James' First Photo Shoot

Our good friend, Lisa, coached James through his very first photo shoot. She made him work it, and he put on a great show. :) We would be remiss if we didn't mention how great she is and provide a link to her website for Lisa Ruth Photography.

We also had a family picture taken and a shot of Annie. Here are the pictures!

Spoiled

In what seems to be fortuitous timing, Brad is on spring break this week. When we realized the break would hit right after we had a baby, we were a little bummed because that meant we couldn't go anywhere. However, it has been SO nice to have Brad around! It's made this transition to parenting 2 children so much easier. I had about 2 and 1/2 days between when my mom left (I haven't given my dad and her a shout out - they were SO helpful when they were here!!! BIG thanks to them!) and Brad finished his final where I was doing it all on my own. Let's just say those days made me wonder if I will ever master mothering 2 at a time.

Last night as a gift to me, Brad spoiled me with one of the most gourmet meals of my life. He was so cute about it! He told me to take Annie outside (yay for getting out of the house and for good weather!) and he would stay inside with James and "gourmet it up". He picked out a couple of recipes from our Williams Sonoma Savoring France and Savoring Mexico cookbooks and went to town. He made Cornish game hens with an apricot balsamic glaze, stuffed with apricots, figs, and baguette. It was to die for - both in presentation and taste!. He made a side of baked sweet potatoes topped with a brown sugar/orange/cinnamon/allspice glaze. So good! It really was amazing and so thoughtful of him to do that for me!

I'm so happy to be married to my best friend. Even though we didn't go anywhere exotic, we have so much fun just being together. As I was thinking through my day last night, I realized my favorite parts were our walk together, eating dinner together, and watching a funny movie together. He makes my life so great!

P. S. Tonight he's made me an orange chocolate fondant!

Genie in a Bottle

The last few nights James has woken up to eat, and then promptly falls asleep just about as soon as he starts. It's SO hard to wake him up! I find the line from Aladdin running through my head over and over, "Excuse me . . . Did you wake me up? Did you bring me here? And all of the sudden you're [snoozing] out on me? I don't think so! You're getting your [food] so sit down!" I only *wish* my stern reprimand would bring James out of his stupor.

Confession

I have a confession that may make me a bad mother: I don't usually think my babies are the cutest things in the world when I'm in the hospital. I LOVE them, don't misunderstand me, but I don't always think they are the cutest. In fact, when I had Annie my mom was out of town. When she came home, she said, "You didn't tell me how beautiful she is!" Well, that's because I didn't necessarily think she was beautiful. (I was wrong - see this post to remember how beautiful she was.) However, just around the time I bring them home from the hospital I start thinking they are the cutest things to hit the planet. I asked Brad yesterday if he thought that James had become so much in the last couple of days, and he told me he was pretty sure James looked about the same as he had in the hospital. I guess I was just blind.

I am now totally enamored with my little James. He is the SWEETEST baby! The last three nights he has only gotten up twice to eat. He is generally quite calm when he is awake. He's content to just look around and be pleasant. He's VERY patient with his older sister's love. He's just such a good baby.

Just as an update, I took him in for a check-up this week and he's already gained back his birth weight. He is a fantastic eater!

Check out this picture from today. How could I ever not have recognized how cute he is?

Welcome Baby James!

Today, at 2:35 PM, James Stephen Hunter came into the world, weighing 8 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring at 20 inches. MaryAnne was as perky as could be throughout the whole process. The nurse who admitted her loved her so much that she pulled rank and gave the charge nurse duties to someone else so that she could be MaryAnne's nurse. From induction to delivery, it was only 4 hours, which made all of us feel very lucky to be so quick! James has a surprising shock of red hair and we are excited and proud parents.

MaryAnne's mom took the red eye last night and walked into the hospital room just a few minutes before MaryAnne said she was ready to deliver the baby. We were so glad that she could be there for the birth and are also very glad that have her here to help us with Annie for the next week. Mothers are wonderful. We were also glad that we were able to have MaryAnne's OB there for the birth. He has been incredible to work with and he is a model for how physicians should treat their patients.

Annie was super cute when she came to visit and kept saying "Hi, baby James!" She wanted to show us how soft she could be with the baby and she was very gentle with him. We'll see how long it takes for the sibling rivalry to develop.

And now, what you all read this post to see: The Pictures!