He is healthy and weighed 7lbs 11oz.
The labor and birth seems like a dream, as Reuben arrived 2 hours after active labor began. Our midwife got to the house just 10 minutes before the birth! Mumsey took Astrid to the grocery store when labor became painful and Ramona decided to stay for the birth. Ramona saw Reuben "crowning" and helped to cut the cord after the birth. We called Mumsey and Astrid after the birth and they were still at the grocery store and couldn't believe Reuben had already arrived...we couldn't believe it either. Wow!
Ramona and Astrid are in love.
Reuben seems to be a mellow and easy-going little man. We're actually getting sleep at night!
We were lucky to have Mumsey and Grandpa to help.
We moved out of our house in Johnson City and drove down to New Orleans to settle in a few weeks before Reuben's birth. The girls and Andrew and I will miss our friends in Johnson City and Asheville, and we'll miss those mountains and forests and rivers. (One day we may just have to move back to the Appalachians.)
Andrew has accepted a 5 year PhD position at Tulane University studying tree swallows in the wintering roosts along the Gulf Coast. Ramona will be starting Kindergarten in mid-August at Morris Jeff Charter School. She's been so brave with making new friends here in New Orleans. We're lucky to have many families with young children on our street. Today Ramona and her new friend from our neighborhood had a lemonade stand and made $2.50! We've all been loving the pools at Tulane. Ramona has learned to swim underwater, flip, and dive and Astrid likes bobbing around on her floats and jumping off the side of the pool.
There is so much to see and do here: City Park and Audobon Park, festivals every week, all sorts of museums, the bayous and swamps, the music, the food, and, of course, all of the friendly folks who live here.
We are renting a house a few blocks from buses and street cars and we have an extra bedroom, so please come to visit!
