Baby Boy

 Well, it's true. As I mentioned in the last post the next time I'd be writing would probably be to announce our newest addition. He came! He is now 12 weeks old (yikes! time sure flies!) and boy I sure do love the little guy.

Zion River Eckert was born on December 14, 2012 at 5:58am. I had just under 2 hours of labor until we were able to hold our little 6lb 9oz 20 1/2 in long bundle of joy. I just want to say again what a blessing little ones are..such a blessing! He has been such a happy and healthy baby. Oh, and the girls absolutely LOVE him! Since it has been so long, here is a picture timeline of the last few months...

Our New Baby!

His first day...

Daddy and his boy!

Grace Anne wanted to hold him so badly for months...she finally could!

Abby is a natural

Chloe` is a big sister!

 My little logger...

and my Christmas present.

I love this picture

Grace Anne...my little Goldilocks

about 2 weeks old.

Nana Eckert meeting Zion for the first time!

Pap and Selah put together this dinosaur.

Chloe` eating an Oreo... She is definately my girl!

Love

We went to the botanical gardens. Selah and Daddy were soaking up some of the sunshine near the waterfalls. Ha ha, yes, I think they look alike too!

Mommy and Zion. It felt so good to breath in that fresh air! A perfect place to go in the middle of winter!

The little carseat blanket I made Zion. It is so cozy and no squishing blankets everywhere only for them to be kicked off!

...and a carseat tent I made with a couple of recieving blankets and piece of fleece I had on hand. Turned out perfect.

Thanks Mom!

My mom got these stickers for the van for me for Christmas. Love how they each have personality.

Chloe` on our trip to Manitoba.

(WHAT?!? Manitoba Canada? Yup..)

Blue sky above the clouds...Yes, if I had nine lives I would use one of them to become a pilot...I love flying!!!

Chloe` and Zion were such great little travelers. She was out before the plane took off on our last flight home.

Growing! Zion at about 10 weeks

Handsomeness has arrived!

Zion at about 12 weeks

This is what having a boy did to my hair! I got about 6 inches cut off and holy curls batman!

Our Snowman! We had about 10 inches of snow about a week ago and the girls put this guy together. The next time we build a snowman will probably be in Manitoba! Yes, our little family of 7 will be moving to Wawanesa Manitoba Canada in May. Neal, Chloe`, Zion and I flew there in February to candidate.  Neal has taken the job as pastor at the church. There will be some big adjustments and oh so much work to do to get there so if you think of it pray for strength, easy/safe travels and for the children to adjust well, they are going to miss their little friends. Today Grace Anne said she was taking her friend Dante to Canada. We had to explain to her that he would not be going, it broke her heart and I can totally sympathise. I will miss so many people who have invested into our lives as we have spent the last almost 9 years here in Kendallville Inidana.  

Soon and very soon....

Well, we've gone from 15 weeks to 36 weeks and counting! The girls have all been born from 37 to 38 weeks. I've popped out and you can see him just a wiggle'n around.

18 weeks and just starting to not feel so sick...lost 23 lbs

20ish weeks

28ish weeks

31 weeks

36 weeks

The girls are so super excited. Grace Anne isn't sure if it is really going to happen anymore, she told me today that it was taking too long. Poor thing. She kisses him every day and is always wanting to feel him move. She just loves her "baby brudder" so much. Abby was due Christmas day as well but she was born the 5th of December. Maybe she and I will have a birthday surprise. I just want to get over this cold or whatever I have first. It has really run me down, especially today. I have no voice and my throat hurts so bad I can't remember the last time it hurt this bad....even sneezing is agonizingly painful. At least last week we got the baby's clothes out and put away. Not too much more to do until he comes....just clean...but that is never ending!  

We had a great Thanksgiving, my family is so fun! Neal caught a huge steelhead but lost it...it swam away with the stringer! The traveling wasn't too bad being almost 36 weeks...glad it wasn't any farther.

Maybe the next time I post we'll be holding our newest little one in our arms! Until then, Blessings!!!

News!

Yesterday I had 2 teeth pulled...well, cut out because they were stubborn. (Imagine that!)  I guess the stress of it all started some contractions that continued for about 5 hrs. It was recommended by the Dr.'s office to go to the hospital to be monitored. Everything looked fine and things slowed down and eventually stopped by evening. We are 16 weeks along so we found out some news during the ultrasound...good news. Baby #5 is healthy and growing fast! We love this little blessing!

The first picture is from about 9 weeks ago. 

Seven week ultrasound picture. You can see at the left the yolk sack (looks like the head but it isn't) and the leg and arm buds. The little blessing is only about the size of a BB pellet.

Now here are some pictures from yesterday. Growing fast! Isn't it amazing how God knits them together so perfectly! Here is some crazy news! WE'RE HAVING A BOY! He is nearly 5 inches long from crown to rump or as I tell the girls from the top of his head to his buns. They don't count the length of the legs because they are bent and hard to measure. Here you can see his cute little nose, the shape of his head and his shoulder. The ultrasound tech gave me a picture that showed the "obvious" proof, I didn't post that one but I'm sure you all get the idea :o)

In this one his mouth is open and his elbow is bent. The ultrasound tech said that he is growing fast, measuring almost a week and a half ahead, although the due date stays the same. She said genetics takes over by this point and he could be a big baby. I was wondering! I honestly thought there could be twins because of how much my belly was popping even though I was still 15 lbs under my starging weight.

The girls were so excited to find out they're having a brother. They ran around in cirlces in the living room singing "We're going to have a brother, we're going to have a brother, the baby is a BOY!" So, so long saying "the girls" when refuring to our children...now it will be "the kids" or something like that. Now this poor little guy is going to have 5 mothers but he will also have a daddy who will teach him how to be a man (and a good fisherman). It is a new chapter in our lives as parents, one we look forward to. It wasn't something we were "trying" for as some may think. We would have been overjoyed with another girl! We will see where the Lord leads our family. It is so exciting to see who he places in our lives.

Today Chloe` had her 15 month check up. She is one tall little girl! She is in the 97% for her height, 75% for her weight and wonderfully healthy. Oh, and quite the talker! She loves to jibber jabber and snuggle with her daddy.

Until next time,

Calle`

Oh, it has been such a long time since I have been on here....too long really. There is a lot to share in words and pictures!
We're going to have a wonderful Christmas present this year! A new baby! The due date is Christmas day. That will make 5 little munchkins. Abby is hoping for a boy, she says we have "too many girls in the family". We are wanting a healthy baby, boy or girl (although Neal and I both agree that we just may be hoping for a girl because a boy, the poor thing, would have 5 mothers!) I had my first check up this past Monday and all seemed to be going well. For a couple of months I have struggled with being so sick. At one point I had lost 23 lbs. I was in the ER 2 times. I hadn't gone to the ER for myself in over 10 years! We are at 13 weeks now and starting to feel better.

Neal has gotten his unemployment, which has been very helpful. He is doing so well since being done with that job. He's keeping busy with the garden and meeting with some guys every week as well as doing A LOT around the house for me..grocery shopping, dishes, helping with the girls, laundry....

We had a lightening storm in the beginning of May that fried the mother board in our oven. Well, after some discussions with the landlord, he is kicking us out of the house in August. Not fair. And what does an oven have to do with getting the boot? I know it doesn't make any sense.  But we are going to see it as an open door to move on. (Basically he wasn't shooting straight with us, got caught, then got mad and wants us out.)

Several weeks ago Selah broke out in eczema all over her arms, hands, feet and legs. She has always had a little on her back side but this was a major break out. We have cut gluten from her diet and low and behold she doesn't have ANY eczema. So now we are gluten free, mostly dairy free with the exception of cheese, AND vegetarian (yes, that is somewhat new too) with the exception of eggs and fish. It makes you feel great and I suppose with a large garden is easy to do. What do we eat? Well, we still have pizza it just has a rice flour crust and veggies or just cheese, we still have burgers..Bocca burgers with no buns or gluten free ones, and we love stir fry with tofu or just veggies over rice. We eat lots of nuts and seeds and love fish. Veggies actually have protein too!

Our garden is growing wonderfully this year with all the TLC from Neal and the sprinkler.

My handsome husband with his new reading glasses

Chloe`'s 1st Birthday cake

Eating cake for the first time! She had her own cupcake to destroy

Selah and Abby's eggs they decorated with color and glitter!

Easter egg hunt! Found one!

Grace Anne...is it naptime yet?!

Selah, showing off her eggs and missing tooth

Grace Anne was missing for a bit and then we discovered her in the back

eating the chocolates out of her eggs!

Grace Anne on Easter Sunday

A family picture, something that is very rare!

Tilling day! The girls were excited to watch garden Phill (as we call him)

till up our garden in March....(ok, so these pictures are out of order)

Freshly tilled earth...nothing like it!

Abby, what style!

Grace Anne had her tonsils and adenoids out the day after Easter.

Her buddy Sprouts never left her side!

Selah lost another tooth! She is such a cutie!

We had tadpoles this spring. Here one of them has gotten his legs

 and is ready to loose it's tale before we let him go.

Beautiful girl!

Neal and the girls found some morels but with such a dry spring there

weren't very many this year.

Yes, this is Grace Anne. She is our biggest garden pest. She has eaten (yes, not just pulled out but eaten) 3 rows of beets....greens, stems and root, although they haven't been very big it is still quite the accomplishment in my book since I don't think they are that great raw like that.

Chloe`

Selah

Mmmm...

Grace Anne took a big spill out of the stroller and scraped up her nose really bad...

this doesn't even do it justice

Strawberry season and Chloe` loved it!

The tunips this year have been amazing, some are as big as softballs

or bigger! The girls say, "they are bigger then the Amish ones!"

My favorite. Raspberries!

Chloe` helping in the garden!

We have lots of helpers. Selah is watering the tomatoes

 and Abby is picking peas. They also get a penny for every

potato bug they find and squish.

Here she is, picking away!

Cute or what?!

We also found out that Abby will be having her adenoids removed in the near future, we are praying for a quick recovery and good health.

It has been so hot here....a bit more than this Michigan girl can handle but I am so thankful for good AC and the occasional cool evening. Rain is something we have not had much of. There are burn bans...so as of now no fireworks! Yikes! But the good thing is no burning trash (something our neighbors LOVE to do)

We are excited to see my parents this weekend as they camp at the campground here in town. Summers are full of fun memories!

Blessings!

Calle`