Five is the new Ten!

I have 5 children. I have 5 kids. There are 5 kids in our family... I am constantly reminding myself of this. Even nine weeks with our beautiful, cuddly baby hasn't really given me enough time to accept this very obvious fact.  Jared and I were very happy with our family of six. 

Our cute little family of 6 in 2009. Don't we just make it look easy! :0)  

Four kids is still a lot of kids these days. I always said four was the new six when it came to kids. Four kids makes a big family but it is still a very acceptable amount of children but when you move above the safe zone of four you have gone over the edge. And it seems to me  that five kids is the new ten. People look at you with wide eyes when you tell them this bundle of joy is your fifth child and they say something like, "Wow, that's a lot of kids." or they whistle "Woo wee!" And, of course I say, Yeah, don't I know it!" 

Fast forward to 2013. Our now gigantic family of 7! Will we ever be able to take a good picture again???

Surprisingly, I am handling having five children very well considering the fact that I had a five year gap between my fourth and my fifth. That five years gave me enough time to  do a lot more things than I was previously able to do with four young kids. I was able to run a lot more, and I even ran my first marathon. My oldest daughter turned twelve and could now babysit while Jared and I had weekly date nights!  And as they got older I was able to leave my husband with the kids over night and go places with my girlfriends. Having a taste of all that freedom was what scared me most about having baby number five. When you have your kids close together, like my first four, you have already succumbed to the life of having toddlers and a baby. The work is still fresh in your mind. But now I remembered what life was like before I had to spend a half an hour looking for shoes before I could leave the house, and what it felt like to go to the grocery store by myself, and best of all sleep in my bed without feet or a fist in my face.  I relished in my new found freedom and comforts. I had paid my dues and now I was reaping the benefits! Life was very, very good!

But God wasn't finished with us yet! Baby Nash was meant to be a part of our family. Yes, he did surprise us, but he is not an accident. Our family was missing someone and now he is here and we feel very blessed he made it! He is a happy, smiley, chubby cheeked ball of baby goodness! Yes, I have to change diapers again, breastfeed every 2-3 hours, and practically pack a suitcase before I can leave the house. But, honestly there is nothing else I would rather be doing then taking care of this little guy who slid into our family like a baseball player slides into home base, at the bottom of the ninth, to win the game and everybody cheers! And our life is still very, very good, and just maybe even a bit better!

To celebrate here are nine pictures from Nash's first nine weeks of life- 

Aww, now ain't he cute!