Beautiful baby boy

Before Kaden marked his first 24 hours since making his debut, Mom & I got to meet him tonight. We decided that he has his dad's curvy lips, his mom's button nose and long, delicate fingers (we're not sure where those came from). His paternal grandpa, Brent, is hoping he has the makings of a KU basketball player in him. If that's the case, he and I would have quite the face-off to see which one of us would be that little boy's No. 1 fan. (Am I sounding like the crazy aunt yet? Please say yes.)

I captured some beautiful photos tonight (nearly 100, in fact), including some three-generation portraits. Jen has requested that she be the first one to post Kaden's baby pics on the World Wide Web, so I will wait and share those soon. For now, I've posted a photo of Kaden's police bear. (His daddy is a police officer.)

It was a blessing tonight to be at the hospital to celebrate with Jen & Ryan and to see Mom hold her first bloodline grandchild. Ironically, the room in which we gathered was in the same hospital where Mom spent some very scary days just months ago. Mom continues to do great. She graduated from rehab this week and will continue to attend "maintenance" classes to keep her physically strong. She can walk farther on the treadmill and is improving her breathing.

Tonight, I counted my blessings on my nephew's 10 perfect little fingers.