9:40pm

Lynley here...

Okay so six hours ago little Miss Evelyn arrived into this world! I have to say that this day was just absolutely wonderful--a bit painful at times, but wonderful! We feel so blessed by the comments left by all of you. It is nice to know that we have many friends and family who love us enough to even be interested and genuinely excited about the birth of our precious daughter. Thank you, thank you, Thank you!

We are getting settled in for the evening and I am about to take a lovely little sleeping pill. Miss Evelyn is going to attend the slumber party in the nursery for the evening.

The birth went beautifully, with only an hour of actual pushing. Tobe is an excellent labor coach and knows exactly how to encourage me without being too harsh or too "sissy." If his whole PhD thing doesn't work out, he might have a future career as a doula. Unfortunately our doctor did not make it for the actual delivery--Evelyn just decided to come out quickly at the end and another doctor who happened to be standing in the hall jumped in to assist our nurse. The baby looked great and has already proven to be a champion eater. At this time, I feel great (could be the pain medicine speaking or perhaps the vast amount of food I have consumed in the past six hours--yes I did get my Jason's deli!) and feel a bit more prepared for the rollarcoaster of hormone-induced emotions that will surely come in these first few days of Mommyhood.

Isaac has yet to meet his beautiful little sister. We decided that it would be best for him to come visit her in the morning when he is rested and happy. However, we have already been telling Evelyn all the things that Isaac will soon teach her--such as how to order at restaurants, how to "keen" (clean--one of his favorite pastimes), and how to get Mommy and Daddy to do anything you want with just a simple "peas" (please). Although Isaac has been in excellent hands all day and likely hasn't noticed that Tobe and I were not around, the mommy in me missed him dearly today. I think my heart might just explode now that I have another sweet baby to love to pieces.

Thanks again, dear readers, for taking the time to think of us today. We know the Lord has greatly blessed us with the best friends, family, and co-workers. We love you all!

Lynley

PS. I am sure Tobe will add new pictures tomorrow--so check back in!

PPS. Rest assured that never again will I dictate a blog post after the initial injection of epidural medicine. I just read over that post and all I can say is YIKES!