Welcome to the World, Paul!

Morning photo shoot in bed, just 6 hours old

I love his hair!

George meets Paul!

He was so excited to meet him, and when the big moment finally came, he was very quiet and serious

George had been practicing his "forklift" hold, with both arms out, and he did a great job of holding Paul!

Biscuit meets Paul!

She really didn't take an interest in him--it took a few days for her to even go sniff him

First morning at home

Paul looks just like George did!

Day 3--he really looks like himself in these

I love that little smile!

Paul on day 3, and Mireille at 3 weeks old--I think there's something in the eyes that's similar

Newborn Molly

Molly at 6 weeks

Richard, 2 months--That's where all that dark hair came from!

Richard, 2 months

Newborn George

George, 6 weeks

40 weeks

I'm finally catching up on these posts, months later, but I'll try to remember how I felt at the time...

That week of seeing my due date come and go was hard. Physically, I was still feeling pretty good--I was still walking up that hill to George's school until I was a week overdue. On 40+3, we were on the rota for door greeting at church, which actually was a great way to field all of the questions/comments at once (oh, you're still here! Where's that baby, then?, etc.) and then we could chat about other things in the coffee hour--like the fact we'd just moved into the new house! Mentally, I was in a similar place to last time: so tired of being pregnant, tired of non-progressing contractions, and just plain tired. It's like I start the newborn sleep deprivation stage early!

A couple of days after I took this photo, things started happening--though Paul still didn't make an appearance for 6 more days!

39 Weeks

It's January! George has been asking all throughout this pregnancy if it's January yet, and now that it is actually January, he's getting restless. He keeps asking "When's Baby Paul coming?" every day. Believe me, buddy, I want it to happen soon, too! Although this pregnancy has been really good overall, I'm definitely ready to not be pregnant any more! After 36 weeks, I started having some swelling in my feet and just general discomfort, and I remembered why that last month of pregnancy with George felt so long. Of course, we're also just anxious to meet Paul! We're excited to get to know him and start this new chapter as a family of 4!

The work on the new house is finally wrapping up this week, so we're moving in on Friday! There will still be some going back and forth with final bits & pieces to move, and we'll start cleaning/doing up the flat for rental, but we're thrilled to be moved in at last! I know moving house at 39 weeks, 1 day sounds crazy, but 1) I think I still have awhile to go with this pregnancy, and 2) doing things while heavily pregnant is still easier than trying to do anything in the early postpartum days. This house buying and renovating experience has taken almost the same amount of time as this pregnancy--we put an offer in on this place when I was about 6 weeks pregnant, so it just shows how long these things take!