the beginning trials of a new dad, 2nd time over

yeah, so I'm pretty pumped about having had my second son yesterday. Awesome stuff. My wife went "all natural", which translates into no drugs and lots of pain for her. Me? The worst I got was on the last two pushes when she snagged my hand just right to squeeze my wedding ring between my middle finger and pinky. My ring finger was fine, but I was praying super hard that Benjamin came soon, because I was sure my ring was cutting through my fingers all the way to the bone. And she was gripping my hand so tightly (and rightly so, might I add - she was pushing at the time!) that I couldn't work my other hand in to take its place. Well, Benjamin was born and I quickly (almost) forgot about the pain in my hand.

In the afternoon my parents brough Keaton (my firstborn) over to see his momma and his new little brother. Of course, as soon as he saw Benjamin, he pointed and said, "Kitty." Then he proceeded to find everything in the hospital room that he wasn't supposed to play with and try to get at it. That's my boy!!!

My brilliant plan was to let him see mommy (more importantly, for mommy to see him!), and then take him home, grab dinner on the way, play with him a bit at home, and then get him to bed so he didn't have someone he wasn't used to putting him down. Lucky for Terra and I, Benjamin was born on the move-in weekend for the UNC campus, where the UNC hospital is. It took me a good half-hour to get off campus, and then the two primary interstates upon which I have to drive home were back up because of traffic (I was trying to go home at 5pm - again, brilliant plan!) and a couple of little wrecks. All in all, a drive which could take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour took almost two hours. Keaton was going nuts by the time we got home. I did (rather wisely, I might humbly add) stop and grab dinner as soon as I could, so he spent most of the trip munching on chicken nuggets and fries.

In the end, he stayed up an hour later. But I will admit, if these are the depth of my trials as a new dad (which I very much doubt), I am perfectly happy to endure. God has blessed us with two healthy, energetic young sons, and I am so privileged to be their father.