Big Boy!!

In Denmark, the social healthcare system provides for a visit from a nurse/midwife periodically to check in on baby and parents, answer any questions the parents might have, and finally to weigh and measure the child. Today, our midwife dropped in for the first time, and measured our "little" boy at 5.2 kg (11lbs 7oz)! That's a half kilo (>1lb) heavier than a week ago! I thought those diapers were getting tighter!!

And, never one to deprive you all of more pictures of Ruby and Max, we got a couple of funny shots of Ruby posing as the family's new fitness trainer. Move over Jane Fonda! And thanks Nana for the new sneakers!!!

Thank you all for the visits, thoughts, cards, prayers, comments and responses to our email announcement last weekend. So far, all is going as expected in our household . . . Max is sleeping lots, though not at night; Ruby's pride for "her" new baby continues to grow, though she's working hard to let us know that she's still the center of the universe; Mommy and Daddy are quickly learning just how much more there is to consider with kids (plural), and have a growing sense of awe at parents of multiples!!

Anyways, there's been no shortage of pictures being taken lately, so here are a few of our recent gems . . .

The first one is the first storytime with Ruby, Max, and Mommy together. As you can see, Ruby's now more interested in the baby than in the books (and she loves here books!).
The other 2 are from a less-than-successful attempt at getting some nice shots outside this morning. If you look at closely at the last pic, you'll see that Max even fussed the color out of his face. We took that as a sign to come back inside!!

Welcome to the World!!

We are so pleased to announce the arrival of our latest addition, Maxwell Oliver Nelson! I do want to thank everyone for all of your prayers and good wishes. We certainly felt them and are so thankful to God for this beautiful boy that He has blessed us with. I won't go into all of the nitty gritty details of the birth today...as I'm still a bit sore and not keen on sitting at the computer for too long, but here are the high points!

Max was born on Thursday, April 12th at 8:21pm in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Yes, that's ELEVEN days past the due date!)

He weighed in at 4700g. (that's 10lb 5oz for those that aren't used to metric!)

He is 57cm long. (about 22.5in)

He has lots of dark, dark hair and looks an awful lot like his big sister when she was born.

Both Max and I did very well and we were thankful to have our number one fan and coach, Daddy, there to help every step of the way. It was a bit different giving birth here in Denmark than in the US, but we really have no complaints. We were taken care of very well and all of our midwives and doctors were wonderful.

We really had a hard time picking out a name for this little guy, but as soon as Jared held him he called him, Max, so Max it is! Some of you may know that Jared had been pushing for Maximus or even Cornelius Maximus as a name, but I figured I did have some veto power, so we altered it a bit to Maxwell! We had also wanted to pick out a Danish name, but found that there wasn't one that we were happy with the pronounciation in Danish AND English, so we picked Oliver which is Scandinavian in origin.

Well, that's about all for now. Ruby loves her little brother to bits and is always curious about what he's up to--mostly eating and sleeping for now! Hope you enjoy the pictures of our growing family!

Still waiting!

I wanted to put up a quick post to let everyone know that we are still waiting for Baby Boy Nelson to arrive! I have had contractions now and again, some painful, but nothing with staying power. We'll go back to the midwife tomorrow morning and we plan to bring my suitcase along and ask them to go ahead and induce--we'll see what they say, but I think 10 days past the due date should be enough for them to at least consider it. It's very likely that they may just give me something mild to get things going and send me home to wait, but we'll see.

One great thing about not having the baby yet is that I was able to go to church for Easter Sunday, which was wonderful! The choir (including Jared) performed a really wonderful cantata called "Lamb of Judah, Calvary's Lamb". It was something totally different--more of a worship service than a concert complete with the congregation singing for many songs and several responsive readings. It was such a wonderful celebration of Jesus' resurrection! After the service we were invited to a friends' home for Easter dinner. Ruby was the only little one at the party and she really enjoyed being the center of attention--big surprise there!

Ruby was dressed up in an adorable outfit from Nana, so I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of that--her dashing companion is Carter, of course! They were sneaking kisses and hugs, but the Daddys never caught it on film--these digital cameras are just TOO slow sometimes! Ruby also had a matching purse, but somehow we never managed to get the hat and the purse in any picture. Oh well, there's always next year!

Inquiring Minds...

I know that some of you are just about going nuts wondering if Baby Nelson has been born yet. So, I'll start with the baby update! No, this little guy still hasn't made his debut. I have had contractions on and off for about a week, but nothing with staying power. I did see my midwife today and she said that he is "deeply engaged" and doing well. She also estimated his weight at about 3900g (8.6lb) for those that are wondering and said that he looks like he's very long--something that I've been sure of for a very long time! Anyhow, we have another appointment for next Wednesday morning. If he hasn't decided that the time is right by then, we'll schedule an induction (hopefully on Wednesday or Thursday!!). I don't feel bad at all though, so I guess I won't complain. It would be perfect timing for me if he decides to come anytime between now and Saturday night, but I guess we'll have to wait for God's timing either way!

I actually only have one more day on my own with Ruby either way as Jared will have Thursday and Friday off for Easter holiday (Danish national holidays). I am grateful for that because Ruby would like to be outside all the time now and I just don't have the energy to be pushing her on her trike or chasing balls or climbing ladders and sliding down slides! For a while she was happy to be in our yard, but now she has decided that she's no longer "outside" unless she's off our property--ugh! Sooo, I hear lots and lots of "outside! outside! playground! playground! slide! bike! walk!, etc." Please seems to have temporarily fallen out of her vocabulary...

Saturday afternoon, Anne will arrive for a visit. Originally we were thinking of having her come last weekend, but I'm sure glad we didn't. If we had we would have had the same situation as with Kay last time around. The whole visit was spent waiting! We did enjoy the time together, but it would have been nice if her stay had coincided with Ruby being out a bit longer! Anyway, I know that Ruby will thoroughly enjoy having her here (as will we all!) and hopefully it will make the transition a bit smoother from only child to Big Sister!

Well, I guess I'll finally tell you what these pictures are from! The first three are from a trip Ruby, Claire, Carter, and I took to the zoo. For the first time I brought Ruby in to see the goats. At first she was really scared, but once I knelt down to pet one of the goats who was lying down, she eventually got brave enough to try it herself. Once she felt his coat she was hooked! Before I could pull myself to my feet (no easy feat at 9 months pregnant!) she was on to the next goat and soon had petted nearly every one in the pen. She and Carter also had fun climbing on the wooden stumps--they really are kids! (I know, too much, but I couldn't resist!)

These last two pictures may be a bit difficult to see without clicking on them, but this is Ruby playing "dress up". One of her new favorite activities is finding clothes, pajamas, shoes, socks, boots, hats, etc. and dressing up in them. Of course she usually just layers them over whatever she's already got on, so she can come up with some pretty amusing outfits. One of my favorites this last week was a red onesie, red zip up sweatshirt, diaper, lacy diaper cover (from one of her dresses), socks, pink footed pajama pants, and knee high leather boots. And then...we went out to play. Maybe someday she really will have a fashion sense and give her Mommy a make over. For now though, these outfits are staying inside the confines of our yard!

We'll keep you posted on any baby news... Hope you are enjoying spring (or autumn) wherever you are!