He has arrived!!!

Alexander Paul Berry...born on Sunday, August 29th at 1:14 pm. Our biggest baby yet at a whopping 6 lbs 14.2 oz. We came home yesterday (Monday) around 1:30. Everyone is healthy and so happy to be done with delivery and to have a healthy boy in our arms. I have more pictures of course, but here are a few from his earliest moments.

Sidewalk Chalk Meets Water

What's better than sidewalk chalk? ...sidewalk chalk mixed with water.

Rocks

Rocks are so fascinating to my boys. They both have collections of their favorite rocks at the head of their beds. We have river rocks that border almost the entire perimeter of our house. This past summer, the boys spent hours choosing their favorite ones and carefully lining them up on a brick ledge along the front of the house...one rock per brick. That collection stayed there for months. Sometimes someone would discover a rock that was deemed better than one in the collection, and there would be an exchange. I loved when people would ask about the rocks and the boys had a chance to show off their favorites.

For Posterity

Growing up, I wondered what my mom looked like when she was pregnant. There is only one picture I have seen and it doesn't show her very well. So...these are for my children and their children if they ever want to know what I looked like pregnant. My sweet friend Shelley took these for me while our kids were playing. Thanks Shelley!

Our Favorite Hike / Free of Bed Rest!

I am free! In my doctor's words, "Game on." It is so nice to be free from the bed rest prison. I am having a hard time being patient now, though. I know it is best for the baby if labor waits another week or two, but I am so anxious to meet him that I find myself wishing it would come now and getting frustrated when it doesn't. Patience...patience...so many lessons in my life require me to develop patience. Maybe if I would hurry up and learn how to be patient I could stop having my patience tested.

Several weeks ago (before the bed rest) we went on our favorite family hike...Devil's Kitchen. It was a rejuvinating family adventure!

Happy 5th Birthday Nicholas!!!

Nicholas turned 5 yesterday! We had a friend birthday party last Friday. It was very fun. Nicholas is lucky to have so many good friends. We started off making crowns. Then we did a picture treasure hunt. The treasure was a fun colorful ball for everyone. After they found the treasure we played group games with their balls and some without. I think the two favorite games were red rover, red rover, and ring around the rosies. After games we had cupcakes and opened presents. I think everyone had a good time.

Nicholas had a well child checkup last week at he is 43 1/2 inches tall and weighs 39.6 lbs. Yesterday he kept saying, "I don't feel like I'm 5! I still feel 4." He got the biggest grin whenever I asked him how old he was and he could say "5!" He likes being 5 for sure!

Siblings