Penn Meets His Big Brothers!

Well, it was hard to be patient and wait for God's timing for Penn to arrive, but it's clear that the Lord wanted to bless us with the convenience of having my parents in town when the exciting arrival finally happened.  My Dad was set to leave on the morning Penn was born, but he scrapped those plans when he woke up on Tuesday morning by my Mom telling him he had another grandson!  Thankfully it was very easy to leave the house as quickly as we needed to with my parents there to care for the boys and it's been so nice to know they are with their grandparents and we can just rest at the hospital and enjoy some special bonding time with Penn.  


Due to Gramma and Grampa being at the house on Tuesday morning, they got to be the ones to deliver the special news to Koen and Tavin that Mommy and Daddy were at the hospital and they had a new baby brother!  When my Mom and Dad told us about the special moment, they were both brought to tears.  I guess Koen's reaction was complete rapt attention during the story-telling and when he found out it was a boy he said, "just what I always wanted!"  Precious.  Here are Gramma and Grampa with Penn later that morning...

Dad had dropped Koen off at Kidz Gig (so nice Penn came while Koen has something to do every morning this week...thanks North Way for caring for Koen these mornings!).  And then he and Mom brought Tavin over to meet the new baby.  Tavin had been asking for "baby out" for weeks now (as had I!), but I think it was a lot for him to take in.  He kept looking at my belly, then at Penn, then back at my belly.  I think this will take awhile to set in!  

You can see from the pictures that Tavin was quite reserved and almost acted unfamiliar with me since I was in a strange bed, strange clothes and a strange room.  Poor little Tav.  Thankfully by the end of his visit he was acting a little more like his usual self (I think it helped that he discovered that out our window he could see construction workers on the roof below us, that was a distraction for his on-edge nerves!).  We had decided that it would be nice to introduce the boys to Penn separately so that Koen wouldn't overwhelm the situation for Tavin, I actually think Tav would've been comforted by his brother, but we also didn't want him to make it more intense.  It was special to see them both respond separately as well.  Dad picked Koen up from Kidz Gig and brought him over to meet Penn around noon.  Here's Koen's first few moments with Penn...

Pretty cute!  Being 5 versus 2 and 1/2 definitely makes a difference in understanding what exactly is going on.  Koen was really sweet about his new brother.  Koen even gave Penn the craft he made that morning at Gig.  So precious!  The nurses here think that is so cute!  Koen hung out with us for awhile.  I didn't like the lunch meal the hospital brought me (grilled cheese and tomato soup), so I let Koen eat it on the big special tray and everything.  He loved it!  It was great to see both the boys and get to introduce him to the newest Melder boy.  It's going to be a blast (and let's be honest, a challenge) raising these three boys into men.  But with God's help and grace I'm so excited for what lies ahead!