I found out yesterday morning that the moment had arrived – and our lives were forever going to change.  My niece Gina had gone into labor and was headed for the hospital.  Lots of updates, but not a lot of progress during the day – late in the afternoon, all of the grandparents were told to prepare for a long night.

After work, I picked up Emily and we headed there for a quick visit.  Little did we know . . .

About 40 minutes after we arrived, my nephew Conner texted this pic out to the waiting room – Amelia Ann had arrived – the first baby girl in our immediate family in my lifetime.

About an hour later, Conner emerged from the birthing suite.  That was the second picture I took of him – the first showed how tired he really was after 12 hours of labor.  But he faked it well for the second pic – and then went around the room collecting hugs.

Lots of proud grandparents and great-grandparents.  Counting my mom and dad in Arizona, Amelia has four of each.  Times have changed since Ryan was born – skin-to-skin bonding with the mother is encouraged strongly, so none of us got to hold her last night.

But that changed this morning . . . love my brother’s shirt.  So Emily and I hightailed it back to the hospital at lunch today, so we could complete the process we started last night . . .

Please welcome to the world Miss Amelia Ann Smallwood – born Thursday, January 26, 2017 – 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 21¾” – with lots of dark brown hair and long fingers and toes.  I heeded Gina’s wishes and took no pictures of the new mother – yet.  But all are doing well, and we are grateful.