Cousins

This past weekend, Nathan's sister Jessica came over with her little girl, Delayney. The kids opened presents and we all enjoyed spending time with family. Delayney is there only cousin and it's so much fun for them to be able to spend time together. You can definitely tell they're all related!

Our little Ivan is almost 7 weeks old. It's so strange, because he's still so young, and yet I can't remember life without him. He gets held and loved on so much. Just the way it should be!

My Little Watson

Nathan has some strong genes! Ivan looks just like him- as do all of the kids (except Gabs) I'm lucky I'm married to such a handsome man!

Aunt Mary and Uncle Bernard

Thanksgiving always makes me think of my Aunt Mary and Uncle Bernard. I haven't seen them in years, but I sure do miss them!

This is what Gabs and Zekey do when Mommy is feeding Baby Ivan

And here I was afraid they would feel neglected! :)

Brothers

I was really worried about how Zekey would do with having to share me with a new baby. I have to admit, I spoiled my little Zekey from the day he was born and he was extremely attached to me.
But he's done amazingly well. He's so loving with baby Ivan. There's only been a few times when he's wanted me to hold him while I'm feeding Ivan. They're already great buddies.

Ivan Thomas

November 1 was a very happy day for the Watson family. Our little boy entered the world :)
My labor and delivery was awesome. I had a great nurse and things moved faster than I thought they would. I was going to try to do it without an epidural, but once the contractions really started, I remembered what it was like without the epidural, so I decided to go ahead and get it. And I'm very glad I did. I could still feel pressure and contractions, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been without an epidural. I did standing abs all throughout the pregnancy and it definitely paid off- I pushed him out in a few minutes. I always want to start breastfeeding right after the baby is born, but the nurse who came in after the good nurse left was incredibly slow. She was very nice, but she took him to weigh him and then she wouldn't give him back. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown not being able to start nursing him. But I finally got him and he latched on right away and has been perfect at breastfeeding from the start. I told Nathan that I wasn't looking forward to breastfeeding, but he reminded me that once I get started with it, I really love it. And I do. I think it's such a special bonding experience.
Ivan is almost 9 days old. He's already grown and changed. The kids love him and we're all adjusting really well. I was worried that Ezekiel would have a hard time, but he really hasn't. He isn't jealous of Ivan at all. He tries to sit on my lap when I'm feeding the baby though :)
People used to tell us that once you have 3 or 4 kids, anything after that isn't a big deal. But adding one more is a lot harder than I thought. Five kids is a lot. He is a wonderful, easy baby. But we definitely feel the difference between four and five kids.
When I was in the hospital, all of the nurses went on and on about how he was such a good baby. They said that he was so silly and were making them all laugh when he was in the nursery. He has such a strong personality for being an infant. I think he's going to be our little comedian. He makes us all laugh and he brings so much joy into our family. I'm so glad our little blessing is finally here.

I'm Ready to Have a Baby!

I was hopeful that with as active as I've been throughout this pregnancy, the baby would want to come out a little early. But it looks like he's quite content in there. I had a doctor's appointment today. I'm still only dilated one centimeter, but he's really low. I had her strip my membranes to try and kick start labor. I've never had that done before. It wasn't fun to say the least. So after she did that, I took Gabs and Zekey to Walmart and walked around for an hour. And then we came home and skipped nap time and I've been cleaning the house for the past hour and a half. I've had a few contractions, but mostly just feel really crampy. I'm really, really hopeful that he'll come this weekend. But if he doesn't, I'll be induced a week from Sunday. So at least the end is near!


Gabs took a break from her doggie costume so she could dress up like a ballernia. She insisted on having Zekey in the pictures with her. I can see why people always mistake him for a girl! :)

Little Fi Fi

I spent the day Saturday looking for Halloween costumes. The only ones who really needed them were Malachi and Aylah. I found nothing for them, but I did find a pink dog costume for Gabs. I didn't know if I should get it for her, because she had already decided to be a cat and use the costume the other kids have used in the past. BUT her favorite color is pink and she pretends to be a dog all the time and I found it at a second hand store, so I had to get it. It has a name tag on the collar that says "Fi Fi". The child literally lives in this costume. Not only does she wear it all the time, but she never breaks character. Woof woof!

Almost Baby Time

I can't believe it's already been a week since Ezekiel went to the hospital. It's been a fast week, but the days that we spent in the hospital felt like an eternity. We're so happy to have our little guy back home and even happier that he's doing so well and besides his cough, he's pretty much back to normal.
I had a doctor's appointment today. When you get to the end of pregnancy, the appointments seem so pointless. All they do is measure you and listen to the baby's heartbeat. For some reason, my doctor's office always runs behind, so I ended up waiting for an hour and half. With Gabs and Zekey. They were wonderful- as wonderful as a 3 and 2 year old can be in the doctor's office. By the time it was over, I was so stressed out I started having contractions. Which have since gone away. But I wouldn't mind if they came back and I went into labor. I've gotten so much done in the past two days. Things that don't really matter too much- like organizing and cleaning. But it makes me feel so much better and I definitely feel ready to have the baby. Although I still haven't packed a bag. I'm going to do that tonight- just in case :)

Zekey

The past week has been one of the most difficult weeks ever. As soon as Aylah got over her sickness, Ezekiel got sick. He had the same thing as she had, but his fever went away much faster than hers did. I thought he was getting better, but last Sunday he started getting even more sick. His temperature went back up and he had this horrible cough. The worst was that he started to not be able to breathe. He was still acting like himself and running around, so Nathan and I thought that if he just sat down he would be better. But that wasn't the case. One of the hardest things as a parent is trying to decide what your child needs when they're sick. We didn't know if we should take him to the emergency room or just wait until the morning and take him to his doctor. Finally, Nathan and I both agreed that he needed to go to the hospital. Nathan took him and by the time they got there, Ezekiel's throat was almost completely closed up. I can't even think about what might have happened had we not taken him to the hospital. They gave him a shot of a steroid, epinephrine and oxygen. He was there for a couple of hours, but was able to come home. The doctor at the ER prescribed some insanely strong steroids for him. Little did we know that it was too much for his little body to handle and by Wednesday he was so dehydrated, we had to take him back to the doctor. He was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday and he had to stay there until Friday evening. Our poor baby! He had croup, but the main problem was how dehydrated he was. Nathan stayed both nights with him in the hospital. And I spent the days with him. I started having contractions on Wednesday from the stress, but thankfully once I laid down, they went away.
He's home now and he's doing so much better. It was so scary when he was that sick. He was like a little rag doll.
My doctor is going to induce me on November 1st if baby doesn't come before that. I think I'm ok with staying pregnant for a little bit longer. I feel like I have so many things to do before he comes. I'm excited to not be pregnant, but I still want to enjoy these last couple of weeks of pregnancy. As long as everyone is well, our baby boy can come whenever he wants!




Malachi and Aylah on picture day



They have the same smile :)



Gabs loves her little brother. She was a good care giver

He was so exhausted, he couldn't even keep his eyes open

This makes me sad to even look at. He was very brave though!

Malachi and Aylah at "Kids in the Kitchen"
Feeling good enough to be silly!

Sick Family

It seems like everyone is sick right now. And isn't it too early for the sick season to start? The weather went from warm, summer weather to cold, yucky weather. Which is probably why everyone is sick. The sickness has hit our family hard. So far the only ones who aren't sick are Malachi and Gabs. Hopefully we can keep it that way. Aylah has been home from school since Wednesday. She's had a consistent fever and flu like symptoms. And then yesterday, Ezekiel got it too. So every night I've been up with them. Not necessarily because they actually need me, but mostly because I've been checking on them every hour. I hate it when the kids are sick. But it we've made good use of our get well time in the house. They've made forts in their beds, decorated some delicious looking cookies, watched way too many obnoxious kids shows and gotten in lots of snuggle time with Mommy.
I've definitely hit the exhaustion part of pregnancy. There's something about pregnancy exhaustion that is unlike anything else. I would much rather have a newborn than have the constant drain of pregnancy. He's gotten so big and it seriously hurts when he moves. I have almost everything all ready for his arrival, so hopefully he'll be here in the next 3 or 4 weeks. I'm so excited to see what he's going to look like. All of the kids have blonde hair excpet Aylah, so I'm very curious to see if he'll have brown hair like her. I'm sure he'll be chubby and have huge cheeks like all of the other kids. I can't wait to get my hands on him!

Fall

Fall weather has finally made it's way to Ohio. We've been enjoying the change in seasons, although it has brought some coughs and sniffles. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and I have an upper respiratory infection. Thankfully I'm taking medicine now that should clear it up quickly. Gabs and Zekey are both very good at playing together (or by themselves), so I'm able to kind of get some rest. I've been consistently measuring a week bigger. I'm not sure if my doctor will use that as my due date. If so, I'll be due on Halloween. I hope he doesn't come on Halloween though! I'll go back on Monday to see when I can be induced. This is the first pregnancy where I really feel in no hurry to have the baby. This has really been an easy pregnancy (as easy as pregnancy can be) and even though he's big and it hurts a little when he moves around, I absolutely love feeling my baby inside of me. I really feel like he will come when he's supposed to. I would love to say that I'm going to try to not be induced this time, but with four other kids, it's pretty important to be able to plan when I have the baby.
This past weekend some good friends of ours got married. Malachi and Aylah were the ring bearer and flower girl. They were so cute. Nathan and some friends brewed some special wedding beer. Everyone was amazed at how good it was. It really is impressive that Nathan has gotten so good at brewing amazing beer. I'm looking forward to having some in the future :)
One of our favorite things to do as a family (actually, there isn't anything we *don't* do as a family) is to go to a local store called The Anderson's. They have great samples the kids love, a great selection of food and beer and they have all of their fall and Christmas decorations out which we all enjoy. It's always funny to see people's expressions when we walk in with so many kids. But having a large family is something Nathan and I feel called to do. We sacrifice a lot, but there is nothing better than being able to be with our kids and raise them to be the absolute best people God wants them to be. Fall is filled with so many little family traditions of ours. We have just as much fun doing things with the kids as they do. And it's exciting to think that in a few weeks we will be adding another member to our family. God has been very good to us.

Our camera is the worst ever. I don't know what happened to it,but it just doesn't take good pictures anymore. The pictures of Aylah and Malachi at the wedding didn't turn out well at all. :(


This was the end of funny pictures in the van. Aylah and Zekey had enough.











Malachi and Aylah look like twins.