Adam's Arrival

Noni, Papi, and Uncle Paul got sick of waiting around for baby's arrival, so they decided to come up and coax the little guy out on Saturday. Noni cooked us a big Hungarian dinner, which she claims helped kick Adam into gear. Here we are right before dinner - around 8 PM. Just a few hours later...

Adam made his big entry into the world at 1:32 AM, after a crazy drive through wind and rain, and with a mere 22 minutes to spare.

On his birthday, Adam had the pleasure of meeting both sets of grandparents, his Uncle Pauly, and his big brother Ethan.



At first, Ethan was a little confused about this new creature, but he did eventually come say "hi" and give Adam a kiss.

(That "hi" has since turned into a regular chorus of "bye bye baby", by the way).

We had a great stay at Mercy Hospital, where the nurses took wonderful care of us all and allowed Ben and I to really get to know our newest arrival. They even gave Adam his first bath.


We came home Monday afternoon, and have been relaxing here ever since, being well taken care of by Noni, and introducing Adam to visitors. We will post more pictures soon!

He's here!

Adam Lawrence Stockwell finally decided to come out and meet us at 1:32 this morning, just 22 minutes after arriving at the hospital! He weighs 8 lbs 9 oz and is 21.5 inches long. Everyone is doing well, and Ethan enjoyed meeting his little brother this morning. We'll post pictures soon!

Tardy

Baby #2 is now 3 days late. For some reason, 3 days seems like a lot this time around. Maybe it's because we heard from so many people that "second babies are always early". Well, apparently they aren't ALL early. Although we are getting a little sick of sitting around waiting for baby, we did have a good weekend. As you can see, Ethan had fun with lots of fancy footwear and his tricycle. Melissa, John, and Molly were nice enough to come up and watch the Sox game with us last night, and a great game it was. Let's hope for another one tonight - Go Sox!

9-Month Bellies

Well, these days we're pretty much laying low, hanging around home, waiting for baby. Friday night we had our friends Aaron and Lauren, who are in a similar situation (Lauren is due on the 20th), over for dinner. There was, of course, much talk about babies and when they might arrive, and some comparing of bellies. If you want to see something funny, watch two 9-month pregnant ladies try to give each other a hug - it's nearly impossible.
We've also been enjoying the fantastic foliage around here, and really loving our first Maine fall. Our yard is filled with gorgeous colors across the red/orange/yellow spectrum - it's quite a sight. We were actually ok with the fact that baby didn't make an appearance this past weekend - the weather was too spectacular to be cooped up in the hospital!

Fall Fun

The Stockwells had a great weekend, enjoying the beautiful Maine fall weather. Friday we took Ethan to a local farm to stock up on fall supplies - pumpkins, mums, apples, etc. We let Ethan pick his very own pumpkin, which is just his size and will be perfect for carving in a few weeks.

Then on Saturday, Uncle Pauly came to visit! We hit the Cumberland Pumpkin Fest Saturday late afternoon, where they were trying to break the Guiness World Record for most lit pumpkins in one spot. I'm not sure they made it - when we left, they still needed several thousand pumpkins carved and were calling all able adults to help. But it was a lot of fun enjoying the gorgeous late afternoon sunshine, eating all-things pumpkin, and taking part in some pumpkin-themed games, like seed spitting...(For those who are curious, Paul is much better at pumpkin-seed spitting than either Ben or I.)

And, of course, where there is a truck, Ethan will find it. Uncle Pauly helped load Ethan into the tire of a fire truck, which pretty much made his year.

Maine Wildlife

I know most of you tune in to see pictures of Ethan, but tonight you get a deer instead. This picture was taken through the window and then blown up, so not the best picture quality, but you can still see the beautiful visitor we had in our backyard this evening. She hung out for quite a bit, allowing us to show Ethan and snap a few photos before she ran off into the woods. It was clearly memorable for Ethan - he kept talking about it at dinner, pointing outside and saying "bye-bye da".

Haircuts and Belly Shots

Ben and I have been through many stages with Ethan's haircuts (or lack thereof). First, there was denial. Looking back at pictures from March and April this year, we now recognize that there was a period of time during which Ethan really looked like Ethana (or Ethel, or whatever the female version of Ethan is). We were confused by the comments of strangers, referring to Ethan as a "she", but we now see that we were tricked by parental bias and could not see how long (and shaggy!) Ethan's hair looked to the rest of the world. The next stage was the homemade haircut. Not understanding how anyone could or would pay $15+ for a kid's haircut, we did it ourselves, strapping Ethan in his high chair and holding him down while trying to pretend we were stylists. Well, that only lasted so long, and after a few too many near-accidents involving Ethan's eyes and ears, we finally decided to turn him over to the professionals. So today I took him to Snip'Its - for those who aren't familiar, this is a brilliant marketing scheme. I can't say Ethan liked it any better than the homemade variety, but he sure liked the animal crackers he got to munch throughout and the prize he got at the end. And the result is definitely better...

In other news, we are actively preparing for #2's arrival. We have his room all set up, and he can pretty much come whenever he'd like. As you can see by the size of my belly, I am ready anytime!