Meeting a new cousin

Little Lad, "who are we going to see??"

We brought the kids to visit their new cousin this evening.

Nature Man has such a sweet and gentle spirit.
He has always loved babies.

The Artist, of course, was thrilled, and would have sat there with the new darling cousin all day.

Even Dash (who now insists on being called "Monkey Boy") got a turn,
with plenty of help.
Isn't this sweet?
Sometimes I forget just how little my little man is himself.

But it was Uncle Fred, my dear sweet man, that I had to pry away from the baby, so we could get our kiddos home to bed. This man has always loved babies, and they have always loved him.

Have I mentioned before how much I love my family,
and how extremely grateful I am to have them so near?

Ransom Miles

Doesn't he just sound like a movie star?? Or a redeemer? (Or a CS Lewis character??)

He is 8lb 6oz of precious sweetness.My little sis did amazingly well. I have to say, I think she had a pretty tough labor and delivery!!--It was harder than any of mine.

(** warning: if you are pregnant or squeamish,

you may want to skip the next part and just view the precious pics!**)

She went to the hospital in the middle of the night, having contractions about every 5 minutes. Great timing, as she was scheduled to be induced today anyway!

She progressed fairly quickly, which is wonderful. You may have kept up with that through my last post! ;-) But then things got tough around pushing time. Tob, it was similar to what you went through. The baby just would not come out!! After a solid hour of intense pushing, she had a 20-minute break. Then the pushing started again... for another hour. She was totally out of it, almost delirious with pain, crying...her fever spiked to 109, and they ended up having to use the vacuum. I'd say, at that point, vacuum was better than C-section. Over two hours of pushing is too long.

She will stay in the hospital an extra day because of the delivery issues but, other than that, mommy and baby are doing very well now! He is adorably cute. She was joking that he may need a haircut upon being released from the hospital.

He also nursed well already, and was happily sucking his fist while he slept, as I held him. Have I mentioned how much I love children?! I loved being pregnant, loved having my babies, loved nursing, and love homeschooling (most days.) And I love being an aunt, too!

I love you, Amy!!

More pictures:

The proud grandparents

Baby Ransom, with his full head of hair!

Sweet family picture

A new nephew is on the way!!

My little sister went into labor last night.

We're excitedly awaiting our new nephew! Wooooo-hooooo!

**** at 10:20am

Dilated to a 7 ...

not much longer now!!!

**** at 11am

Dilated to 9!!!

SOOOOONNNN!!!

*** 11:50 fully dilated, waiting for the doctor!

*** 1:42pm She is taking a 20 minute break after over an hour of pushing...

*** 2:50 baby is here!!! Ransom Miles Ha!! I'll post pictures in a new post, as soon as I get some!

Devil's Den

We hiked...

(Using the timer to take pictures!)

...and saw snakes, lizards, toads, and huge birds....

We caved....

...and then we played for hours in the beautiful stream...

Yes, Fred even snapped a picture here and there with me in it!
The Drama of boys!
And, oh yes, there was SAND!!
Yesterday was one of those oh-so-fantastic family days
that I hope will stay in my memory forever!!

This Little Lad was so joyful, surrounded by rocks and water.

a compliment?

The Artist felt my stomach after a workout last night and said, "wow-- it feels like dough or something." Gee, thanks.

I overheard Little Lad counting earlier, "one, two, free, fork, five, six, seben..." But, hey he's only 2! I like the "fork" in there!

Dash: "Why is the mammoth 'a-stink'? Did it toot or something?"

It's school picture time!

The Artist is finishing up her 3rd grade year. Her favorite subjects are spelling and history.

The Nature Man is finishing up his first grade year.
Can you guess what he enjoys studying the most?

Dash will be 5 at the end of this year,
so he has another year of pre-K before he "officially" starts school.

Little Lad turned 2 not long ago, but he'll be ready for the ABCs before we know it!!

I love these kids!!

back up to prom

Quick catch-up. Last weekend I attended the homeschool prom, to just have fun and take pictures. It was a special treat for me, as there were no homeschool proms when I was in high school!!
The theme was masquerade, in case you couldn't guess.

Some of the sweet "kids"...

Boys are so much fun!!

A wonderful meal at the "grown-up" table.
I'd write more, but it's late and I'm tired. ;-)