so blessed

i don't even know where to start :) this has been an amazing week! we're so happy and feel so blessed to have malachi in our family. he's a great baby, very sweet and cuddly. we're also blessed to have such wonderful friends and family doing all they can to help us out and make life easier (THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!) and it's wonderful to have paul home this week, it's the first time he's had off since christmas, and he's got a full week! even more significant, he was able to connect his work computer to our home computer, so for the last few days before the baby came he was able to work from home a LOT more than we'd ever seen him before. he's able to use the programs and saved files without directly accessing them (he had a laptop he was bringing back and forth, but it frequently decided it couldn't work at all unless it was connected to the internet, and we don't have a wireless connection here so it couldn't connect). this new development is VERY, EXTREMELY handy!

malachi is a great sleeper, great eater, and only really fussy when he's constipated (and who can blame him for that?!). he's also really tolerant of his big sisters holding him and kissing him all day long. he's been filling out nicely, growing into his skin, if you will...

we've been getting good rest, and plenty of help and support from nearby friends (aka, lots of yummy dinners, for which we are grateful! and lots of offers to take the girls for a while so mama and baby can rest).

so, for those who wanted more pictures, here's a bunch i've assembled :) starting with me, the day before he was born (so you can see cambric, why i think your little belly is TINY) .

then on to more important pictures, malachi's first pictue, meeting his mom (i think i was saying "gimme, gimme" through in the pain-induced haze, it may have been something slightly more profound)

the proud daddy, can you see the excitement and love in that face!

here he is up close :)

the girls meeting him for the first time, they look excited, huh?

again, with daddy :)

here's malachi's first birthday party. grandma helped the girls make cupcakes and decorate them for chi's birthday party. he didn't get one though... go figure. the girls' stickers say "awesome BIG sister" and they are! they LOVE holding and kissing and helping their baby brother, they're both really sweet with him too, hopefully that will last :)

happy family! both girls wanted to hold the baby, and they both wanted daddy to help, so he did, aren't they cute!

and finally, ready to come home!

and i saved the end of the post for talking about the labor/delivery for whoever's interested, the rest of you saw the pics, so that's probably the most interesting part :).

i had a really easy labor and delivery, as far as those things go. i'm not sure exactly when i went into labor, though i did have a rather uncomfortable night. by about 6:15 i was awake and pretty sure it was labor, though it wasn't til about 10 minutes later (two more contractions) that i was confidant enough to admit it even to myself. the contractions were about every 5 minutes lasting about 40-60 seconds long, and it was still easy. round about 7:00 i woke paul up and told him we were having a baby (to which he responded first with complete terror, and then with an almost equal degree of excitement... i can't blame him, i had another hour to deal with the idea first :). we also called my mom about then and let her know we were having a baby today. she finished up what she needed to do at her house and joined us about 9am to watch the girls. we were still not in a rush. we left for the hospital a little later, and arrived about 9:50, i was still having contractions about every 5 minutes, and they were still fairly mild--unexciting. i seriously think though that that was at least 50% mind power because i was determined not to have the baby in the car :) we checked into the l/d triage at the hospital for admission, and by the time they'd checked my blood pressure/temp/etc and checked the baby's heartbeat, my contractions were suddenly about every 1-2 minutes and a LOT stronger. they admitted me dilated to an 8, though the nurse told me it was a 9 and she didn't want to scare anyone (like me, for example? no, actually, i wasn't surprised at all, and i knew i still had time, though not as much as some people might like... i do like it that way, i think she was mostly concerned for paul and the tech that brought me to the delivery room). anyways, i went straight to the delivery room and met the midwife, who i really liked. after three failed IV attempts (with three corresponding giant bruises on my arms), they finally gave up because i was ready to push. as far as i remember, i pushed three times (the first popped my water, in a lovely gush), the second put him into place, and the third pushed him entirely out! chi was born at 10:58 with a lusty cry, and started turning pink immediately, by the time they handed him to me (pretty directly), he was about done crying, and he looked really healthy and just a little cone-headed (which went back to normal within the first day). he was 7 lbs 6 ozs and 20.5 inches long. the nurses and midwife were really impressed with the cord, which was a little strange. evidentally it was the prettiest any of them had ever seen (i didn't realize there was that much variation among umbilical cords). we didn't get a picture. chi had a little trouble getting his temperature to stay up, but other than that the first day or two, he's been perfect (and he's also officially gained 8 ozs in the last 5 days).