It's a BOY!

We welcomed Joshua Nicholas Mehler into the world on June 28th at 6:02 pm. Mom and Josh were champs throughout the entire event.

We woke up that morning and Sara was in labor. It continued steadily throughout the day with a last 40 minute burst of energy that brought Josh screaming and kicking. He actually came out in a Superman pose (he's already so aware of American culture - Michael is a proud papa!).





Josh is a BIG BOY. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 oz and measured 22" in length. He has his great-grandpapa's nose and his daddy's long toes. He has a very full head of sandy brown hair, but blonde eyebrows and eyelashes. He's the most beautiful person either of us has ever known and we're still amazed about the fact that they're going to let us take him home with us.

Josh decided that he wanted to wait until both of the midwives he knew - Margie and Kathryn - were around for the birth. Kathryn had knit Josh a little blue cap, which helped keep his noggin warm the first night.

Josh is taking to feeding very well, which is making mom and dad quite happy and proud of him. He likes snuggle time with either of us, although there are times that dad just doesn't cut it and it's time to hand off to mom.

So, we're all doing well and expect to be at home tomorrow (Friday) to enjoy our first weekend together. And to think, there's only 25 days until we close on the new house and get to move....

Snaffle

So, apparently we cannot spend a summer in pure relaxation. In addition to writing about 200 pages of academic muck (Michael) and giving birth to new human life (Sara), we decided that we wanted a house as well.

The house has enough room for 2 parents, 1 baby, 1 dog, 1 cat, and as many next-of-kin babysitters as we can cram into the guest bedroom. If you're willing to share with Michael's office (aka the sun room), you won't have to sleep in the same bed with another not so next of kin guest.

It's a wonderful house, with room to expand for one more (although at this point, we are sticking with 5 mammals). We're in basically the same neighborhood, so neither commute will be any longer and most importantly, we'll have a big back deck on which we can sip margaritas and look out onto our own little personal pond (well, we share it with several neighbors, fish, frogs, turtles, and the occasional snake). Sara and Michael are very excited about this, but not nearly as much as Luther will be once he moves in. Thank goodness there is the large deck on which he can dry himself before bringing his stinky furry butt into the living room.

If all goes well, we should be moving in the last weekend of July and then hosting a big baby party in late August.

As you can tell, so begins our life in the 21st century. We decided that with family and friends spread out all over the place, this might be the most efficient way to let you what's going on with the Virginia Mehlers and include some pictures in the mix. Feel free to read, comment, or both.

Michael & Sara & Squirmy-little-baby-running-out-of-room