And then there were five....

October has been a month of anticipation: anticipating the arrival of my parents as well as our fifth child!!  Whoa - that sounds like a lot of kids!!  My parents arrived the Thursday before my due date and Jared and I got away Friday night for the first time in over 2 years.  We got a hotel nearby, went to dinner, a movie and then when we got back to the hotel we had the pool and hot tub all to ourselves.  It was so lovely.  The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, played a game of Carcassone in our room, went for a nice walk at a state park, had lunch at Chili's, then went back home.  It was great to get away, but nice to come home to the kids.

                                      Here's a last picture of our family before Declan was born.

Declan didn't want to come on time and since the Dr. knew my parents were in town, they let me get induced earlier than last time.  So, 3 days overdue we arrive at the hospital to get induced yet again.  Who would ever think that #4 and #5 would have to get evicted....  I sure didn't!  Everything went smoothly.  The epidural was perfect, the Pitocin was even decreased once I got going since my body finally remembered what to do ;)  When it was time to push, it only took 5 mins and our sweet boy was born.  This is the first time I actually saw the baby come out.  It was so amazing and I'm so grateful I made that conscious choice to watch.  A miracle for sure!

                                                   Declan Ricky  10/24/13  8lbs. 10oz.  21in.

We have been transitioning slowly, but surely.  I'm so thankful my parents were here to help - especially with Zane.  He was very uncertain about Declan when we brought him home.  Once he realized he was in the carseat, Zane approached cautiously, put his hand up to his face as though he were scared, and made a wide arch to go around him.  It was actually very sad - I almost cried.  Zane was also unsure about Declan crying - he cried right along with him.  Since then Zane has become more used to Declan's presence.  I even snapped this cute picture of the two of them this morning.

                                                Declan - 1 week    Zane - 17 months
Declan is a very good baby thus far.  He'll sit awake for quite some time just looking around contentedly.  He's sleeping pretty well at night and nursing well too.  I'm SO grateful for that.  I was due for a good nurser this time around :)  Its kind of funny - he is so much of what we asked for: a good nurser, a smaller baby (almost a pound less than Zane!), not a lot of hair, and what a sweet disposition.  Silly stuff for the most part, but God has blessed us greatly in this little guy!!! 

                                                                    Just the 7 of us :)

                                                                    Our alert little guy

Whew!  Just squeezed this post into October!!!  Tomorrow we flip the calendar to November, the next day we celebrate Nora's 5th birthday, and 5 days later we get to have Mom Van come stay with us for a couple weeks.  Yay!!!  We are all looking forward to her visit :)  Let's see if my November post will be a little more timely!  Happy Halloween :)