And baby makes four

Introducing our big fat bundle of joy, Mr. Everett James Berry. (And if I hear you call him EJ, please know that I'll smack you) 

It took him 13 hours to get here and he was a whopping 9lbs 10 oz despite all of those high tech measurements and calculations they made a week and a half before he was born that said the exact opposite, but I'm VERY happy to report that all went well. All of my emotional scars from Charlotte's complications-filled delivery got softened a bit when the universe was kind enough to prove that not all deliveries have to be horrifying. Thanks, universe, for totally rocking.

And in further rock-the-house news, B got two full weeks of paternity leave this time, as opposed to the three days he got with Charlotte, so it's been two weeks of complete blissed-out awesomeness around here. I've been on a permanent high unlike anything I've ever experienced.

If the pregnancy hadn't made it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that me and pregnancy are not friends, I would even consider a third little bundle one day, but as my body spoke quite loudly this time around, we're taking Perfect Girl and Perfect Boy, counting our blessings, and calling it a day.

Other than two days in the first week home from the hospital where she was clearly sleep-deprived and clearly adjusting, Charlotte has been amazing.  She was so maternal during the whole pregnancy, and especially at the end, that I knew that would carry right through. When she first met "my brudder" she was absolutely enamored with his fingers. She kept delicately touching them and showing them to other people. It's amazing to get these little glimpses into the toddler mind.

She's very proud of him and excitedly shows him off every time someone comes to the house or when we Skype with family. She also likes to hold and feed him, but only for about 10 second intervals. After that it gets boring.

This was the next day in the hospital. Everett was born at 4:55pm, so B and Charlotte went home that night to sleep in their own beds and came back the next day to visit. It was the perfect situation for me because I really needed the one-on-one bonding time. Labor and delivery and visitors is all such a whirlwind that you need the dark silence of your recovery room to truly connect.

All snuggled in our fleeces.

There aren't words to describe how I feel about this picture. 

If it had a caption, all it would say is "Love."