at the deli counter yesterday told me I was tiny. I told her she was very kind. The photography is from R, hence the interesting angle.

And, the blond is gone if you can tell from my glamour shot after a trip to R's Beauty Shop. Certainly the fun has not ended. The purple boa was the only thing in her costume box that fit me (obviously) so I had to wear that. She chose the pink leotard with the tulle skirt.

Mom and Dad arrive this afternoon so it's one last outing to Guadalajara for dinner tonight. I've been there twice and gotten their signature enchiladas both times--shredded chicken with a roasted corn salsa on top. And salsa I could eat by the gallon. Yum!

When in Texas....

this is how you celebrate a birthday!

For D's birthday we slapped some big steaks on the grill accompanied by baked white potatoes (that's a treat for us!), Caesar salad, and, for dessert, homemade sopapillas.

The sopapillas were better than merely edible though labor intensive. I don't enjoy deep frying things. But fried dough sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with honey can't be that bad. Some puffed nicely, some were good and crispy, some were doughy and raw-tasting, and some were almost burned.

But all were eaten!