Quinn King Barry is here!

Well, Quinn King Barry has made it and in less than 1 week he has managed to heat Iowa up to 110 degree heat index, cause the Royals to lose 3 straight after winning 10 of 13, and our garage door to break. But the stock market is way up since he was born, so it all averages out! This is just one of many pictures and videos that Quinn has been the star of in his short life, but if you scroll to the bottom...I mean read word-for-word until you get to the bottom, you will find a link to see more great pictures of little Quinn. He's not so little I guess. For the rest of this blog, I will share with you some of the facts and figures of the "Mighty Quinn" (thanks Father Kirby for the nickname) and how his first week of life on the outside is going.

First of all, the basics: He was born at 4:46 p.m. on Friday, July 9th. He was a big baby, but our smallest so far, weighing in at 8 pounds 7 ounces. And yes, this was well over 2 weeks early. Had he gone to full term, he would have been near 10 pounds! Thankfully, Reagan seems to always go a couple weeks early which is good as all of our kids have been 8-9 pounds at that point! The ultrasound just a week prior had Quinn pegged for well under 7 pounds meaning he should be just over 7 at birth on the 9th. Love modern technology and its "margin of error". Our great doctor's own measure and estimate method was much closer as he predicted an 8 pound+ baby. As for Quinn's length, pretty typical: 20.5 inches. He was born after a typical Reagan labor: 4 days of constant contractions, 2 days of little sleep, and a morning heading to the hospital after countless hours of 5-minute apart contractions. Even then, we spent about 10 hours in active labor at the hospital before he arrived. Reagan, being a trooper and a pro at this, even found time to shower, do her hair, and do her makeup while contractions were less than 3 minutes apart and her water had long since broken. I don't even ask at this point...I just stay out of the way!

When Quinn finally arrived, so did his brother Jack and sister Abby. Abby has her 30-kiss per day quota that she has to get in. Even though he was born late in the afternoon, I think she still got it. Her hugs are more like head butts and her petting is more like patting, but Quinn seems to realize that she means well and usually sleeps right through her affectionate attempts. As for Jack, the guy who originally refused to share rooms, he even helped move Quinn's dresser to right beside his and gave Quinn a tour of our house, including his eventual shared-room with Jack (currently he is in pack n'play in our room until he sleeps through the night). Jack thinks Quinn is pretty special and uses Abby's downtime as time to get his hugs and kisses in as well.

So how is Quinn liking Earth, our house, the country-living, etc.? Well, we don't really know. He sleeps close to 20 hours a day and is jaundice right now which could be causing some of the drowsiness. We call him our glo-worm as he has the fluorescent green light strapped to his back basically all the time. The good news is that he only needs this for about 24 hours and then he should be back to normal. Well, normal for our family which means a pale shade of off-white, prone to sunburns if exposed to anything higher than a 60-watt bulb! He is unsure of the cats right now, but Jangles has taken to him like she has the other two kids....a little mother hen. Bo, having more diagnoses than most students I counsel, has taken to hiding, darting, and likely peeing where he shouldn't.

What about Quinn's parents? Well, Reagan is doing well and looks fantastic (as many of you saw from the Facebook photos). She is doing way too much around the house already, but enjoying time with her new son all the while balancing her free time between much needed naps and other kid time. She is liking having me home for a change. Quinn is our first summer baby, so I actually have another month before I am required back to school. This makes for lots of great family time, so we are just hanging out and waiting to see if Quinn ever wakes up. (side note...when his eyes do open, it is quite an event in our house and we all gather around. No wonder he doesn't open his eyes up much!)

Well, that is about it for now. I will leave you with some Quinn facts and then as always, 3 things to leave you with. This time, my things are videos that are all videos that show true enjoyment. The first is "video" (okay, pictures put to music) of Quinn, the 2nd two, well, I will let you be the judge of whether or not they are true enjoyment. All I have to say is watch them...they are well worth your time.

Quinn Facts:

1. He was born on a Friday..just like Jack and Abby were!

2. He is CURRENTLY youngest of 3...just like his Mom and Dad are.

3. A former Royal by the name of Mark Quinn is the "all-time homerun leader" for the major leagues by a player with the last name that starts with Q (it is the lowest total of any letter though!)

4. Quinn was almost Liam Timothy, but Ben's preference won out in the end.

5. Quinn is our only child whose name is not spelled using 4 letters and also the only child who does not have a longer version of his name (Jackson and Abigail)

6. Quinn is the only grandchild or great-grandchild on either side whose first name begins with Q.

7. King, Quinn's middle name, is Reagan's maiden name. Although I like poker, this is not why I have a child named Jack and one named Quinn (Queen) King. If we have a 4th and I nickname him Ace and he is always a joker....then you should worry!

Love&Prayers,

Ben

3 Things to Leave you With:

1. The first thing that causes true enjoyment is LIFE. Go to this website and enter the password to see great pictures of Quinn: http://www.bellababyphotography.com/login password: 0709quinnbarry

2. The second thing that causes true enjoyment is nature. Click on this link to see how one person truly enjoys one of nature's most beautiful moments. Umm....yeah, he really enjoys it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

3. The third thing that causes enjoyment is laughter. When I watch this video I think about what my brothers did to me and what Jack and Abby may someday do to Quinn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXPQY_VRP6M