Showered with Love

One of my three boys is not watching football! Need a hint about which one? Look below!
Dad is just too comfy.
Paul's first cuddle with Aunt-rea

A BEAUTIFUL fall day on Blue Heron Farm! The Blue Ridge mountains were gorgeous.

Grandma Bev's Early Literacy Program -- Paul is already enrolled!

Paul's first date -- Needless to say, Noa wasn't impressed! Our church small group threw a great baby shower for him; Paul was more interested in charming Noa (born one week before him) than quilting.

Why Paul William?

As promised, here’s the explanation of why we chose to name our little boy Paul William. You may remember that we chose the name Micah partly because of Micah 6:8 – “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” With Anthony being Mr. Justice and Megan being Miss Mercy, our hope is that Micah will be a good combination of the two of us with humility. Likewise, Paul’s name means “humble.” We pray that our boys will have a proper perspective of who they are in relation to God’s greatness. Also, Paul’s namesake, the apostle Paul, (and of course several of you bearing the same name) was an awesome man. Since we have much of the New Testament from which to choose, we have not yet chosen a verse written by Paul with which to bless Paul William. We chose William in honor of Paul’s great-grandpa Smith and in memory of Paul’s great-great-grandpa Jordan and great-great-grandpa Haack. We are grateful for our extended families!

Paul's Birth Story

This post is only for those of you who are interested in Paul’s entrance into the world – especially his great-aunts! I had been able to keep playing and teaching tennis up until one week before Paul’s birth. Early labor was slow and steady thanks to Braxton-Hicks contractions, since I was 3 centimeters dilated at least two weeks before he actually came. On Friday, October 6, I started having contractions at noon that didn’t stop when I changed activity. The bizarre thing was that the moment before I called my mom to give her warning, she called; then, I was about to call Anthony’s mom and she called. Impressive mother’s intuition, huh? Anthony came home from work early and my mom came that evening. Anthony and I have one TV show we watch – Numbers, which is about a math professor who uses math to help the FBI solve cases. I started feeling a sense of urgency, but waited to go to the hospital until after Numbers, at 11. I was excited and smiling enough that the receptionists, nurses, and Anthony’s student we saw were skeptical that I was in labor! I was already 7 centimeters and Paul’s head was at zero station. Paul’s vitals were fine, so I got into the Jacuzzi for 40 minutes and boy did that feel great! My contractions were really intense then and my midwife broke my water, at which point the pain was bad enough that Anthony had tears in his eyes (which made me feel so supported, when I was ready to give up and let him take over somehow.) Thankfully, I only had one contraction during which I wanted to push before I was allowed to start pushing. Unfortunately, as I was about to start pushing, Anthony and the midwife heard a pop – the sound of my tailbone breaking again. It only took two pushes for Paul’s head and one for his shoulders and he was in my arms! Paul was born at 1:30 am, so being at the hospital for just 2 hours (for both of my deliveries) is apparently the way for me to have “natural childbirth” without any drugs. Paul was 7 pounds and 20 inches long, with really long feet! According to Mount Holyoke alumna, Virginia Apgar, Paul scored 9 out of 10 on the first test of his life!

Team T's Homecoming

Even though we were pleased with Rockingham Memorial Hospital and the care of its nurses, it was nice to come home on Monday.

It was a beautiful, sunny Virginia day for us to come home. Micah is so excited and gentle with baby Paul!

Father-Son bonding time. So, Paul this is the way to hold onto the football.

Having boys didn't keep us from having a tea party with both Grandmas, complete with Aunt Lynne's Blueberry Buckle! Paul is already starting to long for Micah's cool cloud teacup! It was SOOO wonderful to have my mom (Bev) here for the week -- I (Megan) liked being taken care of like her little girl. Now it is awesome to have Joletta here -- she is SUCH a blessing to my three boys and me.

Then again, maybe this homeboy is too cool for tea parties!

For you GCC admissions folks -- Joletta is too busy here to take any pictures!

More Pictures

If you desire to download and print out the following pictures, I am still working out some resolution kinks (i.e. don't do it). I will keep you posted. Here is what you've been waiting for.

You sure are cute (they are both thinking the same thing)

I have more hair now than Micah did for his first 2 years

Look at my gigantic foot, it might be bigger than my head

The Tongen Clan

Paul: Even if I stretch, I am not that big!!

Micah: I like this big brother thing

Big Brother meets Paul

I wish I had a picture that showed the excitement in Micah's face when he first met Paul; it was soooooo precious. When Micah woke up this morning, the first thing we did was go and meet Paul. Following are some pictures from Saturday morning.

Megan, Micah, and Paul on Saturday morning

Micah, Paul, and Grandma Bev

Paul's first big closeup

Paul has eyes and they are brown (Megan does have some dominant genes :)

Paul's first pictures

It is very late, but I wanted to show off two pictures of Paul William Tongen. More info and pictures to follow in the next couple of days. Those of you who would like to download these pictures, right click on a picture and select Save Picture As.

An exhausted, yet always smiling Megan with Paul right after delivery.

A clean Paul takes his first nap.