almost two weeks old

Tomorrow my sweet baby Emmett will be two whole weeks old! It is hard to believe that so much time has already passed since his birth.

{Almost smiling... he smiles in his sleep all the time, especially when we kiss his cheeks or pet his downy little head. But I've had a really hard time capturing those fleeting expressions with my camera! He has the cutest little dimples in each cheek when he does smile.}

{Peaceful and quiet}

{big brother Logan, perfect for napping on} 

{At 12 days old Emmett had his first real bath... I do love babies without all of their clothes and blankets on... so tiny and delicate and strong all at the same time, with such soft sweet skin. They are such perfect little miracles, aren't they?}

{After just a minute he decided that he really didn't mind the water at all!

{All tired out and sweet smelling after his bath. Claire was whispering over and over to him "I love you too, baby."}

I love him. 

I am quite sure he is one of the most precious, perfect babies ever. I am enjoying this tiny little person so much. I really love having a new baby, there are so many things I don't want to ever forget. His breathy little sighs and sneezes, his smell, the softest hair covering his little round head. The way he grunts and squirms when he is trying to wake up. The funny little mewling sounds he makes. The way he looks up at me when I talk to him, and how he sleeps so peacefully next to me at night. I wake up just so I can rejoice in the fact that he is here, and healthy, and mine! I wish there was a better way to preserve this time in his life...the way he smells, sounds and feels, but for lack of a better way, I'll probably be posting lots of "baby" here over the next few weeks!

Welcome to the world my sweet baby!

I am so very happy to announce the birth of our fifth sweet baby, Emmett Morgan! He was born last night. Well, early this morning actually, around 3:10am. Like we did with his big sister Claire, we chose to stay home and have him here instead of going to the hospital for his labor and delivery. Surprisingly he came a few days before his due date! That has never happened to us before, everyone else has shown up for the party late!

Important Facts:

Born: Sept. 13, 2011

Time 3:10am

Weight: 7lbs 10oz.

Length 19.75 inches

Head: 13.25inches

He is fat, with dimples in both cheeks, and he smells heavenly!!

He is our second post vasectomy reversal baby, and our second VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean-section) baby. And our second baby born in the USA. (Our first 3 boys were born while we lived in Guatemala.) Our fifth child, fourth boy! Have I mentioned lately how much I love my boys (and my girl <3)? 

Claire is smitten with "her baby" as we all are! She asks to "hold it, the baby" constantly. 

I might get back on here in a few days and post Emmett's birth story. But for now I am going to rest and bask in the sweetness of getting to know my newest little one!

Zipline Rules

Matthew and Ethan decided to make a sign with rules for their Zipline in the backyard yesterday. :-)

 

My favorite part: "Hold on for Dear life." These boys of mine make me giggle! 

{Click on pictures to enlarge for a better view}

Talking to her baby

We've tried to explain to Claire that there is a baby in Mommy's belly. And she has seen many of the preparations we've made over the past few months for the soon to arrive little one. Of course she doesn't really understand the whole concept, being little more than a baby herself. However she loves to lift my shirt up and talk to her baby any chance she gets. She usually screams "BABY! HELLO BABY!" right into my belly button, and then giggles uncontrollably. 

I snapped these pictures this weekend while we were sitting on my bed. I was trying to get a picture of her with her hair in pigtails... she was much more interested in chatting up her baby brother who was happily jumping and kicking her the whole time!

Playing in the Fountains

One day last week I had to run a few errands for my husband in Knoxville. Since I had all of the kids with me, and they were being so sweet I decided to take them somewhere fun when we were finished with what we had to do. We took a picnic lunch and headed for the fountains at the World's Fair park in Downtown Knoxville. The day was hot and sunny, just perfect for playing in the water! Originally, I actually had wanted to take them to a nearby park with a big playground, but when we got there we discovered the park had been closed for repairs due to recent storm damage... oh well, contingency plan! Find water! The World's Fair Park and Fountains were near by, and even though we had not brought bathing suits to play in the water, I had enough extra stuff in the van to make do with what we had! A few towels, a few extra pairs of shorts for the little ones and Matthew and Ethan , and a  swim diaper/panties for Claire... and we where good to go!

It was a lot of fun and because the new school year has begun we had the water almost totally to ourselves.

Matthew made a point of running over each and every fountain in the park. He wasn't still long enough for me to get a good picture of his face! But take my word for it... he had a great time!

Logan helped me keep a close eye on all of the little ones... he is such a great help to me!

Ethan telling B. (one of our foster sons) how to run between the fountains. 

H. (our foster daughter) running around the outside of the water. She kept getting close to the fountains and touching them with her outstretched hand, but she didn't want to run between them like everyone else... the water was a bit too cold for her!

The water temperature didn't bother J (our other foster son, B's big brother) one bit, thank you very much!

Meanwhile, Claire made friends with a nice Grandmother who had brought her 3 year old grandson to play in the fountains. The Grandma pushed Claire around on his little scooter for the longest time while her grandson played in the water.

After a while the big boys wanted to cross the street and play on the playground for a while, and warm up some. (The day was very hot... but the water in the fountains was really cold!) So we each grabbed a little one by the hand and went to play over there for a bit.

B going down a big boy slide for the first time ever! He was so proud of himself!

After a while we where plenty warm! So we wandered back across the street to cool off once again. At that point I was feeling much too hot, having sat in the sun for nearly 2 hours while they played! So I joined the little ones in the fountains for a few minutes to cool off my legs and feet! I noticed in this picture that my poor belly button has officially popped out now. I feel like the Thanksgiving turkey with it's little pop up timer, I'm about done! Just a few more weeks before we meet this little one!

Claire taking a break from the water.

My sweet happy Ethan.

H and B venturing back in.