The Moss Melton Family: Salter Bradley Melton

Well it has only taken me 4 months to post about Salter's birth! Life sure is different with two kids! Definitely not much time to even turn on the computer, much less write on our blog. But I am going to try to be better. Salter was born December 15, 2009 at 11:37am and weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces. He was 19.5 inches long. The labor and delivery was incredibly easy. The entire time I was pregnant I was very nervous about going into labor in Greenwood and having to drive 2 hours to Jackson. I was carrying him so low that I felt there was a decent chance I wouldn't make it to the hospital. Well, I made it to my induction date after 3 weeks of bed rest and after being induced it only took a few hours before Salter arrived. If we had had to drive to Jackson there is a really good chance I actually wouldn't have made it to the hospital and Moss would have been delivering Salter on the side of the road! Anyway, our experience at the hospital was wonderful. I'll never forget watching Moss hold his son for the first time. They handed him to Moss and he just held him and rocked him back and forth and kept saying "Hey buddy" with a big smile on his face. He was such a proud father, it brought tears to my eyes and still does when I think about it. Salter was very alert for a long time after he came out. His eyes were wide open and he was not crying, just staring at everything. He has since proved to be a very observant child. He just sits back and watches, which I guess is what we should expect when he has an older sister like Ainsley around to entertain him! Floyd and Elizabeth were on their way to Jackson that morning and happened to call right after Salter was born to see how I was doing and were shocked to hear I had already delivered him. So they headed straight to the hospital and got to see him in the delivery room. My parents drove down with Ainsley later that day and we had several other visitors that first day, too. Lisa, Floyd, Floyd IV and Anne Craig, our minister Rusty Douglas, Moss' aunt and uncle Ben and Randy Rogers and his cousin BC and his now wife Kim. We had a packed house in that hospital room! Ainsley was really quiet and serious when Moss met her and my parents at the elevator to our floor. She didn't smile much and just kept looking around. I guess a hospital is kind of an intimidating place. She was very happy to see her mama and crawled in bed with me and kept giving me hugs and kisses. It took awhile for the nurses to bring Salter to the room because they had to observe him in the nursery for several hours after he was born, which is normal procedure. When they finally brought him Ainsley was sweet with him but was more interested in playing with her cousins and opening the presents. He got lots of love that first day from all of our family! He came out looking pretty different from Ainsley. He had blonde eyebrows and eyelashes but had dark hair on his head. I felt like he looked more like Moss. Ainsley came out looking exactly like I did as a baby. But as Salter's gotten older, his eyebrows and eyelashes have darkened and he is looking more like Ainsley. I think they'll both be brunettes with brown eyes. He's not as content in baby swings or bouncer seats as Ainsley was. He's definitely my cuddly little baby and loves to be held and, if you're not holding him, wants you to be right there in front of him talking to him. He has the sweetest little smile, different from Ainsley's. Ainsley's smile was always a huge, full open mouth smile. He has more of a sweet grin. Someday I'll get around to posting more recent pictures of him! But for now, here are some pictures from the very special day Salter was born.