We make plans and God laughs.

Eli Giora DeLong born 5:15 PM on February 24th weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz. and measuring 19" long.  Instead of sticking to the plan and joining us in late March he decided to grace us with his presence a whopping three and half weeks early.  Luckily we were as prepared as we could be which is not at all.  Bathrooms and nursery were complete but really how do you prepare for something like this?  I received the call around 10 AM on Monday while I was at work that Hila's water broke so I left work and met Hila and her mom at the hospital.  By 4 PM she was fully dilated, started pushing an hour later and in a matter of minutes we were holding a beautiful baby boy.  Even though he was born early he was not considered premature and has passed all his baby tests with flying colors.  Both Hila and Eli are perfectly healthy and doing very well.  We decided to not find out the sex of the baby so needless to say seeing that we were having a boy was beyond emotional for me.  I have never felt more blessed in my life, as a father to look into my son's eyes for the first time and tell him I love him has been one of the most amazing moments in my entire life.  I cannot wait to do it everyday until the day I die.

We were released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and have been home since.  I am only able to take off a limited time from work so unfortunately I need to be back in the office on Monday.  I cannot stress about this limited time off but at least Hila is off for the next six months.  I will miss him and his mom but luckily work is only an eight hour day.

Thank you to everyone who has come by with lunch or dinner, or stopped in for a visit in the hospital.  We are blessed to have such a great group of friends.

I have been lucky enough to do many interesting things in my life, I have traveled the globe, scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef, eaten scorpions in the streets of China, floated in the salty water of the Dead Sea, jumped out of an airplane for no apparent reason but never in my life have I been more excited to start this new adventure with my wife and son, the adventure of parenthood.

This is my baby picture, as you can see there is a remarkable resemblance between father and son!!