Our new arrival is here!

Let it be written now that I am madly, deeply, irrevocably in love.  And honestly with a face like this one how can I not be??

Our sweet baby boy (and heaven help me, let's go ahead and emphasize the word sweet) joined our family on December 6th at 12:54 pm.  He weighed in at 8 lbs, 2 oz and honestly I can't remember how long he was.  But really, no one remembers the length right??

Because of Delaney's size and how quickly her labor went, my doctor was totally on board with inducing me a week early.  And by the looks of that belly, we all know I was ready for induction as well.  How is it possible I can look so huge yet this baby was a full TWO pounds lighter than Delaney??  This is me all nice and comfy, pre contractions and subsequent epidural.  I was feeling ready to go and more than excited to meet my new baby.  Enter my nurse who had graduated and been working for a mere four weeks and let's not sugar coat things.  She and I ... we struggled.  I will never underestimate the value of a good nurse ever again.  Ever.  Let's just say that the icing on the cake was when my blood pressure crashed after my epidural and as I'm telling her I'm going to pass out and/or toss my cookies, she tells me that this has never happened to her before and she's not quite sure what to do.  Well sweetie, press the call button, because my medical training begins and ends with Grey's Anatomy and I'm not sure I can be of much help.  Luckily for me she did page another nurse and once we got my blood pressure under control and my epidural turned off, I informed the nurse that I was pretty sure it was go time.  Fast forward to me working very hard to not push for forty five minutes waiting for her to page my doctor.  There were a few moments where I figured either she or Evan was going to catch this baby, but luckily for all involved (mostly Evan) my awesome doc showed up and we had ourselves a beautiful baby boy!

After one push too!  Here he is and I must say from the second I saw him I was wondering how I ever lived in this world without him. 

No, really.  How did I?  He has been so mellow and sweet and just a bucket of love.  The best part?  He loves his mama.  And trust me when I say, the feeling is more than mutual.

Oh and a name!  Bless my heart, coming up with and agreeing on a third boy's name...especially when top on Evan's list was Newt (as in Gingrich? what the??)...was akin to torture.  By the end of our stay when all hospital personnel had given up on us getting it together and naming our little guy, we pulled it together and settled on Tucker Carleton Jones.  There is something about this sweet boy and his two killer dimples that made the name Tucker seem just right.

My mom was able to be in the delivery room for Tucker's birth (a big thank you to Katie for watching Delaney!) but after he was here my mom went and picked up the troops to come meet our newest family member.  As luck would have it, Delaney came down with a cough/cold and we had to quarantine her from coughing all over our newborn.  Stinky timing since girlfriend thinks this baby is her baby to love on and hug, aka, squeeze to death. 

And me?  I'm in what I refer to as the "newborn fog."  I'm trying to remember how to function on no more than 3-4 hours of sleep strung together here and there and oh yeah!  How about the three other little people who need/want my attention or at the very least, to be fed.  Let's throw in there that it's Christmas (and I'm guessing that my peeps want a present or two) and that Colton turns eight and gets baptized on the 28th.  Luckily for me, my mom has been here keeping me sane.  When she leaves on Friday, all bets are off.  Four kids might just send me over the edge.

But then I see this little guy and it is all worth it.  No sleep, sore as all get out, and feeling like I can't possibly be a good mom to all of these little people and I wouldn't trade one single bit of it.  Not one bit.  We are so blessed and grateful to have Tucker here safe and sound.  I'm so glad he (and the other four people running around here) are mine.