more Elliot

Elliot is a great kiddo. Sleeps well, grows well, and makes cute piggy noises. We're continuing to adjust. Today, Elliot is one month old. To celebrate, He went on his first jog in the jogging stroller. Two kids on bikes, Levi and Elliot in the stroller, me panting like a St. Bernard. Silas and Priya will be at soccer camp this week and I'll be kicking it with the stroller.

Cheeks

Elliot is sleeping so much and working on the further development of his fat cheeks. 

I feel like a tourist attraction walking around town with Lake City's newest baby. I realize that not many people would take a 12 hour old baby down the street to the ice cream shop or a four day old to a bluegrass concert....so, maybe people from bigger towns are not used to meeting such young babies, but the constant stream of strangers who have a bunch of questions (personal) can be a bit overwhelming when a gal is just trying to walk to the post office! We're doing well as a family of six. There have been moments of difficulty, the other kids have been really tired and a bit spacey. Overall, we've had plenty of family time at the park and walking around town. This time of year is a little hectic for us...but I'm so thankful for a summer baby.

Welcome, son

Elliot Juniper Hartman was born last Saturday, June 25, at 2 am at our home here in Lake City. He weighed 9lbs and 6oz and was 23 inches long. His head measured 14 1/2 inches and he was 11 days past my due date. I had about three hours of "labor" which consisted of light contractions that were 30 seconds long and 6 or 7 minutes apart....and then about four difficult contractions during which he was born. After his head was born, but before the rest of him, he was spinning and twisting his head all around as if he was trying to swim out. He was born in a birthing tub and came out completely in the caul (meaning my water never broke he was born in the amniotic sac). According to Wikipedia, this is very rare, occurring in about 1 of 80,000 births, and is a sign of good fortune. We removed the sac so he could take his first breath.  We were surprised after a few minutes to discover that we had another son. I suppose I had convinced myself we were having a girl. All of our sons were born in the wee hours of a Saturday morning. Priya was born on a thursday afternoon. (I should have known). We had just settled on a girl's name during early labor, and hadn't been able to agree on a boy's name. After five days, we were able to finally name him Elliot, which is the French form of Elias or Elijah, which means "the Lord is my God." Juniper is in keeping with our first two children who have naturalistic middle names. He has thus far been an amazing little guy. He eats and sleeps well and looks quite a bit like his brothers did at this age. If I had to guess at this point, his scant dark hair will lighten and his eyes will go brown and he will look much like Levi. Thanks for all the well-wishes and prayers during those last few weeks!