We Are All Smitten with This New Little Man!!

 Israel is doing so well!  He was born a very happy little guy and wonderfully healthy! As I mentioned, he was a whopping 9 lbs 5 oz- we are just in awe of how the Lord protected him and even though I was so sick and lost weight, he gained all he needed to be our cuddly butter ball:).  He and I spent the night in the hospital together without daddy.  Matt went home to be with our 5 other kiddos and get a bit of extra rest since he has been sick.  It gave me a chance to really get to know Israel in all the quietness of our little room.  Not any sleep happening, been some really good cuddling and heart melting happening.  I was glad I had the time then too because when I returned home, there were 6 other sets of hands to share him with! We returned home yesterday afternoon and have been enjoying just being together as a family. Lots of laughter and a lot of peace and gratitude for this new little gift.  I was blessed with a good night's rest, and Israel slept very well.

I had woken up early Monday morning around 2am in labor.  I was able to stay home through it until around 6am when it became pretty active and regular.  We arrived at the hospital and less than 4 hours later, Israel was born.  We had a lovely nursing staff and of course my Dr was a continued blessing that we were so excited to share this experience with again!  I am feeling great!!  I love being able to say that after nine hard months!!  Labor and delivery was smooth and had no complications, which is of course a very big blessing with this being my sixth!

We are taking time this week to soak in this new little man.  Matt is on vacation for the week-so thankful he had vacation time to spend at home for this.  I am still managing the shop, enjoying sharing the news with so many of my lovely customers I call friends, that have been on this journey with me, just laying a little lower than usual with work.  We have family coming in this weekend to meet Israel and we will be finishing up enough of our room to move in on Friday.  Yep!  Baby beat room-we were pretty curious about which would win out:)  I like the outcome! Our oldest, Cole, had been on a camping trip for 4 days and returned home Sunday evening just in time for me to have Israel.  The Lord's timing is pretty cool!

Here are some of our pics...

Bell is liking Izy's idea!

Madison is the second mama around here. Pretty hard to get Izy away from her. She is a natural and will be quite a helper!

I am smitten!  

love his little cry.

Talk about a contrast! 14 years between these 2 brothers. Can't wait to see the relationship grow into God's design!  I know He has a purpose in all of these things, we get the blessing of seeing it unfold.

Do you think he loves his little brother!?  He has been so anxious to meet Israel whom he previously named "fireblast";)  Noah is loving watching all of Izy's little movements and hearing all of his little noises. These two will be my last two at home-never thought I would have 2 young men completing our family-how fun is that!

Joslyn just giggles when she sees him and can't believe he's here-the whole thing just boggles her mind.  She adores him!!  

And of course-a very very happy daddy-who just thrives on this newborn baby stage!!  He loves his kiddos seeing him with Israel makes everything worth it!! I was the one who wanted a big family when we met-he thought I was funny-I thought he was funny for not taking me seriously-both of us had no idea how hard it would be to have a big family and how much of partners we would need to be to make it through.  He had no idea how amazing a daddy he would make to a full quiver-I did.  I had no idea how much he loved me until "in SICKNESS and in health" was put to the test-6 times over-but I do now and I am beyond grateful I could carry and bring his kiddos into the world. And we are still just beginning to grasp the love the Lord has had for us-but all these miracles are a pretty good indication! Thank you Jesus!!