Welcome Stephen Alexander Root

Sorry for the very long delay in getting anything posted about our new addition . . . it's been a busy month.

Little Stephen Alexander was born at 10:58 am on September 11, 2006. (I guess we won't have any trouble remembering his birthday.) Labor and delivery went fine, no complications. He will be going by the name "Alexander." (We let Veronica choose what to call him.)

We had a busy house for the first couple of weeks with his Grandma Root in town to help with Alex's transition to the outside world and to help with letting his big sister Veronica know that she was still important. Grandma stayed for three weeks and then when she was certain we could handle two kids on our own, jetted back to OK to take care of her "kids." (We're talking about the dogs & cats, not Grandpa!)

Shortly after Grandma headed home, Alex developed a persistent fever and on Sunday Oct. 1 (Nate's B-Day) when it jumped to over 100, we called the doctor and ended up with a 24 hour watch to see if his fever would get high enough to precipitate a trip to the hospital. Monday afternoon, our worst fears were realized and we had to quickly pack up the whole family and go to the ER. (Many thanks to Uncle Chad for coming to get Veronica so we could help Alex through the experience.)

The worst pain I've ever experienced in my lifetime, was helplessly watching my barely three-week old son getting stuck in all extremities trying to get an IV in and getting a spinal tap. No child at any age should have to endure such things.

We ended up in the hospital for three days waiting for all of the test results and they all came back clear. It was just a viral infection that had to run its course, but because he was so young, no chances could be taken with his undeveloped immune system. When we came home he still had a fever that we had to watch for another couple of days, but it finally broke and he is gaining weight and looking very healthy now.

So now we're just navigating being a family. We've always heard that having more than one child is challenging and we've gotten to learn first-hand. We have an enormous respect for any single parents out there now.

So our apologies for the delay in the update - but it's been a challenging month.

And to top it off . . . we got a mini-van. My poor ego. ;-)

We've been lagging on the photos too, but will get busy with the camera soon. We don't want to end up with tons of baby pictures of Veronica and none of Alexander!

(And for those of you that believe in such things . . . is it a coincidence that when Alexander was born, there was a hurricane brewing in the Caribbean named "Florence?" Florence was my mother's name - so I know she was nearby when he was born.)