Announcing Levi Zachariah Lodi!

 I tried to just pick out a few of my favorite photos, thinking I had about 5.  After choosing, I realized that it's more like 15!  Hope you like to see newborn pictures as much as I do!

The one above is of Micah meeting his baby brother for the first time.  Levi was about 7 hours old at this point.  Since he was born at 1:06 a.m. Micah was sleeping and didn't get in on all the middle of the night action (thank God).  Meaning the "action" I'm referring to was not all hunky dory.

This birth was a whopping 18 1/2 hrs. long from start to finish and Levi didn't come sliding out like all the others.  I actually struggled to get him to come for 35 minutes which seemed like an eternity.  I was completely dialated for that amount of time but no baby was making his appearance and I wasn't feeling any of the normal things that signal any changes being made with each grueling contraction I endured!

It was daunting to say the least.  But finally God was gracious and he came on July 22, 2011 an hour after midnight.  I've never been so relieved in all my life!  I couldn't give God enough praise for seeing me through that birth.  I never would have expected my 6th child to be so difficult, after all my body had done this 5 other times.  

I realize now that I had the dream birth when Micah was born, 3 years ago.  I labored for 8 hours and pushed for 4 minutes with him. I expected this one would go even faster and be even smoother since I was more prepared for what to expect.  Guess, I had some unrealistic expectations.

But now that it's all behind us, we are on to the fun stage of taking care of our newest member of our family.  Everyone is in love with our little "pickle" as we so affectionately call him.

Every time I see the picture above, I feel like I've seen it before.  Turns out I have the exact same picture of our Julia in the same pose and the same sleeper, just taken 11 years ago!  The resemblance is uncanny!

Levi weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long and was a week early, exactly.  If he would have been full term, he would have been in the 8 lb range and would have been our biggest baby.

In the week that we've gotten to know Levi, we've noted that he loves to be held in this upright position with his belly on yours.  He snuggles his little head right up under your chin if you let him.  Once he is fully asleep, we try and put him down to get a few things done, but he rarely lets us.  Within 10 minutes or so, he wakes up and fusses until you pick him up and hold him in his favorite position and then he conks out again.  My midwife pointed out that he is used to going everywhere I do and was never put down to sleep alone while in the womb.  For the time being, we are enjoying it although I'm sure there will be a time when we teach him to be content by himself for a bit.

Love this one that shows just how small and fragile babies are!

Levi is 1 week old in the next few pictures. His eyes are a dark grey at this point but I'm sure they will be brown eventually as we all have brown eyes except for Olivia.  Hers are hazel. He does prefer to be on his tummy if he isn't in someone's arms.

I adore this picture! Julia was holding him and he just naturally was propped up like this!  Julia is ALWAYS available to hold him!  She would never put him down if he was all hers.

He is our only baby with hardly any hair on top of his head.  I hope that what he does have doesn't fall out or he will really look like an old man!

Isn't this one funny?  He looks like he is in a yoga position and is meditating on something enjoyable.

Olivia took these.  She loves photography and had seen this idea somewhere else with the bow.

Our little gift from God sent straight from heaven.  It's really true.  Olivia had been praying I would get pregnant by the end of the year.  I had not conceived for over 2 years and just thought we were done having children since I was 43 at the time.  But at Thanksgiving of last year I realized I was pregnant!  Shocker!  We tease her that it was all her fault.

Olivia made this one black and white and I like the way it turned out.

Levi was really done at this point but I managed to get one last good one of him not crying.  We bought him this elephant when I was pregnant with him.  He doesn't appreciate it yet but I think he'll like it eventually.

Praise God for little people!  I'm glad that we had a boy because God knows exactly what Micah needs in a sibling his own age.  Micah plays with Reece constantly but there will be a time when Reece will be older and not as interested in playing with him.  Levi Z will be his companion and Micah will be a wonderful big brother to him.  I feel like I've just had a second set of children and I'm starting all over.

Probably because I am!