We had another fun filled weekend in Madison, but this time it was with family, and by that I mean A LOT of family. Out of the nine siblings on my dad's side, seven of them came with their kids. And their kids brought kids. We, of course, brought Audrey.  The farthest family members came from Nebreska and Kansas! We all stayed at Clifty Falls Inn (State Park) and shared time at my aunt and uncle's lovely Madison home. Andrew and I experienced the "sleeping pattern" of a newborn since we shared a hotel room with Isaiah, Alaina, and baby Jonathan. Yes, that is right, Jonathan came! He is only one week old, but he could fool anyone, because he looks about two months old. In fact, he was bigger than baby London who was two months old by about a half a pound! The babies there were a hit between the family. Audrey can't wait to see them all! Over the weekend stay we went hiking at the falls (Yes, I went hiking, up and down large steps and all around!), went to the pool, ate good food, relaxed, went walking in downtown Madison, bought gourmet chocolate, and had fun visiting with family. I had some nice talks with the fellow "mommy" cousins while Andrew enjoyed cigars on the porch and golf. Oh, how I love these cherishable weekends...

Baby Jonathan enjoying the spotlight. 

Getting ready to go hiking.

So sweet. Cousins Sophia and Leif.

We had the longest line of people hiking! And of course, my dad is video taping it.

Still hiking.

Aunt Aretta with my dad.

Isaiah with Jonathan and Cassi with London. Priceless.

Like father like son.

 I wasn't really sure what to title this blog. I wanted to include stuff about the Fourth and about the newest addition to the family--our little nephew! That's right, it was a boy for Alaina and Isaiah! I thought about titling it "Super Woman" because Alaina is super woman after what she just went through. Or it was going to be titled "Big Boy" because, well, I will explain that later (which you can probably guess why). Jonathan Ezekiel Merriman was born this evening at 5:16pm (I think approximately). Of course, we definitely did not predict that time. Nor did I predict anything. I thought it would be a girl, 8lbs., 21 inches long, born Thursday at 7:02am. Oh well, it is still fun trying to guess. Here is a summed-up time line of what we experienced with the birth of the beautiful little boy...

10:30pm Fourth of July- after the fireworks Alaina was experiencing contractions. We all still went home and did not know it was going to start just a couple of hours later.

2am- this morning, Alaina and Isaiah head to the hospital.

6:30am- Andrew and I receive a phone call. I get super excited jump out of bed, skip the shower, and tell them we will be right there (with the expectation that baby Merriman could come around 9am (yeah right). We stop and get doughnuts and orange juice and arrive at the hospital around 7am.

Waiting game for the next 6 hours.

1pm- We were told the pushing would begin. I was hoping baby Merriman would come out around 1:14pm, since that was my [second] guess. Ha- I was completely off.

4:30pm- Still no baby, just lots of pushing. And I mean lots. 3 1/2 hours. Doctor determines that a c-section will have to happen because of the baby's position (facing up) and how big the head was. Little did doc know how big of a baby they were really dealing with.

6:30pm- Sue (Alaina's mom) and I are determined to find out some type of news so we head to the back room and discover that the c-section was a success and we have a "football player" (doc's words) whom she nicknamed "big boy." He was 9 lbs. 6 oz, 21 1/2 inches long! Not to mention, he looks EXACTLY like Isaiah. Even the doctors said so and they don't usually comment on that stuff. I wish I had a baby picture of Isaiah just to compare and post.

Alaina and Isaiah are doing well and so is Jonathan. They are all troopers! Please be praying for them as they take some recovery time in the hospital over the next couple of days. Here are some pictures. I don't have any of Alaina, I wanted to let the mom get her beauty rest, maybe tomorrow...

How cute is this bottle of wine? Lisa and I added the ribbon, because it looked like it was meant for a "it's a boy" day.

The hansome father-to-be gearing up for the c-section.

Hello Jonathan! Isaiah changing his first diaper!

Three beautiful generations. How proud do they look?

He is just perfect! And he already loves his Aunt and Uncle!

Priceless.

Did I mention that with all the excitement Audrey was moving like crazy today? Andrew got to feel her on the OUTSIDE for the first time, TWICE! Once was a huge kick, he thought I moved my belly myself. My dad also got to feel her. I love feeling our little girl inside of me.

Okay, onto Fourth of July with just a little pictures. We spent the day up in New Castle with Andrew's dad's side and the evening was spent in Bloomington with my family watching the stadium fireworks.

A tradition- playing basketball with the boys (two of Andrew's brothers and his dad).

I saw this on Granny's table. It was a watering can with flower seeds for the great-grandchildren. There was one labeled "Baby Clampitt." It was precious.

Okay, as if this post couldn't get ANY longer. Here are the recent belly shot pics.

21 1/2 Weeks!

22 1/2 Weeks!

I give you props if you made through this entirely too long post!