Hospital Time

Mom got to hold her sweet baby boy for the first time. (Remember, that was his name: Baby Boy) When we did our skin to skin time, he opened his mouth and looked up at me with one eye. He looked very confused. Dad looked so proud as he had been helping throughout the whole labor process and finally got to see his boy. He told me what we had and said it with such shock, "it's a boy!" Shock because we had not decided on a boy name yet.

Baby boy let out a tiny squeak at first, but found his lungs when they took him to the nursery. Sterling sent this email to our friends and family after we had him.

Baby Smith is a....

solid, little fella. That's right, Baby Smith has decided to come out of the womb as a BOY! We couldn't be more thrilled to see what kind of man he will turn out to be. What is know about him currently?

• He was born 8lbs 14oz
• He is 20.5 inches long (I'm told they're not "tall" until they can actually stand on their own accord)
• He entered the world at 12:55pm
• He made a couple squeaks as he came out, but was otherwise completely silent for the first 75 minutes that we spent with him.
• He has blonde hair (that will eventually be light brown, we assume), not just fuzz
• Seeing his head poke out for the first time was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen

What is unknown about Baby Smith?

• His name.

We hope to finalize something by the end of the week, if not before we leave.
We came into this with some ideas, but we're not yet sold on one.
We're going to spend a couple days with him and see if he can give us any hints to what he thinks his name should be. We've spent today staring at him through the nursery windows with my family members. We're happy to accommodate friends who want to visit us tomorrow, but I think tonight we're going to take it a little easy and limit our visitors. If you do intend to visit tomorrow, please call ahead and I'll let you know if it's a good time or not. Mother and son are doing great and we really appreciate your concern and friendship.

love,sterling & shannon 

Uncle Brandon was so faithful to his nephew. He dropped by for a 5am visit before Aaron was born. Then he came back, brought Nanna and gave Sterling a new dad hat. He also brought a sweet baby boy bear for Aaron. 

Nanna holding her sweet grandbaby for the first time. She made it 7 hours at the hospital. What a trooper! They had him forever just to give him a bath and warm him up. We wanted to cuddle and Nanna waited them out. Happy Birthday to Nanna! We told her last year that we would give her a birthday present. What a blessing it worked out that way. Happy Birthday to Jeanette and Baby Boy Smith!

This is Dr. Ruk. He was the second Dr. on call. Although he was not our regular Dr. Ryder, we still really liked him. He would be there for a contraction and then slowly turn his head to watch ESPN golf. It was funny.

This is Baby Boy sitting in his toasty little warmer.

This is the offical weighing.

Day 2 at the hospital. I was feeling much better! So thankful for my nurse Mary that got me through the middle of the night. I do not know what I would have done without her. I was also very thankful for Baby Boy Smith's nurse Gracie. She nicknamed him Little Smitty. When he spit up the first day, she told us Little Smitty, kind of Spitty.

Our sweet alert little baby was loving all his visitors. He sported his A&M hat and his monkey blanket.

Yoda Face

 Dad feeding him his first bottle.

 Aunt Meri looked at him and said, "I love him". She also thought I had a girl still in my belly because she was convinced that I was having a girl. Elizabeth Newton said that Meri gave her a death look when she was holding her baby.

 Another family photo. Sterling and I did not plan on matching, but it worked out that way. I was looking and feeling much more normal than the original family photo.

Cousin Jacob holding him.

Cousin Kathy holding him.

Cousin Jarrett holding him.

We love John and Myra! They came for a visit to hold him. John only visits a few people at the hospital, so we felt pretty special.

Julie and Annie loving on him.

Heather and Read taking time to love on him.

I have never seen Read hold a baby, so that was pretty cool.

Tyler and Annie practicing for their new little one.

Barb's sister, Pat, was in town for a visit. I think the baby boy stole some of her visit away.

Lambda Gamma's newest mini sweetheart.

Grandma loves her new little grandson.

Grandpa is pretty excited too!

Finally, Gran gets to meet him. We had been waiting for her. She had to work the first night we were in the hospital.

Aunt Megan loving on her new little nephew.

Melanie came by to love on him too! What a blessing to have so much love fot our baby in just two days of life.

One of the great parts of delivering at Medical City was this delicious meal. I had the Lobster Ravioli and Sterling had Prime Rib. Starbucks coffee and this amazing cake for dessert. Sterling got the lady fingers, but I wish we had gotten two pieces of that cake. Baby Smith sat in his little bed for most of the meal, but we picked him up toward the end when he asked us to. My kids from school saw this photo as one of the first pictures of the baby, but all they noticed from it was that piece of cake on the table. They told their sub, "cake!".

Day 3 at the hospital.

Matt Brennan came for a visit. Then the naming lady calledd us at noon and said she was leaving at 2pm. We needed a name. 2 of the original 3 boy names had already been taken off the list. He did not fit those names. Sterling said, no more calls or visitors, we need to get serious and focus. After a while we both decided we liked Aaron. Avery had already been chosen.

Introducing, from the fightin' Texas Aggie class of 2033,

Aaron Avery Smith.

He gave us a little Gig 'Em on the way home.

Video of him at the hospital.

He looks so tiny in his seat, but he is very big for most babies. 8lbs 14oz. 20 1/2 inches.

I thought Sterling should strap him in. It seemed a little nerve racking.

Such cute cheeks! We were so excited to take Aaron home, but sad we had to leave all the wonderful Medical City help. Sterling accidentally called it a hotel instead of hospital. He was going to miss the yummy cafeteria breakfast. Same food but two different prices on both days. Random.