Sharing Nicely

Since Ben has arrived, a lot of the old toys and things that Hannah used to use have come back out. Of course, Hannah thinks they're still hers - even if she doesn't fit very well anymore.




Take this bouncy chair, for example. Clearly she is way too big for this thing, but she just had to try it out again for old times sake. She has also been playing with her old rattles, mobiles and even some of Ben's new toys.




In any case, Hannah is very gentle with her brother when she is paying attention to him. Most of the time, though, she completely ignores him and expects every one else to ignore him, too. She gets cranky when she doesn't have your undivided attention. Let's hope she gets over that, soon (yeah right).

PS. The Jaundice has cleared up and Ben is very healthy.

Going Home

Stacey and Ben came home. They didn't kick us out of the hospital, but they probably didn't wait until we got to the elevator to clean the bed for the next new mom. It is apparently a busy time of year for births. Between us and the neighbors across the street, we will have three babies withina week or two; that is if their twin girls ever decide to come out.

Ben still has a mild case of Jaundice, and will see the pediatrician tomorrow; but he is eating well and and is otherwise healthy. He was discharged with a weight of 7'3" which is a normal amount of weight loss. His length stayed at 20.5" - he didn't get any shorter - which is also normal.

Hannah has also started showing Ben all his toys; not to be confused with playing with all her old toys, of course... haha. Overall, she has been a very good big sister, but doesn't understand why he sleeps all the time and won't play with her.

The Road to Recovery

The camera flash makes his hair look quite a bit lighter than it really is, but this is a great example of how alert Benjamin is when he's awake. He already thinks he can hold his head up and seems very curious about his surroundings. He eats often, like his Dad, but eats slowly, like his Mom. He was down to 7'7" today and is very healthy and generally very cooperative. He does need to be held and cuddled almost constantly, but so far there has been no shortage of people willing to fill that role.



As for Stacey, she continues to recover much faster than she did with Hannah. The "really good drugs" from yesterday have worn off, but the "good drugs" are still keeping the pain at bay. She is able to hold food down today, but the new pain meds make the room spin at times. All things considered she is doing very well.

Mom and baby had several visitors today, too, which helped pass the time. Stacey was happy to have friends there, but most important she was happy that Hannah wasn't afraid to sit on the bed with her today.

Holding Down the Fort

With Mommy and Benjamin in the hospital and Daddy spending most of his day there, too, Hannah has been holding down the fort at home. She has been taking care of the flowers, keeping Grandma busy and even paying the bills.



Between all her duties, Hannah also found time to make three trips to the hospital so far to visit her brother "Baby Ben" and Mommy. That's over 6 rides up and down the "alligator" to the 5th floor.

She has also been helping Grandma get back and forth to the hospital. She doesn't have all the features of a Magellan RoadMate, but she does have a warning alert when you make a wrong turn. The "where are you going, Grandma?" alert was sounded half a dozen times on her first trip home from the hospital.



Hannah has been very gentle with her delicate new sibling. Despite a few jealous moments, she has been very accepting of Ben. She even bought him some keys to chew on with buttons to start the car and honk the horn.



Now that Mommy no longer looks like a borg drone with tubes and hoses and needles all over the place, Hannah will sit with her and help her eat her "mappen-ronis" or just comfort her.

Judging from how good of a helper she has been these last few days, it looks like Hannah will be a wonderful big sister.

Déjà Vu?

Same blanket, same curtain pattern, same happy daddy - but a lot has changed in 2 and 1/3 years.

They now use Swaddlers instead of cloth diapers. This change is just fine with me. I remember trying to get the safety pin through; sweating bullets trying not to stab my newborn daughter. The cloth diapers are still around, though, in the role of burp cloths, towels and changing pads.

No longer do they provide or encourage the use of pacifiers. They used to provide Soothie Pacifiers, which we had to order more of bacause that's all Hannah would use. Now if you chose to use a pacifier, you have to bring your own. I don't see what the big deal is - Hannah did just fine.

Another minor change is that they wash the babies with Johnson's Head to Toe Baby Wash instead of Neutrogena bars.

So it's not really Deja Vous, I guess. The miracle of life is no less amazing, though, no matter how the hospital changes.

Happy Birthday Benjamin

After a mere 38.5 weeks of gestation, Benjamin James has finally arrived. While he was born 10 days before his due date, he had to wait an extra two hours longer than planned. An emergency C-section early this morning bumped back all the scheduled appointments. In the grand scheme of things 2 hours is a short time to wait. The mom and baby that caused the delay came out alright, too; so the wait was well worth it.

This picture was taken an hour and a half after he was born. Under that hand-made, donated hat is a full but thin head of brown hair. As it is only about 1/2 an inch long, we won't know for a while if it will stick up like his cousin Evy's. His skin is still very pink and he's got a lot under it - notice the extra roll under his chin. He keeps trying to open his eyes which are a dark, baby blue but probably won't stay that way.

Both mom and baby are healthy which is all we would ask for - and Stacey is recovering much faster and more comfortably than she did with Hannah. Ben weighed in at a whopping 7 pounds 14.4 ounces, making him only 1.6 ounces lighter than his big sister when she was born on her due date. This also makes Brian the winner of the baby poll without a need to go to the height tie breaker. We are still planning to find out the height tomorrow even though it doesn't count for anything.

We appreciate the love, support and prayers we have recieved and look forward to introducing him to everyone in person.

Baby Poll

So despite the fact that we knew the date and sex going in, it turned out to be an interesting poll. There are 6 weights that would cause a tie and even some cases that would come down to the time. Keep in mind that the contest is closest, not closest without going over. The other thing to remember is that the result will probably be rounded to the nearest ounce, the nearest 1/4 inch and possibly the nearest 5 minutes.

I'll try to let everyone know the results of the poll (and the birth, of course) as soon as possible tomorrow.

Pool's Open

It's that time of year again. "Hazy, Hot and Humid" is the forecast and it's not quite summer yet. Whoever said Syracuse only gets snow must have missed the fact that the A/C manufacturer Carrier used to be headquartered here.

Anyway, the pool is out again. Hopefully we will be able to stay cool until the snow starts to fall again.