Groton — Samuel Lambert, 12, plays the trumpet and looked forward to going to school Thursday so he and others in the school band could welcome his father’s submarine home to the Naval Submarine Base after six months away.

On Wednesday night, Samuel couldn’t stay sleep. He woke at 11 p.m., 1 a.m., and 5 a.m. thinking about his dad. But he knew what he’d say when Navy Senior Chief Jonathan Lambert stepped off the USS Annapolis.

“Hello. I missed you. And I’m glad you’re home.”

Jonathan Lambert was one of the last to walk off the ship on Thursday. His wife, Lisa Lambert, a sixth-grade math teacher at West Side Middle School, cheered and ran down the dock to him with their four children.

The Los Angeles-class attack submarine deployed in March, with 14 officers and 138 enlisted sailors.

The West Side Middle School sent its seventh- and eighth-graders to play at a celebration as the families, many dressed in red, white and blue, waited for the boat to arrive.

Children waited near the water, and wives, friends and others cheered as a horn sounded and the submarine neared. Sailors sang “Anchors Aweigh.”

Two sailors met their newborn children for the first time.

Melody Wade was born on Sept. 5, weighing 8 pounds, 13 ounces. Her mother, Jessica Wade, said she and her husband, Petty Officer William Wade, knew the baby would be born while he was on deployment. But then Melody was late, and as the days went by, Jessica Wade thought the baby might wait just long enough.

“I’m just happy that he’s back,” Jessica Wade said as he held their daughter.

“She’s everything and more,” he said. The couple lives in Gales Ferry and also have a daughter, 4, and son, 2.

Nearby, Melissa Bush, of Baltic held Simon Bush, 4½ months, and Owen, 2.

Simon wore a onesie with the message, “Welcome home, daddy. I’ve waited my whole life to meet you.”

Other Navy wives rallied around Melissa Bush while her husband, Lt. Adam Bush, was away. “I was never needing anything,” she said.

Finally, Adam Bush held Simon in his arms. He looked down at the baby and smiled.

“Best feeling in the world, isn’t it, buddy?” he said.

There was a bit of bittersweetness in that it was Sept. 11, but mostly, it was a celebration.

Lisa Lambert is originally from Long Island, N.Y., and she said she had friends who were hurting.

When the planes hit the World Trade Center, her husband was deployed and their oldest daughter was 15 months old and at the Navy day care in Groton.

“Everyone will always remember,” she said. “But good things can also happen. Today is really a day of celebration.”

“It’s a homecoming and I’m happy,” said Gay Lambert, Jonathan Lambert’s mother.

On Sept. 11, 2001, when her son was in the Mediterranean, she was not afraid, she said.

“I knew he had a job to do and that his ship would do it,” she said. “I’m very proud of my son’s service to our country.”

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim