It's a BOY!!

We have a beautiful baby boy! Jasper John Starr was born Friday, August 12th at 11:56 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs and was 21 inches long at birth. He's already one week old! And I don't mean to brag, but he is perfect. And after that delivery, he had better be! Let's just say that it wasn't easy and it didn't exactly go as planned. Ever heard of "hot spots?" That's when the epidural doesn't work in one specific area. Mine just so happened to be in my bottom. I felt things I never felt before and NEVER hope to feel again! But all the pain was worth it. And it didn't take too long. The major labor pains were only for about five hours. And Jeremy was there, helping me through it the entire time. Speaking of Jeremy, let me give my rendition of what happened during the birth. As Jasper was born, and we saw that he was a "he," Jeremy jumped in the air and yelled, "YES!!" (I'd hate to see what would have happened if we had a girl!) My immediate response was, "No ball in the house." And he replied, "Oh yeah, ball in the house!" He had a great time teasing the family and finally telling them the news.

There are some other fun stories, but they're probably not appropriate for the internet, so we'll share those with you in person. I still get baby updates from my babycenter.com site. It mentioned that newborns can see, but that vision is a little fuzzy. They're basically nearsighted and can see best between 8 and 15 inches away.

So far, we've lucked out and had only one rough night with Jasper. He's been very kind, letting us sleep for 4-5 hours at a time! Today, he woke us up at 7:45! We have him sleeping in his crib already, and it seems to be working very well. We're hoping to get him on a good schedule as soon as possible. As for me, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm recovering from the usual delivery woes, but I've been up and moving since we came home on Sunday. Jeremy is already a great dad. He changes plenty of diapers and gives plenty of kisses. His first diaper change was a bit of "an experience," but since then, he's become a pro. In the hospital, I remember hearing, "EWW POOP!! Don't put your foot in it Jasper!!" He said some other things, again, not necessarily for the internet... Thanks again to Kira for her help during that "ordeal."

Jeremy goes back to work Monday, and I'm on maternity leave til late September. I'm sure I'll have plenty help from Granny, Grandpa, and Grammie and PawPaw while Jeremy is at work, which is nice and much appreciated. Even Callie has been helping out, giving Jasper big, wet kisses when he's in his swing.

OK, time to share some of our favorite pictures with you all. Thanks for all of the visits, balloons, boy clothes, phone calls, e-mails and texts. We're a very happy family, with a lot more hours of sleep than we ever anticipated.