The Best Welcome Home Ever

Way back in April (April 15th to be exact, because we'd just filed our tax return extensions), sitting in an Internet cafe in Hampi, India we wrote that we bought our tickets home to the United States. (Interestingly, we bought those Iceland stop-over tickets one day before the volcano Eyjafjallajokull started spewing ash all over Europe.) One of the reasons we wanted to come back when we did was because my sister and her wife were expecting a baby boy. It was my first nephew, and the first grand-child on my family's side. Although we knew Keturah was pregnant before we left, we were essentially gone for her entire pregnancy. We skyped with her and Suzanne when we could, but we knew that we wanted to return in time to welcome my nephew into the world in person.

The timing of our return could not have been better. We visited with Keturah and Suzanne on Friday, our first full day back, and got to see Keturah in her full pregnant state. Here we are in the baby room of their condo (notice us too in clothes that you might not have seen in a while):

From Homecoming

Then, Keturah gave gave birth to 9 lb. 1 oz. Jonah Gray Martin yesterday afternoon. We drove into Boston and were there in time to hold little Jonah a mere three hours after birth. I can't imagine how emotional it must have felt to Keturah and Suzanne, but it was definitely a special moment for me.

From Homecoming

I can already tell Jonah is a kid after my own heart because he had enough sense to be born on a day with free parking! Despite there being both a Red Sox game and a Celtics game (welcome to Boston!), we found free parking outside the hospital and visited for a while with Suzanne, Keturah, Suzanne's mother and little Jonah. Both Keturah and the baby are doing well, and should be going home tomorrow.

Other than the baby, our re-entry to the US has been pretty uneventful. We'd left our car here during our travels so today we dealt with car issues, which were fairly minor (the car actually started right up and was running fine, it just needed a fluid flush or two). But it was enough of a pain to make me wish for our carefree (and carfree) travel days. Note to potential around-the-world travelers: one of the best ways to save money would be to get rid of your car. Between the insurance we had to reinstate and the repairs we could have lived in India for two and a half weeks. Living in the US is not cheap, that's for sure.

But, we'll be using the car during our next few weeks as we travel around. Tomorrow we head to Martha's Vineyard for a couple nights to visit with my Aunt and Uncle who are vacationing down there. Jaimee and I pumped up the tires on a couple borrowed bikes and are excited to peddle around on the island.