Blake Michael

 Welcome to the world, Blake Michael VandenBerg!! 

(Named after my Dad, of course :-)

 We decided not to tell anyone except our parents that we were having our baby on Monday, May 23rd.  So on that morning, at 5:30AM, we left our house in anticipation of having a c-section at 7:30.  We got to the hospital and got all hooked up to IV's and monitors and in no time, we had another baby boy in our arms!  Blake Michael came into the world at 7:54AM.  He was 8 pounds 13 ounces, 22 inches long.  He had a healthy set of lungs too!!  Steve and I spent a few hours with him on our own and then at about 10AM we called our parents and they came up to see him.  I was VERY out of it until about 3PM when I started to feel semi-normal.  We called our friends and just enjoyed sitting with our new little boy.

Charlie came up to the hospital with my mom and at first, he wasn't sure what to think.  I think that he was a little scared because I was in a hospital bed and had IV's in and I didn't look quite right to him.  He came up again the next day and then he wanted to hold him and touch him.  He's been great with him ever since!  We are such a happy little family!  I think that these two boys are going to be great friends!

On thursday, we got to take Blake home.  It was a little nerve-racking thinking about taking on another little life, but it has been great.  Charlie is a little impatient with me cause I'm always feeding Blake.  Well, I feel like I'm always feeding him :-)  But I think in time, Charlie will be fine.  Grandma Gallup has been great in helping me out too.  She'll come and take Charlie on bike rides and to play with her so I can have a little peace during the day.  I'm VERY thankful for that!  By the end of this summer, he'll probably be glad for me to go back to work so that he has someone to play with other than me!

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and well wishes during and after this pregnancy.  It was a hard one, much different than Charlie, but in the end...it was totally worth it!