Introducing Benjamin

I'd like to introduce you to our beautiful new son, Benjamin Aaron Olson, who was born on August 28th at 1:22 a.m. Ben made his (rather speedy) entrance into the world on his Grandmommie's birthday. He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is, of course, the most beautiful baby in the world.

We wondered what he would look like, and strangely enough, he looks quite a bit like his big brother. He has more hair than Nat did, and it is darker than Nat's was, but their facial features are very similar at this point.

Ben has been an incredibly good baby - much more contented than his big brother was. The similarities end at appearance. Nat was not a good sleeper, and he took a little while to get the hang of eating. Ben, on the other hand, is doing well with both. He is happily napping right now in his hospital bed, and he slept amazingly well last night. If this continues, we may have a baby who sleeps through the night rather early. (Nat was a year old before he slept consistently through the night.)

Nat met the baby on Tuesday morning, a few hours after he was born. (Rob's parents arrived on Monday night, and he has been staying at home with them.) Nat wasn't tremendously impressed, necessarily, but he was eager to look at the baby and knew who he was. Nat was interested in showing Ben the "Big Brother" presents the hospital gave him. He was not, however, happy to leave Mommy behind at the hospital. He cried and cried when they left. Yesterday was much better. He wanted to snuggle in the bed with me and look at the baby's toes. He announced several times that the baby was crying or the baby was screaming. He was much happier when they left yesterday.

Rob has been going back and forth between the hospital and home. He has spent the majority of the time here, since they have great food and a nice place for him to sleep in my room. He has been enjoying the baby, realizing how much he is going to miss Ben when he leaves. "You're right - I'm really going to miss him." He hadn't thought it would be difficult to leave Ben, but he's now realizing that it will be much more difficult than he initially thoug

We're overjoyed to have him here. We look forward to taking him home in just a few hours. Rob has gone home for an hour or two to shower, get the car seat, and do a little more rearranging in our room to make room for Ben's cradle. We'll keep you posted and share more pictures soon.

Waiting

It has been a while. We've been busy since we got home. Rob completed his second class of the summer, and we have been readying the house for the new baby.

Rob has worked really hard and has been really busy. He was commissioned on August 4th, and is now 2nd Lieutenant Robert Olson. Shortly after he was commissioned, he received his orders. He will be leaving on September 14th to head to South Carolina for CHOBLC. Yeah, change of plans. He will be home this winter, but gone all fall. He'll make it home for Christmas, thankfully.

In some ways, it's really good. Part of his time away coincides with my maternity leave, which makes it easier. I'll go up to Wisconsin when he leaves and spend a couple weeks with my folks. When I come home, Rob's mom will be here for October. My mom will come reprieve her at the beginning of November, and then Rob's parents will return after Thanksgiving when my parents go home. We'll have family with us the entire time, which makes it much easier. The hard thing is poor Nat will have to adjust to not only a new baby, but also Daddy being gone to "soldier school." That will be a challenge. We're working on plans to help him transition more easily, but I'm sure he'll miss his Dad.

Ben, however, will probably not really notice Dad is gone. Now we just have to get him HERE so Rob can spend a little time with his new son before he leaves. We're pretty much ready. All the little tiny clothes are washed and hanging in the closet. The blankets and sheets are washed and folded in the linen closet. We purchased a new mattress and crib sheets for the cradle tonight. I am now officially packed for the hospital - baby clothes, my stuff, and all. Now all we're waiting for is Ben to decide to show up one of these days...

The latest news was good. We had another ultrasound to check his size, and he looks right on track. I'm still measuring exactly where I should be. My weight gain continues to be minimal. We're not anticipating a huge baby. Our doctor has said, however, that he doesn't want me to get all the way to my due date. I actually don't have an appointment this week. A week from today they may try to push things along. I'm hoping Ben doesn't wait that long. It's hard to go to work every day now, not knowing if it's going to be my last day. I start things, not knowing if I'm going to be able to finish them. It's not bad, though. I've got a great boss and supportive co-workers, so I don't worry about them picking up the 'slack' while I'm gone. I just want to make sure I leave things as organized as possible for them so they only miss me in a good way!

Well, we'll see how much longer Ben keeps us waiting...