Happy Birthday, Phoenix :)

This morning at 11:11 AM, we welcomed our new boy into our family--Phoenix Tyler Robert Graves.

Here is today's story as told by Daddy:
After a restless night's sleep, your mom woke me up and said she'd like to go walk around the neighborhood to get the increasing number of contractions to be more consistent. It didn't take long to decide that we should just pack up and head South.

We fed the chickens and Edwin the pig, packed our few remaining necessities, and were out the door. We figured a walk around the Northgate Mall area would help get things going, but we didn't even get that far. A pit stop to get some Starbucks hot chocolate was the only pause we had on the way to Northwest Hospital. We learned that things really do move considerably faster the more kids you've already had!

Dr. Blackham was quick on his feet, and met us at the sign-in desk before we'd even made it to the room! Some doctors are just that good!

(after the birth, Dr. Blackham strums his stuff)

The nurse (Marissa), helped mom get all of her arm and wrist hardware attached before letting us roam the halls in the flashy hospital gown. Shortly after, our new nurse Becky showed up--she was amazing! And soon after that, Dr. Blackham came back after his brief first visit and went in to break the water. You were wrapped in the usual fortified material that your brother and sister came in. Once this was done, things began moving in the direction that most (all?) look forward to--the end of labor!

With Rachel Gross and Justice Walters standing by helping, 11:11 quickly rolled around and you took your first breaths of fresh hospital air! And just to let us know you were a boy (as if we couldn't tell...) you came out peeing all over everything ... mostly Dr. Blackham :)

Your face was very red, and the rest of you was pretty purple looking. Your hair even looked red... and since Phoenix also means "dark red", we knew we'd picked correctly. You weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz., were 20.5 inches long, and had a head circumference of 15 inches! It was just as amazing meeting you as it was your brother and sister. Your mom and I both cried tears of joy as we got to look into the eyes of our new little man for the first time ever. You came out perfect and you will always be precious to us. We love you so darn much. Happy Birthday, Phoenix!

(And here's what happens when the rest of our rugrats show up...)