Today I met the youngest person in the world. I don't think he held onto his record for very long, though.

He was born at 9:25 AM and weighed 3222 grams (that's about 7 lbs, 1 oz for those of you back at home). On Friday Eri had gone in for her weekly checkup and the doctor had estimated the weight at 3500g based on Kai's head size and femur length, but it looks like it turns out that they're just a little disproportionate to the rest of him. (I can see daddy's influence on the little guy already.) That doctor, by the way, could also tell that the baby was "half", as the Japanese like to say, without any information other than checking his nose on the ultrasound. They probably already had him marked for the "bad file" after seeing that.

Here he is, about six hours old, wearing the hat that grandma sent over from America.

Mother and baby are both doing fine, although it was quite an ordeal -- Eri started having contractions at around 6 PM on Friday. Do the math and that comes out to 39 hours of labor... Somehow, though, I think she was in better shape when it was all over than I was!

Here are some other photos from today for your viewing pleasure. From left to right: Aunt Naoko introducing herself; Grandma and cousin Matsuri come by to say hello to Kai; mom tries to figure out what's bothering Kai; and mother and baby getting some well-deserved rest.

Canon EOS 20D, EF 17-40mm f/4 L @ 40mm, f/4.0, 1/80 sec, ISO 800 (Main Image)