A New Baby in the Family!

Let's get this show on the road. What do you think this is, your birthday???? (Yes, Emily's 30th).

Will my ankles and legs ever be normal again. Jeez......

Five minutes old. Bright light, bright light!!!!!

Six pounds 9 ounces exactly. He was 20 and a half inches long. Practically perfect in every way.

Ethan Salvatore Hudson.

Emily's been waiting for this for nine months....its all worth it (even the ankles).

Justin: I'm SO happy this pregnancy is over.....oh, and you are pretty cute, too.

Cameron meeting his baby brother for the first time. They hit it off immediately. He's not jealous at all. And Ethan calmed right down when he heard Cammie's voice. It was amazing.

Stef probably spent the most time at the hospital helping Emily. She is a great big sister. She loves Ethan and thinks this is the best way to get a baby. She (like Grandma) has all the pluses and none of the negatives of a new baby! HaHaHa

I am the LUCKIEST grandma in the world. Ethan is so sweet. All the kids call me "Grammy". What a blessing to have these little "kiddies" in my family.

Sarah loves him.....Come on Sarah, just one more . . . he needs a playmate.

I love this picture of Cedes with Ethan. This is her special smile. She really liked him and I think she'll want to help tend him.

Kelsee has a killer smile, but doesn't use it for pictures. She smiles a lot when not in front of the camera. I think she was a little afraid of the baby, but totally LOVED him.

Hailey said, "He's a little guy". She's not so big herself. Always been the tiniest one of the triplets.

Vanessa was really sweet with him and is old enough to be a real help to Emily. She's a good babysitter and always helps with the little kids.

Logan's exact words were "It's about time we got another boy in the family!"

Bailey is thrilled with him. She is a really good little mother and was disappointed when her mother told her they weren't having any more brothers or sisters in their family.

Very handsome baby, if I do say so myself. Like Justin said, he wasn't quite done though, and needed to be cooked a little longer. (Which turned out to be right).

His blood sugar was low, so he had to have an IV in his foot for a couple of days. The doctor did let them take him home on Saturday, but his bilirubin was high, so they had to deliver them a special "light bed". He has to stay in it every hour his parents are awake - only comes out to be fed and changed. That sure puts a cramp in our "holding and kissing" time.

Poor little thing, has to have his eyes covered and stripped down to his diaper with as much skin showing as possible. I have to admit, we did laugh when we took this picture though, it looks like such an absurd thing to do to a little baby.

Sure, put him by the giant speaker - we'll try to make him deaf while we are cooking him.

On Sunday, LaRay visited and you can tell by the picture, he is a little more yellow today.

His bilirubin was higher today, so it's back in the oven for more cooking time. (Poor baby).


Well he's finally here. What a little doll. He's really doing well (and so is Emily - no stitches). Poor little guy had low blood sugar in the hospital. Because he was so sleepy and a couple of weeks early, he didn't want to wake up to eat. The pediatrician got a little worried when his blood sugar kept dropping, so he put him on an IV for a couple of days. It made it hard to get our hands on him, as they kept him in the nursery to monitor him. I only got to hold him for about 5 minutes the first day, but the next afternoon, I got him to myself for an hour or so before the hoard (and I mean hoard) hit. All the cousins were SO excited to see him and were really cute. I think the nurses were thinking we were the "loud" family (which we are). Emily and Justin were really sweet with the kids and let them all hold him (as noted above, hahahaha). Not all parents are so free hearted. But like Emily says, he's gotta get used to them. We all spend a lot of time together. Scott was also there to visit, but wouldn't hold the baby (big baby himself, hahahaha).

It's been almost five years (next month) since the triplets were born, so this is the first baby in the family since then and we are all super excited. The men aren't as excited as us women. They don't get the "newborns are so sweet and cute" thing. They like them better when they "do something". Duh, they say women are smarter, this really proves it. We know, babies are always better when they stay in one place, hahahahahaha. It's so fun to watch them grow up. I'll bet if we laid him beside Jett, (who is only 6 months old) the difference in size would be unbelievable. They grow up so quickly, although we'll see if he can catch up to Jett - that kid is on "Miracle Grow". I'm just so thankful that Emily came through okay and the baby is healthy. He might have to go back into the hospital for a couple of days if his bilirubin doesn't go back down using the "light box", but if so, we will deal with that. Right now, we are just glad he is here and HAPPY to have him in the family. Like Logan said, "It's about time we have another boy!".

I miss you all, wish you could be here to hold Ethan (and smell him....mmmmm). It's the best thing in the world to be "Grammy". Love, Helen