ASHER HENRY MONTGOMERY

yesterday we were able to welcome our third son, asher henry montgomery, into the family. the day got off to a slightly inauspicious start when we showed up to labor and delivery at the ungodly hour of 5:30am and they told us that our appointment was not until 9:30, not 7:30 as we had been told repeatedly by our OB's office. the delay did give us a chance to run home and see our other boys though, and once we got back to the hospital things got under way.

thumbs up for high fashion

quite unexpectedly, even the doctors and nurses got into the numerical fever (one reason we chose to have asher yesterday is so his birthday would be 1/11/11) going so far as to wait to pull him out until 10:11am. our friend megan said he was probably on mountain time, which meant he was born at 11:11 on 1/11/11. 7lb, 7oz, 19.5 inches long of pure man.

having had two less than easy pregnancies/deliveries in the past, we were on our guard for any potential complications throughout this one. turns out asher wanted to give us a scare, spending a few hours in the nursery with symptoms similar to his brother who spent 10 days in the nicu, but then was able to pull it together and get himself out of there. his reaction in the mean time went from polite...

"may i be excused, please?"

to downright belligerent:

"somebody stop this madness and get me outta here!"

finally settling down into a mellow, yet very alert, rhythm

our typical stream of visitors has been curtailed slightly by new hospital rules, but that didn't keep gaga from coming to meet the little man.

auntie allie says looks like his brothers. actually, everybody says that. nobody compares him to annie or i, they only try to figure out which of his brothers he looks most like.

my mom and dad brought me dinner from my favorite mexican food place and held him until we had to break out the jaws of life to pry him out of their grip

i am pretty excited about him too

it is a very funny idea to think about when my wife is not the one occupying the bed

annie has been true to her form as a natural, nurturing and totally hardcore mother. although the nauseousness has been worse than in the past, her shoulder pain has been far reduced, a fact that we have celebrated greatly since that is typically the worst part.

asher sneezes...a lot. not sure if i missed that the first two times around or if he is just especially sensitive. he also makes a lot of noise. in his sleep, in his waking, pretty much all the time.

his middle name was the middle name of my grandfather who passed away back in august (and the first name of annie's great grandfather.) the last time i was next to a hospital bed was as i knelt beside him to tell him i loved him and that i was going to miss him. i had no idea how huge a whole his absence would leave. i still ache, but hope that in some way asher is able to continue his legacy and gentleness.

asher seems to know what is going home to, eating constantly as if bulking up for football season. that may not be far from the truth. his brothers have a cabbage patch they call baby asher, and they alternate between being very sweet to him and throwing him from the couch in a heap.

the boys talk about him lots, and isaac prayed for him the night before was born. this is more significant due to the fact that isaac's first and only prayer is usually "thank you for shamu." we are pretty sure they will like him.

thanks for all the calls, texts, emails, etc. we are tired, but we are excited to see how he becomes a part of our family.