Well, Friday night I felt Joel finally move into the right position, and I thought ‘good! That ought to help labor get along quickly!” Saturday morning I got out of bed at 8:30  and started feeling contractions around 9:00. Right away, they felt hard and serious, and were coming pretty frequently, so I knew it was the real deal. We had planned to go garage sale-ing that morning, there were a few in our neighborhood and I thought of walking around to them might help, but I was already progressing too far to be able to get ready in a timely fashion, or care too much once it was getting too late. We left the house at 11 am, dropped a book off at the library, and picked up our friend who agreed to come with us and watch the kids at the birthing center. By then, it was pretty obvious that we needed to get there FAST, so Adam had a fun (harrowing?)  time speeding along the freeway to get there. A few minutes before we arrived, I felt some fluids leaking out, and was really worried then, because for me that usually means baby is imminent. But he held out, and Adam helped me out of the car and into the center. When the midwife checked me she said my water hadn’t completely broken and that I was dilated 9 cm. I wanted to get in the tub, but the next contraction came and my water broke in one big gush. I tried to get up again, but the next contraction let me know that it was time to push! After two back to back pushes his head was free; I paused, pushed his shoulders through, and felt instantly relieved when the rest of him slid out too (isn’t that the best feeling in the world?)  We had gotten to the birthing center at 12:30 and he was born at 12:37!  He weighed 8 lbs and 1 oz and was 21 inches long, and we named him Joel Titus.  He has lots of dark hair, just like all the rest of my kids (yes, even the ones that are now blond!) and is just perfect. Thanks for all your prayers!

Here are some more birthday pics from the Big Z's Big 3:

The Cake:

I asked him, "Do you want a car cake or a train one?" Cars it was. The girls watched me decorate it, and when I asked how it looked, Noelle said in a dissapointed voice "I thought you were going to make a car out of frosting." HA! It's kinda cute that they think I am superwoman  - for my next trick I will squeeze water from this rock :D But I hope the realization that I am not comes slowly and painlessly. Anyhow, the serious business of candles:

And gifts. He received a couple trains, a Thomas the Train Treasury, a 12 piece wooden truck puzzle that he did over and over and over....and some clothes. This is Adam's favorite picture:

Can you see his face? HA! He is actually not disgusted with the clothes, I promise! They were very nice - Thanks Aunt Joanne and Aunt Deborah! He even put one of the shirts on right away. He was just being silly, but it sure makes for a funny picture! I didn't get any other gift pics unfortunately, because after this Emily needed attending to. And even though he had a nice birthday, I have to say, I liked two better than I like three so far. Can I have my 2 year old Zeke back, PLEASE?

Welcome Emily Joy!

Born Saturday night, 8 pounds, 6 ounces;

a good amount of dark hair, though less than the other kids had;

girly lips;

a big nose, and slightly elf-ish ears :)

and long fingers - a future pianist? The concensus seems to be that we should keep her, even though I think she is just using me as a human pacifier :)

 We are so blessed.

"She's growing up so fast, it won't be long before

I'll have to put the fear of God into some kid at the door" *

*Rodney Atkins, Cleaning this Gun

Happy Brithday Noelle!

I wanted to put a picture from her birthday - you know, to show how big of a 4 year old she really is, but none of them were any good. Then I thought, well I'll get one from Christmas, that's close enough. No good either. So if she looks young to you in this pic, that's because it is SO two months ago and not at all reflective of the big girl she is now. :)

She really is all legs all of a sudden. I keep asking her "Why are you getting so big?" and she answers: "Because I have to be the big sister!" To our new baby she means. Never mind that she is already Ezekiel's big sister. She pretty much ignored him for the first 4 months of his life, so even though they get along fine now, I guess somehow he still doesn't count in her eyes. Maybe they're too close in age. He's not the same as a baby baby . Anyway, here she is in all her Belle glory, (do you like my Belle hairdo?) with a tough girl scar on her cheek for good measure, lol.  I love this girl!