Matching Pajamas.

We put both of them to bed last night in matching pajamas from Grandma. I can't believe how big Brighton has grown in 18 months!!!

Brighton at the Beach.

These photos were taken the week before Easton was born. We took Brighton and Gillian to the beach to spend some quality time with them before Easton arrived. They both had a ton of fun!

Gillian the wonder dog!

I'm sure most of you have meet our first born, Gillian. She is now 2 1/2 years old and is the sweetest most gentle dog you could image. She is ridden, pulled, and tackled by Brighton on a daily basis and it has never bothered her. She seems to love Easton as well.

Brighton goes to swim lessons.

We enrolled Brighton in swim classes. There is an amazing swim school down the road from us called SWIM SEALS. They have wonderful teachers and Brighton loves it. He has no problems being dunked underwater. He still needs to learn to close his mouth but, it doesn't seem to stop him.

Easton's 1st. Bath

He actually loves taking a bath. He has no problem with getting wet. All of the grandparents were on hand to lend plenty of support!

Leaving the hospital with baby XXXXXX.

Well by now I guess you are wondering why we have been calling him "Baby X". Those that know us well, know that we have a hard time agreeing on names. It was day 3 and we still had not chosen a name. The person from the Social Security services said that we needed to pick a name by 11:00am as they were closing to observe Independence Day.

For the last 9 months we couldn't decide on a name and now we had 3 hours. There was only one name that Kimberly loved from day one. The biggest problem was that one of our good friends named their daughter this name a few weeks earlier, out of respect for them I was against it. As the hours ticked away I knew she wasn't changing her mind so I called my friends.

Just weeks before Sean and his wife Sandy Almstead had given birth to beautiful twin girls. We had visited them in Augusta, GA on our way to Florida and couldn't wait to do it again with the babies. I hated to call and ask but, I knew it was the only way for us to leave the hospital. I decided to take the easy road and send him a text message since it was 8:30am. Unfortunately they were laying in bed wide awake and called me back promptly. I could tell in their voice they were initially shocked and not jumping for joy. I hung up the phone knowing I was about to make somebody mad at me, I just had to choose my battle.

I started to break the news to Kimberly when, luckily they both called me back and said "We would be honored if you used the name EASTON". At 3:15pm (about 4 hours after the deadline) we decided on EASTON GREY BRUCE.

Needless to say we have wonderful friends. We can't wait for both Eastons to meet when we drive back to NJ in August.

Brighton Meets Baby X

Brighton was eager to meet see his new baby brother although, just as quickly lost interest. At least he didn't ask "When is it going back?" like Kim's sister did when she was born.

"Baby Boy's" First few minutes of life.

Shorty after delivery I was able to carry the baby upstairs to the newborn nursery. I never left the baby the entire time. This was new to us as we went hours without seeing Brighton after his delivery. Mom stayed back in surgery and the doctors somehow finished without my supervision. Aunt Lisa was on hand to welcome him. Unfortunately Grandma and Grandpa Williams were home babysitting Brighton and since we delivered 5 days early Grandma and Pappa Bruce had not yet arrived in Florida.

The Addition.

At 3:00 AM we our latest addition to the Bruce clan. "Baby Boy" arrived perfectly healthy and mom did wonderful in the surgery. The staff at Saint Joseph's in Tampa, FL was excellent!

VITALS:

7# 4oz

19" long

Boy

July 1st. 2008.

Today started out like everyday this week. I went to work, and Kimberly took care of Brighton. They played outside and he even helped Grandpa mow the lawn. She was having lower back pain all day and struggled chasing him around. At 10:00 pm we decided to call our doctor and get her opinion. She agreed that we should go to the hospital just to make sure everything was ok. We were already scheduled for a "C-Section" the following week, and were optimistic we would make it. We took our time getting there not thinking much was happening. We even posed for a picture and stopped for gas at Raceway along the way. When we arrived Kimberly was 5 CM dilated, and we new that we were not checking out anytime soon. They called in the on-call doctor and at exactly 3:00 AM we were blessed with our new addition, "Baby Boy".