Dean

On January 3rd Dean arrived. He will be the last Alves baby and that's not negotiable. We had induction planned for January 4th at midnight so family as able to plan around this and get their butts into town. My sister's family came out on the 2nd, I think, along with my dad. My mother in law was already here and my sister in laws made it out just two hours before Dean was born.

Natalie was induced at midnight on the 3rd so everyone decided to make bets on when he would be here. My dad and sister were betting anywhere between 3-5 in the morning but all my kids have been born around the same time and labor never gets shorter. So I said sometime between 2-3 in the afternoon. By mid morning I kept saying 2:30 PM. As labor moved further and further along I kept saying it won't happen until 2:30. At 2:10-2:15 the hard pushing started and again I said right on time for 2:30. Well Dean was born at 2:30, on the dot. However the doctor must have been drunk because he birth certificate says 2:29. My watch is synced with the cell services though and it dead on.

I was a tiring week. I spent the night before Dean was born laying on a bench/bed. My twin and I were sleeping on opposite sides with feet facing each other in fetal position. It felt like old times, only now I'm old with a back that hurts. I had started getting a stuffy nose that night and after Dean was born it was all downhill from there. Dinner made me feel nauseated and my back was killing me by the end of the day. I spent the night in the hospital again thinking we would get to go home the next day. Of course as luck would have it Dean's bilirubin was too high the next day so he had to stay another night. 

Over the next two weeks I didn't really get to hold Dean. I got sick not once, but twice. Just as I started to clear up I got hit again. So for two weeks I only got to occasionally take a peak at Dean from a couple feet away. Needless to say the kid wasn't very fond of me when I did try to hold him. I would pick him up and he would cry. He has finally warmed up to me but is still a stage 5 clinger with his mom. Somehow he avoided getting sick with the rest of the family so we got lucky there but as I write this Zach has a stomach flu and was blowing chunks this morning. 

Dean has the worst smelling baby farts I've ever smelled and his poop smells like buttered popcorn. He has had a rash since he was born which they think is from food allergies so Natalie is basically on a meat and salad diet. He's a strong baby though and was holding himself up just a couple weeks after he was born.

Natalie's last pregnant picture on January 2nd. We went to my friend George's restaurant, Saba's. It's rated on of the best in the valley. 

I don't have any blog appropriate pictures of Natalie and Dean but here he is with a few of us.