Brian at 3 Weeks

Brian is changing SO fast! Fun to see his facial expressions and get little glimpses of what he is going to look like when he is older. So far, the eyes are still a very pretty blue, and he has some faint dimples, visible in the second picture if you look close. He is a very good baby, easy going and adorable. :-)

His older brothers have been great with Brian. They are all very excited about him, eager to help with him and love him. Carlos loves to carry him around, and AJ gives him kisses at least a dozen times a day, but it was Danny's bedtime prayer tonight that was just priceless...

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for our new baby. He is soooo cute! Maybe you can come by sometime and see him."

Thanks Grandpa!

We have been so blessed to have my parents staying with us for the past month. While they were here, my dad built this swingset for the boys. Mom was awesome in helping out with the boys and the house. Best of all, the boys got to re-connect and bond with them, and make lots of wonderful memories!

Smiling Angel!

Isn't he just precious! This picture was taken at 1 week old. I love that he has Danny's smile and facial expressions... and that he was so cooperative that he smiled as I took his picture! He really is a good baby so far... very sweet-tempered and loves to cuddle. Doesn't sleep through the night yet, but I guess that would be asking for a bit too much... :-)

Lost Tooth

Carlos lost another tooth!

This tooth has been getting looser for months, but after eating grilled burgers and corn on the cob for dinner, it was loose enough that Carlos could just grab and pull it out on his own. He was SO proud...

Coming Home

Here is our first round draft pick for the NBA... (Newborn Basketball Association) :-) Brian has some long fingers and toes, so we suspect that he might be a tall basketball player someday.

Meeting the Baby Brother...

The morning after Brian was born, we let Carlos and Danny skip school to come meet their baby brother (along with AJ, of course!). If we could have harnessed all that energy and used it as gasoline, we would save ALOT of money driving! Man, they were excited!!!

Welcome Brian!

Brian Joaquín Reveles was FINALLY born born April 30, 2007 at 11:44 PM! He weighed 8 lbs and 2 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

Labor was over 16 hours long! When we arrived at the hospital at 8 AM, we believed that I was in labor, contracting on my own every few minutes. It got rather intense and we begged for the epidural ASAP, remembering that my last labor had happened so quickly and I had lost any chance of an epidural. It wasn't until a half hour after the epidural was started that they checked me and discovered I wasn't dilating at ALL! Unbelievable. The day was VERY long, but JC and Liz were wonderfully supportive and helpful to me. Towards the end, we feared the worst as we watched the baby's heart beat drop with each contraction, just enough to keep everyone on edge and concerned. That (and lots of prayers!) gave me the strength I needed to push him out super fast when the time came though! Dr Chen explained later that the cord had been wrapped around his shoulder/chest area, so with each contraction it tightened around him. We feel VERY blessed that Brian was born beautiful and perfectly healthy, without any problems at all.