welcome, baby gunnar!

after spending a week in the hospital and then almost a week on bed rest, jenn's baby decided enough was enough and it was time to come out no matter what anyone else thought.
i got a call from mom around 12:30am on july 26th saying that jenn's water had broken and they were on the way to the hospital. she ended up having to leave a message on the machine because dave didn't wake up quick enough to grab the phone. on the message she had said to call jenn's phone and so, i called jenn's cell phone. so jenn answers the phone and says "mom called you?!" all upset that she woke me up. i was completely confused and didn't realize until later when mom explained it that jenn and don were on the way to the hospital and mom was at jenn's house staying with rainah.
after hanging up with jenn, i then talked to mom for a bit. at that point, i couldn't fall asleep so i hung out on facebook for awhile. at one point mom posted something saying the dr. had told don her guess would be the baby would come somewhere between 6-8 hours.
i'm sure jenn was grateful that the baby didn't listen and came much quicker than that. at 3:52am on july 26th, gunnar tate was born 5 weeks early...but perfectly healthy! he didn't even have to go to the nicu! however, at that time he didn't have a name. actually, he didn't have a name until jenn was just about ready to leave the hospital today!!
mom was already in grand rapids, and dad drove back out in the morning, as did jessica and justin. i decided it would be best to wait until they all came home from the hospital before we went to meet gunnar. having all 3 kids in a tiny hospital room wouldn't be fun for ANYONE. i was so sad not to be with the rest of the family and to meet gunnar hours after he was born, but i knew it was for the best. so this morning, we packed everything up and headed out to jenn's house.
we got there a couple of hours before jenn got home. so we helped to pick up and decorate a bit before they came. then, a bit later, we were all there to welcome home little baby gunnar. at 5 weeks early he was still able to come home the very next day!
we put london, just 5 months older, next to gunnar, she looked like a toddler! it's crazy how quickly they grow!
we're so happy he's here and that he is healthy! welcome to the family, gunnar! we love you already!

while waiting for baby gunnar to come home, talan made us all a snack:

rainah feeding her baby brother:


it didn't take long before the kids were bored with gunnar and asked for the adults to break out the ipods and iphones:
london going to eat gunnar:
london and gunnar what a difference 5 months makes:

i finally got some shots with gunnar's eyes open: