Sorry about the disappearing act, friends. Well, sorta. June was a crazy month for us, with funerals and preparing for Noah’s birth. I got busy, and emotional, and then I sort of just wanted to hibernate. Writing blog posts seemed overwhelming, and in those last few weeks of pregnancy I just didn’t feel like talking. So, yeah, I am sorry that, after all those weeks of counting down to my due date, I disappeared on you. I’m not sure I could have done it differently, but it’s still stinky.

Here’s a quick recap for you:

Noah measured right on schedule, occasionally one week ahead, all along. I had no complications, no serious discomfort, everything continued just as smoothly as it had been all pregnancy. I tried various natural, noninvasive methods to induce labor – the sort of thing that only work if the baby’s ready to come anyway, kickstarting labor more than inducing it. None of them worked. I was comfortable, but man, I hate the waiting game the last few weeks. Happily, I was able to get both work and personal responsibilities to a point I could spend significant portions of the last couple weeks playing with Aria and reading.

Noah waited until the day before his due date to be born. He arrived on July 9th in pretty much the perfect labor experience. I’ll tell you all about that soon.

We’ve spent the last three weeks adjusting to life as a family of four, and it’s going swimmingly. I had some moments of overwhelm early on, when I was struggling to balance both kids (and not feel guilty about it). I’m thrilled to report that we’ve already found our equilibrium. Aria loves to give her brother kisses, and talks often about “Baby!”. After the first week or so, she is unaffected by his presence, at least in any negative way. She seems confident in her position within the family, and everyone has made a concentrated effort to make things feel as normal as possible for her. She’s become a very good helper, and considers it her personal responsibility to throw away dirty diapers (so DO NOT try to do it yourself).

Oh, and Noah was not smaller than Aria. Well, he was 1/2 an inch shorter, but he weighed 3 oz more.

Noah James Hobbs
9 July 2013
10 lbs, 7 oz
22 1/2 inches