Welcome, Nathaniel!

This is a long overdue post to introduce you to Nathaniel; sorry it is late, I have been a little tired!  He was born on Thursday, November 21st at 3:35pm.   He weighed 7lbs 10oz, and was 20 inches long.  Just like the girls, his head was good sized, something like 90%.  The doctor had predicted that he would be a big baby, and she was surprised that he was average sized, just about the same size as the girls (Amelia was 7lb 8 oz, Megan was 7lb 6oz).  For a few minutes, he had an issue with his heartbeat decreasing when he wasn't being stimulated, but his apgars were 8 and 9, and within 10 minutes of being born, his heartbeat was normal and the doctors weren't concerned.  Here is his very first picture:

The hospital in Madison doesn't have a nursery, so he spent the entire two days in my room.  He was awake a fair amount of the time, so much so that the nurses had a hard time getting his newborn hearing test done (he was supposed to be sleeping soundly for that).  Everyone who came in the room said what a cute baby he was!  He has a fair amount of dark hair and very dark blue eyes.

Grandma and Grandpa brought the girls to the hospital to visit after school on Friday.  The girls were very excited to deliver the flowers that they had arranged themselves, and were also happy to see and hold the baby.  Amelia was wearing her new "Awesome Big Sister" shirt.

The girls (with help from Grandma and Grandpa) colored this beautiful welcome home banner for us.  The great big thing over the letter c in Welcome is a factory that Amelia designed to make wooden hearts and candy, and also includes a rework line!

Of course we had to lay Nathaniel in the doll cradle made by my great-great-grandfather.  He barely fit in it.  I remember when Becky and I put David in the doll cradle back when he was a baby, and his legs stuck out the end.  I wonder if Amelia is old enough that she will remember this when she is grown up?

The girls absolutely love their baby brother, especially Megan, who holds him so carefully on her lap and gives him lots of kisses.

 

Amelia wanted to take some pictures of the baby so that she could take them into school to show her friends, her teacher and Mrs. Armstrong (Becky tells me that she is a social worker, not a guidance counselor).  We printed out these photos for her to take in:

 

Megan thought it was very funny when Nathaniel tried to suck on her ear while we were trying to take a photo of the three kids together.  She looks dismayed in this photo, but now she looks back at this and laughs and laughs.  When she was holding him in her lap earlier this week, she was trying to get him to suck on her nose.  It is very hard to get photos of three kids together.

We were so fortunate to have Mom and Dad and Jeff and Jane come stay with us to help out over the last few weeks.  The girls loved having everyone around to play with them and read them books and drive them to and from school.  And I think everyone enjoyed having a chance to snuggle with a sweet sleeping baby:

Nathaniel also enjoys snuggling with Daddy, and watching football games with him, although he sleeps through most of them:

He has already figured out how to roll over when he is laid down on his blanket for tummy time, as long as his arms are propped up a little bit.  He has done this quite a few times, in protest of tummy time, I believe.  I will try to update with a video when I get one.

Nathaniel has a very expressive face for a newborn, so we get all kinds of funny faces in his photos.  He has given us a few smiles and even more smirks, but mostly when he is sleeping.

FAQs:

Q: What are we going to call him?
A: Ben calls him Nate, but so far, the girls are insistent that his name is Nathaniel (or NaFANiel as Megan says).  I mostly call him "the baby".  I think we will likely end up calling him Nate, but you can feel free to call him whatever you want.

Q: How is he sleeping?
A: Sometimes he sleeps great!  There have been a few nights already where he has slept five hours at a time.  Last night, however, he was up fussing from 8:30pm to 11:45pm, and then was back up again at 2am.  And 5am.  So I am a little tired today.

Q: Does he like bathtime?
A: No!  The girls were so excited to help give him his first bath, but they quickly decided that all the screaming was not very much fun, and Daddy could do it by himself (with help from Grandma).

Q: How much does he weigh now?
A: At birth: 7lb 10 oz
     At 4 days old: 7lb 8.8oz
     At 11 days old: 8lb 9 oz  (wow!)
     At 19 days old: 9lb 3 oz  (has gained 20% of his birth weight!  He is starting to get little fat rolls!)

Q: Who does he look like?
A: Very much like Ben!  Especially around the eyes and nose.  He has the same little wrinkle between his eyes that Ben has, and I think his eyes are the same shape.  Jeff and Jane are going to look for some baby photos of Ben so we can compare the two babies.  I think he also looks a lot like Megan when she was born.  Here is Megan in the first photo, and Nathaniel in the second and third photos.  These aren't the best comparisons, because Nathaniel doesn't have his worried scrunched-up nose face in his photo, but they really do look alike.

Q: He looks a little yellow?  Is that normal?
A: Yes, he has a touch of jaundice, but he is totally fine, and the doctor says it will go away on its own in the next few weeks.

Q: What size is he wearing?
A: He has already grown out of newborn diapers.  And he's grown out of some of Noah's newborn size clothes, too, with his long legs.  So he is wearing Pampers Swaddlers size 1 diapers and a combination of newborn and 3 month pajamas.  Ben dressed him in brown fleecy overalls the other day, and everyone was so surprised to see him in something other than sleepers!