Kale Thomas Bleck

As of 1:46 on Monday morning we are officially one child closer to needing a minivan! After approximately 12 hours of induced labor and 15 minutes of pushing we finally found out our little surprise that's been perculating for the last 41 weeks and 2 days (yep, 9 days over due)...Kale Thomas Bleck. Tricia was positive we were having a boy the entire pregnancy, where as I just assumed we were destined to have a girl. Turns out, Tricia was right! Kale weighed in at 7lbs 6 oz, with a birth height of 21 inches and a head circumference of 13 inches. He was bigger than Nolan by 20 ounces and 1/2 an inch longer! Tricia's grandma can't believe how BIG he was! The labor went really well for Tricia, and she keeps telling me it was easier than when we had Nolan. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be like, so I guess I'll take her report as a good thing! We were discharged on Tuesday evening after waiting for Kale to get snipped, and after a brief stop at Jimmy John's (which is where we stopped after Nolan was born as well) we made it home with our new addition. My parents watched Nolan from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday night, which was a great help, and we waited until Wednesday morning until we made the official meet and greet occur between the two boys. Tricia woke up Nolan and recorded the event. Nolan literally stopped in his tracks when he walked in the nursery and I was holding Kale! He did come around, though, and warmed up to give Kale hugs and kisses. Nolan quickly got sidetracked, though, and we're sure he's a little unsure of how long this little creature will be sticking around! This morning when it was time to get Nolan up and ready for daycare Tricia was holding Kale and Nolan greeted his new brother by hitting him in the head with a plush soccer ball--the fighting has begun!

Things at home have been going really well. Both Tricia and I have commented on how much more relaxed and easy going we are this time around. Nolan doesn't know it yet, but he's really paved the way for his little brother! Kale has been eating 20-30ml every 2 1/2 to 3 hours on the button and burping really well. He usually follows that up with a wet and/or dirty diaper as well. The home health nurse was here today and Kale looks great. He's down to 7 lbs even, so he's lost an ounce since coming home on Tuesday, but the nurse said tomorrow he should start to make some gains in the weight department. Last night was our first bump in the road, when Kale pretty much cried from 9 - midnight. Once he did fall asleep he slept through the night until morning, even with us waking him up to feed him. We're pretty sure that's when he's going to have his fussy time. We keep reminding ourselves it's only temporary!

The bottle-washing has again re-commenced at the Bleck house--we had a nice 6-month break after moving Nolan into the sippy cups! We're also doing a lot more laundry again. We both forgot about the sheer number of little outfits, burp rags, etc. that a baby tears through in one day!

I only have this week off from work, so we're both looking forward to a little more sleep with some help from Tricia's folks this weekend, and it'll be nice to show off Kale to the rest of the family as well.