olive's first days

it is odd having a first child. nine months of build up to being parents. nine months of conversations and day dreams about his hypothetical little person. but nothing really prepares you for the reality of it.

a night in the hospital and seven hours of labor later... we are left with another human being. our family of three (counting boone of course) has just now become a family of four. all of the sudden we are "parents" and responsible for another person. i am not saying that in a "omg what have we done" kind of way... because already, three short days in... i can't imagine not being a parent. olive has changed everything. jen and i feel like we now have a greater purpose other than just ourselves. WE ARE PARENTS!

on top of that... olive is the most precious, lovely, perfect gift in the whole world. i keep thanking jennifer for giving us olive. she tries to thank me in turn but 15 minutes of work on my part vs 9 months of work on her part... she really does deserve all the credit.

these first couple of days we have found ourselves just sitting and looking at her. watching quietly as she sleeps (she looks like an angel i tell you) and waiting in anticipation for those moments when she scrunches up her little face, yawns, and opens her little eyes.

one of my favorite moments already was during our first night at home. olive was sleeping in between us in bed (i know... we are breaking all the parenting/sleep rules already) and jen and i were laying down on either side of her looking at each other. olive was on her back. we were on our sides with our heads flat on the bed. we normally end our days like this... laying in bed looking at each other and talking. only this time it was different. our daughter was laying down in between us. the normal unobstructed view we have of each is now graced with the profile of this tiny new addition to our family. we just laid there and studied her forehead, her eyes, her cute button nose, her (momma's) lips, her round little chin. and every so often we would look past olive and make eye contact with each other.  i can't imagne anything better.

below are some photos from olive's first days.  checking in to the hospital, the labor and delivery (we exclude all the vagina shots that our moms somehow managed to get without us realizing it), as well as visits from our family and our friends nick and april.