Hawkes is Here!

On Tuesday, January 14, 2014 we welcomed Hawkes Lee Powell to the world and to our family.  He arrived five days past his due date, but right on time.  Hawkes' official stats were 9 pounds, 21.25 inches and perfect in every way!  I delivered at Vanderbilt, like I did with Sophie, and I can't say enough great things about the OB team and labor and delivery teams.  We had a small scare when Hawkes was a few hours away from delivery, but it was well-explained to us and we felt reassured and confident that teams were in place to jump in as needed when he was born.  Thankfully, no intervention was necessary but we had quite an audience in the delivery room.  

Vanderbilt uses Bella Baby Photography to capture some of those sleepy and early newborn moments.  Here's one of the many photos taken of Hawkes:

We know Hawkes isn't a traditional name and lots of friends and strangers and even family have asked how we chose his name.  Jason's great-great grandfather was John Hawkes Mellard, an angus cattle farmer in Kansas.  We both love one of the stories about John Hawkes that has been passed down through the family about how he and his wife protected their homestead and cattle from neighboring ranchers who weren't too fond of this new breed of cattle and the fencing the Mellards constructed to keep them safe and secure.  After Jason's mother reminded us of some of these stories, we knew Hawkes was going to be the name.  His middle name, Lee, is both Jason's and Jason's late father's middle name.  Sophie is a name that goes back many generations in my family, although we didn't know that until after she was born.  Her middle name, Marcella, was my grandmother's middle name.  It feels good to know both Sophie and Hawkes have names that connect them to our families. 

Sophie is smitten with Hawkes and couldn't be sweeter with him.  We've had a few tough moments when she needed one of us and we couldn't be there for her like we would have before Hawkes, but we're figuring it out together.  I'm so grateful to her teachers, friends and parents of classmates who make Sophie feel special. Seeing her with her brother for the first time was truly one of the highlights of our lives and we've had lots of sweet moments since then, like this one.

In other news, things are finally moving along at the new house after a few weeks of delays due to wet weather that prevented the crew from digging footers for the addition.  We finally had a stretch of dry weather, so they're rocking and rolling again although now we have bitterly cold temperatures.  One more unexpected situation came up with the acoustic/popcorn ceilings throughout the original house.  The crews tried several methods of removal to no avail - it seems as though these ceilings were applied with a crazy process that makes them impossible to remove so we will have to cover them rather than scrape or sand them.  We made some progress just before Hawkes arrived with choosing cabinetry and some appliances and we have a great lead on tile and a powder room vanity through Costco of all places.  

I hope to have some new photos to post next week of the progress and some of the products we've found.  Until then, I'm happily holed up at home with Hawkes, getting to know him and sharing lots of snuggles.  I've gotta share one more newborn photo - I think this is Jason's and my favorite.  Somehow both Sophie and Hawkes inherited my crazy feet, so seeing that the photographer captured them was just perfect. 

Finally, I have to say it wasn't lost on us that Hawkes made his debut on the first day of the 2014 legislative session.  Sophie was born on the anniversary of the day Jason and I met at the polls on election day in 2002 so of course Hawkes had to have his own tie to politics in some way!  Until next time...