Asher John

Asher John Tuttle
aka The Cutest Little Peanut Ever
Born December 14 at 8:50am
7 pounds and 18 inches long

Clearly Asher was ready to come and he wanted to be here to celebrate Christmas with his mommy and daddy. Even though his due date was on January 13th he decided to come early and surprise everyone. (Oh, with the exception of Uncle Erik. He eerily knew this was going to be the case all along.) On Monday morning we finally answered our phone after two hours of Manda calling every ten minutes trying to get a hold of us. (We've come to the conclusion that we definitely need to get a phone in our bedroom.) The news we received at 3:30 was that her water had broke, she was dilated to four and that baby (elephant) Tuttle was going to be entering this world soon.
OH THE EXCITEMENT! I felt like those Walt Disney commercials --- "I'm too excited to sleep..." Instead of sleeping I was busy praying that everything would go well and making some serious sub notes for the next two days so we could head up north. The hardest part was waiting for Anthony to get up. I wanted him to wake up on his own accord (typically he's less crabby then) and eat some breakfast before we headed up to Grand Rapids.
When we made the 2 1/2 hour trip up north Anthony insisted on going to hospital to see his cousin first. He was busy asking every possible question regarding the birth --- How did they get that baby out of auntie Manda? Why did they have to cut auntie? (She had a cesarean.) Why did she have to go to the hospital? Why can't she have this baby at her house? Where's uncle Damon? And on and on and on and on...
Once we got to the hospital, though, Anthony was very serious and didn't talk at all. He just stared at Asher through the nursery window with an occasional smile or giggle. When he saw auntie, though, he became even more serious and nervous. She was extremely out of it and was covered in tubes and ice packs and machines. Thankfully the next day when I brought him back for a visit auntie was feeling much better as well as Asher and Anthony wasn't nervous any more. He was busy checking out the room - especially the hospital bed - and having fun.

Being up north for those two days was an absolute joy. Damon and Manda are just BEAMING and so in love with their little guy. It was an honor to be privy to those first moments of parenthood and know that Asher is going to be so completely loved. I am so proud of my sister - not only did she do a great job, but she found a wonderful husband who is going to be an amazing teammate with her on this journey of parenthood. The look of love on Damon's face when he looks at either of them or talks about his wife and son makes this proud auntie beam.

Team Tuttle

The proud daddy

Grandma Kathy

Love you, Little Buddy!
Auntie cannot wait to see you again and give you lots of love.
Enjoy your trip home tomorrow.