Going Green

Today in Sunday School, Andy's group was invited to draw Joseph's Coat of Many Colors. As further evidence that Andy's love for the color green is approaching an obsession, I present the following:


But as he explained, there are different shades of green! (A coat of many shades of one color does not a coat of many colors make.)

Opening Day

Ian took his first swing (pun intended) at little league baseball yesterday. He is playing a very basic version of t-ball called Blast Ball, which is designed for 3 and 4 year olds. It involves one base, and a gang of preschoolers in the field who run and tackle each other for the ball. It's very entertaining. Ian has actually proved to be quite the hitter, and is enjoying being part of his team, the Bears.

Andy has now graduated from Blast Ball and is now playing full fledged t-ball with the kindergarten set. His team, the Legends, is learning to play positions in the field and run all the bases.

Ludovicos Visit, Meet Matthew Alasdair

Carrie and her family were able to come up for a quick trip this weekend to meet Matthew Alasdair Brown. They brought supper with them for everyone, so we enjoyed a good meal around the table. After supper Dad and Tom played some bagpipes, and Andy demonstrated his [usual routine] on the piano.

The children played for an impressively long time on the porch without any, um, disturbances or need for supervision. After that we tuned in for some baseball and Star Wars, while Dad called out the Red Sox play-by-play off his computer.


Carrie and Mom enjoyed conversation in the living room:


Elizabeth seemed especially taken with her newest cousin, and did an excellent job holding him:

Week One

One week ago this evening, Jessica was admitted to the hospital to deliver Matthew Alasdair. Here he is one week on.


And while I'm at it, here's a cute close-up of Ian and the world's most heavily colonized blanket (colonized, that is, with microscopic organisms):

Prunes

[Scene: Jessica is having a prune from a bag of Del Monte prunes.]

Andy: Mommy, don't eat too many of those, because they make you go potty a lot.

Matthew Alasdair Comes Home

Jessica and Matthew were discharged from the hospital this morning. We are all very happy to have them home, and the older boys are especially glad to have life head back to normalcy.

When we set Matthew down, his novelty kept their attention for at least 60 seconds.


Here are my four sons.


Each time we bring a new one home, we are struck with a sudden realization of how much older the others have gotten to be. They all seem happy to have a new brother.

Meeting Matthew Alasdair

Here are some photos of Matthew being met by some "folks" (as Grandfather Barker would say). This will be it for hospital photos.

Andy meets his new brother:


Ian meets his new brother:


Peter meets his new brother:


Ian and Andy pretend to sleep on Mommy's neat electric hospital bed:


Gram (Tom's mom) meets Matthew Alasdair:


Grania (Jessica's mom) meets Matthew Alasdair:

Matthew Alasdair Brown

I'll post a few photos now, and then get some sleep!

Matthew Alasdair Brown was born this morning, April 2nd, 2008 at 2:06 am. He and his mother are doing very well. He weighed 7 lbs, 6.8 ozs, and was 21.5 inches long.

Matthew certainly is a "gift of God" (which is his name's meaning).