Yes Sir, that's my baby...

 No Sir, I don't mean maybe

Yes Sir, that's my baby now

Sorry for the long wait, faithful followers, but it's been kind of crazy around here (as expected ;).  Oak Gideon joined our family Tuesday morning (June 7th) and life hasn't been the same since.  The three older kids just adore him and want to hold him all the time.  He's a sweet little guy, although definitely on the spitty and gassy side...which is all too much like his older brother was for my tastes.  That's ok, though, he's adorable and we all fell in love with him the moment he came into this world.  He has just a bit of blond hair on top and a little bit of light brown hair old-man style on the sides and back.  His eyes are blue, as expected (both Spence and I have blue eyes, as do the other kids) and we'll see what shade they settle into.  Oak has a bit of a stork bite on the tip of his nose and one on his forehead, back of his head, and nape of his neck.  Let's just say he's well-loved by the stork.  Luckily none of them are too too prominent.  As for eating, he has a bit of a rough time latching on for nursing, but once he's on he's on for good and is a champion nurser from that point forward.

Oak's name comes from my maiden name, Holyoak.   So, his name is to honor my family heritage, along with my own father, who instilled in me a need to live up to the honor of my name.  Also, we just love the imagery of a strong and indomitable oak tree as Oak's namesake.  I can tell he has a mighty oak spirit in his little acorn body.

ps-for all you veteran moms and other interested readers out there, all the gory birth details are in the post following this one.

pps-sorry for the lack of daddy-son pictures.  I realized when looking over pictures for this post that Spence has usually been behind the camera not in front of it.

Now...onto the orgy of baby pictures...

 

 Fresh baked and out of the oven

 

A very tired, but happy, mommy and baby

Checkin' out the competition

 

 Georgie and Oak

You couldn't find a prouder older brother if you tried.  Ezra tells me all the time how he's trying to be a good example for Oak to teach him the right.

Baby-obsessed Scarlett thinks it's the best thing ever to finally have one of her very own.

MiMi (my mom) came up from Oklahoma at the drop of a hat.  Thank heavens.  I think it's helped the older kids have a much easier transition to have her around.

Oak in his home-coming outfit.  Ezra picked it out with Mimi the day before.  He knew he had to have it when he saw the sharks, his latest obsession.

 Ahhh...sweet...

 ...but give it some time and Scarlett's true feelings will come to light.

I couldn't resist a picture of that little wrinkly forehead.  Don't you just love them!

 Taken just mere minutes ago, this is the most accurate and up-to-date picture so far.  Isn't he adorable?

Well, there you have it, folks.  If you aren't beating your head on a desk already from the mere length of this post, feel free to carry on with the birth story below.