We're Home

We finally escaped the hospital around 3:30 or 4:00 this afternoon. Once home, Liv and Nate rested a little while I started putting things away and getting his things arranged where they needed to be. Mom and dad brought a smashing steak dinner over around 6. I feel I need to make an aside here to give props to my wonderful mother. She managed to feed the whole family last week over the holidays and has pretty much covered every dinner for Olivia and I since Saturday when they put Liv on bed rest. She really stepped up to the plate. On top of that, she keeps buying things for the baby. She's really shining as a mother and a grandmother and Olivia and I are VERY grateful for the help. So, kudos to ma Dudley! Also I think dad's digging the grandpa thing too. He seemed rather happy as he sat in the old brown la-z-boy watching the football game with Nate resting in one arm and a bowl of ice cream and brownies resting in the other.

Anyway, after dinner Logan and Megan stopped by for dessert and their daily Nathan fix. As expected, Megan was more than happy to lend a hand with the little fella. What has surprised me thus far, is Logan's comfort level around him. I expected Logan to be kinda hand's off and maybe a little intimidated. To my surprise, he seems pretty jazzed about the whole deal. He doesn't shy away from Nate and actually looks fairly comfortable holding him. He may be ready to be an uncle after all. Around 8:30 everyone cleared out and now I finally have a chance to post some pictures. My progress will be slowed a bit as Olivia is taking a well-deserved shower and my left arm is occupied by a 2-day-old with hiccups. As I finished typing that last sentence, he also filled his britches. That may require both hands. I shall return...

Ok, crisis averted. On with the pictures. We had almost 80 pictures on the camera when we got home, so here's some of the highlights...

For Olivia's sake, I'm not posting any pics of her in the delivery room. Nate, however, is not so lucky.

Here he is, America! He's been cleaned up in this pic, but I could have embarrassed him with some of those "fresh out the womb" pics that I have a ton of. Here again I need to make another aside. Liv and I both want to send a shout out to Gloria Claussen. She's a friend of the family and also a maternity nurse at the hospital. She took her day off to be with us during the delivery. She pretty much single-handedly got Olivia through the whole ordeal. After Nate was out and I was occupied, Gloria grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of everything. She preserved a bunch of shots that would have otherwise been lost forever. On top of all that, she sewed Nate a cute, hand-made comforter. I'm ashamed to say that we never managed to get a picture of Gloria the whole time we were there. So, I apologize for that. Gloria, you're the best! Thanks a bundle!

Here's another of Gloria's wonderful pics...No explanation needed really. I thought about starting a college fund for the boy, but instead I decided to put the money into a fund for special order shoes.

Here's one final early shot that I thought was good.I can't wait until he starts dating and I can break out the picture of him in the Babytherm 8000 to show his girlfriend. Ah, the rewards of fatherhood!

Once the delivery circus settled down, it was time to start having visitors. Two of the first were my Grandma and Grandad Dudley. My cousin had a little boy just over a year ago, but he's a Slater. Nathan is the first great-grandchild to carry on the Dudley name. To honor Grandad Dudley, we gave Nathan the middle name Wyatt. That's granddad's first name. Grandad and grandma are truly awesome grandparents. They are the kindest, gentlest people you could ever meet and we are truly blessed to be part of their family. They have been the best role models of faith, family, love, compassion, generosity, and joy. I am tickled that I was able to honor them while naming my son. I only pray that Nathan gets a chance know them before they are gone and that he is able to uphold the standards they have set for the Dudley name. Here's a good picture of Grandma Dudley with her 2 Wyatt's.

Next in the parade of visitors were my brother Logan and his fiance', Megan.
They're getting married in June and they'll both still have 2 years of school left. But judging by her cheshire grin, she's already got plans beyond that.

Let's not forget the new grandparents...Dad has already bought the boy a camouflage onesie, John Deere boots, and a John Deere vibrating ear of corn teething toy. If this level of spoilage continues, grandma and grandpa will soon be Nate's most favorite people in the whole world. Olivia's sister, Rachel, stopped in for a visit Thursday night as well, but we somehow managed to not get a picture of her either. Sorry Rachel!

Day 2 - After a mostly sleepless night for Olivia and a so-so night of sleep for me, we entered Friday tired but happy. Nothing too eventful happened. Friday's visitors included Gloria and her husband Norm, Olivia's Aunt Pat, Jason and Sadie Jones (friends from work), Marshall Metcalf (another friend from work), Wade and Nicole Blakeman (more friends of ours), and ma and pa Dudley again. If I left anyone else out, sorry. I was tired. Here's a good one from Friday's visit...
Nate was looking much cuter and less alien-like by Friday.

Day 3 - After another night in the hospital, we began to get ready to go home on Saturday. After a seemingly endless series of checkups, shots, procedures, Dr visits, more checkups, and more shots we finally made it out and back home. That's where I started this whole blog entry. So that's Nate's life this far, but I have a couple more pictures from this evening that need to be on here as well. First is Nathan trying on the Elmer Fudd hat that his Aunt Shauna made him for Christmas. Unfortunately, Nate didn't arrive during the week that she and my brother-in-law, Tom, were here for the holidays. They live in Iowa, but they'll get to meet Nate in the coming months. Until then, he'll just have to work on growing into his awesome new hat.
She says she used the extra small toddler pattern to make the hat. If that's an extra small, I'd hate to meet the toddler who fits in the extra large. Whoa. A cool hat nonetheless, and you have to love the state-worker-orange as well.

And finally here's me and Nate deciding which pictures to post on here tonight... I'm sure you've noticed there's no pictures of Olivia on here. There are pictures of her and she looks beautiful in every one of them. However, I think she only got about 4 hours of sleep over the past 3 days, so she didn't feel too beautiful. She didn't tell me not to post her pictures, but I held back for her sake. We'll get her all rested up and I'll get some pictures of her with the boy that she can be proud of. I'm super proud of her for all she's gone through and what a great mother she's shaping up to be already. I love you, honey!

So that's things so far. I'm still getting used to this whole fatherhood thing, so I'm sure I will have many posts dealing with that over the coming days and weeks. Plus, I'm sure Nate will only get cuter as he grows up. So check in here often for updates and new pictures. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, gifts, time, and love. Olivia and I are both very grateful for the family and friends we have been blessed with. You all make a great environment to bring our precious baby up in. Thanks again!