Josiah Wayne Cornelius

Our beautiful surprise baby boy was born on Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, at around 8:00 AM during a scheduled C-section. While he was being cleaned up and I was being stitched up, the name Josiah (which had been on our list from a long time ago) came to me. It wasn't one that we had discussed during this pregnancy, but it just seemed right and Jason agreed. My recovery was quick and easy (I am extremely lucky that way) and I got clearance to go home on Sunday morning. I was tempted to go to church to show off my beautiful new baby, but I resisted for his sake and mine. My mother was a wonderful blessing for taking care of Emma and Gavin by herself almost the whole time I was in the hospital so that Jason could be with me and the baby and make my hospital stay more bearable.

Jason's grandparents came to visit before we left the hospital. They had driven in from Massachusetts to visit their son, Craig, in Orem and for General Conference. They also went down to St. George to visit Jason's sister Julie. It was really nice to see them and for Josiah to meet one of his two namesakes, Wayne Kinney (Jason's grandfather) and Wayne Richards (my grandfather). Emma loves her new brother and is a fabulous big sister. Josiah is 4 days old and already looking up to his big sister! From the day he was born, Josiah has had plenty of hair. So we took him to the hair salon to streak it--just kidding. If you look closely, you can see in this picture from when he was a week old the two big streaks of blonde on the top of his head that are totally natural! We couldn't resist dressing him up for his first day of church (just over two weeks old) and no one can deny how dashing he looked! There was only one night that Josiah seemed to mix up day and night, right after he got home from the hospital. But he's slept well ever since and has even set up a schedule that he rarely deviates from. No matter the time we go to sleep, he always wakes up at almost exactly two in the morning, then again between 4:30 and 5:00 AM, and lastly serves as our alarm clock at 7:00 AM. He looked so adorable in during this nap when he was three and a half weeks old. He's much like his brother and already showing a high interest in tools and helping us do our work. This is him at four weeks old helping us hold down a cardboard box that used to be on our cabinets (that are now on our wall in our working kitchen! More on that later...), what would we have done with out him! He really insists on being in the thick of things when he's awake--he doesn't necessarily need to be held, but he won't stand being alone in another room when there are interesting things going on somewhere else. He starting smiling about a week ago and it is adorable. He won't smile for just anyone, but if you catch him at the right time you'll find your heart melting at his absolutely adorable grin. This was the closest I could get him to do yesterday at seven weeks old. So, that's our new darling in a nutshell. He's a momma's boy, which can frustrate Jason at times, but has a great attitute overall. He'll grunt and groan or coo for several minutes before he starts crying and he's a ferocious eater--we're guessing that he's already gained at least five pounds and is growing out of his 0-3 month clothes. He's not my little newborn anymore--it's amazing how fast time flies!