Calvin James Carey

After the hardest pregnancy I've ever had and much anticipation this last month, our sweet little Calvin is finally here. He was due on May 24, but decided to be a little bit late. I went into the hospital at 1 pm on the 27th to be induced, something I've never had to do before, so it was a little bit strange. Much to my surprise, the labor was not terribly intense and pretty short. At 5:37 pm, our sweet little boy was born. While holding him for that first minute or two, I could tell he was going to at least equal and probably surpass Haden's birth weight and be our biggest baby. I did not expect, however, that he would weigh 9 lbs 12 oz, smashing the record by 11 oz. What the heck were you waiting for Calvin?

When he was born, his face was pretty swollen and purple. He looked like he was going to be pretty bruised. Jim and I were trying to figure out which of the other kids he might look like, but it was hard to tell in the beginning. By the next day, his face wasn't so swollen and he lost the bruised look and he reminds me quite a bit of Lexie with the round shape of his face and also Cooper. His hair, the more times I wash it, also seems to be getting lighter and might be a little bit red. We may have another red head on our hands and I think Hallie would love that. Let's hope he sleeps a lot better than Hallie did when she was a baby. She didn't sleep a full night until she was 2 1/2 years old. He's actually already doing much better than she did and slept 6 hours straight his first night home.

Cooper, who I was worried would not react kindly to having a baby around, has been pretty sweet to him. He met us at the car when we pulled into the garage and kept saying "He's so cute!" We had a funny conversation about Calvin a few days after we had been home from the hospital. I said something about how Calvin was Cooper's brother and he is my son. Cooper said, "Calvin is not a son. I am a son." I said, "Both you and Calvin are my sons and I am your mother." Cooper said, "You are not Calvin's mother, you are my mother." I said, "Well, then who is Calvin's mother?" He said, "Some lady far, far away." The conversation went on a little longer with me trying to convince Cooper that he and Calvin are brothers and both my sons and I am the mother of both of them. He finally said, "Fine, you are his mother." It was a very fun conversation and at least he didn't tell me I needed to go find that mother "far, far away" and take Calvin back to her. :-)

I am so incredibly grateful that our family has been blessed with another precious little boy and I'm so excited to be his mother and watch him grow.

Anxiously awaiting the labor to begin.

It seems incredible, but it really is true--9 lbs 12 oz.

I couldn't believe how purple and swollen his face was in the beginning.

He found his thumb right away and sucked on it for quite awhile.

The kids were very excited to come visit their new little brother in the hospital.

Finally he opens his eyes for a picture.

This is the wonderful sign that the kids made for our return home from the hospital. So sweet!