Pictures I Stole From Facebook

 Grandma and Grandpa sure know how to tire a kid (and a puppy) out!

Luke with his proud big sister and Aunt Caulene.

 There was some worry about Luke's lungs for a bit, so he had to undergo some tests.  Emma went to check on him.

 Little Buddy in the flesh.  I like him.

 Grandma with her new spoilage recipient.  And me in the background looking exhausted...

 I love how this shows off his spiky hair.  It refuses to cooperate.  I love it.

 Grandpa Jones.

 Grandma helping Emma hold her new slave sibling.

 Grandma Jones

 Ross needs a haircut-- I have been slacking!

 Pretty Aunt Caulene.  I need to get pictures with my other sisters.  Again with the slacking.

 However, amidst all that slacking I helped make this. :)

 My IV infiltrated my hand sometime in the night and caused this lovely scene.  I feel like the Jet Puff man.  Kind of gross, but kind of cool...

 I just can't get enough of those pouty lips while he sleeps.

Pictures of Luke

I'm not quite feeling up to posting about my feelings on all this yet, and Ross did an excellent job of recapping what happened yesterday, so for now, I will use this nursing time to upload the pictures from our camera.  They are not great.  Our camera is not great.  I will steal some from facebook later and post those as well.  However, Luke is still totally studly despite our sad camera situation!

The last of the baby bump.  A little too big to be called, 'bump' at this point, I think.

 Red Hair!

 Perfect blue eyes.  This is always one of the first things I check on my babies.

 Bath time.  He was not a fan.  They never are.

I love this little guy so very much.  He is my little miracle, and I am completely smitten.

He is here!

Luke Thomas Goodman graced the world with his presence this morning at 8:59 am weighing in at a healthy 7lbs 4 oz and a lengthy 20"  with strawberry blonde hair and the super handsomeness that only Goodman boy babies exude. Though there were some slight unplanned events, mom, baby and family are all doing fine. yes this post may cause some squeamish souls to wish to not continue reading, but the fact of the matter is this is a blog to celebrate life's miracles and journal our family's experiences. This baby is truly a miracle baby. As many of you know, this pregnancy has been one of the most difficult ones for Amanda. Some unexpected hemorrhages requiring ER visits, and some mandated bed rest. Having the doctors, during the C=Section say "oh wow I haven't seen one of those is a while," and then abruptly ask us how many more babies we're planning on having, it's pretty hard to make a split second decision if we want to have more at this point or not. In fact our doctor just before going in for the surgery asks me if Amanda wants her tubes tied. well, it turns out that Amanda's uterine scar from prior C-sections had opened up and a small window in the uterus formed. if it had opened up a tiny bit more, it could have ruptured, Luke would have died within 5 minutes or had Amanda's water broke and the window would have ruptured near one of the main blood vessels that is right there she could have died in 15 minutes. this was all explained to us afterwards, by our very up front OB. We like him for that reason. It causes us to consider our future family plans. At this point we can only trust that the Lord has a plan for us and Luke being a part of our family is a major part of that plan. As far as any other children in the future, we are leaving it in His hands.  Aside from all that awesome stuff, we love Luke, when he came out and I could see he had red hair, Amanda got the biggest grin on her face. I know it was mostly because we have a beautiful healthy baby, but she has had a desire to have a red headed child since forever. We love him and are so grateful he is a part of our lives. Emma, Sara and Jack are all excited to see him, Emma couldn't wait to see her new brother, that she was hovering over him the entire time, Sara started coloring a picture of our family now to include Luke, since he has red and blonde hair, she colored one side of his head with red hair and one side with yellow. Jack thinks its awesome that he is now a big brother, he even tried to give him a sip from his new sippy cup that has a soccer ball straw. I guess that is the best he can do to show his love for now. We can tell they are going to be the best of pals. We are so excited to start this new part of our life with another of God's angels as part of our family, we feel truly blessed to have him and will always cherish the blessings we receive from our Heavenly Father in the form of his children.
side note: obviously this is written by Ross.

My Last Get Away Before Little Buddy's Arrival!

Last weekend was lovely.  I have no pictures of it.  I am lame.

Ross finally had a Friday off.  His schedule is supposed to allow for a 3 day weekend every other week.  He works extra long days to facilitate this.  Unfortunately, he has been using those Fridays, and a few Saturdays as well to fulfill the mandated over-time hours to take care of the back-log of claims for his office.  ANYWAY, it was wonderful to finally get a long weekend with him, so we took advantage of it.  We pulled Emma out of school, because we are terrible parents, and we spent the morning having a lovely time. 

The girls helped make blueberry muffins, and then we drove down to Salt Lake to enjoy some of the local attractions, and to play in the awesome pool at the hotel Ross and I stayed in later that night.

 Awhile back, we were given a hotel voucher from some friends.  It was awesome.  We want to go back for our anniversary.  Anyway (I keep getting side tracked...), we enjoyed our time at the pool, and when everyone was all pruney and water-logged, we got changed and headed out for a lunch of the kids' choice. 

They wanted Arby's.  Perfect!  Cheap and fast!

After they were all stuffed, we headed down to Orem to play at my parents' house until Aunt Dana got home from school.  We then drove Dana and our kidlets out to our house where they enjoyed a sleepover of epic fun! 

While the kids were under the watchful eyes of Dana, Ross and I headed back to Salt Lake where we had all manner of fun with a lovely dinner at the Gateway, a walk around some of the Down Town attractions, and a night of relaxation in the GIANT jacuzzi tub in our room.  Seriously, this room was amazing!  Best hotel experience of my life!  It was so nice to be alone with Ross and relax in a mini-pool.  My back felt sooooo much better than it has in weeks when we left the next morning.

The next day we came home to greet our children, who could not have cared less...  They had too much fun, I guess. :)  We took Dana back home, and then had a picnic at a park with the kids and let them run the puppy around until she couldn't take any more.  That was a lot of running!

Later, we came home, did some yard work, and had a family movie night. 

Aside from the hotel, none of this was super exciting, but it was all wonderful and almost stress-free which is something both Ross and I were in need of.  It is the last time we will get to do something like that before this baby comes, and we could not be more grateful to all the people who helped make it possible.