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.