"He's so cute!"

Hello y'all!

Some of you have probably been waiting a few extra days for this post. Now you get it. Wahoo!

Austin Lee Kitchen was born last Wednesday morning at 6:51 a.m. and weighed 7 lb. 9 oz. at 19 in. long. He has been nothing but a bundle of joy. He has a little bit of hair, but not much. He is physically strong but emotionally calm.

Austin's first few days were good. After finally making it home from the hospital at 11:00 PM Thursday night after waiting hours for the Pediatrician to show up for the circumcision, and other delays when trying to leave the hospital, we came home. Austin was so tired: it took a good 30 min for us (Grandma Kathy, Jaclyn, and I) to wake him up so he could eat. We ended up going to bed about 1:00 a.m..

The next day we were able to get the carseat checked out and run a few errands before Grandma Sally and Aunt Abby arrived in town. They stayed through Sunday early afternoon and were just thrilled. That same night, Grandpa Boyd and Rachel also arrived, which we enjoyed. Thanks Dad and Rachel for making the effort to come out. It meant a lot to us!

Saturday was pretty good. Austin had to go back to the hospital for a follow-up on his Bilirubin test. It wasn't that high, so they said he should be fine. His eyes have been a little yellow since then, but we are not worried. I did put him in the sunlight for a few minutes on Sunday, but may have given him a suntan with the combination of his sensitive skin and the direct sunlight. Oops. He'll survive.

He slept much better Sunday only waking up every 3 hours for feeding. We hope that this pattern will continue. Jaclyn and I got up together each time he woke up last night. She or I would change his diaper, she would feed him, and then I would burb him. This way Jaclyn didn't have to do all the work.

My overall feelings are of great delight. I'm sure Jaclyn could say the same. We feel that he has been so good. He doesn't really cry except when we are changing his diaper or really hungry. We have relented to using a "fier" (pacifier) instead of letting him suck on his hands. It's really cute to watch him wave his hands around like he is leading music. When I typed emails the other day, he laid on my lap taking a nap. He is so fun!

Some of the "funmylights" have been him soiling his clothes (6 outfits on Saturday) and our clothes: spit up on Jaclyn and urine on Abby twice and me once. Early Sunday morning, as I was changing his diaper, he sprayed my PJ shirt and the carpet too. He likes to wet his pants and jamies for some reason. ;) We still love him.

That's about it. As for my work, Austin was nice enough to come after my paid time off kicked in, so I was able to take off Wed-Fri and still get paid. I went back Monday and took chocolate cigars to my co-workers to celebrate Austin's arrival. They were taken aback, but loved them.

Enjoy the pictures, just a sampling of our many.