A new arrival!

I'm terrible with blogs. It's been almost a year since I last posted. In the time since my last post here, Alana has also learned to walk. Also, Abby got pregnant. We bought a minivan in anticipation of the new baby. On our anniversary (March 11th) we found out that the new baby was a boy. We decided to name him Jadon Daniel Barton. Jadon was introduced to the world yesterday at 10:31am. He is 21.4" long and weighed 7 lbs 9 oz. I've posted a few of our favorite pictures.

My parents are here taking care of the girls while I'm at the hospital taking care of Abby, and Abby in turn is taking care of Jadon. Some nice things about this pregnancy/delivery experience that we missed out on the first one...

• There was much less stress leading up to the due date (ie: "will he make it or won't he?")
• I was able to be there in the delivery room with Abby holding her hand while he was born
• While he did go to NICU, it was less than a 4 hour stay (vs. 4 months with the girls)
• He was in Abby's room within 4 hours of birth and he is a "rockstar eater" according to a lactation consultant (Abby never got to breast feed the girls)

We praise God for his safe passage from utero to the life that we all know outside of the womb. The girls went through so much and as a result so did we. It's such a blessing to see what it's like to go through a "normal" delivery.

So far Jadon has been such a pleasant child (just like his big sisters). Seriously. He fusses every once in a while when he is hungry, or maybe even when he just wants to be held. :) All in all he is pretty laid back though. I am hoping that this continues. While we'll love him no matter what, it sure would be nice if he continues to need to be woken up in the middle of the night for feedings.

No promises, but I will try to update this a little more than once a year :) With 3 kids at home I'm not sure how possible that will be, but I've seen parents of more than 3 do much more than I have so I think I could manage. Time will tell. Thanks for reading.