Uncle Pete's Wedding

This past Friday/Saturday we traveled to Iowa City for my brothers wedding.  We were able to stay with some friends and it worked out great with the new baby.  Friday we attended rehearsal and dinner.  The kids did pretty well despite having to sit for awhile and HOT temperatures.  Saturday we were able to relax a little in the morning and then we got ready and make it to the church for pictures.  Here we are waiting for the wedding to begin!

My handsome little one week old did great for the whole wedding.  Stayed asleep in Daddy's arms!

My brother and his bride.

At the reception the kids liked visiting the candy table, had fun taking turns on the iPad and of course checked out the dance floor a few times.

Baby Ezra was able to meet several friends and family members this weekend, including Great Uncle Bone

I love this picture of the boys.

We took a little time out in the heat to try and get a first family of 6 photo.  It's hard to get everyone to look at the same time!

This ones not too bad!

Once the dance started Callie loved being out there dancing her heart out.  She even got her Daddy to join her for awhile.

She even wanted to do the dollar dance with Uncle Pete.

After dancing a bit the boys decided to join in the fun as well.  Gabe showing off his break dancing moves and all.

Danielle(who is wonderful and came with to help us out!) got in on the fun as well!

and at the end of the night we had 4 very tired kids(and parents!)
Sunday morning we were able to visit with family and have breakfast.  Great Grandma Max got to hold Ezra for a bit.

and when we got home I tried Ezra out in his bouncy seat for awhile.  Love those eyes!

My sweet baby boy!

Ezariah Isaac

Our morning started bright and early with the alarm greeting me at 4:15am.  I slept surprisingly well that night considering all the excitement coming our way the next day.  I showered and got dressed and tried not to think about breakfast.
 Carl and I left our house shortly before 5:15 and arrived at the hospital and got checked in right around 5:30.  They had me fill out paper work and then we headed to the familiarity of the 4th floor.  I actually got a big room at check in!  Since I had c-sections each time we have always had a small room in the past so I was excited to get a bigger one this time.  After they gave me my hospital gown they had me lay down so they could monitor the baby while they got me ready for the c-section. 
The IV start was hard and had to be done twice and ended up on my right hand in my knuckle area.  Not the most ideal location but it worked I guess.  After the IV and lots of questions it was almost time to walk back to the Operating Room.  I joked with Carl that the OR table looks like some kind of torture device with its arms straight out and the narrow edges and sterileness of the whole thing:) 
They had Carl wait outside while the anesthesiologist put in my spinal.  Thankfully he got it in the first try this time.  With Callie it took a few attempts.  Once it was in a wonderful warm feeling descends all down my lower half and they moved me into position for surgery.  It always amazes me how quickly everything happens.  Carl and our anesthesiologist were chatting away and pretty soon I began to feel pressure.  That usually means the baby will be out shortly so fortunately I said something and they looked and sure enough baby was about ready to be born!  Carl got the camera ready and snapped our first pictures.  The anesthesiologist dropped the curtain in front of me so I could watch him be born.  It happened so quickly I saw him come out but that was about it!  They all said right away it's a boy!
 I cried some happy tears when I heard him cry and as quickly as he came out they had taken him back to the nursery to make sure everything was ok.  Carl went with him.  The rest of the surgery went quickly and I was beginning to wonder by the end if everything was ok with the baby as they hadn't come back in yet.
 Soon Carl came in and told me he looked great and scored two 9's on his APGAR scores and that he weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz.  Shortly after that they wheeled me to recovery where Carl was able to bring in our new son so I could hold him.  We thought right away he looked like Ty but with Callies hair.  I was able to nurse him and hold him in recovery almost the whole time I was in there.  He did great right away!  After awhile they took me back to our room where the tired hit me!  I was so sleepy it was hard to keep my eyes open. 
I was able to make a few phone calls to my parents and Carl to his mom to let her know when she could bring the kids but I was out of it for awhile afterwards. 
The kids came towards lunch time and discovered that they had a baby brother!  They were so excited to meet him and learn his name.  Ezariah is derived from Azariah (the given name of Abendigo in the Old Testament, his name was changed to Abendigo when he was sold into slavery)  and means God Helps.  We had a hard time with boys names as we wanted something unique but also something that had good meaning, came from the Bible since the other boys were biblical names and had a nickname.  Ezariah and Ezra had the same meaning and we really liked both.  Isaac means laughter.  So without further adieu here our our first pictures of Ezariah Isaac.

This was taken the night before we went to the hospital.  The kids were already excited to meet their newest sibling!

I'll spare you a few of the more bloody pictures but here is one of the first we have our sweet baby Ezra!

After being weighed and looked over here is Daddy checking out his brand new baby boy!

and Mom getting to hold baby Ezra for the first time in recovery(lovely hat and all!)

Ezariah Isaac Clark weighing in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. 20 inches long and born at 7:47am!

Grandpa and the Grandmas meeting Baby Ezra

and Ezra with his very proud big siblings!

Danielle came to visit us as well!  One more for her to watch now!

and here is sweet baby boy with my Dr.  She has been my doctor for all of the kiddos and delivered 3 of the 4.  We love her, she is the best!

Our hospital stay came to an end Monday morning when we were able to get Ezra dressed(which he wasn't crazy about) and bring him home!

and his welcoming committee!

Everyone has been adjusting well so far and Ezra has been a good baby.  We are in love with him and can't wait to watch him grow and learn(but not too quickly!)  We are so blessed by him and our so excited to have our family complete!

Dear Sweet Baby #4

Wow what a ride these past 38 weeks have been! Finding out we were going to welcome you in what we thought at the time was going to be July was a bit of a surprise in the first place so I should have known this would be a wild ride. Even though we were a little surprised we were also super excited. We had always said we wanted 3 or 4 and somehow I knew after Callie was born that #4 would complete our family. It was a rough beginning. I felt naseous everyday from about 3 until 7 or so. I had spotting quite a bit which I'd never had before and I'm glad cause it was scary! There were jut issues and stressors this time around that I had never dealt with plus being older then 30 I was feeling this pregnancy much more and was so much more tired this time around. At our 19 week ultrasound we discovered a calcified spot on your heart, they told me it was harmless and not to worry but of course I did and had to google it. By doing that I found that spot to be a soft marker for down syndrome. I was kind of panicked but was actually somewhat comforted with the statistics I found on only having one soft marker. The thing was though it didn't matter anyway. We already loved you and entrusted you to God's care the minute we found out you were growing inside me so no matter if this spot meant something or not it didnt make a difference to us. Your biggest brother went with us to this ultrasound and begged the technician to tell him what you were but we said no and he was disappointed. He thought you looked likea dinosaur. The best part of pregnancy is getting to feel you move and turn inside. The first little flutters are such an awesome feeling and something I will miss so much. The big thunder kicks that move my whole stomach are pretty cool too, although sometimes painful! Throughout my pregnancy we have been dealing with high blood pressure and these past few weeks my meds were not working so well anymore and we began to worry that you would need to come sooner then we had planned. There were a few moments where I thought you would have to come a little too soon but you held off till 38 weeks which made both us and our dr feel a little better. It's hard to believe that we get to meet you tomorrow! Your brothers and sister are so excited and cant wait. You are already loved so much. So tonight while I grieve the thought of never feeling a baby kick me from the inside again, or have the excitement and anticipation of finding out about a new life growing inside of me, I thank God that we were blessed 4 times to have those feelings in the first place. You already hold a very special place in my heart. You are my baby. The last one to go through the anxiety of an upcoming csection, the sleeplessness of the newborn stage, the first smiles, coos and steps. I am so looking frward to all of these things one last time with you. We love you so much and can't wait to meet you soon and complete our family. Love Always, Mommy

Super 7

It's hard to believe but Gabe turned 7 on Saturday!  He woke up to find this tied to his chair.

and this to open.

(it was space themed shrinky dinks and a science experiment kit, which now I need to get the ambition to try out with him:) 
After opening his present from us, Dad had made him his requested birthday breakfast of cinnamon roll waffles complete with candles.

We kept it pretty simple this year and invited just a few family members to join us for lunch at Hickory Park.  Unfortanately Hickory Parks idea of putting us in tables adjoining and my idea were a little different and we ended up being in two back to back booths which made it rather difficult to visit and see everyone but I think Gabe liked his birthday sundae anyway.

Since we were in two seperate spots we decided to take present to a park to open so we could all acutally see each other.  Gabe loved opening up all his great gifts.

and liked playing with his new stomp rocket at the park(I think Dad enjoyed it quite a bit too)

After the park we took the kids(and Gabe's friend Brady who stayed for Gabe's first ever friend sleepover) to the movie Brave at the theater.  Here's Callie next to the theater.

and the boys.

We had planned to go to the aquatic center after the movie but the rain and cool temperatures didn't work out so well to do that so we went home and the kids were able to play with some of Gabe's new toys and video games.  We ordered pizza for supper and then Gabe had picked out cupcakes the day before so we did cupcakes for dessert.  Green frosting is super messy:)

After a rousing game of battleship the 7 year old and accomplices went to bed and actually fell asleep pretty quickly.  Gabe had a great day and it was so good to get to see some family and spend time together.  We are so blessed to have become parents 7 years ago already.  Gabe has taught us so much and we are thankful for him everyday. 

One Month from Today and a Guessing Game

I can hardly believe I'm typing this but one month from today(hopefully, as long as #4 doesn't decide to come early) we will be welcoming a new little one into our family.  I am super excited to meet this baby but have lots to do before its arrival yet.  I am excited to see which of these cute little outfits we get to use to come from the hospital.

Of course what fun is not knowing the gender ahead of time if you can't guess what the baby is before it arrives:)  So for those that want to have the distinction being the closest to the babies gender and weight leave us a comment with your guess:)  Winner gets bragging rights.

For those curious our families predicitions are

Carl-Girl-7 lbs. 11 oz.
Hollie-Boy-7 lbs. 9 oz.
Gabe-Girl-15 or 10 lbs.
Ty-Girl-1 lb.
Callie-Girl-"in Mommy's tummy" (she doesn't quite get the weight thing yet, I'm actually surprised she said girl usually she says it's going to be Madame Blueberry)