multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here.

"One Thousand Gifts":

747. planning underway for next June's big family vacation
748. more than 24 consecutive hours spent with wonderful, wonderful friends
749. nice ER doctors {who remind the injured child of their favorite teacher} who staple your head closed again . . . and the dads who go along so the moms don't have to endure the emotional pain of watching staples go into skulls. YUCK!
750. tummy x-rays showing no more coins in Anna's tummy {we must have missed it on its exit during our week-long, thorough poop checks somehow . . . glad we went to much of that super fun work unnecessarily!}
751. surviving my nearly 9-hour long 8-kid day last week {9 kids if you're counting the one I'm carting around in front of me}
752. Schaeffer Christian Carlson
753. the hours at the front-end of the day, before I start waddling {by the end of the day, I can't do anything to stop the waddle . . . believe me, I've tried}
754. more than 32 weeks down, 8-ish left to go
755. life-long friends
756. sleepovers
757. birthday parties {happy 2nd birthday, sweet Ava!}
758. the anticipation of family camp
759. 3 days until the fair starts!
760. seeing the Elliott's {the circumstances under which we saw them boggle my mind quite a big, but we're thrilled to see them nonetheless!}
761. the laughter of kiddos
762. a trip to the zoo
763. a couple more things to check off on our summer list . . . and a few more extra fun ones to come in the week ahead
764. a safe 400K bike ride for my no-longer-in-his-30's {or even 40's or 50's} father . . . way to go, Dad. You're one of a kind!!
765. the little hint of fall in the air {but only for one day} we had last week
766. contentment
767. a big week for my brother's family::1 new baby, 30 years of life for Jenn, 6 years of marriage for Mr. & Mrs. Carlson {and before next week, 2 years of life for Haddon!}
768. the excitement of kids when given their very own cameras! {thanks, Elliotts!}
769. my grandma {it's her 84th birthday today!}

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

flashback friday

Almost exactly 2 years ago today {8.28.08} we welcomed Mr. Haddon Christian Carlson to the world. We love you, big brother, Haddon, my how you've grown!

thankful thursday

Today I'm so very thankful for the safe arrival of our newest nephew. The little man belongs to my brother {Luke} and his wife, Jenn, and is the same little guy whoe gave us a little 33-week scare at the beginning of July, thinking he might make an earlier-than-we'd-like entrance into the world.

Anyway, without further blabbing, I'm excited to introduce you to:

Schaeffer Christian Carlson
{named after Francis Schaeffer}
born on 8.18.10 at 12:02 in the afternoon
{punctual little bugger: born right smack dab in the very center of his due date}
8 pounds 2 ounces
22 inches tall

meeting cousins Anna & Lydia::

yikes! one overly excited aunt::

"meeting" his younger cousin while resting on my belly::

Uncle Kirby & Joe::

Mom, Dad and big brother, Haddon are all doing great and 2 of those 3 are especially grateful that Schaeffer didn't make his debut on the shoulder of I-94 . . . he wiggled his way into the world about 5 minutes after Luke and Jenn arrived at the hospital! Yikes! Luke admitted to speeding on the way there {good choice "little" brother!}

the proud dad and his little guy::

We made a trip out to the hospital to see him {and his parents} last night. He's an adorable little guy, and his parents looked fabulous too {check out Jenn, all dressed -- necklace and all -- looking cute as can be so shortly after having a baby. Honestly!! . . . so rude of her to show up the rest of the female, child-bearing population like that!!}

Dad, Mom & baby::

So, welcome little guy. We're so glad you're here!!

answered prayer!

My brother, Luke, and his wife, Jenn, are expecting their 2nd little kiddo in August {very close to Haddon's 2nd birthday . . . I'm wondering if history will repeat itself and their 2 oldest might share the same birthday like ours do. Only time will tell!}. We found out the good news at Christmas and have been thrilled and excited ever since. A couple weeks ago Jenn had an ultrasound with some vague, slightly abnormal {and thus, worrisome} findings. First of all, they found out that they are having another boy, but that quickly became not the main focus of the ultrasound. It seems the little guy had more room than would seem normal inside his skull and they wanted her to have a level 2 ultrasound at the hospital to get a better view and find out what was going on. Needless to say, the wait time in between ultrasounds was an anxious time, filled with lots of prayer, some worry and tears and eventually peace. We prayed often for peace and calm for them during the waiting and also for normal results for the little man at the next ultrasound. Well, their 2nd ultrasound was yesterday and it looks like he is a healthy, normal {if that's possible considering the genetics he comes from!} little man! Praise God!

Here's a picture of the handsome fella::

If you want to see another handful of ultrasound pictures, or read more of the story, you can visit their blog here. We are praising God that the anxiousness and lack of answers of the last couple weeks is at an end and that little man Carlson II is doing well and developing on track. I just wanted to share our joy with you guys too. We can't wait to meet this little guy this summer {and his slightly younger cousin a couple months later!!}. I can hardly wait. Babies . . . oh how I love 'em!