So Much to Celebrate!

We had a very exciting weekend at our house!  After much waiting and anticipation, Baby Pip finally decided to arrive in the early morning hours, at 1:24 am on January 28, 2017, which just so happens to be big sister Alora's birthday too!.

Much to our surprise, it is a boy!!!  Welcome Elam Alexander!!!  Elam- "forever", Alexander - "defender of mankind", we know this little guy is destined for great things and is such an expression of the love and commitment between Alex and I.  Weighing 8 pounds and 7 ounces, and measuring 21 inches, he is just perfect in every way.  Born at home as we had planned, with our midwife Yolanda attending, the birth went very well and little Elam arrived with little trouble aside from being sunny side up and having the cord wrapped tightly enough that it needed to be cut before he could be fully born.  What a blessing he is, we are already so in love.

 Everything checked out for little Elam, who adjusted very quickly to the birth.

Just an hour after being born, he was still wide eyed and alert, calm and content.  How could we not immediately fall in love?

 We were able to be back in bed and asleep just shortly after 3am, the 3 of us snuggled together.

The next morning, we called the girls to facetime with them (they had spent the night at Grandpa and Grandma's). We got to tell Alora Happy Birthday and share with her that she had a very special gift - a baby brother!  She was very excited, as were Ezri and Tierney.  Alora keeps saying that Elam is her twin because they share a birthday, she is so attached to this little guy.

Later in the morning, the girls came back home, all full of excitement and gifts, anxious to meet and hold little Elam.

They each got to open a big sister gift from Elam.  

 Then we spent some time hanging out with the little guy, letting the girls check him out and see him to their content.

And then we put him in his very first outfit for the day, a newborn boy sleeper that has been hanging around through three other new babies, "just in case".

We wanted to make sure the day stayed centered on Alora as much as possible, being her special 5th birthday.  Just as with Elam, we were keenly aware on this day what a treasure Alora is, so full of life and energy, a constant source of joy (and challenge), who keeps us on our toes and falling more in love with her each day. We knew people would inevitably be stopping in, so we tried to keep the day about Alora.  We began by letting her do her bow hunt, which she had been anticipating for weeks.  She searched the house for gift bows with money attached and made quite a haul by the time she was all done.

 A little later in the day, we allowed her to open her gifts from our family.

Among her gifts were her #5 Growing Up porcelain doll, a special ladybug necklace, a book, paints and a stuffed kitty from her sisters.

The guests rolled in throughout the day, starting with Uncle Andy...

 Soon, Opa and Oma arrived...

 as well as Grandpa (Grandma was at the house with the girls most of the day already, playing and helping while Alex and I tried to catch up on some sleep).

 We tried to sneak in a few pictures of the kids together as well as our family, but the extra distractions made it a little difficult to get everyone looking the same way.

 The big sisters spent considerable time wanting to hold Elam, sometimes fighting about whose turn it was, reluctant to give him up to any visitors.

 Sunday morning, we woke to prepare for Alora's family birthday party.  Though we stayed home from church, we spent the morning together.  Mommy even was able to decorate Alora's requested purple cat birthday cake.

 The guests rolled back in at lunch time.

 After a lunch of pizza, fruit and salad, on Alora's request, she was able to open her gifts.

And then it was cake time.  Somehow, in the few hours since decorating the cake and setting it on the cool back porch, the color changed to blue!  Oh well, she was still thrilled with the outcome and especially with the special tiara on top.

She was pretty happy with the way it tasted too!

 As was Tierney!!!

 After all of the excitement, the girls were ready to get back to that baby brother again!

Monday morning, we had a post-partum visit with our midwife.  It was so fun to see her again and to share little Elam with her for a few moments. She really has become a part of our family through this and the last birth, and there is a friendship there that I so cherish.  We have been so blessed by her calm and confidence leading up to and through the births of our last two children,

Much of the week since then has been spent with grandparents helping to play with the girls in the afternoon while Mommy and Elam nap, which has been a big blessing.  The girls have enjoyed the extra attention and Mommy has enjoyed the extra sleep.