Welcome Henry Hobbes!

Surprise!

What a week!  Amy, Eleanor and I were all surprised with the early arrival of Henry – I was sure that he wouldn’t be here until after Christmas – but he had other plans.  Henry was born on Friday 12/16 at 12:13 PM.  He was 19.6 inches and 6 pounds 15 ounces.  Eleanor started the week as an only child, and she and Mom had a super fun day on Wednesday visiting the Christmas “El” train and then going to Nordstrom’s for a picture on Santa’s lap (well, technically Amy was on Santa’s lap, and Eleanor on hers).  They finished the day with a fun dinner out at the Burger Bar.   Then on Thursday night, Mimi came over to stay with Eleanor as Mom and Dad headed to the hospital.  Aunt LaLa and Papa joined Mimi and took care of Eleanor all weekend.  It was a long night on Thursday with little sleep and lots of beeping machines, a bit of a waiting game.  Things started to get going around 7:00 AM on Friday, and by just after noon little Henry had joined the family.  He even got a red Santa hat from the hospital in honor of his December arrival.  It took Amy and I a little while to finalize on the name (being 2+ weeks early there were/are a number of things that were supposed to get finished before his arrival that didn’t), and I think everyone was getting a bit anxious to here more details.  We didn’t send out anything other than “Baby arrived, he and mom doing well” until 4 something that afternoon.  Uncharacteristically, Uncle B was the first to actually call requesting additional info.  Once we finalized the name and got settled in our new room, all three took a quick nap.  Friday night Uncle B, Aunt Tia, Breanne and Aunt LaLa all came to visit.  Henry was quite good through the night, giving us one 4+ hour interval of sleep!  On Saturday, Eleanor came with Mimi, Papa and LaLa for a visit.  Her first reaction was to say “aise” (her word for Eyes) and point to Henry’s eyes.  Past that, she wasn’t too interested.  Once she settled into the room, she got a little more curious, and decided to play the “bump” game with Henry, where you say the word “Bump!” and then either tap your own head or tap the other person’s head.  She of course opted for tapping Henry’s head, in the first of what I’m sure will be many incidents of sibling “love taps”.  On Sunday, Henry came home with Mom and Dad and everyone was glad to be able to relax a bit.  Not surprisingly, there are lots of pictures this week – enjoy!