Homecoming

After a brief, 36 hour stay in the hospital, I was ready to break out of there, so Callan and I were discharged on Wednesday evening. We dressed him up in his adorable little Going Home outfit, and quickly loaded him up in his new carseat. The nurses said they could tell we had done this before as most new parents struggle with the carseat for quite some time before setting off for home. :)

As soon as we arrived in the front door, Brody and Leyton charged us to get a glimpse of their new little brother. This was the scene at our house for the next 45 minutes. They could not take their eyes off him, and were just mesmerized by everything about him. Precious!

Brody still wants to hold Callan for long periods of time, and I am hugely impressed with how well he is doing. He asks lots of great questions and is learning all about taking care of an infant. I never thought this kid would have such a loving and mothering side to him. It is so sweet to see! Leyton doesn't pay as much attention to him, but he does like to touch his little head and give him kisses. Leyton is still such a baby to us, so we have to make sure that he feels like he is not getting lost and that we take care of his needs, too. It's amazing, though, how in one instant Leyton began to appear huge to me, not like my little baby anymore!

We have survived the first day at home, thanks to help from Oma and Daddy. I don't think I could do it without them! Thankfully, Daddy will be taking six weeks of paternity leave from work, so we will have him around a lot. I think his help is going to be immeasurable, and I am so happy that he decided to take a big chunk to help us all get settled with three little ones. It is going to be a great thing for our family--thanks, B!

Many people have commented and asked about how we came up with his name. You know the Smiths--we always need a unique first name to link up with our boring old last name! When I was pregnant with Leyton, we had the names Callum and Kellan on our short list, and those were still contenders this time. Somehow, we kind of merged them together and stumbled upon the name Callan, which is Gaelic and means "powerful; fierce in battle." Considering he is the youngest of three boys, this name was a perfect fit--we certainly want him to be a powerful force in this family!! His middle name is my father's name and my grandfather's name, whom I never met. We felt that it was a solid, traditional family name that not only sounded good but would be a nice tribute to my dad's side of the family, particularly since my dad had four girls and no boys! So there you have it--Callan George Smith!