Baby Countdown Ends on April 2.

On April 2, at 8:43 a.m., at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, Nicolas José Baltodano was born right on schedule--the happy climax to the Manhattan baby watch.  He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz.  All of us are ecstatic but none of us have had much sleep since then.  I'm too tired to be articulate,  but I wanted to share some photos of the welcome accorded our second grandchild by his family and fans.

You may have seen this photo already on Facebook--Amalia's awed and delighted expression when she got to hold her little brother for the first time.  She counts his little toes every day and woke up at 6:30 this morning insisting that I read her a book called  "You're a Big Sister" before I got up or had my first cup of coffee.  This photo and the next show Amalia on April 3, as she held her little brother for the first time.

On April 2, the day of his birth, we opened a bottle of  champagne that Papou Nick had brought for the occasion.  After all, this was his grandson and namesake!

 

Here is a sweet portrait of  Mommy and Big Sister and Little Brother, taken on April 3, the second day of Nicholas'  life.

Somebody else took this photo of me holding our new grandchild.

And here is the proud Papi, Emilio, revisiting the "football hold" that he used so successfully when Amalia was a newborn.  It works wonders with cranky babies.

 We're hoping that Baby Nicolas and  his mommy will come home from the hospital tomorrow, April 5, and will have a week to convalesce before much of the family descends on Manhattan to see its newest member and to celebrate Orthodox Easter on April 12.

(Did I mention that on Wednesday, April 1, while picking up Amalia from the Greek Cathedral preschool, Eleni decided to slip into the church to light a candle and found herself locked in and contemplating the possibility of going into labor right there.  Luckily, someone went hunting for her and got her out, and Baby Nicolas was not saddled with an April Fools Day birthday!)