Little Boy Blue

Yesterday my little sister, Sara, and her husband, Jeff, welcomed their second child - a little boy to join their daughter, Lily - into the world.

Carter Shane received his name from both sides of his family: Carter is my mom's maiden name, and Shane is Jeff's middle name. Sara and Jeff created baby name brackets - similar to March Madness brackets - while Sara was pregnant with both of their kids so that family and friends could play along as the two of them narrowed their 64 name choices down to the final winner. I'm bragging only a little when I tell you that while I missed a few in the early rounds, I correctly selected Carter's first AND middle names. I'm expecting a fantastic prize...probably something like getting to potty train Lily the next time I visit Illinois.

Carter weighed in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and measured 21 inches long, which is kind of impressive given that he was born nearly two weeks early. The doctors wouldn't have let Sara go until 40 weeks anyway because she weighed 9 pounds 12 ounces when she was born and Jeff weighed like 17 pounds at birth. (I kid, I kid. Jeff was close to 11 pounds when he was born though, and a few years ago we got a kick out of the fact that at her four month check-up, Hallie finally reached her Uncle Jeff's birth weight. I tip my hat to Jeff's mom, Peggy.)

I've written before about how Lily is Sara's mini-me, and we really expected that this little boy would be the spitting image of his daddy, just to keep it fair, you know. And while we of course have no idea what Carter will look like when he gets older, right now he looks EXACTLY like Sara did as a newborn. Apparently her genes are freakishly strong. (Like Tom's - neither of my kids look anything like me.)

We expected Carter to arrive a few days early, by design but also because Lily was born 10 days early, but I wasn't counting on him making his entrance THIS many days early. I don't fly to Illinois until March 8th, and I'm certain that waiting until then to meet Carter is going to be downright painful. Not to mention the fact that part of my reason for going is to help Sara and Jeff by taking care of Lily, cleaning their house, doing their laundry, doing their grocery shopping, and making their meals, and by the time I get there they'll have probably completely figured out life with two kids and won't need me. 

I take that back - I still haven't figured out life with two kids and I've been working on it for four years.

Speaking of my rugrats, this morning I shared with them the news that they had a new cousin.

Erin: Will, do you remember how Aunt Sara had a baby in her tummy?

Will: Uh huh.

Erin: Well, the baby came out last night! You have a new baby cousin!

Will: He's a boy, right?

Erin: Yep.

Will: He and I are the only boys!

Erin: You're right! You'll have to teach him all sorts of things because you're the only other little boy in his family (Lily and Carter have two girl cousins on Jeff's side of the family).

Will: Wait...how old is he again?

Erin: Hallie, do you remember how Aunt Sara had a baby in her tummy?

Hallie: I know.

Erin: Well, the baby came out last night! You have a new baby cousin!

Hallie: I know.  (Exits scene.)

Happy birthday, sweet Carter. Aunt Erin sends her love and can't wait to meet you and smother you with hugs and kisses. And Baby Lily, congratulations on becoming a big sister. I know that growing into this new role will be tough, but you're going to do wonderfully.