So those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook may be wondering what I’ve been up to.
Well, I’ve been having a sweet little baby boy!
We are thrilled and thankful to announce the safe arrival of little Theo Benjamin Nienhuis, born exactly one week before his due date and weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 9 oz. He is tiny and perfect and, so far, absolutely content with life.
If you don’t like pictures of cute pink babies or pale new moms, turn away now :) I’ll have lovely baby-only professional pics shortly, but everyone needs some grainy “first days” shots too, since those moments really are some of the most real and special moments, in my opinion.
Theo means “gift of God”, and that’s exactly what this little man is to our family! Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
I didn’t have a feeling either way on gender, so I was both surprised and not surprised to discover it was a boy when he made his appearance at 10:22 am, about 2.5 hours after we got to the hospital. He was whisked away pretty quickly after emerging to get his tiny body breathing and less blue, but within moments his little lungs were functioning acceptably and we got to snuggle, and snuggle we did.
It’s all a bit of a blur, but my sisters came to visit that afternoon, along with both their own and my children, who were all excited to meet and hold the new baby. This picture does an excellent job of disguising the fact that there were 6 small children running around the hospital room at the time it was snapped! We had wanted a picture with all of us pregnant, but this is as close as we could get :)
We were able to go home the next day and start settling in as a family.
My amazing husband cleared his schedule for the rest of the week and has spent lots of time cuddling all his kids and taking the older two out a couple times a day so I could nap and enjoy quiet baby snuggles. I don’t know what I would do without this man who takes such good care of us, from vacuuming and washing the floors the day after we got home because he knew I wanted to, getting up with the kids in the morning and making pancakes for everyone while I slept in, taking the kids swimming, and making trips to the grocery store for single items I suddenly needed, not to mention getting suitably excited about every dirty diaper and new baby grimace and generally making me feel not alone.
Here are how our last few days have been spent :)
“I wanna hold baby Teo Mooooom!” Kristopher is loving the big brother role, much to my relief!
Brotherly love.
She carefully chose her “I’m the Big Sister” shirt, and, despite it not being the wished for girl, is the best big sister a baby could ask for.
The swing gets a perfect afternoon sunbeam for a cozy nap.
All my handsome boys, after Kristopher’s much-needed hair cut :)
Looking around from the vantage point of Carl’s forearm, which is about the same size as Theo.
How I found the kids eating the apples I had given them to distract them while I got dressed and made breakfast – Theo is already so loved.
Anna, Theo Benjamin is such a beautiful little guy (as are all your children). Congratulations to your whole family!
Thank you, Kathleen!!
Congratulations! 5lb 9oz is really tiny to me, both mine were 9lb 2oz! He’s precious.
OMG!!! Congrats to you and your family!! Theo is absolutely perfect and adorable! Love the names! SWOON!!! xoxoxoxo
Congratulations Anna!!! I’m SO happy for you all! I love that the kids are loving their older sibling rolls. God bless your family and little Theo!
Oh, a blessing for SURE!!!! Welcome, baby Theo!!! He is PERFECT!!!!
Congratulations!! He is absolutely wonderful + perfect – so happy for you + the family. And you need to give lessons on how to look so darn fabulous right after birth. You look fab, mama!
Congratulations, Anna! He is just perfect!
Congratulations, Anna! He’s adorable, you’re gorgeous, and your family is beautiful!!
I’m so happy for you! xo
Oh my goodness! Congrats to your whole family!!
Congrats! That 5-9 birth weight is really catching on!
Congratulations!!! He is beautiful. Watching my older two with their younger brother was always so much fun. Thanks for the sweet reminder of how precious that time was.
So sweet! Congratulations!! He is perfect!
Congratulations! He’s very handsome!
Congrats Anna. What an adorable little peanut!!
Congratulations on your beautiful baby boy! It sounds like you are very blessed with a great husband and wonderful children!
He’s perfect. Congratulations mama!
He is just precious! Congrats again!! Beautiful family!
I hope I am not too far behind you.
Sorry we couldn’t be there to welcome Theo ourselves but we know you are in good hands with daddy (looking so happy and proud:), your sisters (looking so happy:) and his other grandparents who live downstairs (make me so jealous!) He is such a beautiful baby and you are such a beautiful mommy. Take care of yourself and enjoy your wee one before he is as tall as his daddy :) Love to you all!
He’s absolutely perfect-congrats! Gives me a bit of baby fever :)
He’s so tiny and soooo adorable! And so are Gemma and Kristopher. Man, you have cute kids! You are all looking pretty settled in already. Hope everything continues to go really well! Praise God!!
OH MY GOODNESS! I think my uterus is glowing a little. So precious. I’m always afraid to get pregnant again until I see pics of brand new tiny humans, and the I start to re-think that. I totally do want another one…but not right now. Oh my gosh, is it weird that I want to smell him?
Congratulations! Theo is adorable and I’m glad you are both doing well. And I agree, you look amazing after just giving birth–totally glowing!
Congratulations! He is so precious! I am so happy for you and your family!! I am looking forward to reading your stories about him.
Congrats!! Beautiful family :)
Congrats! He’s beautiful!! What a blessing… :)
Congratulations! What a blessing. Wow, he is tiny! I hope you are doing well, take care of yourself. :)
Great pics! Thanks for the introduction:) Wish we could come by for a baby visit :(
He’s gorgeous! Congratulations! PS how do you look so good when you’ve just given birth?!