We Love You, Charlie!

Charlie is five days old and putting on weight like a prize fighter (his pediatrician said, Whoa! when we put him on the scale). He's doing great!

Love is a strange thing. It changes you like altered DNA. It's so powerful you already know in your bones that you would die for the nine-pound pink squirmy thing in your arms. And we've only just met... Parenting comes with sleeplessness, but for me, there's a lovely sense of peace when it's just me and him in the dark quiet hours. Even though I know the other half of the world is awake and whirring...and for all I know half the neighbors on my street are tossing and turning...it still feels like Charlie and I are the only people in the universe. Sometimes it's during these moments that I think I can feel my love for him grow the same way one day it seems like winter and the next morning, the crocuses have bloomed. Five days and I can't imagine life any other way.

Last Thursday night, I noticed contractions -- the kind that come with some heat in your back. The next morning we dropped Madeline off with our dear friends, stopped for Starbucks (having flashbacks to Madeline's labor when they sent me back home) and drove to the hospital, filled with incredible excitement, but doubt that the moment had really arrived. Well, what do you know? My water had broken! We knew then that we would meet a little boy or girl very soon! A few hours later...a little Pitocin...ten minutes of serious pushing...and Rob's excited voice filled our delivery room. "Ahhh!!!!! It's a BOY!!!"

Sandie, Rob's mom, hopped a flight that morning just in case. Ning and Andi jumped in the car and drove to Nashville. So even though we're Southerners now, Charlie still had a fabulous welcoming crew! Madeline came to the hospital several times over the next couple of days with her Grammy. She loves holding Charlie ("Baby Carlie"), kissing him, grabbing his toes and letting him suck on her finger (she laughs and laughs and laughs!). The joy I feel having delivering a healthy baby is amplified by seeing my children together. I feel like my new charge in life as a parent is to help them develop the foundation of an incredible friendship that will carry them through life's ups and downs.

Rob is amazing. He is an amazing man and an amazing husband...and he is an especially amazing dad! So calm and relaxed. Seeing that little bitty baby in his great big hands is like seeing all Seven Wonders of the World at once.

We've been so grateful for Sandie's help all week. Clean folded laundry mysteriously appears, pots are scrubbed, the dishwasher emptied, and best of all, Madeline's had her Grammy -- her buddy! -- to keep her happily distracted while Rob and I re-learn all the baby basics. Today, Rob and I took Madeline on a special Big Sister Date -- we went to Starbucks, telling her that Charlie's too little to come, but she's a Big Girl!

We are so grateful for the outpouring of love that we've felt from everyone! While it may take us some time to return calls and emails, your loving words, calls, support and congrats have filled our dinner conversations and made us feel so blessed! Thank you thank you thank you! What would life be without our incredible family and friends? We love you!

(More pictures soon...Blogger is taking a little nap, just like I'm about to go do....)