Welcome Matilda!

And. . . she's here.

Matilda Cecile Paradis was born at 8:40 a.m. on January 12th. She is 8 pounds and 21 inches. A far beefier baby than the 6.2 pounder Cole was. Matilda was a name both Bill and I liked and Cecile is Bill's grandmother. It was important for us to "name" her after someone in the family in that way. Her godparents are my sister, Tracy and her husband, Marc.

Labor was fast and furious. . .and took about 10 hours from start (where I was sitting on the couch eating potato chips and thinking. . ."hmmm, I feel weird. . .") to finish (where I was cussing out my husband, the nurses, the doctor and even the baby herself.) I'm pretty sure I was even biting Bill's hand there for a minute. . .although my memory of the event is already tainted.

Three days in what I'll call the Ritz Maternity Center. . .and we're home. The new maternity wing at the hospital was beautiful and huge. . .far too much than any one family would need. A full, pull out couch for the dads. . .microwave, fridge, full-sized Jacuzzi tubs. . .room service. . .I could have stayed forever. Bill had to come home to stay with Cole each night. . .so the nights were long (that's when Matilda wanted to be up nursing), but overall I had no complaints.

As for Cole, we are pleasantly surprised at how our first day went. He's such a sweet kid; kissing the baby's feet, head and running over to her every time she cries. He did show us some frustration a few times yesterday. . .getting angry that I was holding her all the time, and wanting to be cuddled, too. He even started to fake cry so I would pick him up and rock him, too. All to be expected. . .

Bill's home for awhile and making everything so much easier. He's been giving Cole all kinds of attention. . .dealing with the shopping and laundry and other junk that needs to be done. I've even been able to shower each day! Imagine that. . .

This afternoon we take Till to the doctor's for the first time. When I have a chance to update, I will. Until then, here are some gory first pictures of the new one. . .she looks so much like Cole. Of course, I think all newborns look sort of like Winston Churchill anyway, so you never can tell.