Elise had fun this morning playing "night night" with Ian.

So far, this is what Ian does all day, whether eyes open or closed. He is a pretty laid back little guy.

Elise has all of a sudden taken a big interest in riding the tricycles.

Pretty spring flowers on the trees outside.

Ian's first week...

Well we're home now! We got back to the MAF apartments yesterday with Ian. What a good baby he has been! He is a really laid back little guy. Of course, we've been taking way too many pictures of him. Here is the "story of Ian's first few days" in pictures!

Ian's first few days were very special. After his birth by C-section on Friday, Grandma Ellen (Heather's mom) and Elise visited that evening. The next morning, Grandpa Mark and Auntie Holly arrived (Heather's dad and sister). How special it was to have them with us! So it was a pretty slow paced Easter weekend as we got used to our new little guy.

We've learned that little Ian loves to sleep (no surprise there), loves to cuddle, and loves to be swaddled. If he is awake, and he is held or swaddled, he is content! He also loves to force us to change his clothes frequently. Maybe when we figure out better what we are doing that will get better.

Heather slowly began her healing. We took several walks around the maternity area. And Easter Sunday was especially fun. Grandma Ellen brought Elise in her little Easter dress. We held a couple Easter egg hunts for her....one in the hospital room, and one out in the hospital playground. Lots of fun!

We made it home on Tuesday. What a great experience we had at the St. Alphonsus hospital. We are very thankful for all the hospital staff and facilities, and that our family could be with us! On top of it all was the very special holiday to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior! We had a very laid back celebration. Of course, no church for us! We did listen to the Easter story on the computer. We were blessed with a few visits (not on Easter but other days) from pastor Drew at the church we've been attending here in Idaho.

Ian David arrives!

Good Friday was a very good friday for our family. With joy we met our son Ian David Lundholm for the first time!

Ian We love the meaning of Ian, which means "God is gracious and forgiving." We want to honor God for the forgiveness he has given Heather and I in His son Jesus. And if there's one prayer we have for Ian (and all of our kids) it is that they will someday understand their need for God's forgiveness, how God provided that forgiveness through his son's death and resurrection on that Easter weekend about two thousand years ago. We pray Ian someday receives that forgiveness by placing his faith in Him!

"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God..." John 1:12

David My middle name also, means "beloved." He sure is, already!

Lundholm Our ancestors (so the story goes) were three brothers, Andersons, from Lund, Sweeden. At Ellis Island they were forced to change their name because there were too many Andersons out there. They chose Lundholm. Right now Ian is the only grandson that I know of in our branch of the family carrying on the Lundholm name!

OK so how did the birth go?

It all started with a routine doctor's appointment on April 21st. A chain of discoveries revealed that baby Ian didn't have a good chance of settling head down into the birth canal on his own like he was supposed to. So the safest thing to do was to induce labor labor and try to guide his head down in a controlled environment. So we were scheduled for labor at 7 am the next morning!

So we went home and (with excitement and nerves) got just a little bit of sleep.

The next morning around eight am they started the induction. They guided Ian's little head into the right position once....and when they did the epidural, he escaped! So they guided it back in. Heather was feeling very good with the epidural (we cannot believe how completely different the last birth experience was from this (no drugs at all last time)). We won't say if it was better or worse, just different. We'll leave it at that. If you want the details, ask Heather!

Baby Ian was drawing a lot of comments and laughs from the nurses and our doctor about how much of a "stinker" he was, and how rambunctious he was in the womb!

Well after being guided down the second time, baby Ian was head down, and doing his job just fine, except he decided to stick his hand up ontop of his head and leave it there! They decided to give him a couple hours, and some improvising with different ideas to try to get him to pull his hand back down by his side. If his hand was up on his head, he could injure his arm during childbirth. About four PM, it was clear he wasn't going to comply. So it was time for a C-section.

The C-section went absolutely great, and Ian David was born at 4:48 PM on April 22! Daddy was with little Ian while they finished mommy's procedure. He weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces with chubby little cheeks, 20.5 inches long. And he "chowed down" for his first couple of meals!

About three hours later, Heather was cleared for visitors and Grandma Ellen and big sister Elise got to come in. What a special moment that was.

We were really hoping for a natural birth, but in the end we praise God for the medical help and wisdom that was available that delivered little Ian injury free and kept mommy safe!

Many of you were praying for us and we cannot thank you enough! We are so thankful and grateful. What a good God we have!

Name that airplane

Elise has learned the difference between an MAF Kodiak and a Cessna 206.....

It was an exciting moment today when we watched a new Kodiak airplane arrive straight from the factory in Sandpoint. This Kodiak does not belong to MAF, but is for another mission that's going to use the plane. They had it brought here to MAF to have some modifications done before it is flown overseas. Elise and I were there when it came in......

It has a huge cargo door!

It just seems more exciting in the hangar when there's a Kodiak out there!

Heather and Elise spent some time doing easter eggs today....

Swimming at the gym has been a great outlet for us every once in a while. Elise really loves it.

We are excited that Heather's mom Ellen is coming tonight, and she plans to be with us through the birth of baby boy. What a blessing it will be to have her with us during this.