my darling clementine

It wasn't exactly spontaneous, but at long last and with great relief I went into labor on my own.  Our wee raven-haired lass was born yesterday morning.  We are filled with wonderment, great joy, and profound gratitude for the blessings of a safe delivery, healthy baby, and abundant grace throughout the journey culminating in seeing her sweet face.

She is the "smallest of the small ones" (to borrow a descriptive from Judy Schachner's Skippyjon Jones books, some of our lads' favorites), weighing the same as the elder lad at just shy of eight pounds but a tad shorter in length.  Tiny little thing she seems compared to her three smitten siblings, she is our little peanut girl -- or maybe our clementine.

Diminutive food references aside, she -- like her siblings -- is a keeper.