David Mark John Scott

(Just pretend that this was written earlier-like Dec. 8th)
-On November 8th, at 12:35am, we welcomed our newest family member, a boy, David Mark John Scott, into our family. He weighed a whopping 9.6 pounds and was 21 inches long. He had a bit of a difficult arrival and ended up in the NICU for a couple of hours due to meconium in the fluid. James and Hannah came and visited later in the day and were absolutely in love. Neither of them wanted to leave the hospital.
-We had a very difficult time naming David, and it too almost a whole day before we decided. We had a few names that we had decided on earlier in my pregnancy, but nothing stuck. After he was born, Mark gave me a list of names that we had talked about and I sat there holding him trying to figure out what he should be called. Finally, after many hours of looking at him, I determined that he was a David, whether I wanted to name him something else or not. The middle names were pretty much already decided: Mark for his daddy, and John for Mark's father. People have since joked that we have nearly packed the Gospels into his name, or that there are barely any other good names left, should we have another.
-Mark's mom left to go back home on the 11th after much doting on David and helping out with the other kids.
-Deb, Ruthie, Beth and Izzy all arrived on the 13th to enjoy some time with us and meet little David. They enjoyed taking the kids to the "bean tree" with the Burley; going to Stephen's Lake Park; going to church with us; having a blast at Going Bonkers; watching the Eclipse movies; and visiting with us.
-Hannah and James have become wonderful, helping big siblings. Hannah is overly obsessed with getting David his pacifier if he is crying. She has also reverted back to the occasional suck on her old one. I don't mind this, as it seems to be the only thing that is keeping her a little girl. She barely sucks on it-mostly for the play aspect, and we never leave the house with it. James loves to hold David, and is very good at it. He would sit for hours, if David would only enjoy it that long too. Hannah is funny about holding him. She really wants to, but at the first sign of David feeling uncomfortable, or if he starts to cry, she pulls her hands away. She is sweet, but clearly is too young to hold him by herself.
-Shortly after David's birth, Hannah decided that now is the perfect time to start potty training. I am on board, but she must initiate-and she does. I don't have the brain power to make sure that she is going when she needs to. She is doing really, and I am hopeful that it won't take too long, especially since we are about to do some major traveling.
-David is a sweet, generally quiet little guy. He takes well to his siblings doting and fighting over him. He sleeps while there is noise and chaos, and we enjoyed his first real smile (~6 weeks) while both James and Hannah talked to him while he swung in the baby swing. He is strong and holds his head up very well, and even likes to stand. I am really looking forward to getting to know this little boy.
~A conversation between Mark and James:
ME: "James, how did you get so smart?"
JAMES: "Maybe grandpa or my aunties."
ME: "And maybe mommy and daddy?"
JAMES: "Or maybe just my brain."
~A statement by James and reflection by Mark:
James: "Daddy I'm not real, I'm a toy." In our quest to distinguish between reality and fiction, we have good days and bad!
-3 kids and feeling contentment once again. I look forward to the days ahead.