Cirdan (KEER-dan) Elias was born a few minutes ago, 5:43 pm at home. He is 9 pounds 6 ounces and 20 inches long.
Betsy started laboring in earnest around 8 this morning, but her water didn’t break like with her first two births. We spent the day resting and watching videos of the previous births, and we walked around the mile or so loop three times and enjoyed the beautiful, short Alaskan daytime. When she was ready for some more action after a slow afternoon, the midwives broke her water around 4:30 pm. Things happened much faster after that, and after 18 minutes of pushing I got to catch my second beautiful boy! He has a lot of hair and is bigger than the first two, and seems very healthy.
Now (11:30 pm), we’ve already changed two very messy diapers and he has nursed a lot. Beren and Liliana came for a visit and were both really excited. Lily seems a bit insecure even though she is very proud to be a big sister. Beren seems to be taking it in stride so far. I am thrilled to have a chance to spend more time with them this week.
We hope you enjoy the few pictures we’ve put up so far. Thank you to those of you who have already left your congratulations on the blog- what a hip way to hear from you! And we want to thank our wonderful midwives for another beautiful home birth, and of course for our parents, who have all given us so much support already and on whom we will continue to rely for years. We thank God for all of you, and for our sweet new baby boy!
CONGRATULATIONS! Very happy to hear the news and just in time for Christmas. All our best and fond regards – Uncle James and Aunt Tammy
High congrats!
So glad you’ve been *delivered* Betsy!
Lotsa love
Woohoo! Virtual hugs to one and all!
Erin
Congratulations! Cirdan is certainly a handsome baby. It is great to see such a wonderful family grow!
Congratulations on the arrival or your new little boy. Cirdan is beautiful. What a wonderful Christmas package. Best wishes from the gang to your family of 5.
Cindy, Barb, Wilma, Jenny, Lee, and Karen
Yipppeeee! What a wonderful early Christmas present! So glad everything went well. Camille and I can’t wait to meet Cirdan! Love and prayers, Heather
Woo hoo!!! So excited…and to think, this whole time I thought you were going to have a girl.
Super excited for you! Congratulations!!!
Congratulations! He is a big beautiful baby! You are very lucky!
Love you all,
Amy
Congrats Nathan! He looks beautiful! Enjoy your time off with all of your babes!
Pascale Seidl
IT – FMH
Glad to hear the exciting news! What a beautiful little guy, that’s a terrific name you chose for him. Big brother and sister must be really happy to welcome him into your family.
Love to all of you,
Jim and Oli
Praise God! We’re so excited with you and hope to meet Cirdan before he gets TOO big!
What a wonderful reminder for years to come of Christ’s birth. Hugs and prayers to you over the miles, through our family of Christ. We miss you and think of you often.
Your brother and sister in Him,
Ryan and Leah
MANY congratulations to you all with the arrival of Cirdan! The home birth experience must have made his arrival even more special.
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above all ye heavenly hosts,
Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
A blessed merry Christmas to you all
Love and hugs from California,
Greg and Patricia
Wow! What a precious child. And what a special time for you and your other children to be experiencing this wonder. I will be praying for you in this time of joy and adjustment.
We think of you often and miss being able to see your faces. Now that I know about your blog, I will check back frequently for a chance to glimpse your family and hear from your heart.
God’s blessing is on you,
Bethany
The joy of a new little person to love is tremendous! I’ve felt so blessed to be able to share some time with all of you, and look forward to the continuing expansion of God’s love in your beautiful family. Love you all so much! GMom
Congratulations! Best wishes for this truly joyous holiday season!
Love,
Lisa and Denny
Hooray!
What a beautiful boy. I can’t wait to spend time with all five of you in April!
Much love,
Sarah
Congratulations, Nathan!
Submitted to early. Wanted to add congratulations to Betsy as well. What beautiful children! Nice to stumble across your site as well– I’ve been wondering how you’re doing…
Congratulations!
Beautiful family, beautiful baby and beautiful name!
You are very lucky! We are sharing your happiness…
Shelly & Shawn
Wooohooo!
Congratulations you five!
Hi Cirdan, we look forward to meeting you some day soon.
I can’t believe how HUGE your mamma was right before the birth (from the pictures on your blog) –you must be a big boyeee.
Well, lots of love from us northwestereners.
May God bless your family with lots of love, support, and fun!
-The Hansens
Hi There! I was browsing the web with my son Cirdan’s name (he was born January 27th 2005) and I came across your wonderful blog. What a beautiful family God has given you. I pray the Lord will bless you all and I will look forward to reading more about your family adventures!
Jesus Bless You All,
Heather
Wow Heather- I’m glad to know of someone else with the chutzpah to use a name like ‘Cirdan’! May the Lord Jesus bless you and your family too.
I got curious today and googled “baby boy Círdan” to see if anyone else had named their son that as well, and up popped your blog! Apparently we’re not the only nutty Tolkien fanatic parents in the world.