She Has Arrived!

We were not anticipating meeting our new baby until at least now, but she arrived four days ago already. We are feeling incredibly blessed to have another daughter! After all the loss and trauma our family has experienced over the past three years, we are rejoicing to have new life in our home.

Maria Joy, who will henceforth be known on this blog as Miss Joy, arrived early Tuesday morning after a relatively easy labor. She weighed 7 pounds, 1.5 ounces, and was 19 inches long, our second-smallest baby. She is very happy so far, waking up every few hours to have a feed, look around for awhile at the fascinating world of light and listen to the sounds around her, have another feed and go back to sleep. She occasionally gets laid down in the bassinet—but most of the time people clamor to hold her! The three teenage boys, especially, argue good-naturedly about who gets to hold the baby!

Here is our precious newborn, just a few hours old.

Do you think they were excited?

Mr. Diligence

Mr. Sweetie

Little Miss finally had the prayer answered which she prayed at least a year and a half ago, for a sister.

The morning after she was born, we compared her feet to Mr. Intellectual’s big toe!

I got to hold two daughters at once!

Mr. Intellectual

Photo-bombers! This is Mr. Diligence and Simon. (Simon, by the way, thinks he is entitled to hold the baby any time he’s at home! He feels like he misses out on a lot because he has to work.)

Poor Simon had to do schoolwork last night and let his daddy hold the baby!

This is what is happening right now. Mr. Sweetie asked if he could hold the sleeping baby, and promptly fell asleep with her!