Rex Aristide was born on Friday morning. He weighed in at a whopping nine pounds, three ounces and I can’t say that I’m surprised–in the end I FELT like I was lugging around a small anvil.

Checking out our new man’s generous cheeks.

His name is a combination of things important to Hubby and I, but also a departure in some ways. Rex is the first non-family name we’ve used, but we thought it sounded right with the other three. Aristide is a very old family name that was used by early immigrants in Hubby’s family in the late 1700s. We thought it sounded nice with Rex and I loved the meaning: One of the good ones. I thought that was the perfect moniker for a little guy joining a great big mess of a family.

So, that’s the scoop. I would like to make a moment to recognize the many, many milestones that my family achieved this week:

• This was our first child to arrive at the scheduled time.
• This was the first child to leave the hospital at the same time as me.
• First child to be breast fed.
• First child to be walked out of the delivery room by my husband.
• First child allowed to be in my hospital room and held by visitors.
• First child in the nursery and not the NICU (look, ma, no tubes!)

While the twins birth was a huge improvement over Charlie’s, I don’t think I ever thought I’d have a simple delivery. In the back of my mind I’ve been waiting for them to find something, or for something to go wrong. My parents said the same thing as we sat talking in my recovery room. I have learned to handle a lot with regards birthing children, and I think I could have done it again if I had to. I’m really glad I didn’t, though. This was a new experience for this family, and a pretty great one at that.

Note: I don’t have a picture like this with any of my other children.