Brothers

Naturally, many of you are curious about Jackson and Oliver's first meeting.  Well, here it is.  On Thursday morning after Oliver arrived, my mom, dad, mother in law, and Jax came to the hospital as soon as visiting hours began to see the newest addition.  Justin and I were eagerly awaiting their arrival ... and we grew super excited when we saw them pull into the hospital parking lot from my window.  Seeing Jackson walking down the sidewalk toward the hospital entrance in his "big brother" outfit was probably the most emotional moment for me.  Blame it on the hormones, but tears filled my eyes before he even entered my room to meet his little brother.

There was certainly a shock factor when he noticed that I was holding a baby in my arms.  His huge "mommy" smile vanished and was replaced with a very perplexed look.  Honestly, he looked more confused than anything else.  For months we've been talking about "baby Oliver in Mommy's belly" ... but I was never truly convinced that he understood what we were trying to prepare him for.  I think we were right.  Our suggestions that he come see his baby brother were quickly silenced when he spotted a left over banana on my breakfast tray.  Jackson pretty much ignored Oliver and kept repeating "nannie ... nannie" (banana).

Once the banana was in his belly, we tried again to introduce the boys.

Nope.

Jackson's interest = zero.

So, we moved on to the "gift" that baby Oliver had "brought" to Jackson.  And, everyone knows that a present is more interesting than a new brother when you're two years old.

Soon, we realized that perhaps the best way to proceed would be to just let Jackson warm up to Oliver on his own schedule.  That gave the grandparents some much wanted snuggling time!

And between Jackson talking on the "phone" ... and pressing every button on my hospital bed ...

We even managed to snap a few nice family photos.

And get almost one kiss for baby Oliver out of his feisty big brother.

It was so special to have both of our sons together ... to feel like a family of four for the very first time ... surreal, really.  But, I'll have to admit, I was exhausted by the time Jackson left -- and happy to have one more night in the "quiet" of the hospital with just Justin and our newborn.  In a weird way, it was almost like a little weekend getaway for us.  A weekend getaway with very little sleep -- but a lot of oohing and aahing -- and even more love!  It was another night to fully enjoy our newest bundle of joy.

But, like all good things do -- our alone time ended around 2 PM on May 4th.  Thankfully both mommy and baby received a clean bill of health and the green light to be discharged to home.  So, Justin and I dressed Oliver in his special "going home" outfit and hat ... strapped him in his carseat for the very first time (anyone else amazed at how small newborns look in their carseats?) ... attempted to snap another family photo of ourselves ... and departed for home with Oliver in tow.

Little Oliver was a champion backseat rider (along with Mommy) ... and soon it was official ... we were home from the hospital with a brand new baby and the real fun was about the begin!