Back to the Future

Tonight we attempted to recreate an updated version of one of my all time favorite pictures of the kids. Enjoy the sequel!

Big Brother and little sister, July 2006

Big brother, big/little sister, little brother, September 2012

Party of 5!

On Wednesday, August 22nd we welcomed Grady David Werner into our world!  13 days later, in many ways it seems like he welcomed us into his world.

Grady was scheduled to join us on Thursday the 23rd, but of course he had other plans.  At around 1:30AM on Wednesday, Steph woke me to ask for a piece of paper and a pencil.  I assumed she had been lying awake at night, and decided to make a list of things for me to do the next day.  To the contrary, she wanted to track the timing of the contractions she had started feeling 15 minutes earlier.  I filled her request and laid back down, confident she was imagining things.  10 minutes later, she was on the phone with the doctor, who told us to come to the hospital right away.

We scrambled to get packed up for the hospital (I had steadily depleted my "go bag" over the prior few days), called Grandma Marsha to come watch the kids and woke Cameron and told him to sleep in our room in case the kids woke before Grandma made it up.  I turned the shower on, eliciting a prompt response from Steph "YOU ARE NOT TAKING A SHOWER".  "Of course not...  I was just rinsing the drain"

With contractions 6 minutes apart, we raced to the hospital.  As an aside, Steph was not exactly appreciative of the chance to experience labor again before her scheduled C-Section.  Fortunately I had the clarity of mind to snap this photo of one of her last ever contractions, which got me yelled at by Steph, but I know she'll be glad to have it down the road...

Once checked in, things went very quickly, and in just under 3 hours, we went from Steph being jolted awake by her first contraction at 1:16AM to meeting Grady at 4:14AM!

After a few hours of recovery, and some needed snoozing by all, the kids arrived to meet their baby brother!  They had been eagerly anticipating this moment for months and we are so excited to see how they have bonded with the little fella.

These first couple of weeks have been a whirlwind!  Within a couple of nights, Grady found his groove with the nighttime sleeping routine.  He sleeps well in between feedings such that we are generally getting up only twice per night to feed him.  He rarely cries without a good reason, and loves to be held by anyone in his family.  He is an outstanding eater, and never gives Mom problems with his feedings.  In fact, between his first pediatrician appointment on Monday the 27th and his next appointment 4 days later, he gained 3/4ths of a pound.  That's an 11% weight increase in 4 days!!  Sadly, we are seeing his newborn wrinkles filling in before our very eyes... they grow up too fast!!

Our little wrinkle boy

In the months leading up to his birth, we often wondered how he would differ from Jackson and Mackenzie.  They were both so similar in appearance as newborns that we just knew there would be something about Grady that was drastically new.  Judge for yourselves:

WHICH BABY IS WHICH????

And of course, the big question on everyone's mind was whether Grady would be born with a full head of hair like his brother and sister.  I think he could be in shampoo commercials!!

One last item to note:  it is common for babies to frequently have hiccups, but Grady is a hiccuping machine!  Fortunately, he is a very cute hiccuper:

Well that's our update through 13 days... more to come!!!