Finally – he's here!

The last few weeks have seemed to last forever, so we’re thrilled to announce that our baby boy has finally arrived!

So, can you please finally tell us his name?
Jaylen Nathaniel Kern.

And how’d you pick the name?
We’ve had the name Jaylen picked since before we had Hope when we were deciding on boy names before we knew that she was a girl. Nathaniel was chosen due to it’s biblical context, and much like Hope’s middle name (Elisabeth), it means “gift of God” – which is exactly what he is.

So how big was he when he was born?
Thankfully, only 7 pounds 8 ounces. He was 20 1/2 inches long. Though he’s bigger than Hope – we think he’s just the right size!

And when was he born?
We are so fortunate that he was born the day between Jason and my 10th wedding anniversary and my birthday. Jaylen was officially born at 4:42pm on Friday, October 12th, 2007.

That must have been fun spending your birthday in the hospital, right?
Sure, honestly he’s the best birthday gift I could have received!

So what does Hope think about being a big sister?
She’s thrilled. She loves to hold him and helps whenever we need it. She’s adjusting amazingly to all the changes that come with being a big sister. She was so cute this morning as we were admiring her little brother, she reassured me by saying, “I think you’re going to be a good mommy, Momma”

So seriously Amanda, what took you so long to update us? We figured we would have heard the news on Friday!
Yes, we can joke – but I seriously do not have my laptop connected to me as some of you might think, especially during delivery, recovery and caring for a newborn. It wasn’t until last night that I had the energy to post pictures.

All joking aside – we are curious to hear how you’re doing since having Jaylen?
Not too bad, just recovering from the typical things that come during post pregnancy – but I’m starting to regain my energy and eager to get moving around again.

We’re a little anxious to see pictures of the guy, where can we see pictures?
As always, I’ve been posting pictures in flickr. We’ve made some public, but many are private and only available to those that we’ve listed as a contact in flickr. If you haven’t joined flickr yet – go join so you can see the rest of the pictures!!! We also hope to post a few videos to share with you all soon – so stay tuned.

Do you have anything else you want to tell everyone?
We can’t thank everyone enough for their support. It’s overwhelming and very reassuring to see all of the care, support and generousity that has come our way these last few months.

Is there anything else we can do?
Well, if you still haven’t voted for me for that scholarship you can take a minute to go vote! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. The voting deadline is October 28, 2007.